Psychology Exam Glossary: Answer Key for Practice Flash Cards

AP PSYCHOLOGY exam practice 1. You are at a lecture about the history of psychology and the speaker states that Wilhelm Wundt's theory of structuralism was the first scientific psychological theory. On what historical fact might the speaker be basing her or his argument?: Structuralism was based on the results of his introspection experiments, so it is, at least in part, emperical. 2. Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious mind: A. was revolutionary because it was the first comprehensive explanation of human thought and behavior. B. resulted from discoveries about the human brain obtained by cadaver dissection. C. is outdated and has no relevance for modern psychology. D. focused entirely on human males' sex drive. E. depends on the idea that humans can remember events but not be consciously aware of the memory.: E. depends on the idea that humans can remember events but not be consciously aware of the memory. 3. In what way might a behaviorist disagree with a cognitive psychologist about the cause of aggression?: A behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by past rewards aggressive behavior, while a cognitive psychologist might believe aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about aggressive behavior. 4. Dr. Marco explains to a client that his feeling of hostillity toward a coworker are most likely caused by the way the client interpretes the coworker's actions and the way he think that people should behave at work. Dr. Marco is most likely working from what perspective?: Cognitive. 5. The research methodology Wilhelm Wundt used is called what?: Introspection. 6. Which of the following psychologists wrote the first psychology textbook?: William James. 7. Which of the following psychologists was part of the Gestalt group of psychologists? A. Carl Rogers B. Wilhelm Wundt C. B.F. Skinner D. John Watson E. Max Wertheimer: E. Max Wertheimer 8. Which of the following concepts is most integral to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory? A. trephining B. structuralism 1 / 14 C. the unconscious mind D. the concept of Gestalt E. behaviorism: C. The unconscious mind 9. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory has been criticized for being: A. appropriate for female patients, but not male patients. B. only applicable to research settings, not therapy settings. C. based on large groups, but not individual cases. D. unscientific and unverifiable E. too closely toed to behavioristic thought.: D. unscientific and unverifiable 10. John Watson relied on the pioneering work of _ in establishing behaviorism as a paradigm of psychology.: Ivan Pavlov 11. B.F. Skinner introduced the idea of _ to the paradigm of behaviorism.: Reinforcement. 12. Which of the following psychologists might have described himself as a humanist? A. B.F. Skinner B. William James C. Abraham Maslow D. John Watson E. Ivan Pavlov: C. Abraham Maslow 13. Symbolic dream analysis might be an important research technique to a psychologist from what kind of perspective?: Psychoanalytic. 14. Behaviorists explain human thought and behavior as a result of what?: Past conditioning. 15. A therapist who says that she uses whatever psychological perspective "works best" for each patient might be best describe as: A. social-cultural B. humanist C. eclectic D. psychoanalytic E. functionalist: C. Eclectic 16. Psychologists generally prefer the experimental method to toher research methods because: A. experimetns are more likely to support psychologists' hypothesies. B. experiments can show cause-effect relationships C. it is easier to obtain a random sample for an experiement. D. double blind designs are unnecessary in an experiment. E. experiments are more likely to result in statistically significant findings.: B. experiments can shwo cause-effect relationships. 2 / 14 17. Theoretically, random assignment should eliminate: A. sampling error B. the need to use statistics C. concerns over validity D. many confounding variables E. the need for a representative sample: A. sampling error 18. Charlotte and Tamar are lab partners assigned to research who is friendlier, girls or boys. After conversing with their first ten participants, they find that their friendliness ratings often differ. With which of the following should they be most concerned? A. reliability B. confounding variables C. ethics D. validity E. assignment: A. reliabililty 19. Which of the following hypotheses would be most difficult to test experimentally? A. people exposed to the color red will be more aggressive than those exposed to the color blue B. exercise improves mood C. exposure to violent television increases aggression D. studying leads to better grades E. divorce makes children more independent: E. divorce makes children more independent 20. Professor Ma wants to design a project studying emotional response to date rape. He advertises for participants in the school news paper, informs them about the nature of the study, gets their consent, conducts an interview, and debriefs them about the results when the experiment is over. If you were on the IRB, which ethical consideration would you most likely have the most concern about in Professor Ma's study? A. coercion B. deception C. confounding variables D. confidentiality E. clear scientific purpose: D. confidentiality 21. Some psychologists consider Stanely Milgram's obedience studies to be unethical because of which ethical consideration? A. improper sampling procedure B. risk of long-term harm 3 / 14 C. clear scientific purpose D. debriefing E. anonymity: B. Risk of long-term harm 22. One of the principal differences between the ethical guidelines for human and animal research is: A. human participants can be deceived for experimental purposes and animals cannot B. animals can be placed at much greater physical risk than human participants can C. human participants must be chose much more carefully than animal subjects D. if humans might physically suffer because of the study, the suffering must be minimal, in contrast to animal studies where an amount of suffering is ethical if it helps to further a clear scientific purpose E. environmental conditions for human studies must be monitored much more closely than they are in an animal study.: B. Animals can be placed at much greater physical risk than human participants can. 23. Lily scored 145 on an IQ test with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. What is her Z score?: +3 24. Emma scores a perfect 100 on a test that everyone else fails. If we were to graph this distribution, it would be: A. symmetrical B. normal C. positively skewed D. negatively skewed E. a straight line: C. positively skewed 25. Jose hypothesizes that a new drug he has just invented will enhanced mice's memories. He feeds the drug to the experimental group and gives the control group a placebo. He then times the mice as they learn to run through a maze. In order to know whether his hypothesis has been supported, Jose would need to use: A. scatter plots B. descriptive statistics C. histograms D. inferential statistics E. mean-end analysis: D. inferential statistics 26. Which of the following is an example of random sampling? 1. picking out of a hate to assign each of three classes to an experimental condition 4 / 14 2. having a computer generate a random list of 100 high school students 3. approaching any 50 students during sixth-period lunch A. one only B. two only C. three only D. one and two only E. one, two, and three: B. two only 27. Vincenzo conducts an experiment to see whether fear makes mice run through mazes faster. He first selected a sample of 60 mice and then divided them into a control group and an experimental group. Which cannot be a confounding variable? A. how fast the mice are at the start B. when the mice run the maze C. the population from which he selected his subjects D. how frightened the mice are before the experiment E. where the mice run the maze: C. the population from which he selected his subjects 28. Olivia, a nursery school student, hypothesizes that boys have fights with the finger paints more than girls do. She tests her hypothesis by casually watching the finger-printing table for three days of nursery school. What method is she using? A. field experiment B. informal survey C. case study D. naturalistic observation E. ethnography: D. naturalistic observation 29. Talia collects survey data that indicate that students who spend more time preparing for the AP test tend to score better than other students. Jen can now conclude that: A. studying improve exam grades B. a relationship exists between studying and exam grades C. a significant correlation exists between studying and exam grades D. anyone who does not study will do poorly on the exam E. better students tend to study more: B. a relationship exists between studying and exam grades 30. What are dendrites?: Rootlike parts of the cell that stretch out from the cell body. 31. What is a cell body?: Contains the nucleus and other parts of the cell needed to sustain its life. 5 / 14 32. What is an axon?: A wirelike structure ending in the terminal buttons that extends from the cell body. 33. What is the myelin sheath?: A fatty covering around the axon of some neurons that speeds neural impulses. 34. What are terminal buttons?: The branched end of the axon that contains neurotransmitters. 35. What are neurotransmitters?: chemicals contained in terminal buttons that enable neurons to communicate. 36. What does a neurotransmitter specifically do?: Neurotransmitters fit into receptor sites on the dendrites of neurons like a key fits into a lock. 37. What is a synapse?: The space between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrites of the next neuron. 38. What is the charge of a neuron in its resting state?: A neuron has an overall slightly negative charge because mostly negative ions are within the cell and mostly positive ions are surrounding it. 39. What is threshold?: The level of neurotransmitters received. 40. What is action potential?: The electric message firing from a neuron. 41. How fast is an action potential?: 120 meters per second. 42. What is the all-or-none principle?: Either a neuron completely fires or it does not fire at all. 43. From what direction does a neuron fire?: From dendrites to terminal buttons. 44. What two sets of wires does our body need when a neuron fires?: 1. To take information to the brain. 2. Take instructions back from the brain to the muscles. 45. What do afferent neurons do?: Take information from the senses to the brain. 46. What are the function of Acetylcholine?: Motor movement. 47. What is the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of acetylcholine?: Lack of acetylcholine is associated with Alzheimer's disease. 48. What is the function of dopamine?: Motor movement and alertness. 49. What are the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of dopamine?: Lack of dopamine is associated with Parkinson's disease, an overabundance is associated with schizophrenia. 50. What is the function of Endorphins?: Pain control. 51. What are the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of Endorphins?: Involved in addictions. 52. What is the function of serotonin?: Mood control. 53. What are the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of serotonin?: Lack of serotonin is associated with clinical depression. 54. What is the function of GABA?: Important inhibitory neurotransmitter. 6 / 14 55. What are the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of GABA?: Seizures, sleep problems. 56. What is the function of glutamate?: Excitatory neurotransmitter, involved in memory. 57. What are the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of glutamate?: Migraines, seizures 58. What is the function of norepinephrine?: Alertness, arousal. 59. What are the problems associated with an excess or deficit amount of norepinephrine?: Depression. 60. What do efferent neurons do?: Take information from the brain to the rest of the body. 61. What two things make up the Nervous System?: 1. central nervous system 2. peripheral nervous system 62. What two things make up the Central Nervous System?: 1. Brain 2. Spinal Cord 63. What two things make up the Peripheral Nervous System?: 1. Autonomic 2. Somatic 64. What two things make up the Autonomic system?: 1. Sympathetic 2. Parasympathetic 65. What does the somatic nervous system control?: Voluntary muscle movements. 66. What does the autonomic nervous system control?: The automatic functions of our body—our heart, lungs, internal organs, glands, and so on. 67. What does the sympathetic nervous system do?: Mobilizes the body to respond to stress. 68. How does the sympathetic nervous system affect the body?: Increase in: Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. Decrease in: Digestion. 69. What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?: Slow down the body after a stress response. 70. What are lesions?: The removal or destruction of part of the brain. 71. What does an electroencephalogram do?: Examine what type of waves the brain produces during different stages of consciousness and to gather information to generalize about brain function. 72. What does CAT scan stand for?: Computerized axial tomography 73. What does a CAT scan show?: It can show only the structure of the brain, not the functions or the activity of different parts of the brain structures. 74. What does an MRI do?: Use magnetic fields to measure the density and location of brain material. 7 / 14 75. What does a PET scan measure?: How much of a certain chemical (glucose, for example) parts of the brain are using. 76. What does an fMRI show?: Details of the brain structure with information about blood flow in the brain, tying brain strcuture to brain activity during cognitive tasks. 77. What are the three major categories of the brain?: 1. hindbrain 2. midbrain 3. forebrain 78. What major categories are considered the "old brain"?: 1. hindbrain 2. midbrain 79. What major category is considered the "new brain"?: Forebrain. 80. What does the hindbrain control?: The basic biological functions that keep us alive. 81. What are some of the specific structures within the hindbrain?: 1. medulla 2. pons 3. cerebellum 82. The hindbrain consist of what general strucures?: The top part of the spinal cord. 83. What does the medulla control?: 1. blood pressure 2. heart rate 3. breathing 84. What does the pons control?: Facial expressions. 85. What does the pons do?: Connect the hindbrain with the midbrain and forebrain. 86. What does the cerebellum control?: Habitual muscle movements, such as tracking a taraget with our eyes or playing the saxophone. 87. *What is the midbrain between?: The hindbrain and the forebrain. 88. *What is the function of the midbrain?: Integrates sensory information and muscle movements. 89. *What is the function of the reticular formation?: It is a netlike collection of cells throughout the midbrain that controls general body arousal and the ability to focus our attention. 90. What happens if the reticular formation does not function?: We fall into a deep coma. 91. What do the areas of the forebrain control?: What we think of as thought and reason. 92. What are the specific areas of the forebrain?: 1. thalamus 2. hypothalamus 3. amygdala 4. hippocampus 8 / 14 93. Where is the thalamus located?: On top of the brain stem. 94. What is function of the thalamus?: Receiving the sensory signals coming up the spinal cord and sending them to appropriate areas in the rest of the forebrain. 95. What does the hypothalamus control?: Metabolic functions, including body temperature, sexual arousal, hunger, thirst, and the endocrine system. 96. What makes up the limbic system?: 1. thalamus 2. hypothalamus 3. amygdala 4. hippocampus 97. What does the limbic system involve?: Emotion and memory. 98. What are the two arms surrounding the thalamus?: The hippocampus. 99. What are the structures near the end of each hippocampal arm are called what?: The amygdala. 100. The amygdala is vital to our experiences of _.: Emotion. 101. The hippocampus is vital to our experiences of _: Memory 102. Where are memories permanently stored?: The cerebral cortex. 103. What are the wrinkles of the brain called?: Fissures. 104. What does the left hemisphere of the brain do?: Receive sensory messages and controls the motor function of the RIGHT half of the body. 105. What does the right hemisphere of the brain do?: Receive sensory messages and controls the motor function of the LEFT half of the body. 106. What is contralateral control?: When the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right hemisphere and vice versa. 107. The specialization of funtion in each hemisphere is called what?: Brain lateralization or hemispheric specialization. 108. Who pioneered the split-brain operation?: 1. Roger Sperry 2. Michael Gazzaniga 109. What is the left hemisphere of the brain responsible for?: Logic and sequential tasks. 110. What is the right hemisphere of the brain responsible for?: Spatial and creative tasks. 111. What is an association area?: Any area of the cerebral cortex that it is not associated with receiving sensory information or controlling muscle movements. 112. What are association area responsible for?: Complex, sophisticated thoughts like judgment and humor. 113. What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?: Forseeing consequences, pursuing goals, and maintaining emotional control. 114. Where is the broca's area located?: In the frontal lobe. 115. Where is the werinicke's area?: In the temporal lobe. 9 / 14 116. What is the motor cortex?: A thin vertical strip at the back of the frontal lobe. 117. What is the function of the motor cortex?: Sends signals to our muscles, controlling voluntary movements. 118. The bottom of the motor cortex controls what?: The top of the body. 119. The top of the motor cortex controls what?: The feet and toes of the body. 120. What cortex does the parietal lobe consist of?: Sensory. 121. What is the sensory cortex?: A thin vertical strip that receives incoming touch sensations from the rest of the body. 122. What does the top of the sensory cortex do?: Receive sensations from the bottom of the body. 123. What does the bottom of the sensory cortex do?: Processes signals from our face and head. 124. Where are the impulses from the retina in our eyes sent to?: The visual cortex. 125. Impulses from the right half of each retina are processed in the visual cortex in our _ _ lobe.: RIGHT occipital 126. Impulses from the left half of each retina are processed in the visual cortex in our _ _ lobe.: LEFT occipital 127. What is the endocrine system?: A system of glands that secrete hormones that affect many different biological processes in our bodies. 128. What part of the brain controlls the endocrine system?: The hypothalamus. 129. What do the adrenal glands produce?: Adrenaline. 130. What does adrenaline do?: Signal the rest of the body to prepare for fight or flight. 131. What does the autonomic nervous system do?: The part of our nervous system the controls involuntary responses, such as heart rate and blood pressure. 132. How many chromosomes does a human cell have and in how many pairs?: 46 chromosomes and 23 pairs. 133. What is another name for identical twins?: Monozygotic twins. 134. What is a zygote called?: A fertilized egg. 135. Who concocted the study about identical twins?: Thomas Bouchard. 136. What kind of chromosome do men have?: X and Y. 137. What kind of chromosome do women have?: X and X. 138. Describe the chromosomal abnormality of Turner's syndrome.: Babies are born with only a single X chromosome in the spot usually occupied by the twenty-third pair. 139. What are the effects of Turner's syndrome?: 1. shortness 2. webbed necks 3. differences in physical sexual development 10 / 14 140. Describe the chromosomal abnormality of Klinefelter's syndrome.: Babies have an extra X chromosome, resulting in an XXY pattern. 141. What are the effects of Klinefelter's syndrome?: 1. minimal sexual development 2. extreme introversion 142. Describe the chromosomal abnormality of Down syndrome.: Babies born with an extra chromosome on the twenty-first pair. 143. What are the effects of Down syndrome?: 1. round face 2. short fingers and toes 3. slanted eyes set far apart 4. some degree of mental retardation 144. Blindness could result from damage to which cortex and lobe of the brain? A. visual cortex in the frontal lobe. B. visual cortex in the temporal lobe. C. sensory cortex in the parietal lobe. D. visual cortex in the occipital lobe. E. cerebral cortex in the occipital lobe.: D. visual cortex in the occipital lobe. 145. Paralysis of the left arm might be explained by a problem in the: A. motor cortex in the frontal lobe in the left hemisphere. B. motor cortex in the frontal lobe in the right hemisphere. C. sensorimotor cortex in the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere. D. motor cortex in the parietal lobe in the left hemisphere. E. motor cortex in the occipital lobe in the right hemisphere.: B. motor cortex in the frontal lobe in the right hemisphere. 146. Deafness can result from damage to the inner ear or damage to what area of the brain? A. connections between the auditory nerve and the auditory cortex in the frontal lobe. B. connections between the auditory nerve and the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe. C. connections between the areas of the sensory cortex that receive messages from the ears and the auditory cortex. D. connections between the hypothalamus and the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe. E. connections between the left and right sensory areas of the cerebellum.: B. connections between the auditory nerve and the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe. 11 / 14 147. According to the theory of evolution, why might we call some parts of the brain the old brain and some parts the new brain? A. old brain parts are what exist in very young children, and the new brain develops later. B. the old brain developed first according to evolution. C. the old brain becomes more active as we grow older D. the new brain deals with new information gathered when were children. E. the old brain is most affected by age deterioration (dementia) while the new brain remains unaffected.: B. the old brain developed first according to evolution. 148. Which chemicals pass across the synaptic gap and increase the possibility the next neuron in the chain will fire? A. synaptic peptides B. inhibitory neurotransmitters C. adrenaline-type exciters D. excitatory neurotransmitters E. potassium and sodium: D. excitatory neurotransmitters. 149. You eat some bad sushi and feel that you are slowly losing control over your muscles. The bacteria you ingested from the bad sushi most likely interferes with the use of: A. serotonin B. insulin C. acetylcholine D. thorazine E. adrenaline: C. acetylcholine. 150. The three major categories researchers use to organize the entire brain are the: A. old brain, new brain, and cerebral cortex. B. lower, middle, and upper brain. C. hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain D. brain stem, limbic system, and cerebral cortex. E. neurons, synapses, and cerebral cortex.: C. hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. 151. A spinal reflex differs from a normal sensory and motor reactions in that: A. a spinal reflex occurs only in response to extremely stressful stimuli. B. in a spinal reflex, the spine moves the muscles in response as soon as the sensory information reaches the spine while usually the impulse must reach the brain before a response. C. in a normal sensory/motor reacction, the spine transmits the information through afferent nerve fibers, while reflex reactions are transmittd along special efferent nerves. 12 / 14 D. spinal reflexes are part of the central nervous system response, while normal sensory/motor reactions are part of the peripheral nervous system. E. spinal reflexes occur in animals because humans are born without instinctual responses.: B. in a spinal reflex, the spine moves the muscles in response as soon as the sensory information reaches the spine while usually the impulse must reach the brain before a response. 152. Antidepressant drugs like Prozac are often used to treat mood disorders. According to what you know about their function, which neurotransmitter system do these types of drugs try to affect? A. serotonin B. adrenaline C. acetylcholine D. endorphines E. morphine: A. serotonin 153. Which sentence most closely describe neural transmission? A. an electric charge is created in the neuron, the charge travels down the cell, and chemicals are released that cross the synapse to the next cell. B. a chemical change occurs within the cell, the change causes an electric charge to be produced, and the charge jumps the gap betwen the nerve cells. C. The electric charge produced chemically inside a group of neurons causes chemical changes in surrounding cells. D. neurotransmitters produced in the hindbrain are transmitted to the forebrain, causing electric changes in the cerebral cortex. E. neural transmission is an electrochemical process both inside and outside the cell.: A. an electric charge is created in the neuron, the charge travels down the cell, and chemicals are released that cross the synapse to the next cell. 154. Dr. Dahab, a brain researcher, is investigating the connection between certain environmental stimuli and brain processes. Which types of brain scans is he most likely to use? A. MRI and CAT B. CAT and EKG C. PET and EEG D. EKG and CAT E. lesioning and MRI: C. PET and EEG 155. Split-brain patients are unable to: A. coordinate movements between their major and minor muscle groups B. speak about information received exclusively in their right hemisphere C. speak about information received exclusively in their left hemisphere D. solve abstract problems involving integrating logical (left hemisphere) and 13 / 14 spatial (right hemisphere) information. E. speak about information received exclusively through their left ear, left eye, or left side of their bodies.: B. speak about information received exclusively in their right hemisphere. 156. When brain researchers refer to brain plasticity, they are talking about what?: New connections forming in the brain to take over for damaged sections. 157. In most people, which one of the following is a specific function of the left hemisphere that is typically not controlled by the right hemisphere? A. producing speech B. control of the left hand C. spatial reasoning D. hypothesis testing E. abstract reasoning: A. producing speech. 14 / 14