FIFTY Questions

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FIFTY Questions

• AP PSYCHOLOGY

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Ernst Weber introduced the notion of a)
physiological zero b) just noticeable
differencec) motion parallax d) subliminal
processing.

• Just Noticeable difference. Its the smallest
  difference between two stimuli that allows them
  to be perceived as distinct stimuli.
• Physiological zero is the temperature that is
  percieved as neither hot nor cold
• Motion parallax is one way in which depth
  perception are perceived (objects seem to pass in
  opposing direction)

3
Dichotic listening tasks are used to study a)
selective attention b) echoic memory c)
habituation

• Dichotic listening requires subject to listen to
  and shadow what is heard in one ear and ignore
  distracting information that is heard in the
  other ear. When the subject is asked to repeat a
  message as she hears it, its called shadowing.
  Shadowing is used to study selective attention.

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3. Which psychological approach would most
likely say the following Give me a group of
infants, and if I could control the world in
which they are raised, I could predict which will
become doctors and which will become sculptors.

• Similar to a statement by BEHAVIORIST John B.
  Watson. Behaviorists emphasize the ENVIROMENTs
  influence on a persons observable behaviors.
• Freud/Psychoanalyisis would be concerned with
  unconscious
• Behaviorism shapes behavior through reward,
  punishment

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4. If myelin degenerates from around the bodies
of axons, what is likely to occur?

• Myelinization allows for faster nerve conduction
  times as the action potential jumps from node to
  node along the axon. So conduction would be
  SLOWED if myelin decreases.

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Once Pavlovs dogs learned to salivate at the
sound of the bell/tuning fork, the sound was an

• Conditioned stimulus (one the dog learned to
  react to)
• UCS - food UCR -salivate
• CS-sound CR - salivate

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The blind spot refers to the area of the retina
wherea) there are rods, no cones b) there are
cones, no rods c) there are no receptors and
the optic nerve connects

• The blind spot refers to the area where the optic
  nerve connects to the retina. There are no rods
  and cones in this area, so no visual perception
  occurs.

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7. What is fundamental attribution error?

• When we attribute (blame) someones behaviors on
  their disposition (personality/character) rather
  than look at their situation. In this
  assessment, we can be incorrect because we tend
  to blame peoples inborn traits rather than look
  at the circumstances they face.

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John loves to fish. He puts his line in the
water and leaves it there until he feels a tug.
What kind of reinforcement schedule is this?

• Variable interval
• He does not know when the fish will bite and
  because he just leaves the line in the water, he
  is not really acting. Fly fishing (where the
  person casts and reels the line in IS DIFFERENT -
  it is variable ratio)

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Chimps are given tokens to perform tricks. These
tokens are used in a vending machine to get
grapes. The token is what kind of reinforcer?

• Primary or secondary?

SECONDARY - the chimp must learn that the token
ultimately represents a primary reinforcer
(grapes)
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Viewing a certain color for an extended period of
time results in an afterimage of a complementary
color. This is consistent with which theory? a)
Helmholtzs trichromatic theory b)
opponent-process theory c) place theory d)
frequency theory e) gate theory

• Edward Herings opponent process theory for color
  vision posits that color is perceived through the
  action of three opponent processes
• Red/green
• Blue/yellow
• Black/white
• AFTERIMAGE appears after staring at a color for a
  long period of time and provides support for
  OPPONENT PROCESS THEORY
• PLACE (first, highlast, low) and FREQUENCY EAR

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11. What is a central tenant of GESTALT?

• The Gestalt school of psychological thought
  focuses on PERCEPTION and the perception of
  wholes.
• The LAW OF PRAGANZ (in Gestalt) is also known as
  the law of simplicity. We see the world in the
  simplest form possible. Closure and grouping are
  two parts of this law.
• Behviorists see the mind as meaningless because
  they only study what is observable
• Freud studies how the UNCONSCIOUS mind controls
  behavior

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12. The work of Paul Broca led him to believe
that

• The area of the left, frontal lobe was associated
  with SPEECH PRODUCTION. He found that patients
  with aphasia (the inability to speak) tended to
  have damage to this area, now termed BROCAs
  area.

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13. Which best represents negative
reinforcement?

• A) Teresa is scolded when she runs through the
  house yelling.
• B) Lina is not allowed to watch television until
  she has finished her HW
• C) Greg changes his math class, so he does not
  have to see his old girlfriend
• D) Aditya is praised for having the best essay in
  class
• E) Alex takes the wrong medicine and gets
  violently ill afterwards

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14. The first official laboratory for psychology
was founded in Leipzig in 1879 by

• Wilhelm Wundt - aka BIG POPPA and the founder of
  psychology. His studies used introspection to
  analyze the nature of consciousness. He was part
  of STRUCTURALISM.
• William James was a functionalist who brought
  psychology out of Germany to the United States

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If the mean IQ of Americans is 100 with a
standard deviation of 16, what percentage of
Americans would you expect to score 132 AND BELOW
on an IQ test? a) 34 b) 48 c) 68 d)
84 e) 98

• You need to memorize the percentages of students
  who fall within one, two, and three standard
  deviations from the mean. 68 of scores in a
  distribution fall within one standard deviation
  from the mean. That means that 34 of scores in
  a normal distribution fall between the mean and
  one standard deviation up and one standard
  deviation down. 28 of scores fall between one
  and two standard deviations from the mean (14 on
  each side), so 96 of scores fall between the
  mean and two standard deviations up or down. 4
  of scores fall beyond two standard deviations
  from the mean (2 on each side). 132 is two
  standard deviations above the mean of 100, so 98
  of scores would be at or below 132.

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Though he has never seen a sparrow before,
Jawarhi identifies the sparrow as a bird because
it has wings, and birds have wings. This is an
example of a a) schema b) algorithm c)
metacognition d) functional fixedness

• Piaget refers to schema as organized patterns of
  behavior or thought. Jawarhi sees something new
  and attempts to incorporate that new instance
  into his existing schema ASSIMILATE
• To accommodate, the new item CHANGES schema
• Algorithm is step-by-step mathematical technique
  to solve a problem
• Functional fixedness is the tendency in problem
  solving to view objects and tools as having a
  single fixed function or purpose

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Jenny went to Memphis on three different
weekends, and each time, it rained. Based on
this information, Jenny determines that it is
always raining in Memphis. This is an example
of a) divergent thinking b) the availability
heuristic c) mental sets

• The availability heuristic refers to the tendency
  to make decisions based on available data.
  Because Jenny is relying on information she has
  available in her mind (rain) she fails to
  consider the weather in Memphis all the times she
  has not been there. Another ex we think
  tornadoes kill more people than asthma when the
  latter causes 20x more deaths!
• Divergent thinking is creative and opposes
  functional fixedness
• Of all the potential solutions to solve problems,
  mental sets cause the person to approach problems
  in a similar way each time.

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18. Which of the following measures is the MOST
SENSITIVE to outlying observations? a) mean b)
median c) mode d) variance e) standard
deviation

• Always remember that the average or arithmetic
  mean is MOST sensitive to outlying observations
  and is least indicative of CENTRAL TENDANCY when
  dealing with a SKEWED DISTRIBUTION. For example,
  the median income is usually a better indicator
  of central tendency than the mean income.

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The central tendency should KEEP the 3ms even on
a normal curve. But if one tail is longer than
the other, then the graph is SKEWED. In a
positive skew, there are more LOW scores, but a
few POSITIVE scores skew the average. In this
case, the MEAN is higher than the MEDIAN.In the
negative skew, there are more HIGH scores, but a
few NEGATIVE scores skew the average. In this
case, the MEAN is lower than the median.
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19. The method of loci is an example of

• This is a classic mnemonic device or memory tool
  that associates terms with locations one is
  already familiar with.
• An example might be when you forget what you were
  about to do, you go back to the spot where you
  started. This specific placement may help you
  remember what you were thinking.

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20. Shaping is

• Rewarding behaviors that get closer and closer to
  desired goal

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A graphical representation of correlational data
is called a a) skewed distribution b)
scatterplot c) bell curve

• The slope of a scatterplot corresponds to the
  correlation coefficient.

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22. Which of the following correlation
coefficients is the strongest?a) -0.88 b)
0.00 c) 0.15 d) 0.75 e) 1.05

• -0.88 represents the strongest correlation.
  Correlation coefficients reflect the level to
  which variables change in direct relation to each
  other. A correlation coefficient of -1.00
  represents a perfect negative correlation
• a correlation of 0.00 represents no correlation
• A correlation of 1.00 represents a perfect
  positive correlation
• A negative correlation can be stronger than a
  positive one if it is numerically closer to one

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Harry Harlows experiments with wire and cloth
surrogate mothers demonstrated the importance
ofa) insight learning b) contact comfort c)
attachment

• Harlows study of monkeys found that young
  monkeys preferred the contact comfort provided by
  cloth mother despite the fact that they could
  only get sustenance from wire mother.
• Mary Aisworth showed attachment issues with kids

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AFFERENT pathways are involved in which of the
following sensory system(s)?a) visual b)
tactile c) auditory d) kinesthetic e) all
of the above

• All four sensory systems that appear in this
  question involve the action of AFFERENT or
  SENSORY pathways. These neurons leave SENSES and
  ASCEND or ARRIVE to the brain.
• Efferent pathways EXIT the brain and are more
  involved in MOTOR skills and functioning

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25. If an individual is facing the psychosocial
crisis of identity versus role confusion,
according to Erik Ericksons model, that
individual is most likely

• An adolescent
• First year Trust vs. Mistrust
• 1-3 yrs Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt
• 3-6 yrs Initiative vs. guilt
• 6-12 yrs Industry vs. inferiority
• Teen Identity vs. Role Confusion
• Young adult Intimacy vs. isolation
• Midlife Generativity vs. stagnation
• Old age Integrity vs. despair
• http//www.thepsychfiles.com/2007/07/09/episode-20
  -eriksons-eight-stages-of-life/

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26. When people are deprived of REM sleep, they
compensate by spending more time in REM sleep at
a later time. This is commonly known as

• THE REM rebound effect

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27. According to Piaget, when do children
understand the concept of conservation?

• Subjects in the preoperational stage (2-7) were
  UNABLE to realize both beakers contained the same
  amount. Subjects in the CONCRETE OPERATIONAL
  STAGE (7-11) did.

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28. Which choice IS NOT OPERANT CONDITIONING?

• A) A rat learns to press a bar to get food
• B) A dog jumps over a hurdle to avoid electric
  shock
• C) A pigeon turns in circles for a reward.
• D) A dog flinches at the sight of a hand after
  years of abuse.
• E) Studying hard for good grades on tests

D - is not operant
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Latent learning is

• Learning in the absence of rewards (rat in maze
  without reward utilizes cognitive map)

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30. Carol Gilligans criticism of Kohlbergs
theories of moral development center around

• Gender differences in orientations towards
  morality While men are more likely to be
  concerned with rules and law, women were more
  concerned with relationships. Since Kohlberg
  interviewed men, Gilligan questioned his
  descriptions of morality.

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31. The main advantage of a heuristic over an
algorithm is that a heuristic

• IS FASTER than an algorithm. A heuristic is a
  short cut or rule of thumb that may not always
  get you to the correct solution, but will get you
  to your solution more quickly than an algorithm.
  An algorithm is helpful in that it will always
  find the solution to a problem, but frequently,
  it will take longer than desired to get there.

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32. When asked to recall the months of the year,
young children often recall January and February
and November and December better than the months
in between. This is an example of.

• Serial Position Effect or Primacy/Recency effect.
  This states that it is easier to remember items
  at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of a
  list. In this example, the early and late months
  are remembered better.
• Retroactive
• interference
• Proactive
• interference

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Jamel got very sick after eating some mushrooms
on a pizza at his friends house. He didnt know
that he had a stomach virus at the time, blamed
his illness on the mushrooms, and refused to eat
them again. Which of the following is the
unconditioned stimulus for his taste aversion to
mushrooms?

• A) pizza
• B) stomach virus
• C) mushrooms
• D) headache
• E) aversion to mushrooms
• ANS B

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34. Which exemplifies RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE?

1. After suffering a blow to the head, Jean cannot
   form new memories
2. Elle failed a Spanish test because she studied
   for her Italian test after studying Spanish.
3. Lee cannot remember an important date on a
   history exam.
4. Gene cannot remember his new locker combination,
   but remembers last years.
5. Jodi remembers the first few items on her school
   supply list, but cant remember the rest of them

CHOICE B
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35. Difference between INFORMATION PROCESSING
MODEL and the Atkinson-Shiffrin process of memory?

• Encode, store, retrieve (info process)
• Sensory memory, STM/Working, LTM (3-stage or
  Atkinson-Shiffrin)

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Of the following, which are located exclusively
in the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM?

• A) afferent neurons
• B) interneurons
• C) efferent neurons
• D) glial cells
• E) effectors
• Ans. B

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Which of the following refers to a disorder in
which a person repeatedly stops breathing while
sleeping? A) narcolepsy b) epilepsy c)
sleep apnea d) insomnia

• Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person
  repeatedly stops breathing during sleep. It can
  be extremely dangerous.
• Narcolepsy excessive daytime sleepiness
• Insomnia persistent difficulty falling asleep or
  staying asleep

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38. What are two types of long-term memory and
where are they stored?

• Explicit memories aka declarative are stored in
  the HIPPOCAMPUS (brain structure that plays a key
  role transferring information from STM to LTM)
• Implicit memories aka procedural are stored in
  the CEREBELLUM (brain structure for balance,
  coordination, and muscle memory)

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39. Define self-fulfilling prophecy and give an
example.

• The tendency to behave according to ones own
  expectations or the expectations of others.
  Events will transpire the way we believe they
  will (because of our expectations)
• If a teacher tells students they will fail, there
  is no point studying then theyll fail.
• If a coach says their team will WIN, the team
  will most likely take an that winning attitude.
• A teacher believes a student is unable to learn,
  so he never calls on her and she fails.

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Why is REM sleep PARADOXICAL?

• During REM sleep, brain waves look similar to
  alpha waves (which occur when were awake) even
  though muscle tone remains RELAXED.

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The pineal gland produces melatonin which helps

• Regulate circadian rhythms/sleep

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The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is due to
difficulty ina) encoding b) storage c)
retrieval d) working memory

• The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is where you
  feel like youre on the verge of remembering
  something, but cant quite do so. This is a
  problem with recovering information already in
  memory, or retrieval.
• Most tip-of-the-tongue experiences occur when
  trying to recall material in long term memory,
  e.g. What was the name of my third grade
  teacher?

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43. Who studied the effect of misleading
questions on eyewitness testimony?

• Elizabeth Loftus found that what we remember
  about what we have seen can be altered by
  presenting new information or by asking
  misleading questions.

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44. Iconic memory is a type of

• Sensory Memory iconic, echoic, haptic
• The three stages Sensory, Working, Long Term
• The three processes encoding, storage, retrieval
• Short Term or working memory 5-7 items
• Long Term Memory infinite
• EXPLICIT DECLARATIVE, Hippocampus
• IMPLICIT PROCEDURAL, cerebellum

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Which neurotransmitter is inhibitory?a)
dopamine b) serotonin c) acetylcholine d)
GABAe) glutamine

• GABA is the abbreviation for gamma-aminobutyric
  acid, produces inhibitory postsynaptic
  potentials. All the others are excitatory. When
  excitatory, there is more potenital for a neuron
  to FIRE!
• Glutamine excitatory
• Acetylcholine muscles, memory
• Too little (Alzheimers)
• Serotonin mood
• Too little (depression)
• Dopamine pleasure
• Too much (schizophrenia) too little (Parkinson)

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46. A first grade child is given a test of
cognitive abilities and scores at the first-grade
level. The same child then retakes the test with
help and guidance from a teacher and scores at
the third grade level. This finding supports
which theorist?

• Jean Piagets theory of conservation
• Lev Vygotskys theory of the zone of proximal
  development

The child performs differently when given no help
and when given help by an adult. This is the
zone of proximal development. While Vygotsky saw
development as CONTINUOUS, while Piaget saw
development as DISCONTINUOUS (stages).
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The regular pattern or clock of body
temperature and other physiological markers that
repeats consistently from day to night is
calleda) circadian rhythm b) sleep spindles
c) REM sleep

• Studies have shown that if humans are denied
  environment cues (I.e.- live in a cave) they
  begin to follow a 25-hour cycle which is slightly
  out of sync with a normal, 24 hour day.
  Irregular sleep patterns can cause significant
  disruptions in an individuals circadian rhythms.

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48. Hubel and Wiesel discovered FEATURE
DETECTORSdescribe what these are

• Nerve cells in the RETINA and brain that respond
  to specific features of a stimulus such as shape,
  angle or movement (SAM)
• Basically, they discovered by cat experimentation
  that there are certain neurons made to get
  excited by certain shapes, angles, or movements.

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49. What is the signal detection theory?
Its not enough to study the point at which
people detect stimuli at least 1/2 of the time
(absolute threshold) because perception of
stimuli varies from person to person and
according to the situation
Sound HIT button because subject heard sound MISS - did not hit button even though there was sound
No sound FALSE ALARM - hit button because subject thought there was sound, but there was only silence CORRECT REJECTION - did not hit button because there was no sound
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50. Describe the functions of the middle and
inner ear

• Middle Ear H.A.S. 3 bones
• Hammer (Malleus), Anvil (Incus), Stirrup (Stapes)
• Inner Ear is where transduction takes place.
  Sound travels into cochlea and into auditory
  nerve.
• Place theory where sound hits basilar membrane
  this is what creates high/low sounds (first
  hithigh last hitlow)
• Frequency theory the number of vibrations send
  appropriate message to auditory nerve

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Independent and dependent variables?

• Scary movies cause nightmares
• Isolation causes stress in development (Harlow)
• Authority figures cause an increase in obedience
  of subjects (Milgram)
• Split brain patients cannot speak words flashed
  into their left field of vision (Sperry)

Ex IV Authority figure DV Obedience IV
Isolation DV Stress leves