PSY 2012 Exam #2 November 10th , 2008

Directions : Please read each question carefully. Mark the correct answer on the
corresponding space on your answer sheet. Please raise your hand for clarification on any
questions you may have. Hand in your test and answer sheet when you have finished. You
may leave the class quietly thereafter. Please make sure you do not disturb other students
on your way out.

1) A form of thinking in which valid conclusions are drawn from a set of facts is called:
A) cognition. B) reasoning.
C) conceptualization. D) syllogism.

2) A mental category used to represent a class or group of objects.

A) an image B) a concept C) a template D) a cohort

3) Which type of concepts tend to rely on everyday perceptions rather than strict classification?
A) natural concepts B) formal concepts
C) language concepts D) memory concepts

4) Chris leaves for work every morning at 6:15 a.m. even though he doesn’t need to be at work until
8:00. He leaves when he does so he can avoid traffic jams — although this means that he is usually
about 40 minutes early for work. In deciding when to leave for work, Chris is using:
A) heuristics. B) elimination by aspects.
C) the additive strategy. D) reasoning.

5) People with cancer tend to be more optimistic if their doctor says, “You are 90% certain to survive,” as
opposed to. “There is a 1 in 10 chance you will die.” This is an example of:
A) poor bedside manners. B) a heuristic.
C) framing information. D) developing a healthful concept.

6) Applying a solution used for a past problem to a current problem that shares many similar features is:
A) working backwards. B) the analogy heuristic.
C) an algorithm. D) trial and error.

7) The rule in English that adjectives usually come before nouns is part of:
A) semantics. B) surface structure.
C) syntax. D) grammatics

8) Which of the following primates most successfully mastered language?

A) Washoe B) Kanzi
C) Sarah D) Nim Chimpsky

9) Albert scores high on I.Q. tests. He also gets very good grades and scored very well on his college
entrance exams. This supports Spearman’s:
A) Y factor. B) g factor. C) S theory. D) s factor.
10) Tony was an outstanding athlete in high school. However, his grades were so poor that he eventually
dropped out of school. According to Gardner, it might be argued that Tony is high in which type of
intelligence?
A) interpersonal B) spatial
C) bodily-kinesthetic D) naturalistic

11) In a normal curve, the largest percentage of people taking an IQ test will score in the range from:
A) 0 to 60. B) 130 to 200. C) 90 to 100. D) 70 to 130.

12) Barry is 35 years old and lives at home with his parents. He has the academic skills of a second or
third grader and an IQ score of 53, but is able to do chores at a local workshop. Barry is ________
retarded.
A) mildly B) moderately C) severely D) profoundly

13) ________ is the study of how humans grow, develop and change throughout the life cycle.
A) Social psychology B) Behavioral psychology
C) Developmental psychology D) Sociobiology

14) A researcher began collecting data on a group of twenty-five children in the late 1970s. She is still
compiling data on these individuals, who are now in their early thirties. This researcher is conducting a
________ study.
A) longitudinal B) cross-sectional
C) case D) survey

15) Which of the following is NOT a stage of prenatal development?

A) the neonate stage B) the fetal stage
C) the embryonic stage D) the germinal stage

16) Sucking, coughing, blinking and swallowing are all:

A) reflexive behaviors the neonate can perform at birth.
B) instinctual behaviors the fetus develops during the first trimester.
C) behaviors the neonate learns within two to three days of birth.
D) behaviors learned within the first twenty-four hours of birth.

17) When an infant becomes accustomed to a stimulus and stops responding to it, he/she has become:
A) over-stimulated. B) habituated.
C) sensitized. D) adjusted.

18) Rachael is two-and-a-half-months old. She has yet to establish routines relating to eating, sleeping
and elimination functions. She is irritable, has a tendency to cry whenever she is presented with a novel
situation and is in general extreme in her emotional reactions. According to Thomas, Chess, and Birch,
Shane Rachael would be classified as:
A) difficult. B) easy.
C) slow-to-warm-up. D) too inconsistent to categorize.
19) Infant ________, evidenced by serious emotional distress at being away from the caregiver, usually
peaks between 12 to 18 months of age.
A) separation anxiety B) stranger anxiety
C) attachment anxiety D) situational anxiety

20) Terrell is one-and-a-half years old and loves to pound colored pegs with his wooden hammer. One
day Terrell’s dad brings home a set of plastic bolts, nuts and wrenches for Terrell to play with. Terrell
picks up a wrench and starts to pound on pegs with it. Terrell is demonstrating which process?
A) accommodation B) assimilation
C) attenuation D) sensitization

21) The milestone infants achieve during the sensorimotor stage is:
A) object permanence. B) habituation.
C) concrete operations. D) preoperational thought.

22) Four-year-old Kendra cannot understand that a “skinny” glass and a “fat” glass can hold the same
amount of juice. She immediately grabs what she perceives as the glass containing more juice and
leaves the other one for her little brother. Kendra is in the ________ stage of development and has not
yet mastered the concept of ________.
A) sensorimotor; object permanence B) preoperational; deferred imitation
C) preoperational; conservation D) concrete operations; decentering

23) The fact that psychologists now view adulthood as a series of changes that happen across the whole
human lifespan reflects ________.
A) the influence of the psychodynamic perspective
B) the behavioral view of development
C) the lifespan perspective
D) the influence of Jean Piaget

24) Erikson theorized that the third developmental stage, ending with the onset of puberty, involves
________.
A) the development of a sense of industriousness and pride in accomplishment
B) the establishment of a firm sense of self-identity
C) the expression of an individual’s will and independence
D) the need to affiliate with a significant other person

25) In order for the young adult to realize a successful outcome in Erikson’s sixth psychosocial stage they
must learn to establish a sense of:
A) identity. B) intimacy. C) initiative. D) industry.

26) People who have successfully made it through all of Erikson’s transition periods, and have developed
intimacy and generativity, will likely end their lives with:
A) isolation. B) ego integrity. C) trust. D) regret.
27) In Erikson’s psychosocial theory, middle adulthood is characterized by ________.
A) generativity vs. stagnation B) intimacy vs. isolation
C) identity vs. role confusion D) ego integrity vs. despair

28) Erikson used the term ________ to describe the trouble adolescents experience in forming a self-
concept.
A) moratorium B) ego crisis C) identity crisis D) stagnation

29) In the sequence of changes that take place during puberty, the first and most startling marked change
in girls and boys is usually:
A) growth of underarm hair. B) enlargement of breasts and testes.
C) a growth spurt. D) the appearance of pubic hair.

30) Reasoning during Kohlberg’s preconventional level of moral reasoning is:

A) based on the internalized standards of others.
B) based on doing the right thing so as to please others.
C) based on the consideration of moral alternatives.
D) based on the physical consequences of an act.

31) “A law should not be followed to the letter if it applies to a situation in which the basic human rights
of the individual are in danger of being subverted.” This statement reflects:
A) postconventional moral reasoning. B) preconventional moral reasoning.
C) unconventional moral reasoning. D) conventional moral reasoning.

32) Initially individuals who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease develop substantial tissue loss in the
________ area of their brain.
A) hippocampus B) medial frontal lobe
C) lateral parietal lobe D) prefrontal

33) Which of the following is considered a major factor in early onset Alzheimer’s?
A) diet B) stress C) mental acuity D) heredity

34) After the terminally ill individual accepts they are ill and their anger subsides, they enter what
Kubler-Ross termed the ________ stage.
A) regret B) acceptance C) bargaining D) depression

35) The Kubler-Ross theory of death and dying proposes that the final stage before death is:
A) denial. B) depression. C) acceptance. D) bargaining.

36) What are the three components of motivation that work together to influence behavior?
A) self-esteem, safety, persistence and learning.
B) activation, persistence, and intensity.
C) incentives, goals and drives.
D) arousal, drive and incentives.
37) Jimmy plays basketball on the playground many hours each day. Even when he is very tired he finds
a good game irresistible. We might say that Jimmy:
A) is externally motivated. B) is intrinsically motivated.
C) has incentive. D) is extrinsically motivated.

38) The biological concept of homeostasis is the basis for the:

A) drive-reduction theory of motivation. B) instinct theory of motivation.
C) learning theory of motivation. D) arousal theory of motivation.

39) This theory maintains that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of alertness.
A) drive theory B) instinct theory
C) arousal theory D) stimulus theory

40) According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, an individual who is taking a highly complex test assessing
their mathematical and analytical abilities would perform best at a ________ arousal level.
A) high B) moderate C) medium D) low

41) Which of the following is one of the major differences between someone who is dieting and someone
who has anorexia?
A) People with anorexia have poorer academic performance.
B) People with anorexia are less likely to be interested in food or food preparation.
C) People with anorexia are more likely to experience behavior problems.
D) People with anorexia have more unrealistic perceptions of their body size.

42) Tooth decay, sore throats, kidney damage, and hair loss are all symptoms of:
A) anorexia. B) amenorrhea. C) cyclothymia. D) bulimia.

43) According to this theory, the fear you feel when you are startled by a bear in the woods occurs at
about the same time that your heart starts pounding.
A) James-Lane theory B) Cannon-Bard theory
C) Schachter-Singer theory D) Lazarus theory

44) Which of the following is NOT a component of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love?
A) infatuation B) intimacy C) passion D) commitment

45) In order for embryos with an XY chromosome combination to develop primary male sex
characteristics ________ must be present in the testes.
A) estrogens B) androgens C) metabolites D) endocrines

46) The psychological and sociocultural definition of masculinity and femininity that is based on the
expected behaviors for males and females is called:
A) sex. B) sexual orientation C) gender. D) sex behavior.
47) A person who has a gender identity that is the opposite of his or her biological sex is:
A) transgendered B) intersexed
C) homosexual D) sexually ambivalent

48) According to Freud, children’s ideas about gender arise from:

A) hormonal influences on brain development.
B) conflicting feelings about their parents.
C) observation of parental gender role behaviors.
D) experiences with other children and their play behaviors.

49) According to the evolutionary psychology perspective, females have developed to view ________ as
the most important feature in a potential mate.
A) commitment B) youth C) attractiveness D) race

50) Which of the following is NOT one of the proposed ideas about how homosexuality occurs?
A) Homosexuality is a result of environmental factors.
B) Homosexuality is a result of biological factors.
C) Homosexuality is a result of having been seduced by a homosexual during early childhood.
D) Homosexuality results from a combination of nature and nurture.
Extra Credit Questions

1) How many deep structures are at work in the sentence, “Billy Bob enjoys charming people”?
A) 1 B) 0 C) 2 D) 3

2) Children in the concrete operational stage are limited by their inability to apply:
A) the concept of reversibility to objects in their environment.
B) their thinking to more than one dimension of a problem.
C) logical operations to directly observable problems.
D) abstract thought to problem solving.

3) Which of the following two factors may delay or decrease the symptoms of Alzheimer’s for those who
are at risk for the disease?
A) Atkin’s diet
B) a high IQ and life-long intellectual activity
C) type B personality and low blood pressure
D) social support

4) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs assumes that ________ needs must be met before an individual will be
motivated to pursue other types of goals.
A) esteem B) physiological
C) self-actualization D) safety

5) Which area of the hypothalamus has been directly implicated as a satiety center that serves to inhibit
eating?
A) ventromedial hypothalamus B) lateral hypothalamus
C) suprachiasmatic nucleus D) orbitofrontal hypothalamus