Practice Test #1 GSSC 1058

Practice Test #1 (Chapter 1, 3, 4)

1.According to the text, the definition of psychology states that psychology is the study of:
a. behaviour and mental processes.
b. thought, perception, and emotion.
c. human and animal behaviour.
d. conscious and unconscious processes.

2.Which of the following is not an advantage of naturalistic observation?
a. It provides a good source of descriptive information.
b. It can allow researchers to reach conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships.
c. It is useful in studying the behaviour patterns of animals in the wild.
d. It can provide the basis for a hypothesis to be tested later.

3. Margot is interested in determining if people who play video games also socialize while playing their games. She goes to a local arcade and carefully observes the behaviour of persons in the area. Margot is collecting information with the:
a. laboratory observation.
b. the case study method.
c. the survey method.
d. naturalistic observation method.

4.Which of the following methods has the advantages of allowing the investigator to collect large amounts of information about the attitudes, beliefs, experiences, or behaviours of large groups of people?
a. naturalistic observation
b. the case study method
c. the survey method
d. laboratory observation

5.Population is to ____________ as sample is to ____________.
a. whole; part
b. representative; biassed
c. people; attitudes
d. behaviour; opinions

6. Which of the following refers to an untested prediction about behaviour?
a. independent variable
b. dependent variable
c. hypothesis
d. correlation

7. Which of the following variables causes changes in the behaviour being studied?
a. control
b. dependent
c. independent
d. random

8. Independent variable is to ____________ as dependent variable is to ____________.
a. cause; effect
b. correlation; experiment
c. effect; cause
d. random; control

9. The group of subjects in an experiment that is exposed to the experimental environment but not given the treatment is known as:
a. the population.
b. the sample.
c. the control group.
d. the random sample.

10. Which of the following statements is not true about a control group?
a. It should be similar to an experimental group.
b. It is exposed to the independent variable.
c. At the end of the experiment, it is measured on the dependent variable.
d. It is used for purposes of comparison.

11. Which of the following occurs when researchers' expectations about a situation cause them to see what they expect to see or to make incorrect inferences about the behaviour they observe?
a. inferential bias
b. experimenter bias
c. selection bias
d. situational bias

12. Reliability refers to:
a. the ability of a test to measure what it is supposed to measure.
b. how often researchers can expect a test to be right.
c. the consistency of a test.
d. the degree of relationship of the test to another, separate factor.

13. Validity refers to:
a. the ability of a test to measure what it is supposed to measure.
b. how often researchers can expect a test to be right.
c. the consistency of a test.
d. the degree of relationship of the test to another, separate factor.

14. Which of the following is a limitation of the correlational method?
a. It cannot be used to determine cause-and-effect relationships.
b. It cannot be employed in naturalistic settings.
c. Only a limited number and type of variables can be studied.
d. Correlations are typically too weak to be useful.

15. Which of the following would a behaviourist consider an inappropriate subject for psychological study?
a. running
b. problem-solving
c. thinking
d. singing

16. Behaviourism is to ____________ as psychoanalysis is to ____________.
a. observable behaviour; unconscious mental forces
b. correlational method; experimental method
c. limited; unlimited
d. animals; humans

17. The information brought to us by our various senses refers to:
a. perception.
b . sensation.
c. transduction.
d. reception.

18. Weber's law best fits sensory stimuli that are: a. very strong.
b. neither very strong nor very weak.
c. fairly weak.
d. fairly weak through very strong.

19. Each morning when Jackie goes to work at the dry cleaners, she smells the strong odour of cleaning fluid. After she is there for a few minutes, she is no longer aware of it. What accounts for this?
a. signal detection theory.
b. sensory adaptation.
c. transduction.
d. the just noticeable difference.

20. Which of the following is not true of cones?
a. They function best in bright light.
b. They play a key role in colour vision.
c. They are critical in our ability to notice fine detail.
d. They are more numerous than rods.

21. The fovea is:
a. the spot where the optic nerve connects to the eye.
b. an area of the retina that contains only cones.
c. the periphery of the retina that contains only rods.
d. the area of the retina that contains both rods and cones.

22.The cones perform better than the rods in each of the following conditions except:
a. helping you find a seat in a darkened movie theatre.
b. helping you pick out puzzle pieces with similar detail when you are working on a jigsaw puzzle.
c. helping you see well on a bright, sunny day.
d. helping you detect subtle colour differences in fabric samples.

23. Hue is to ____________ of light as brightness is to ____________ of light.
a. wavelength; intensity
b. wave complexity; intensity
c. wavelength; purity
d. intensity; purity

24. Which of the following theories best explains the phenomena of afterimages and the perception of the colour yellow?
a. trichromatic theory
b. signal detection theory
c. frequency theory
d. opponent-process theory

25. Place theory and frequency theory are two explanations of:
a. colour blindness.
b. auditory threshold shift.
c. pitch perception.
d. sound localization.

26. Concerning the relative merits of place theory and frequency theory, most researchers:
a. reject both theories.
b. prefer place theories.
c. prefer frequency theories.
d. prefer a combination of place and frequency theories.

27. When older people complain that food doesn't taste as good to them as it once did, the reason usually is that:
a. their sense of smell declines with age.
b. their sense of taste declines with age.
c. their enjoyment of most things declines with age.
d. they have too few taste receptors to detect differences in tastes.

28. Gate-control theory has been formulated to explain the sensation of:
a. pain.
b. pressure.
c. smells.
d. taste.

29. The tendency to complete figures with gaps in them is called:
a. closure.
b. continuity.
c. proximity.
d. similarity.

30. Which of the following best defines consciousness?
a. awareness
b. wakefulness
c. receptiveness
d. rationality

31. Disruption of circadian rhythms is most likely to be a long-term problem for people who:
a. don't go to sleep and wake up at approximately the same time every day.
b. have an inner-ear infection.
c. travel abroad every summer.
d. work rotating shifts.

32. Which of the following occurs during REM sleep?
a. decreased brain activity
b. lower blood pressure
c. slower and irregular respiration
d. paralysis of the large muscles

33. Bruce will be 75 years old in several months. Which of the following would be true of his sleep if he is typical of aging adults?
a. He will have more awakenings and less deep sleep.
b. He will have deeper sleep with fewer dreams.
c. He will sleep longer than he did when he was 40.
d. He will be more able to sleep anywhere.

34. What is the term for an increased amount of REM sleep that occurs after REM deprivation that is often associated with unpleasant dreams or nightmares?
a. REM rebound
b. microsleep
c. REM reversal
d. REM intrusion

35. People who fall asleep suddenly at inappropriate times may have a sleep disorder called:
a. narcolepsy.
b. sleep apnea.
c. social rudeness.
d. somnambulism.

36. Which of the following is not a stimulant?
a. cocaine
b. marijuana
c. amphetamines
d. nicotine

37. Elizabeth uses drugs which alter her mood and perceptions and can leave her with a feeling of unreality. She most likely uses:
a. stimulants.
b. hallucinogens.
c. barbiturates.
d. narcotics.

38. Morphine and heroin reduce activity in the nervous system, produce lethargy, and cause a pronounced slowing of almost all bodily functions. These drugs are frequently referred to as:
a. hallucinogens.
b. stimulants.
c. narcotics.
d. designer drugs.

ANSWERS

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