Sample Question
Sample Question
a. a biological psychologist
b. a psychoanalytic psychologist
c. a cognitive-behavioral psychologist
d. a humanistic psychologist
a. being unpopular
b. maladaptiveness
c. inflexibility
d. impaired functioning
A person complains that her hair is gradually turning into wire and her bones
are slowly falling to her feet. While explaining this, she will sometimes laugh
hysterically and at other times cry. Which form of schizophrenia would be a
likely diagnosis in this case?
a. paranoid
b. catatonic
c. disorganized
d. residual
After being rejected by all the medical schools she applied to, Melanie
developed a sad and dejected mood. She had difficulty sleeping, ate much less
than normal, no longer took interest in the hobbies and activities that once gave
her pleasure, and felt that she was worthless. Melanie would be diagnosed as
suffering from
a. bipolar depression.
b. unipolar depression.
c. panic disorder
d. mania.
Sophia suffers from intense bouts of fear whenever she sees a bee. Sophia is
most likely suffering from
a. panic disorder
b. phobic disorder
c. generalized anxiety disorder
d. post traumatic stress disorder
Geraldo has lost the feeling in his hand, but his doctors can find no reason for
his paralysis. Geraldo is suffering from
a. somatization disorder
b. hypochondriasis
c. conversion disorder
d. body dysmorphic disorder
Aretha is a behavioral psychologist. How would she view the cause of most
psychological disorders?
Jana often drinks too much alcohol. Which of the following criteria for
abnormality does Jana's behavior MOST likely meet?
a. infrequent behavior
b. maladaptive
c. labeled as abnormal by society
d. perceptual distortion
Which of the following tests is based on Freudian theory?
a. Freudian psychologist.
b. neo-Freudian.
c. humanist
d. trait psychologist.
Pedro is always the life of the party. He loves being the center of attention.
According to Eysenck, Pedro is a
a. introvert.
b. extrovert.
c. psychotic.
d. neurotic.
According to Allport, compassion and faithfulness are probably what kind of
traits for the Pope?
a. central traits
b. secondary traits
c. cardinal traits
d. source traits
a. agreeableness.
b. openness.
c. neuroticism
d. conscientiousness.
In India, the Hindus believe in Karma, or the belief that one cannot control
one's present destiny, but one's present actions will influence one's future lives.
The Hindus' beliefs indicate that they tend to have
Wilma cries in her crib. Her mother comes and picks her up. This comfort
makes Wilma feel better and she stops crying. This scenario illustrates
a. self-efficacy.
b. reciprocal determinism.
c. external locus of control.
d. neuroticism.
Arron, a four-year-old male, sees Jordan playing with an airplane. Arron wants
to play with the airplane. According to Freud, if Arron has a well-adjusted
personality, what is he likely to do?
a. grab the toy from Jordan without asking
b. wait until Jordan has finished playing with the airplane before playing
with it himself
c. try to get Jordan interested in another toy so he can play with the
airplane
d. Arron is equally likely to engage in any of the above behaviors.
a. underdeveloped superego.
b. overdeveloped id.
c. overdeveloped superego.
d. underdeveloped id.
a. id and ego.
b. id and superego.
c. ego and superego.
d. conscious and unconscious.
"I know that I should wear my seat belt in the car, but I don’t." This person
probably experiences
a. external attribution.
b. the self-serving bias.
c. prejudice.
d. cognitive dissonance.
Claire must try to convince the other executives in her company to invest in a
major real estate venture. She knows that her colleagues are not initially in
favor of the idea. Claire should
a. consistency.
b. conformity.
c. compliance.
d. obedience.
Imagine that you have been put in charge of a fundraising campaign for your
community organization. You decide to try the foot-in-the-door technique.
Which of the following strategies would you use?
a. most people will not obey orders to harm others in the lab.
b. males but not females will obey orders to shock another person.
c. a majority of people will obey orders that they know are reasonable.
d. psychiatrists overestimate the percentage of individuals who will follow
orders to harm others in laboratory experiments.
Adam is driving past the scene of an automobile accident. He sees that there are
a lot of other people around, so he doesn’t feel that he needs to stop. Adam’s
behavior is an example of
a. conformity.
b. nonconformity.
c. low balling.
d. diffusion of responsibility.
Maria watches her mother "smack" her little brother Julio to get him to shut up.
Later when Julio begins screaming, Maria smacks him. Which theory on
aggression BEST explains Maria’s behavior?
a. social learning
b. frustration-aggression
c. innate
d. none of the above
Helga dislikes yogurt. Which of the following are possible behaviors for
Helga, given her dislike of yogurt?
We are most likely to make what kind of attribution in cases where the person's
behavior is very socially undesirable?
a. situational
b. external
c. personal
d. self-perception
a. self-schema.
b. person schema.
c. event schema.
d. mere exposure effect.
a. People live in ghettos because they lack the motivation to make anything
of themselves.
b. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
c. Prison guards are not mean people, they are just victims of a very
difficult situation.
d. There but for the grace of God go I.
Emmanuel, a construction worker, fell off a platform and hit his head on a cross
bar. Emmanuel cannot remember what he was doing prior to his fall.
Emmanuel is suffering from
a. retrograde amnesia.
b. anterograde amnesia.
c. repression.
d. proactive interference.
Which of the following is the process of gaining access to information that has
been stored in memory?
a. encoding
b. storage
c. retrieval
d. repression
a. proactive interference
b. retroactive interference
c. decay
d. all of the above
a. encoding of information.
b. maintenance of information.
c. retrieval of information.
d. decay of information.
Yan learns the words to "Yankee Doodle" while intoxicated at a frat party.
Under which conditions will Yan be LEAST likely to remember the words to
"Yankee Doodle"?
a. when he is drunk
b. when he is at the frat house
c. when he is with his frat buddies at school
d. when he is at work
Sue has recently moved to Georgia from Oklahoma. Now she catches herself
writing her old Oklahoma address on her letters. She is experiencing
a. proactive interference.
b. retroactive interference.
c. decay.
d. cue-dependent forgetting.
Camile is at a party with her boyfriend, where she is introduced to many of his
friends. Each time she is introduced to someone new, she repeats his/her name
as frequently as she can. These new names MOST likely reside in which part
of Camile's memory?
a. sensory
b. short-term
c. long-term
d. iconic
a. long-term memory.
b. short-term memory.
c. sensory memory.
d. the hippocampus.
a. acoustic
b. verbal
c. categorical
d. semantic
Humberto studies his vocabulary words by using the words in sentences. Sol
studies his vocabulary words by rhyming them with other words. All other
factors being equal, who will do better on a test on the meanings of the
vocabulary words?
a. Humberto
b. Sol
c. Both will do equally well.
d. One cannot tell given the available information.
When Blanca asks a question in kindergarten, her teacher smiles at her. For
Blanca, the teacher's smiling serves as a
Mrs. Klopeck wants her son Uri to be a neat person. Last week when Uri made
his bed, Mrs. Klopeck rewarded him by not making him take out the trash that
night (a chore he doesn't like). Mrs. Klopeck is using what kind of operant
conditioning strategy?
a. positive reinforcement
b. negative reinforcement
c. punishment
d. She isn't using operant conditioning, she is using classical conditioning.
Ian wants his dog to stop sitting on the couch. Every time he sees his dog on
the couch he hits the dog with a rolled-up newspaper. Ian is using what kind of
learning procedure?
a. positive reinforcement
b. negative reinforcement
c. punishment
d. negative reinforcement and punishment
Mr. Teng wants to teach his son to stop swearing. Which of the following
methods would be MOST effective in accomplishing this goal?
Louisa has a mental disorder called obsessive compulsive disorder. She feels
compelled to wash her hands hundreds of times a day. If she is prevented from
washing her hands, she becomes extremely anxious and distraught. For Louisa,
hand washing is a
Joan recently received a phone call with the very sad news that her father had
died. Now every time the phone rings, Joan feels fearful and sad. In this
example, the "news that her father had died" served as the
a. CS. c. UR.
b. US. d. CR.
Fernando was bitten by a dog when he was a small child. Now whenever he
sees a dog he becomes fearful. Fernando's behavior is a good example of
a. extinction.
b. spontaneous recovery.
c. generalization.
d. discrimination.
During a long airplane flight, Jack thinks of his girlfriend Juanita and soon
notices that he has an erection. Jack is in which sexual response stage?
a. plateau
b. resolution
c. orgasm
d. excitement
a. inhibited desire.
b. inhibited excitement.
c. anorgasmia.
d. inhibited plateau.
After reviewing studies that included several million subjects, researchers Hyde
and her colleagues found which of the following to be TRUE about
mathematical ability?
Paula is just learning to walk. However, she exhibits a great deal of hesitancy
whenever her mother is not right by her side. According to Erikson, Paula is
struggling with
Daniella got caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. Because her mother
punished her, Daniella believes that she was wrong in stealing the cookie.
Daniella is MOST likely at which of Kohlberg's stages of moral development?
a. preconventional
b. conventional
c. post conventional
d. interpersonally normative
Difficult babies
One difference between a securely attached infant and one who is insecurely
attached is that securely attached infants
Seven-year-old Alyssa only plays with girls, thinks that boys are weird, and
attends second grade. She is MOST likely in which of Freud's psychosexual
stages?
a. oral
b. anal
c. phallic
d. latency
a. more competent.
b. achievement oriented.
c. less socially assertive.
d. dependent and submissive.
One of the problems with medical treatment for the dying that emphasizes
aggressive treatment rather than comfort care, is that is prolongs which of
Kubler-Ross' stages of dying?
a. bargaining
b. denial
c. depression
d. acceptance
Which of these tasks most clearly makes use of crystallized intelligence?
Habib has spent his entire life on his parents' goat farm which is located in a
remote mountain village. Because of his family's isolation, Habib has never
seen any animal except his parents' goats. Today his family has installed a
satellite dish and Habib is watching a National Geographic special on wild
boars. When Habib sees his first boar, he says, "Look mommy, it's a goat!"
Habib's behavior is an example of
a. disequilibrium
b. assimilation
c. accommodation
d. schematizing
Willie and his brother Jake are having breakfast. Their mother pours each boy
an equal amount of orange juice in his favorite glass. Jake's glass is short and
wide whereas Willie's glass is tall and skinny. After their mother pours the
juice, Jake begins to cry because he feels that Willie has more juice. Jake's
behavior reflects
a. object permanence.
b. egocentrism.
c. a lack of conservation.
d. abstract reasoning.
The ability to think about one's "ideal self" would be seen in which of Piaget's
stages of cognitive development?
a. sensorimotor
b. preoperational
c. concrete operations
d. formal operations
Regarding the sensory development of the newborn, research has indicated that
newborns
The ruling by an Iowa court to put baby Jessica back with her biological
parents implies that _______ is more significant over __________ in
development.
a. nature; nurture
b. nurture; nature
c. genotype; phenotype
d. phenotype; genotype
Dr. Tims is a developmental psychologist. She has been tracking the cognitive
development of a class of children from the time they started kindergarten until
the time they graduated from high school. What kind of research design is Dr.
Tims using?
a. cross-sectional
b. longitudinal
c. differentiated
d. cross-sequential
Consider the following dream description: "I am riding on a train that is going
much too fast. We enter a tunnel and suddenly everything goes dark. I wait and
wait but we never come out of the tunnel. There is no light at the end of it.
Then, I wake up. According to Freud, which of the following represents the
latent content of the above dream?
On television you see an infomercial selling a "hypnosis kit." You hear the
announcer claim that hypnosis has been successfully used to reduce pain,
decrease tension, stop overeating, and quit smoking. It was also said that people
who are highly susceptible to hypnosis respond more favorably. What did the
announcer say that you know to be FALSE?
a. alcohol
b. nicotine
c. seconal
d. heroin
The psychoactive drug that is MOST often linked to assaults, homicides, and
suicides is
a. PCP
b. cocaine
c. alcohol
d. marijuana
Terry is a "short sleeper." She sleeps an average of 4.5 hours a night. Which of
the following will Terry likely encounter?
a. paranoia
b. frequent colds
c. memory loss
d. no symptoms
As we move from stage 1 sleep to stage 4 sleep, the brain emits successively
"Wow, look at that guy," David remarks looking at a picture of a man standing
over 8 feet tall. "This guy must have had a dysfunctional ____________ gland.
a. adrenal
b. pituitary
c. thyroid
d. pancreas
Florence was bitten by a black widow spider, and now she is experiencing
paralysis of her muscles. Which of the following neurotransmitters is MOST
likely being blocked by the black widow venom?
a. acetylcholine
b. dopamine
c. serotonin
d. GABA
a. At the synapse, the action potential of the first neuron sparks across the
gap and immediately starts an action potential in the next neuron.
b. Prior to reaching the synapse, the action potential of the first neuron
often dies out.
c. At the synapse, the action potential of the first neuron causes the release
of neurotransmitters into the synapse.
d. Neurons have unlimited action potentials.
a. deception
b. physical harm
c. psychological harm
d. confidentiality
Kate is studying the effects of sleep deprivation on task performance. She has
randomly assigned her subjects to one of two groups. In group one, the
subjects are deprived of a normal night's sleep. In group two, the subjects are
allowed to sleep for the normal 8 hours. In the morning, all subjects are given a
hand-eye coordination task to complete and the number of errors they make is
recorded. In this research, the independent variable is:
Which of the following research questions would be BEST answered using the
survey method?
Frank has entered a clinic to help him lose weight. The clinic's program for
losing weight focuses on identifying specific situations in Frank's environment
that cause him to overeat. The clinic's program MOST emphasizes which
psychological perspective?
a. psychoanalytic
b. humanistic
c. behavioral
d. cognitive
a. social
b. experimental
c. clinical
d. developmental
Suppose that you wanted to understand how a baby recognizes his/her mother's
face over other women's faces. If you were a functionalist, you would:
a. analyze how the baby compares the size, shape, color, and other features
of his/her mother's face to other women's faces.
b. focus on what purpose this distinction serves the baby.
c. study all the stimuli the baby associates with the mother that has resulted
in this learning.
d. look for unconscious desires that may be fulfilled by acquiring this
knowledge.