5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition (8 page)

1. C—
(
Chapter 5
) The evolutionary approach looks at behaviors that have resulted from natural selection. Natural selection operates at the population or species level; an organism doesn’t evolve, a population or species does.

2. D—
(
Chapter 5
) The humanistic approach views human nature as naturally positive and growth seeking.

3. B—
(
Chapter 5
) While both counseling and clinical psychologists treat people, only clinical psychologists are trained to help people suffering from psychoses and other severe mental disorders.

4. D—
(
Chapter 6
) The form with 30 questions is a questionnaire. Questionnaires and interviews are survey methods.

5. B—
(
Chapter 6
) While people for the study can be randomly chosen from the population, they cannot be divided into the experimental and control groups without considering their sex. If sex must be considered, the subjects cannot be randomly assigned.

6. E—
(
Chapter 6
) A scatterplot shows points on a graph. The points are determined by the values of the score on each test. For example, the score on the first test could be the
x
value and the score on the final could be the
y
value for each student. The points form a pattern. If, for example, the pattern extends from the lower left to the upper right of the graph, the correlation between the first and final exams is positive.

7. D—
(
Chapter 6
) Both the mean and the median are 5 for each set. Adding all scores for each set, the sum is 25. Dividing by the number of scores (7) the mean is 5. The middle score for each set, when put in order, is the median. Set 1 does not have a mode.

8. E—
(
Chapter 6
) The mean, median, and mode are measures of centrality and do not tell anything about variability. The range is a crude measure that can be misleading for this set, because 32 is so different from the rest of the set. Standard deviation is a more sensitive measure of variability.

9. E—
(
Chapter 7
) Functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography enable psychologists to see the parts of the brain that are functioning when a subject is engaged in a particular task. An electroencephalograph enables psychologists to see patterns of brain waves, but an electrocardiogram shows heart function. Computerized axial tomography and magnetic resonance imaging picture brain structure rather than function.

10. C—
(
Chapter 7
) The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system. Whereas the sympathetic speeds up the function of an organ, the parasympathetic slows it down.

11. A—
(
Chapter 7
) A neuron is a single cell that transmits messages in our bodies. Nerves, a reflex arc, and the brain are composed of neurons. An axon is part of a neuron.

12. D—
(
Chapter 7
) The adrenal glands secrete corticosteroids and adrenaline when we are stressed.

13. E—
(
Chapter 7
) The tiny hypothalamus helps regulate hunger, thirst, body temperature, some biological rhythms, some emotions, heart rate, and other functions.

14. A—
(
Chapter 7
) Starla probably has damage to Wernicke’s area, critical for understanding language, which is part of the left temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

15. C—
(
Chapter 8
) Taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction) are the chemical senses. For the sense of smell, chemical energy of molecules is changed to the electrochemical energy of a neural impulse at the mucous membrane on the roof of the nose. This membrane is called the olfactory mucosa.

16. A—
(
Chapter 8
) The hammer, anvil, and stirrup are the three tiny bones in the middle ear that transmit vibrations to the cochlea, where transduction takes place. If they are damaged, vibrations may not be transmitted, resulting in conduction deafness.

17. A—
(
Chapter 8
) Since Hannah could hear a sound from farther away than Maya, she seems to have a lower absolute threshold for hearing than Maya.

18. C—
(
Chapter 8
) Kinesthesis is your sense of body position and movement of individual body parts, with receptors in your muscles, tendons, and joints.

19. A—
(
Chapter 8
) A mile is too far away for texture gradient, retinal disparity, and convergence to be factors in perceiving depth. At that distance, the fact that the building partially hides the hills behind it is a cue to which is closer.

20. A—
(
Chapter 9
) Alpha and beta waves characterize our awake states, whereas theta and delta waves are more characteristic of sleep states.

21. A—
(
Chapter 9
) According to the dissociation theory, hypnotized individuals experience two or more streams of consciousness cut off from each other, where the hidden observer monitors behavior.

22. C—
(
Chapter 9
) Methamphetamine, caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, and benzedrine are all classified as stimulants.

23. D—
(
Chapter 10
) Because of a learned association with loud thunder, lightning can evoke a cringing reaction. The other behaviors are unlearned, automatic behaviors.

24. D—
(
Chapter 10
) Classical conditioning establishes an association between an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus that becomes a conditioned stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus is the reinforcer.

25. B—
(
Chapter 10
) The pidgeon does not discriminate among the different lights. Responding the same way to other colors of light as to yellow light is generalizing.

26. A—
(
Chapter 10
) The teacher wanted someone to turn off the alarms. She reinforced closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior, which is known as shaping.

27. D—
(
Chapter 10
) Tom wants to drive the car, but because of his behavior, his parents took the car away from him. This is called omission training or negative punishment.

28. D—
(
Chapter 10
) JoBeth learned by observing her mother and imitating the behavior.

29. B—
(
Chapter 11
) Syntax is the set of rules that regulate the
order
in which words can be combined into grammatically sensible sentences in a language.

30. A—
(
Chapter 11
) Ralph is looking only for instances that uphold his hypothesis, not for instances that disconfirm it, so he is showing the confirmation bias.

31. A—
(
Chapter 11
) Mnemonic devices are memory tricks that help us retrieve information from long-term memory.

32. B—
(
Chapter 11
) Implicit memory stores memories of procedural skills.

33. E—
(
Chapter 11
) A heuristic is a “rule of thumb,” a shortcut to an answer that is usually, but not always, correct.

34. C—
(
Chapter 11
) We often incorporate information that was not presented into our memories of events.

35. B—
(
Chapter 12
) Homeostasis is the maintenance of the steady state of metabolism in our bodies. Reestablishing equilibrium is the goal of drive reduction.

36. B—
(
Chapter 12
) Bingeing and purging characterize bulimia nervosa.

37. E—
(
Chapter 12
) All three factors define emotions.

38. B—
(
Chapter 12
) The sympathetic nervous system is activated when the body is aroused, which dilates pupils, slows digestion, speeds the heart, speeds breathing, increases perspiration, etc.

39. C—
(
Chapter 12
) Facial expressions seem to be universal across all cultures.

40. D—
(
Chapter 13
) The Y chromosome determines that the fertilized egg will develop into a male baby, no matter how many X chromosomes are present.

41. A—
(
Chapter 13
) The lower limit is the level at which the child can solve the problem working alone, whereas the upper limit requires the child to work hard with a mentor to solve the problem.

42. D—
(
Chapter 13
) Chemicals that damage the embryo or fetus, such as alcohol, are teratogens.

43. B—
(
Chapter 13
) Continuity is gradual change and discontinuity occurs in stages.

44. C—
(
Chapter 13
) As a happily married man, Darren seems to identify himself as a heterosexual male, which is appropriate according to traditionalists. Traditionally, however, nursery school teachers are women, so being a nursery school teacher would be regarded as an inappropriate role for a male.

45. A—
(
Chapter 14
) Of Freud’s three personality constructs (the id, ego, and superego), the id is the one guided by the pleasure principle.

46. D—
(
Chapter 14
) Regression is a retreat to an earlier level of development characterized by more immature, pleasurable behavior (in this case oral behavior).

47. E—
(
Chapter 14
) Reciprocal determinism theory states that characteristics of the person, the person’s behavior, and the environment all affect one another in two-way causal relationships.

48. E—
(
Chapter 14
) According to Eysenck, neuroticism is our level of instability and extroversion is our sociability.

49. E—
(
Chapter 14
) The Rorschach presents ambiguous inkblots so that test takers will project their unconscious thoughts or feelings onto them.

50. D—
(
Chapter 15
) In a normal distribution, the mean, median, and mode are the same score.

51. C—
(
Chapter 15
) Salovey and Mayer described emotional intelligence as the ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions.

52. D—
(
Chapter 15
) All good tests must have content validity and reliability. Aptitude tests, but not achievement tests, must have predictive validity.

53. A—
(
Chapter 15
) Heritability is the proportion of variation among individuals in a population that results from genetic causes. All polar bears inherit transparent hairs that appear white. None of the variation results from genetic causes.

54. B—
(
Chapter 15
) Claude Steele hypothesizes that at least part of the difference in scores can be attributed to anxiety that influences members of a group concerned that their performance on a test will confirm a negative stereotype.

55. B—
(
Chapter 16
) Abnormal behavior is statistically rare, violates cultural norms, personally interferes with day-to-day living, and legally may cause a person to be unable to know right from wrong. Her behavior seems bizarre to others, but not to her.

56. C—
(
Chapter 16
) According to Freudian theory, all abnormal behavior results from unconscious conflicts that have not been resolved.

57. C—
(
Chapter 16
) Narcissistic personality is characterized by preoccupation with fantasies about ultimate power, riches, brilliance, or beauty, as well as an unwarranted sense of self-importance.

58. A—
(
Chapter 16
) A hallucination is a sensory experience in the absence of an external stimulus, which in this case is hearing a voice that isn’t there.

59. E—
(
Chapter 16
) DSM-IV classifies disorders into 17 major categories according to their symptoms.

60. D—
(
Chapter 17
) Systematic desensitization is the only behavioral therapy listed. It has been very helpful in lessening fear step-by-step.

61. E—
(
Chapter 17
) Humanistic therapy focuses on the present and future, conscious thoughts and feelings, and promoting growth. Psychoanalytic therapy focuses on unconscious thoughts and feelings in the past and on curing illness.

62. D—
(
Chapter 17
) Aversive conditioning is a type of counterconditioning. An association is formed between an obnoxious stimulus (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol).

63. B—
(
Chapter 17
) Bright light exposure in the morning results in lower secretion of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and protects against depression.

64. A—
(
Chapter 17
) Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil are classified as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), which prevent the presynaptic neuron from reabsorbing serotonin, leaving more serotonin in the synapse to bind to receptor sites on postsynaptic neurons, enabling them to fire.

65. B—
(
Chapter 18
) Foot-in-the-door phenomenon is the tendency for a person who has agreed to a limited commitment to later agree to a more significant commitment.

66. C—
(
Chapter 18
) Social facilitation is the improved performance of well-learned or simple tasks in the presence of others.

67. D—
(
Chapter 18
) The bystander effect, the tendency for bystanders not to help someone in need when others are present, often results from diffusion of responsibility and lack of recognition of the need. Specifying someone to perform a specific task generally results in the person doing that job.