Practice Exam 1: Chapters 1 & 2

1. In the 1920s, there were many fundamental disputes between competing schools of thought in
psychology. These disputes illustrate which of the textbooks unifying themes?
a. Psychology is empirical.
b. Psychology evolves in a socio-historical context.
c. Psychology is theoretically diverse.
d. Our experience of the world is highly subjective.
2. Psychologists refer to the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a
desirable outcome as
a. skepticism.
b. scientific thinking.
c. critical thinking.
d. empiricism.
3. Which of the following is NOT good advice for developing sound study habits?
a. Find a place to study where you can concentrate
b. Set up a schedule for studying
c. Avoid taking study breaks while studying
d. Reward yourself for studying
4. Widely shared customs, beliefs, values, and norms refer to which of the following?
a. ideographic nature
b. culture
c. ontogeny
d. phylogeny
5. A scientist uses ____ to explain a set of observations.
a. a theory
b. common sense
c. introspection
d. empiricism
6. Researchers in psychology have to see it to believe it. This orientation is MOST consistent with
a. empiricism.
b. structuralism.
c. functionalism.
d. humanism.
7. Dr. Lopez is a psychologist who evaluates, diagnoses, and treats people with everyday problems
of moderate severity. What type of psychologist is Dr. Lopez?
a. An educational psychologist
b. A counseling psychologist
c. A school psychologist
d. An industrial psychologist

8. Which of the following questions would a social psychologist be MOST likely to ask?
a. How stable is personality over the lifespan?
b. Why do we like some people and not others?
c. What effect does anxiety have on test performance?
d. Do depressed people think differently than non-depressed people?
9. Colleges and universities are the primary work setting for approximately ____ of American
psychologists.
a. 10%
b. 30%
c. 50%
d. 70%
10. The individual MOST closely associated with the recent development of positive psychology is
a. David Buss.
b. Roger Sperry.
c. James Olds.
d. Martin Seligman.
11. Which of the following psychological perspectives is MOST likely to focus on the interrelations
among the mind, body, and behavior?
a. evolutionary perspective
b. biological perspective
c. cognitive perspective
d. behavioral perspective
12. The cognitive perspective contends that to fully understand human behavior, psychologists need
to focus attention on
a. the role of the unconscious.
b. internal mental events.
c. the interrelations among the mind, body, and behavior.
d. the adaptive value of a behavior.
13. After World War II, many psychologists began to specialize in
a. clinical psychology.
b. research psychology.
c. experimental psychology.
d. industrial psychology.
14.Which of the following psychologists would be MOST likely to stress that each person has a drive to
grow and fulfill his or her potential?
a. Sigmund Freud
b. B. F. Skinner
c. G. Stanley Hall
d. Abraham Maslow
15.Humanists believe that peoples behavior is governed by

a.
b.
c.
d.

their self-concepts.
unconscious sexual urges.
the outcomes of their responses.
biochemical processes.

16. It should be easiest to teach a child to pick up his toys by utilizing the principles and techniques
developed by
a. William James.
b. Abraham Maslow.
c. B. F. Skinner.
d. Wilhelm Wundt.
17. Janet trained her dog to sit on command by following this behavior with a reward of a dog biscuit
and praise. Janet used the principles of
a. behaviorism.
b. humanism.
c. psychoanalysis.
d. functionalism.
18. Marissa wants to study peoples emotional reactions to increases in temperature. Her classmate,
Bernard, tells her that she should focus on observable behaviors, rather than internal states in her
study. Bernards views are MOST similar to those found in
a. the psychodynamic perspective.
b. the evolutionary perspective.
c. the behavioral perspective.
d. the biological perspective.
19. Christine is a psychologist who conducts research on the effects of reward on maze learning in
rats. Christine would MOST likely be considered a
a. behaviorist.
b. structuralist.
c. psychoanalyst.
d. Gestalt psychologist.
20. John B. Watson argued that psychologists should
a. use the method of introspection to establish the structural aspects of consciousness.
b. be concerned with the purposiveness (function) of behavior.
c. confine their work to people who are diagnosed as mentally ill.
d. abandon the study of consciousness.

21. Which of the following statements about Freuds psychoanalytic theory is MOST accurate?

a. Freuds views have been largely abandoned and they exert relatively little, if any,
influence on current mainstream psychology.
b. Freuds views exert a tremendous influence on other disciplines, but not on psychology.
c. Freuds views exert a tremendous influence on developmental and abnormal psychology,
but not on other areas of mainstream psychology.
d. Many psychoanalytic concepts have filtered into the mainstream of psychology.
22. The concept of stream of consciousness is associated with
a. John Watson.
b. William James.
c. Sigmund Freud.
d. Wilhelm Wundt.
23. The first woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association was
a. Mary Calkins.
b. Margaret Washburn.
c. Leta Hollingworth.
d. Anna Freud.
24. If while watching an exquisite sunset you stop and analyze your sensations, thoughts, and
feelings, you would be performing introspection as the ____ once did.
a. structuralists
b. behaviorists
c. functionalists
d. psychoanalysts
25. The person responsible for establishing psychology as an independent discipline with its own
subject matter is
a. G. Stanley Hall.
b. Ren Descartes.
c. William James.
d. Wilhelm Wundt.
26. Wundt defined psychology as
a. the scientific study of behavior.
b. the scientific study of the unconscious.
c. the scientific study of the brain.
d. the scientific study of conscious experience.
27.The scientific approach assumes that
a. events are governed by some lawful order.
b. each event is completely unique.
c. there are no general laws or principles that apply to human behavior.
d. the search for absolute truth is the ultimate goal.

28. A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables is a(n)
a. variable.
b. hypothesis.
c. theory.
d. operational definition.
29. Dr. Licciardi predicts that if people are observed while they perform a complex task, they will
make more errors. Dr. Licciardis prediction is an example of
a. a hypothesis.
b. an operational definition.
c. a theory.
d. inferential statistics.
30. In scientific investigations, researchers must clearly define the variables under study by precisely
describing how they will be measured or controlled. These definitions are referred to as
a. objective definitions.
b. precise definitions.
c. operational definitions.
d. dictionary definitions.
31. Operational definitions are MOST closely associated with which major advantage of the scientific
approach?
a. commonsense approach
b. clarity and precision
c. intolerance of error
d. tolerance of error
32. Researchers who were studying plant growth raised plants in two separate rooms. One room had
taped conversations playing 24 hours a day; the other room was silent. The researchers found that
the plants grew better in the room that had the conversations playing. In this study, the type of
room (conversation or silence) would be
a. the dependent variable.
b. an extraneous variable.
c. a placebo.
d. the independent variable.
33. The purpose of the control group is to
a. make the experiment more complex.
b. isolate the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
c. make statistical significance more likely.
d. isolate the effect of the dependent variable on the independent variable.
34. In experimental research, the variable that the researcher measures because it is thought to be
affected by the manipulation of another variable is the
a. extraneous variable.
b. dependent variable.
c. independent variable.
d. controlled variable.

35. Suppose a researcher discovered a +.87 correlation between the length of a persons toes and the
number of shoes the person owns. In general, people who own the fewest number of shoes would
have
a. small toes.
b. large toes.
c. medium-sized toes.
d. either very large or very small toes.
36. As an adult ages, his/her physical strength declines. The relationship between age and physical
strength is a(n)
a. nonexistent correlation.
b. equal correlation.
c. positive correlation.
d. negative correlation.
37. Of the following, the correlation coefficient that indicates the strongest relationship between the
two variables being measured is
a. +0.65.
b. -0.89.
c. 0.00.
d. +3.45.
38.Which of the following is NOT listed in the textbook as a descriptive research method?
a. criterion-based induction
b. case studies
c. surveys
d. naturalistic observation
39. One advantage of naturalistic observation is that it
a. approximates the experimental method.
b. allows for cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn.
c. allows behavior to be studied in realistic settings.
d. involves random assignment.
40. Broadening the scope of phenomena that psychologists are able to study is associated with
a. descriptive research methods.
b. introspective research methods.
c. hypothetical deductive research methods.
d. functional research methods.
41. The subjects who participate in an experiment should
a. all be chosen from the same geographical area and socioeconomic class.
b. be allowed to choose in which group they would like to be.
c. come from a wide range of different age groups.
d. be carefully chosen so that they represent a sample of the population.

42. The fact that researchers often unintentionally influence the outcome of their studies implies the
existence of
a. experimenter bias.
b. a placebo effect.
c. sampling bias.
d. social desirability.
43. The ____ is a research strategy that minimizes the potential methodological problems associated
with the placebo effect and experimenter bias.
a. neutral sample procedure
b. single-blind procedure
c. double-blind procedure
d. blind sample procedure
44. Deception is used in some research in order to
a. help control for placebo effects.
b. help aid in double-blind procedures.
c. prevent socially desirable responding.
d. encourage socially desirable responding.
45. Which of the following is NOT included in the ethical guidelines for human participants in
psychological research?
a. Participants should not be subjected to harmful or dangerous treatments.
b. Participants should be paid for their participation.
c. Participants right to privacy should not be compromised.
d. Participants should volunteer to participate.
46. The correct sequencing of the sections of the main body of a journal article would be
a. introduction, method, results, discussion.
b. introduction, discussion, method, results.
c. discussion, introduction, method, results.
d. method, introduction, results, discussion.
47. Imagine that a group of researchers conducted a single-blind study designed to test the
effectiveness of subliminal-message weight-loss tapes. Suppose the researchers found that
everyone lost weight during the study, even those who were given tapes without any subliminal
messages. This type of result would
a. indicate that the independent and dependent variables are negatively correlated.
b. provide evidence that subliminal tapes are effective in promoting weight loss.
c. be evidence of a placebo effect.
d. be evidence that the study contained confounding variables.

48. A researcher is conducting an experiment on the effect of alcohol consumption on reaction time;
half of the subjects drink alcoholic drinks, and half drink nonalcoholic versions of the same
drinks. The subjects receiving the nonalcoholic drinks are the ____ group and are used in the
study to minimize the influence of ____.
a. experimental; sampling bias
b. experimental; the placebo effect
c. control; sampling bias
d. control; the placebo effect
49. The double-blind procedure was developed by researchers because of which unifying theme in
psychology?
a. psychology is empirical
b. psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context
c. our behavior is shaped by our cultural heritage
d. our experience of the world is highly subjective
50. The organization or standard format of journal articles describing psychological research reflects
or follows the
a. preferences of the specific researcher.
b. goals of science.
c. steps involved in conducting scientific research.
d. unifying themes of psychology.