Psychology Exam 2024

Section I: Multiple-Choice 1. Oksana experiences pleasurable feelings when she hugs her mother. Recently, her mother started wearing a new perfume, which Oksana can smell when she hugs her mother. When Oksana is shopping, she smells that new perfume near the counter where it is sold. She immediately feels the same pleasurable feelings as she does when she hugs her mother. In terms of classical conditioning, which of the following is the smell of the new perfume? (A) Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (B) Conditioned stimulus (CS) (C) Positive reinforcement (D) Unconditioned response (UCR) 2024 2. Researchers conducted a study with 200 participants who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and a comparison group of 200 patients who had not been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The researchers found that participants who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia had significantly larger ventricles1 than a comparison group. Based on this finding, the researchers concluded that enlarged ventricles cause people to develop schizophrenia. Which of the following most accurately describes why this conclusion is flawed? (A) The researchers’ sample is not large enough to allow researchers to draw any scientific conclusions. (B) The researchers’ results indicate no correlation between the variables. (C) The researchers’ conclusion does not adequately account for the role of GABA in developing schizophrenia. (D) The researchers’ cause-and-effect conclusions cannot be made because no independent variable is manipulated. Brain cavities filled with fluid. 1 Authoritative Parenting Style Assessment Scores 6 4 9 11 8 9 12 5 9 3. Ten primary caregivers of children completed an assessment to determine the degree to which they practice authoritative parenting. The table shows the participants’ scores on this assessment. The lowest possible score is 1, meaning the degree of authoritative parenting is low. The highest possible score is 15, meaning the degree of authoritative parenting is high. Based on the table, what is the range of the caregivers’ scores? (A) 4 (B) 8 (C) 9 (D) 12 2024 4. Dr. Trenton conducted a study to determine whether massed practice or distributed practice produced better academic outcomes. He recruited volunteers from a high school Spanish class and randomly assigned students to learn a list of 100 new vocabulary words for which they were later given a word recall test. Students prepared for the word recall test using either distributed practice by studying for 30 minutes a day the week before the test, or massed practice by intensively studying the night before the test. What was the dependent variable in this research project? (A) Massed practice (B) Distributed practice (C) High school students (D) Word recall Questions 5 through 7 refer to the following. Dr. Min conducted a study to investigate creativity. Five volunteers were presented with a series of three objects, one at a time. The volunteers asked to generate as many alternative uses for the objects as possible in five minutes. The data collected on the number of alternative uses each volunteer generated for each object are displayed in the table. 5. Volunteer Tweezers Eraser Paper Clip A 0 3 3 B 7 6 5 C 9 12 8 D 4 3 5 E 7 8 11 Which of the following would cognitive psychologists use to describe the response of the volunteer who provided the lowest number of alternative uses for the tweezers? (A) Achievement (B) Functional fixedness (C) Framing (D) Sunk-cost fallacy 6. What was the median number of alternative uses generated for the eraser? (A) 3 (B) 5 (C) 6 (D) 10 2024 7. Which of the following concepts most directly applies to Dr. Min’s research question? (A) Schema (B) Social loafing (C) Divergent thinking (D) General intelligence (g) 8. A doctor is assessing a patient with a sensory disorder. In the first assessment, she asks the patient to touch his nose with his eyes closed. In the next assessment, she asks the patient to walk a short distance with his eyes closed. Which of the following senses is the doctor most likely evaluating? (A) Gustation (B) Vision (C) Kinesthesis (D) Touch 9. In the 1960s, a psychologist placed dogs in a box and then exposed them to five trials in which they received an electric shock that they could not avoid. In the sixth trial, the psychologist placed the dogs in a different box. In this trial, the dogs could avoid the shocks by jumping over a small obstacle. None of the dogs jumped over the obstacle. Which of the following concepts explains why the dogs did not jump over the obstacle to escape the shocks in the sixth trial? (A) Retroactive interference (B) Learned helplessness (C) Superordinate goals (D) Diathesis-stress 10. Antonella, a native of the Caribbean, learns that a family member died suddenly. She begins to cry uncontrollably, loses control as she yells aggressively, and faints. Which of the following conditions best describes the symptoms Antonella experienced? (A) Ataque de nervios (B) Agoraphobia (C) Taijin kyofusho (D) Dissociative amnesia 2024 11. Which of the following statements best explains why using an experimental research design is inappropriate in studying human development? (A) Experiments cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships over time. (B) Direct, long-term manipulation of a child’s environment during an experiment is unethical. (C) Experiments with young children are always unethical. (D) Identifying which genetic traits are interacting with the environment is impossible using an experiment. Questions 12 through 14 refer to the following. In a study, researchers recruited 10 graduate students at their university to complete a series of tasks in a lab. Participants were asked to rate how desirable they found each item, both a toaster and a microwave, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not desirable and 10 being very desirable. After completing several complex math problems, participants were told that they could choose either a toaster or a microwave as a prize for participating in the study. After selecting their prize, participants were asked to rate the desirability of both items again. The researchers then compared the participants’ ratings of the items at the beginning of the study and the rating that the participants provided after choosing their prize. The results are given in the tables. Table 1: Participants Who Chose a Toaster as Their Prize Mean Rating of Toaster Mean Rating of Microwave Before choosing toaster After choosing toaster Before choosing toaster After choosing toaster 3.4 8.8 2.6 1.4 Table 2: Participants Who Chose a Microwave as Their Prize Mean Rating of Toaster Mean Rating of Microwave Before choosing microwave After choosing microwave Before choosing microwave After choosing microwave 3.4 2 3.8 8.8 12. Which of the following implicit attitudes may have influenced how the participants rated each item? (A) A participant being aware that they need one item more than the other (B) A participant seeing the cost of each item and knowing that one is more expensive than the other (C) A participant attributing a greater value to one item over the other without knowing why (D) A participant seeing that the toaster is their favorite color 2024 13. Which of the following changes to the research design will expand the generalizability of the study’s findings to a larger population? (A) Including participants who are not graduate students (B) Using a correlational design to determine causality (C) Including a debriefing session after the study to inform participants (D) Increasing the prize value so that the participants are more motivated 14. Which of the following concepts is demonstrated by the results of the study? (A) The testing effect (B) Social desirability (C) Cognitive dissonance (D) Fundamental attribution error 15. When 90-year-old Mrs. Glass socializes at her senior activity center, she gravitates toward activities that she can still perform well, which also demonstrates that her crystallized intelligence is functioning. Which of the following activities will most likely appeal to Mrs. Glass? (A) A “name that song” game featuring songs from her childhood (B) A trivia game featuring current movies (C) A new video game in which aliens fly a spaceship (D) A class teaching her how to use the latest computer technology 2024 16. Dr. Faley conducted a study of 100 patients diagnosed with adult attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The first 50 patients identified for the study were given a new ADHD medication, while the rest were given a placebo. Patients received EEG scans before and after the treatment. The scans showed more typical brain activity in the participants who were given the medication than the participants who were given the placebo. What should Dr. Faley have done to avoid potential confounding variables in the study? (A) Operationally defined the meaning of adult ADHD (B) Chosen people who had not been diagnosed with adult ADHD to take the medication as well (C) Randomly assigned which patients got the medication and which patients got the placebo (D) Using qualitative measures to collect data 17. The data in the graph display the ages at which top artists, including painters, writers, and composers, produce what is generally agreed upon to be their most well-known work. Based on the data in the graph, which of the following statements is true? (A) More than half of the artists do their most well-known work before age 30. (B) There is a positive correlation between artists’ ages and the production of their most well-known work. (C) The number of top artists producing their well-known work peaks at an age in the late thirties and then gradually declines. (D) Artists are more likely to generate their most well-known work after the age of 65. 2024 18. A researcher noticed that Ryan, a young child, learned to write his name better when he was given the opportunity to respond to people around him. Ryan appeared to learn the most when more experienced people assisted him. Which of the following concepts best describes this pattern of development? (A) Zone of proximal development (B) Egocentrism (C) Autonomy (D) Object permanence Questions 19 through 21 refer to the following. Researchers investigated the extent to which 30 pairs of identical and fraternal female twins shared with their twin a diagnosis for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Identical twins are genetically identical, and share the same DNA pattern. Fraternal twins are only as genetically similar as any sibling pair. Researchers found that 9 out of 16 pairs of the identical twins were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, while 1 out of 14 pairs of the fraternal twins were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Source for research study: Holland, A.J., Hall, A., Murray, R., Russell, G.F., & Crisp, A.H. (1984). Anorexia nervosa: a study of 34 twin pairs and one set of triplets. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 414-419. 19. Which of the following explains why researchers could not implement an experimental design in this study? (A) The twins could not be given a placebo. (B) The twins could not be randomly assigned to groups. (C) The twins could not be studied in an in-depth way individually. (D) Multiple studies of the twins could not be conducted over a long period and combined. 20. Which of the following conclusions can be made based on the data collected in this study? (A) Identical twins both developing anorexia nervosa is no more likely than fraternal twins. (B) Heredity appears to be correlated with the development of anorexia nervosa. (C) One twin developing anorexia nervosa will cause the other twin to develop the disorder. (D) Environment appears to be more strongly correlated with the development of anorexia nervosa than heredity. 2024 21. Which of the following psychological perspectives would best help researchers answer questions about the relationship between heredity and the environment regarding the development of disorders such as anorexia nervosa? (A) Cognitive (B) Psychodynamic (C) Humanistic (D) Biological 2024