Psych 100 – Fall 2016
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 1
Suggestions for making the most of this practice exam:
Use this practice exam AFTER you think you have finished studying and are prepared for the test. Then take the practice exam. The
results will either confirm or disconfirm your view that you are prepared. Ideally, you should leave a day or two between taking the
practice exam and the real exam – just in case you find out you need to study some more.
Use the results of the practice exam to diagnose areas of weakness. In the practice exam, as in the real exam, questions are organized
according to chapter. If you find that you are getting a lot of questions wrong in a particular chapter, go back and review that one.
If, after grading the answers and checking your text, you still don’t understand one of the answers, ask your instructor.
If you find that you “almost knew it”, as in, “I narrowed it down to two possible answers, but then I guessed wrong” this means you
don’t know it well enough.
Take the practice exam in circumstances that mimic those of the real final closely as possible. Take it all in one sitting, in a quiet
place.
Don’t cheat! It really isn’t useful to you if you get questions right because you peeked.
1. Olivia attends the University of Maine and studies people's nutrition habits. She finds a relationship between the
divorce rate in Maine and the per capita consumption of butter: the fewer divorces there are in Maine, the less
butter the people in that state consume. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A) This is proof that eating less butter leads to fewer divorces.
B) Getting divorced causes people to eat more butter.
C) Olivia could create a falsifiable follow-up study.
D) Olivia cannot study this phenomenon scientifically.
2. Which of the following categories involves claims that are always unfalsifiable?
A) Metaphysics B) Pseudoscience C) Science D) Popular psychology
3. A group of scientists at the University of Wisconsin publish data saying that Alzheimer's disease can be detected
based on the chemical composition of tears. Scientists at the University of Illinois are skeptical about the result,
so they are repeating the study in their own lab. This illustrates the critical thinking principle of
A) ruling out rival hypotheses. B) falsifiability. C) replicability. D) Occam's Razor.
4. A researcher believes that today's constant access to electronic information has reduced the attention spans of
teenagers. This belief represents a(n) ______.
A) hypothesis B) experiment C) scientific theory D) confound
5. Dr. Garonski is testing his hypothesis that people use hand gestures more in communication when emotionally
aroused than when calm. When his results were reviewed, it was noted that Dr. Garonski sometimes missed
seeing small gestures in the calm condition. This is an example of
A) conjunctive fallacy. B) confirmation bias. C) attribution error. D) a single-variable explanation.
6. Joanne believes that eating wheat grass will prevent cancer. Recently she read a study that failed to find any
evidence that eating wheat grass protects against cancer. She discounts the results of the study and continues to
believe that her daily portion of wheat grass will protect her from cancer. She is exhibiting _____.
A) confirmation bias B) belief perseverance C) metaphysical thinking D) naive realism
Psych 100 – Fall 2016
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 2
7. Researchers found that people who drink green tea at least three times a day score higher on IQ tests than people
who don't drink green tea at all. Why would it be incorrect to say, "drinking green tea makes you smarter"?
A) Making this claim would be an example of the correlation-causation fallacy
B) The claim cannot be disproved, and so violates the scientific principle of falsifiability.
C) The claim ignores the nature-nurture debate.
D) The claim is not based on neurological evidence.
8. When asked "What is the capital city of France?" Anna guesses "Paris", because that is the only French city she
has heard of. Anna is using _____ to answer the question.
A) analytical thinking B) a heuristic C) reflective thinking D) metaphysics
9. Dr. Carter conducts an experiment on the effect of daily vitamin intake on adults' energy level. The daily
vitamin intake is the ______ variable in this experiment.
A) dependent B) confounding C) random D) independent
10. If you are interested in examining the relationship between the number of class days missed and one's
subsequent semester grade point average, you would be best served to use a(n) ________ to study this question.
A) case study design
C) experimental design
B) correlational design
D) naturalistic observation design
11. Dr. Silver is interested in studying the emotional experiences of people who suffer a severe spinal cord injury.
She studies one patient by following him through his daily life for six weeks, recording his behaviors, talking to
his peers, and asking him questions about his emotions. Which of the following methods of data collection has
Dr. Silver used?
A) case study B) experiment C) naturalistic observation D) survey
12. Chris surveys 50 people about the amount of carbohydrates they consume and the number of hours they sleep at
night. His data reveal a strong relationship between eating more carbohydrates and increased amount of
sleeping. The correlation coefficient that best describes this relationship is____.
A) +1.01 B) -.92 C) +.82 D) -1.04
13. Nikolai's data set of employees' ages includes the following numbers: 25, 35, 40, 40, 55, 60, 75, 75, 90. He can
use the ____ to determine ____.
A) mean; the difference in age between youngest and oldest
B) range; the difference in age between youngest and oldest
C) median; most frequent age of employees
D) standard deviation; most frequent age of employees
14. April surveys a sample of college freshmen, and finds that people who read more have higher IQ's. She
wonders whether reading leads to higher IQ, or whether people with higher IQ's have a greater desire to read.
What does she need to do in order to determine which hypothesis is correct?
A) make sure she has a representative sample
C) eliminate the placebo effect
B) use naturalistic observation to increase validity
D) conduct an experiment
15. Carl hypothesizes that happy people are more likely than unhappy people to participate in politics. One day
after an election, he gives people a survey. He asks if they voted in the election, and he asks them to rate their
level of happiness. Voting in the election is Carl's ___________ of political participation.
A) independent variable B) hypothetical variable C) conceptual definition D) operational definition
Psych 100 – Fall 2016
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 3
16. Guillome's homework is to find out how many hours college students work at jobs each week. To get this
information, he goes to the college library and asks students this question as they enter the library. He finds that
on average, students work 10 hours per week. The main problem with Guillome's method is that ________.
A) he is confusing correlation and causation
C) his sample is not representative
B) his data are not reliable
D) he didn't use a double-blind design
17. Mathematical methods that allow us to determine whether we can generalize findings from our sample to the full
population are called
A) central tendencies. B) inferential statistics. C) dispersion D) descriptive statistics.
18. Dr. Johansen randomly assigned subjects to three different groups during her last experiment. She then
proceeded to give each group of participants a different experimental study technique designed to enhance their
learning for the upcoming test. What critical error did she make during her experiment?
A) She failed to identify the independent variable.
C) She failed to include an experimental group.
B) She failed to identify the dependent variable.
D) She failed to include a control group.
19. Studying behavior in real-world settings is known as_____ and has the advantage of high ______.
A) case study; internal validity
C) naturalistic observation; internal validity
B) case study; external validity
D) naturalistic observation; external validity
20. Dr. Fredz believes that watching violence on TV causes children to be more aggressive on the playground. He
has two equal groups of children. Group A watches a funny, non-violent cartoon and Group B watches a funny,
violent cartoon. Then Dr. Fredz observes the children on the playground and records the number of aggressive
moves each child makes. To avoid having a problem with his data, Dr. Fredz should use a ______ research
design.
A) simple two-group B) complex two-group C) double-blind D) correlational
21. The placebo and nocebo effects are examples of ________ in experimental research.
A) confounding variables B) dependent variables C) false variables D) independent variables
22. Dr. Jerome is designing a new questionnaire to measure depression. He is wants to make sure that people who
score high on his questionnaire are truly depressed. He has a clinical psychologist assess level of depression for
his sample independently. Sure enough, his questionnaire and the clinical psychologist's ratings are highly
correlated. He has taken a step toward establishing the ____ of his measure.
A) reliability B) validity C) representativeness D) demand characteristics
23. Jeff was playing hockey when he fell back and hit his head on the ice. When his teammate came over and asked
him if he was okay, Jeff said, "Pickels, you run and read then back to me." Jeff has most likely sustained
damage to his ____.
A) motor cortex B) Wernicke's area C) Broca's area D) somatosensory cortex
24. While ironing, George reaches for the iron, but accidentally touches the hot part of it. He reflexively pulls his
hand away, preventing a serious burn. His quick action was due to neurons in his
A) spinal cord. B) midbrain. C) motor cortex. D) somatosensory cortex.
25. Opioid drugs such as morphine affect our nervous systems by binding to receptors for _______.
A) anandamide B) glutamate C) serotonin D) endorphins
Psych 100 – Fall 2016
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 4
26. As Eric walks into his room, his friend Terry scares him by jumping out from behind a desk. Eric's heart begins
to beat faster because his ______ nervous system has been activated by the cruel joke.
A) sympathetic B) parasympathetic C) somatic D) semisomatic
27. Latoria is horseback riding when she falls and hits her head. After the accident she has difficulty performing
finely coordinated movements. Latoria has most likely damaged her
A) medulla. B) reticular formation. C) cerebellum. D) amygdala
28. The left hemisphere of Jamal's brain is damaged, but the right hemisphere is intact. Jamal will most likely
experience a deficit in his ability to
A) compose new songs on his piano.
C) converse with friends.
B) feel an insect bite his left hand.
D) follow a map
29. Which technique of brain mapping records patterns of electrical activity in the brain from the scalp's surface?
A) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
C) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
B) Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
D) Electroencephalography (EEG)
30. Frank drove his car directly into his neighbor's house. During the crash, Frank was thrown through the
windshield and suffered some brain damage. Now, he has trouble driving because he is unable to remember the
layout of the street around town. What part of his brain did Frank most likely damage?
A) medulla B) basal ganglia C) amygdala D) hippocampus
31. Which of the following types of research would be very useful for examining the heritability of a particular trait?
A) Family studies where researchers examine the extent to which a trait "runs" or goes together in intact
families (those in which all family members are raised in the same home).
B) Twin studies where researchers investigate whether identical twins are more alike on a psychological
characteristic, like intelligence or extraversion, than are fraternal twins, and thus can infer that this
characteristic is genetically influenced.
C) Adoption studies where adoption agencies frequently place children in homes similar to those of the
biological parents.
D) Phenotype studies where individuals are tracked over time to find out whether their eventual phenotype is
consistent with their phenotype at birth.
32. The corpus callosum _________.
A) shares information between the two halves of the cerebral cortex.
B) is made of cartilage that holds the hemispheres together.
C) causes a vegetative state when severed accidentally.
D) is the boundary between the brainstem and the reticular activating system.
33. Neuron A's axon has just received an influx of positive ions. This causes Neuron A to reach threshold, which
means
A) the dendrites will release neurotransmitters.
C) the dendrites will sum the information received.
B) an action potential will fire.
D) the vesicles will not open.
34. ______ is a hormone that influences romantic and maternal love, whereas _____influences sex drive.
A) Estrogen; testosterone B) Estrogen; cortisol C) Oxytocin; cortisol D) Oxytocin; testosterone
Psych 100 – Fall 2016
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 5
35. Dr. Frankenstein believes he can design a new brain that is more efficient than a "normal" brain. Because he
wants to ensure the fastest nerve transmission possible, he should insulate the ___ with ___ to speed up the
action potentials.
A) axon; vesicles B) dendrite; myelin C) axon; myelin D) dendrite; vesicles
36. Which part of the brain is correctly paired with its function?
A) reticular activating system - memory
C) cerebellum - processing auditory information
B) medulla - level of arousal
D) occipital lobe - processing visual information
37. Which of the following is true about neurotransmitters?
A) Neurotransmitters serve as the electrical messengers within the brain.
B) Neurotransmitters bind to receptor sites that are specific to that type of neurotransmitter.
C) Neurotransmitters are responsible for communication within one neuron.
D) The process of a neurotransmitter binding to a receptor site is called "reuptake".
38. Robert is allergic to tomatoes and vomits whenever he eats one. His brother grows tomatoes and brings them
home every night for several weeks. Eventually, Robert starts to feel nauseated every time his brother comes
home. In classical conditioning terms, Robert's brother has become a(n)
A) conditioned response.
C) unconditioned response.
B) conditioned stimulus.
D) unconditioned stimulus.
39. Every time the telephone rang inside the house, Louie the Chihuahua would start barking. When a telephone
rang on a television show, Louie also started barking. Louie's barking to the telephone ring on TV is an example
of
A) stimulus generalization.
C) stimulus control.
B) stimulus discrimination.
D) spontaneous recovery.
40. Every day in class, immediately after the bell rang, Larry flicked Lori's ear to make her flinch. Eventually just
the sound of the bell made Lori flinch before Larry flicked her ear. A week after Larry stopped flicking her ear,
Lori stopped flinching when the bell rang. Lori stopped flinching due to
A) extinction. B) reconditioning. C) stimulus control. D) stimulus degradation.
41. Monkeys learned to salivate at not only the sight of bananas but also at the sight of the zookeeper who feeds
them the bananas. When the zookeeper later wears a certain perfume, the monkeys also learned to salivate to the
smell of the perfume. Salivating to the smell of the perfume is an example of
A) higher-order conditioning.
C) discriminative conditioning.
B) operant conditioning.
D) reconditioning.
42. Barney wants to encourage Ted to wear suits more often. If Ted wears a suit at least once every week, Barney
will buy him a drink on Saturday. What type of reinforcement schedule is Barney using?
A) fixed ratio B) fixed interval C) variable ratio D) variable interval
43. Susan is teaching her son to swim. First she gives him a quarter for putting his foot into the pool. After he does
this successfully, she only gives him a quarter if he jumps into the pool. Finally she gives him a quarter only for
mastering a swimming technique. Susan is using ______ to teach her son to swim.
A) shaping B) classical conditioning C) latent learning D) systematic desensitization
Psych 100 – Fall 2016
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 6
44. Mike loves Q-mart and shops there often. One day another customer asked Mike if he knew where turkey
basters were in the store. Mike immediately gave directions to the exact aisle, even though he never looked for
turkey basters himself. Mike has displayed
A) insight. B) vicarious mapping. C) latent learning. D) active learning.
45. One of the most difficult problems for any teacher is a child who consistently disrupts class. Researchers have
shown that giving attention in the form of scolding to a disruptive child actually increases the child's
misbehavior. In the terms of operant conditioning, the scolding is
A) a punisher. B) a penalty. C) a positive reinforcer. D) a negative reinforcer.
46. Every time Maricella goes to work in the morning, she notices that her dog sulks in the corner of the room and
looks very sad. Over several weeks, she notices that the dog gets unhappy when she picks up her car keys,
immediately before leaving the house. Which phenomenon of learning best describes the dog's behavior?
A) Observational learning
C) Punishments by removal
B) Innate learning
D) Classical conditioning
47. Your new apartment is across the street from a club that plays very loud music. The first night, you get
awakened by the loud music. However, after a few weeks, you are able to sleep through the night and are no
longer bothered by the music. This is due to a form of learning called ______.
A) classical conditioning B) vicarious conditionig C) sensitization D) habituation
48. When Keller and Marian Breland, two psychologists who became animal trainers, decided to train raccoons to
drop tokens into a piggy bank, they found that ________.
A) food was not an effective reinforcer for the raccoons and so learning didn't occur
B) when given edible roots as reinforcers, the raccoons learned the task in less than ten trials
C) the raccoons displayed instinctive drift by rubbing the coins together, dropping them, and rubbing them
together again.
D) the raccoons showed intrinsic interest in the task and so reinforcement was unnecessary
49. Your parents want to teach your little brother to stop complaining. Your mother proposes taking away his toys
whenever he complains. Your father proposes spanking him every time he complains. In this example, your
mother wants to use ____while your father wants to use ____.
A) negative reinforcement; positive punishment
C) negative punishment; positive punishment
B) negative reinforcement; negative punishment
D) positive punishment; negative punishment
50. Brian is a brash graduate student in psychology, who makes the claim that "I can condition people to be just as
afraid of everyday office objects as they are of guns." However, Brian finds that he is having difficulty
conditioning people to fear regular objects like notepads and staplers. This can be explained by ______.
A) insight learning B) demand effects C) positive reinforcement D) latent inhibition
Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
C
A
C
A
Psych 100 – Fall 2016
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
B
B
A
B
D
B
A
C
B
D
D
C
B
D
D
C
A
B
B
A
D
A
C
C
D
D
B
A
B
D
C
D
B
B
A
A
A
B
A
C
C
D
D
C
C
D
Practice Midterm 1 - TR
Page 7