Final Exam
PART I: Multiple Choice (1 point each)
Please select the correct response to each of the following multiple choice questions. ALL
“e” OPTIONS ARE JUST FOR FUN!!!!!! DO NOT SELECT THEM!!!!
1) Many, if not most, psychologists are _ in their theoretical perspective,
which means that they use what they believe to be the best features of the diverse schools of
thought in psychology.
a) psychodynamic
b) biological
c) sociocultural
d) eclectic
e) confused
2) The term “behaviorist” is most closely associated with which of the following
perspectives?
a) cognitive
b) learning
c) social-cognitive
d) sociocultural
3) A certain psychologist is interested in whether males or females are more aggressive
towards authority figures. She gives both the males and the females in a Psych 100 class an
opportunity to anonymously shock the professor after an exam (using 10-200 volts, as they
wish). She then records the number of volts each person gives and compares the males and
females on the average number of volts used in the shock. The DEPENDENT VARIABLE
in this study is:
a) the authority level of the professor
b) the number of volts used by males and females
c) whether the students are male or female
d) the hostility of the students
e) the number of dependents on the professor’s tax return
4) Which of the following correlations shows the STRONGEST degree of relationship
between two variables?
a) R = .63
b) R = .00
c) R = -.75
d) R = -1.00
e) R u kidding me?
5) Evolutionary psychologists believe
a) the mind is a general-purpose computer
b) behavior can generally be explained by individual learning
c) the mind has specialized modules to handle specific survival problems
d) behavior that has a biological origin cannot be distinguished from behavior that does not
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e) human beings have evolved as we have because the Universe has a very strange sense of
humor
6) __ enable neurons to excite or inhibit each other.
a) Hormones
b) Neurotransmitters
c) Endorphins
d) Glial cells
7) The visual cortex is located in the __ lobes.
a) frontal
b) occipital
c) parietal
d) temporal
e) ear
8) As a drug, alcohol is classified as a
a) stimulant
b) depressant
c) opiate
d) psychedelic
9) We usually do not notice the pressure of our clothes on our skin. The reason for this is
a) perceptual constancy
b) texture gradients
c) kinesthesis
d) sensory adaptation
e) it is not hot and humid today
10) The following pattern (xoox ruur) is perceived as two “groups” of letters because of the
Gestalt principle of
a) proximity
b) closure
c) similarity
d) continuity
11) When an unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with a conditioned stimulus, we
would expect __ to occur.
a) generalization
b) extinction
c) discrimination
d) response acquisition
e) someone else will ask the unconditioned stimulus out on a date
12) When something desirable follows a response, this is called
a) positive reinforcement
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b) negative reinforcement
c) positive punishment
d) negative punishment
e) dumb luck
13) In the parking lot of a supermarket, a short woman is loudly scolding a taller woman. A
man walks by and says to you: “I have never seen that short woman before, but she
obviously has a really bad temper.” This is an example of:
a) the “blame the victim” bias
b) self-serving bias
c) a situational attribution
d) the fundamental attribution error
e) a short-tempered woman
14) It seems like all the kids at school are saying that body-piercing is “cool”. Jim doesn’t
really want to pierce his naval, but he goes ahead and does it. This is an example of:
a) obedience
b) groupthink
c) conformity
d) diffusion of responsibility
e) how weird kids are these days
15) Sally is a staunch Republican and Mary is a staunch Democrat. One evening, they
attend a Presidential debate (between the Republican candidate and the Democratic
candidate) together. Sally is very impressed by the opinions of the Republican candidate,
and Mary is very impressed by the opinions of the Democratic candidate. Neither can
recall very many reasonable points made by the other candidate. This is an example of
a) cognitive dissonance
b) the availability heuristic
c) cognitive accessiblity
d) the confirmation bias
e) why Sally and Mary should have gone to a movie instead
16) Current thought on Short-term memory is that its real capacity is a few
a) bits
b) chunks
c) semantic categories
d) sensory memories
e) what was the question again?
17) While looking at some women’s undergarments and thinking about your psychology
exam, you remember that Sigmund Freud is a psychodynamic theorist. This is an example
of
a) an implicit memory
b) an episodic memory
c) a procedural memory
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d) a semantic memory
e) a Freudian slip
18) The is initially responsible for evaluating the emotional importance of
incoming sensory information
a) right hemisphere of the brain
b) left hemisphere of the brain
c) cerebral cortex
d) amygdala
19) Sally actually resents and dislikes her mother, but she cannot consciously admit it to
herself. Sally is constantly saying to everyone that her mother is “the best mom in the
whole world”. This is an example of
a) repression
b) displacement
c) projection
d) reaction formation
e) why Sally has no friends
20) According to Piaget, the stage at which children learn “object permanence” is the
_____ stage.
a) preoperational
b) concrete operations
c) sensorimotor
d) formal operations
e) how-can-I-miss-you-when-you-won’t-go-away stage
21) According to Erik Erikson, the stage of “intimacy versus isolation” occurs
a) in adolescence
b) at ages 3-5
c) in old age
d) in early adulthood
e) when you choose your mouthwash and deodorant
22) Rosemary is bothered by the persistent thought that she must some how buy the
Empire State Building, or something very bad will happen to her. Her problem would be
classified as
a) schizophrenia
b) antisocial personality disorder
c) obsessive-compulsive disorder
d) generalized anxiety disorder
e) a King Kong complex
23) The recent George Zimmerman case was controversial in many ways, but one aspect of
it was that a man was followed because he was suspected of possible intent to engage in
criminal or suspicious behavior. Being followed led to an altercation wherein a fight (and a
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tragic death) did occur. This would not have happened if the “suspect” had not been
followed. The best description of this particular aspect of the case is
a) fundamental attribution bias
b) self-fulfilling prophesy
c) conformity
d) deindividuation
24) Which of the following is a definition of self-efficacy?
a) A general tendency to expect positive outcomes
b) The belief in one’s ability to achieve desired outcomes
c) The perception that one has good relationships with others
d) A positive attitude toward the self
25) Dr. O’Malley is telling his participants before he begins the experiment that their
participation is completely voluntary and that they can stop taking part at any time. Dr.
Quick is providing a detailed explanation to participants who have just completed a study.
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
a) Both Dr. O’Malley and Dr. Quick are obtaining informed consent from their
participants.
b) Both Dr. O’Malley and Dr. Quick are debriefing their participants.
c) Dr. O’Malley is obtaining informed consent from his participants. Dr. Quick is
debriefing her participants.
d) Dr. Quick is obtaining informed consent from her participants. Dr. O’Malley is
debriefing his participants.
e) Both Dr.’s are veterinarians, and they are wasting their breath explaining things to their
animal participants
26) Amy is conducting a survey of dating attitudes and behaviors among young adults as
part of her masters’ thesis work. Amy distributes questionnaires to 200 randomly selected
students enrolled in an introductory psychology course at her university. The 200 students
constitute Amy’s _. The people of whom she assumes her results will generalize are
termed the .
a) control group; population
b) experimental group; population
c) population; sample
d) sample; population
27) According to psychodynamic theorists, which component of the personality uses
defense mechanisms and why?
a) The id uses defense mechanisms to express its impulses.
b) The superego uses defense mechanisms to help the id express its impulses.
c) The superego uses defense mechanisms to help the individual conform to society.
d) The ego uses defense mechanisms to prevent excessive anxiety.
e) The military commander uses defense mechanisms to protect the country
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28) Which of the following alternatives best expresses your text’s assessment of the
influence of individual differences in the tendency to conform?
a) Individual differences in the tendency to conform are minimal at best.
b) There are significant individual differences in the tendency to conform. Their influence
often opposes that of the situation.
c) There are significant individual differences in the tendency to conform. Their influence
is just as strong as the effect of the situation.
d) There are significant individual differences in the tendency to conform, but their
influence is generally overshadowed by the effect of the situation.
29) Carrie is dramatic and emotionally volatile. She rapidly forms intense relationships
that seem to blow up or fall apart just as quickly. Although she tends to distrust others, she
also needs their attention. Carrie might be diagnosed with personality disorder.
a) antisocial
b) borderline
c) narcissistic
d) dependent
30) In person-centered therapy, the therapist:
a) explores the client’s sexual history
b) uses reinforcement and punishment to modify the client’s actions
c) silently writes notes on a small pad
d) attempts to provide unconditional positive regard
e) tells clients it is “all about me”
31) Lithium carbonate is used to treat which of the following disorders?
a) ADHD
b) schizophrenia
c) Bipolar disorders
d) Anxiety disorders
32) According to Piaget, the process of fitting new experiences into existing schemata is
called________, whereas the process of changing or modifying existing schemata to make
sense of new experiences is called .
a) accommodation; assimilation
b) conservation; accommodation
c) assimilation; conservation
d) assimilation; accommodation
33) Dr. Irwin is testing the same individuals repeatedly over time as part of a research
study, while Dr. Jenner is comparing the performance of different people of various ages at
the same time. Dr. Irwin is using a research design; Dr. Jenner is using a
_ design.
a) cross-sectional; longitudinal
b) longitudinal; cross-sectional
c) sequential; simultaneous
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d) sequential; cross-sectional
34) Which of the following statements accurately expresses the relationship with age of
scores on measures of fluid intelligence, on the one hand, and scores on measures of
crystallized intelligence, on the other?
a) Scores on measures of both fluid and crystallized intelligence are uncorrelated with age.
b) Scores on fluid intelligence measures are negatively correlated with age, whereas those
on measures of crystallized intelligence may actually be positively correlated with age.
c) Scores on fluid intelligence measures may be positively correlated with age, whereas
those on measures of crystallized intelligence are negatively correlated with age.
d) Scores on measures of both fluid and crystallized intelligence are usually positively
correlated with age.
35) According to Benjamin Whorf, _ plays a large part in shaping thought.
a) language
b) the harshness of one’s environment
c) evolution
d) relationship dominance
36) Which of the following brain structures relays signals to higher brain levels?
a) cerebellum
b) thalamus
c) corpus callosum
d) reticular formation
37). The process by which the brain responds to experience or damage is termed
__.
a) neuromutability
b) neurogenesis
c) neuroflexibility
d) neuroplasticity
38) Which of the following scenarios is the best example of negative reinforcement?
a) Vanna fastens her seatbelt as soon as she gets in her car to stop the annoying alert sound.
b) Drake no longer cuts class now that his parents confiscated his iPod.
c) Maria now buys a different brand of cigarettes to get two packs for the price of one.
d) Nate no longer arrives late at work following a reprimand from his boss.
39) Last week, Mike heard about five separate airplane crashes on the news. Even though,
overall, motorcycle accidents account for more accidents than plane crashes do, Mike
decides to ride his motorcycle from Washington to Atlanta instead of flying. Which bias is
reflected in Mike’s decision?
a) the confirmation bias
b) the availability heuristic
c) the salience error
d) the representativeness heuristic
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40) Which of the following describes the Two-Phase Schachter-Singer theory of emotion?
a) Arousal creates emotion
b) Emotion creates arousal
c) Arousal and emotion happen at the same time
d) A cognitive label allows us to interpret arousal
PART II SHORT ESSAYS (10 points each)
Select SIX of the following Short Essay questions, and write approximately three
paragraphs on each of them. Be sure to cite sources and include a reference list. (Each
essay is worth 10 points)
- Describe what is meant by a personality disorder. Discuss several issues complicating the
diagnosis of personality disorders. - Describe, using concrete examples, how a behavior therapist might use systematic
desensitization and exposure therapy to treat a specific phobia or source of anxiety. - Briefly describe the nature and the objectives of community mental health services.
Distinguish among primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs. Provide a
concrete example of each. - When your best friend hears that you are taking a psychology course, she asserts that
psychology is simply common sense. Explain why your awareness of both the limits of
everyday reasoning and the methods of psychological research would lead you to disagree
with your friend’s assertion. - You are an experimental psychologist interested in finding out how effective a new
medication might work for treating depression. Describe a study you might conduct to
reach some conclusions on this matter. Be sure to define and provide examples of the
following terms and concepts, demonstrating your understanding of each: hypothesis,
independent variable, dependent variable, random assignment of participants, ethical
guidelines. - Choose a behavior that you would like to modify or change using the principles of
operant conditioning. Be sure to use and explain the following terms: operant conditioning,
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, schedules of reinforcement,
shaping, and extinction. - David’s history teacher asked him why many German people complied with Hitler’s
orders to systematically slaughter a large number of innocent Jews. David suggested that
the atrocities were committed because the Germans had become unusually cruel, sadistic
people with abnormal and twisted personalities. Use your knowledge of the fundamental
attribution error and Milgram’s research on obedience to highlight the weaknesses of
David’s explanation.
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- Imagine that you were involved in a legal case in which an eyewitness claimed that he has
seen a person commit a crime. Based on your knowledge about memory and cognition,
discuss some of the problems of eyewitness accounts. - Choose one person from the following list whom you feel played an important role in the
history of psychology: Freud, Pavlov, Skinner, Maslow, or Piaget. Describe what that
person did, the approximate time that this person lived, what makes their contribution
important, and criticisms of their work or theoretical position.
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PSYC 100 Answer sheet for Multiple
Choice
1 _D
2 _B
3 _B
4_C
5_C
6_B
7_B
8_B
9_D
10_A
11_B
12_A
13_D
14_B
15_D
16_B
17_D
18_D
19_A
20_C
21_D
22_D
23_B
24_B
25_C
26_D
27_D
28_C
29_B
30_D
31_C
32_D
33_B
34_B
35_A
36_B
37_D
38_C
39_B
40_D
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- Describe what is meant by a personality disorder. Discuss several issues
complicating the diagnosis of personality disorders.
Personality disorder is a condition in which an individual manifests significant difference
from the average person, in terms of how one perceives, thinks, relates, or feels about others.
Usually, the disorder depicts itself in various ways, some in which the individual feels
overwhelmed by negative feelings including anxiety, distress, angers, and worthlessness
(Stangor, 2009). Additionally, one might avoid other people and get engulfed with feelings of
emptiness, and disconnectedness.
Apart from the above symptoms, a victim of personality disorder may also have
difficulties managing trying situations without the possibility of harming oneself; the victim also
has real difficulty maintaining relationships, and ultimately loses contact with people.
Currently, there are several diagnostic problems associated with the personality disorder.
For instance, the current DSM diagnostic system uses a categorical approach against a
dimensional approach to carry out the diagnosis; it does not account for the relative significance
of the individual symptoms, and the kind of description given to each system is adversely broad;
and the DSM has also manifested a high degree of co-occurrence of the second axis personality
disorders with one another, as well as the first axis mental disorders. - Briefly describe the nature and the objectives of community mental health services.
Distinguish among primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs. Provide
a concrete example of each.
Mental health services are usually geared towards patients with mental disorders and
related illnesses. Their primary goal is to help people with mental illnesses to lead productive
lifestyles, and also to promote mental health through advocacy, service, and education (Hall et
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al, 2013). In this regard, mental health services are meant to be based on sound knowledge of
therapies as well as of individualized needs of patients and family members. Another objective
asserts that services would always incorporate the participation of the patient and family
members, and these services would be based respect consumer dignity and secrecy.
The primary prevention program usually targets at preventing healthy people from
experiencing or developing a disease through provision of good nutrition, education,
immunization, and control of potential health hazards. An example of this level of prevention is
where practitioners conduct awareness trainings on the importance of the seatbelt and helmets.
Secondary prevention comes in after an illness or an adverse risk factor has been diagnosed.
Here, the primary goal is to bring a ceasefire to the ongoing risk, or substantially slow its spread
especially in its earliest stages. An example is where people are urged to take low-dose aspirin
daily to prevent a second stroke or heart attack.
Lastly, the tertiary prevention level focuses on helping people who have been diagnosed
with a health condition or risk to manage such problems, especially when they are long-term
such as diabetes (Hall et al, 2013). An example is the stroke rehabilitation program to which
people diagnosed with such a condition are usually subjected.
- Choose a behavior that you would like to modify or change using the principles of
operant conditioning. Be sure to use and explain the following terms: operant
conditioning, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, schedules
of reinforcement, shaping, and extinction.
Operant conditioning can be used in almost all life aspects to impart the required
change. In this case, the behavior of students talking and laughing in class inappropriately is
subjected to the process of operant conditioning in order to correct the condition. In this case, it
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is appropriate for a teacher to apply both positive and negative reinforcement (Starling, Branson,
Cody, & McGreevy, 2013).
Positive reinforcement refers to the use of reinforcing stimuli following a certain
behavior in order to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future. Thus, when
students talk when they are asked a question by the teacher, the latter would reward or give a
positive comment. On the other hand, negative reinforcement involves using an aversive
stimulus to stop a negative behavior. For instance, the teacher would decide to punish the person
found talking without permission.
In the administering of the different kinds of reinforcement, the teacher would create a
definite schedule for the reinforcement, so that uniform results are achieved with regards to the
shaping of the students behaviors. Punishment refers to is an imposition of an undesirable act
upon an individual or a group of people following a behavior that is considered to be deviant.
When the schedules of reinforcement are followed strictly, the overall result of the operant
conditioning would lead to the extinction of the undesirable behavior (Starling et al, 2013).
- David’s history teacher asked him why many German people complied with Hitler’s
orders to systematically slaughter a large number of innocent Jews. David suggested
that the atrocities were committed because the Germans had become unusually
cruel, sadistic people with abnormal and twisted personalities. Use your knowledge
of the fundamental attribution error and Milgram’s research on obedience to
highlight the weaknesses of David’s explanation.
David’s explanation manifests obvious bias and errors that are highlighted in
psychological studies, especially according to the fundamental attribution error and Milgram’s
theory on Obedience. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency that people manifest to
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overestimate the effect of personality or disposition, and underestimate the impact of the current
situation in explaining the pattern of a social behavior (Gawronski, 2004). It usually emerges
strongly when people try to explain the behavior of others. According to this error, David is an
unmistakable victim, trying to attribute the aggressive and inhuman behavior of Hitler’s subjects
to the directive of their leader, rather than alluding it to the country’s situation at that time. It is
more logical to explain that the Germans were responding to the heat of the moment and going
on a retaliatory attack instead of making it look like they were being obedient to Hitler’s orders.
On the other hand, Milgram’s experiment reveals shocking results regarding people’s
obedience to an authoritative order or declaration (Stangor, 2009). Usually, people carry out
heinous crimes simply in the name of following orders. It is not easy to determine the logic of
such deeds, but all human beings manifest a very high tendency to follow orders from
authoritative figures regardless of their nature (Gawronski, 2004).
These two schools of thought reveal that David was wrong in blankly claiming that the
Germans had become inconsiderate, cruel, and sadistic people to commit such heinous acts. The
pattern of obedience to authority shows an unmistakable positive response to orders that may be
considered demeaning and largely inhuman.
- Imagine that you were involved in a legal case in which an eyewitness claimed that
he has seen a person commit a crime. Based on your knowledge about memory and
cognition, discuss some of the problems of eyewitness accounts.
Eyewitness testimony is a legal term that refers to an account given by people that have
witnessed an event occurring. Although juries pay very close attention to such accounts, there are
several problems associated with it. Particularly, research has identified that it can be affected by
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different psychological factors including reconstructive memory, anxiety/stress, leading
questions, and weapon focus (Clifford & Scott, 1978).
Anxiety is usually associated with crimes or violence in real life. When an individual
witnesses a violent scenario, the events of that occurrence rarely escape from their memory. The
only weakness of this correlation is that the proximity of a witness to the scene of violent crime
affects the accuracy of information or eye-witness account given a few periods later. Secondly,
reconstructive memory theory suggests that memory of human beings does not work like a
typical tape recorder; but people store information differently from how it is presented. It
therefore means that information undergoes reconstruction or distortion such that eyewitness
accounts are not entirely reliable (Clifford & Scott, 1978).
Moreover, a witness can entirely focus on a weapon used in a violent crime at the
expense of other finer details of the crime. Thus, in such crimes that involve the use of weapons,
cognition of eyewitnesses is biased and affected.
- Choose one person from the following list whom you feel played an important role
in the history of psychology: Freud, Pavlov, Skinner, Maslow, or Piaget. Describe
what that person did, the approximate time that this person lived, what makes their
contribution important, and criticisms of their work or theoretical position.
Abraham Maslow is a renowned researcher or psychologist who invented the popular
‘Hierarchy of Needs’. This pyramid has been used in various aspects of life to explain the pattern
of motivation for individuals to seek higher status in life. He posits that human actions are
motivated by the need to achieve certain needs, presented from the most basic to the most
luxurious. Maslow proposed five levels of needs including physiological, security, social,
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esteem, and self-actualizing needs. Once an individual achieves one level, there is a greater
motivation to achieve the next (Hoffman, 2008).
Maslow lived for approximately 62 years, having been born in 1908 and dying in mid-
- He stressed the importance of centering on the positive qualities of people. His work has
greatly impacted all segments of life since it spans across all fields that need motivation to
succeed.
However, Maslow’s ideas have faced strong criticisms for their obvious lack of scientific
backing and rigor. American empiricists referred to him as “too soft”. Lately, Sally Satel, a
psychiatrist and Christina Sommers, a social critic have downplayed his work for lack of
empirical backing. They assert that Maslow’s ideas have fallen out of fashion and can no longer
be applicable in the current academic world of psychology (Hoffman, 2008). The Hierarchy of
Needs has been said to manifest cultural bias, being more aligned to western ideologies and
values.
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References
Clifford, B.R. and Scott, J. (1978). Individual and situational factors in eyewitness memory.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 352-359.
Gawronski, Bertram (2004). “Theory-based bias correction in dispositional inference: The
fundamental attribution error is dead, long live the correspondence bias”. European
Review of Social Psychology 15 (1): 183–217.
Hall, C. L., Newell, K., Taylor, J., Sayal, K., Swift, K. D., & Hollis, C. (2013). ‘Mind the gap’ –
mapping services for young people with ADHD transitioning from child to adult mental
health services. BMC Psychiatry, 13(1), 1-8
Hoffman, E (2008). “Abraham Maslow: A Biographer’s Reflection”. Journal of Humanistic
Psychology, 48(4), 439-443. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
Kernberg, O. F., & Yeomans, F. E. (2013). Borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder,
depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder:
Practical differential diagnosis. Bulletin Of The Menninger Clinic, 77(1), 1-22.
Stangor C. (2009). Introduction to Psychology. Publisher: Flat World Knowledge, L.L.C.
Starling, M. J., Branson, N., Cody, D., & McGreevy, P. D. (2013). Conceptualising the Impact of
Arousal and Affective State on Training Outcomes of Operant Conditioning. Animals
(2076-2615), 3(2), 300-317.