PSYCHOLOGY FINAL EXAM REVIEW ANSWERS
HANSEN SPRING 2013
Sensation & Perception
1. What is the focus of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus?
a. Selective attention
2. What refers to the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses?
a. Visual Capture
3. What type of psychology emphasizes humans’ tendencies to integrate pieces of
information into meaningful wholes?
a. Gestalt Psychology
4. What is the tendency to organize information into objects that stand out from their
background?
a. Figure-Ground Relationship
5. What is the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups?
a. Grouping
6. What is the tendency to group nearby figures together?
a. Proximity
7. What is the tendency to group figures that are similar?
a. Similarity
8. What is the tendency to perceive continuous patterns?
a. Continuity
9. What is the tendency to fill in the gaps in visual information?
a. Closure
10. What is it called when spots, lines, and areas seems as a unit when a line connects
them?
a. Connectedness
11. What is the ability to see objects in three dimensions that allows us to gauge
distance?
a. Depth perception
12. What are signals that rely on the use of two eyes?
a. Binocular clues
1
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
13. What is the idea that images of an object from the two eyes differ, and that the
closer the object the larger the disparity?
a. Retinal Disparity
14. What is the extent to which the eyes come inward together when looking at an
object that the brain keeps track of to measure distance?
a. Convergence
15. What are distance cues that are available to either eye alone?
a. Monocular cues
16. Which monocular cue is best illustrated above?
a. Relative size
17. Which monocular cue is best illustrated above?
a. Interposition
2
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
18. What monocular cue is best illustrated above?
a. Relative clarity
19. Which monocular cue is best illustrated above?
a. Relative height
3
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
20. What monocular cue is best illustrated by the image above?
a. Linear perspective
21. What is it called when we perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in the
retinal image?
a. Perceptual constancy
22. What is the visual ability to adjust to an artificially displaced visual field?
a. Perceptual adaptation
4
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
23. If someone were able to communicate with another person only by thinking a
thought that was then received by another person – without any other signals –
this would be an example of:
a. Telepathy
24. If someone knew that an event was happening on the other side of the world at
that moment – without it being communicated to them from someone or by any
media source (social or traditional) – this would be an example of:
a. Clairvoyance
25. If someone knew what would happen in the future, this would be an example of:
a. Precognition
26. If one’s thoughts were able to alter that laws of physics (mind over matter) this
would be an example of:
a. Psychokinesis
27. What is the study of paranormal phenomenon?
a. Parapsychology
28. Why type of psychology explores how people and machines interact and how
machines and environments can be adapted to human behaviors?
a. Human Factor Psychology
29. According to Weber’s law, in order to perceive a difference between two stimuli
they must:
a. Differ by a constant proportion
30. What predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid
background stimulation?
a. Signal Detection Theory
31. What is it called when nearby objects can be seen more clearly and what causes
this?
a. Nearsightedness; the lens focuses images of distant objects in front of the
retina.
32. What is it called when faraway objects are seen more clearly and what causes
this?
a. Farsightedness; the lens focuses images of distant objects in front of the
retina.
33. What is an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink
on and off in succession?
a. Phi Phenomenon
5
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
34. What is the transformation of sensory data into neural impulses?
a. Transduction
35. What is it called when we have decreased responsiveness to stimuli due to
constant stimulation?
a. Sensory adaptation
36. What color do shorter wavelengths have?
a. Blue/Violet
37. What color do longer wavelengths have?
a. Red
38. What pitch do short wavelengths make?
a. High
39. What pitch do longer wavelengths make?
a. Low
40. Which answer choice puts the vision process in the correct order?
a. Stimulus, light gets into the eye, transduction, neural impulses go to the
visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the cerebral cortex.
41. Which theory states that there are three types of cones: red, blue, and green?
a. Trichromatic theory
42. What theory states that sensory receptors come in pairs and that if one color is
stimulated the other color is inhibited?
a. Opponent-process theory
43. What is complete colorblindness?
a. Achromatopsia
44. Which is the most common form of colorblindness?
a. Deuteranopia
45. What is the difference between the place theory and frequency theory on hearing?
a. Place theory states that different hairs vibrate in the cochlea depending on
what the pitch of the sound while frequency theory states that all of the
hairs vibrate, just at different speeds depending on the pitch.
46. In which type of deafness are the vibrations not making it all the way to the
cochlea?
a. Conduction deafness
6
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
47. In which type of deafness are the hair cells in the cochlea damaged, and the only
possible “fix” is a cochlear implant?
a. Nerve (sensorineural) deafness
48. Which type of receptor in the skin senses pressure or distortion?
a. Mechanoreceptors
49. What is our sense of balance, located in the semicircular canals of our ears?
a. Vestibular sense
50. What tells us where our body parts are based on information from receptors in our
muscles and joints?
a. Kinesthetic sense
Social Psychology
51. What are a set of beliefs and feelings?
a. Attitudes
52. What two factors impact behavior?
a. Internal attitudes and external influences
53. What do we call the unpleasant tension people feel when people’s attitudes and
behaviors are inconsistent with new information based on knowledge or
experience?
a. Cognitive dissonance
54. Which compliance strategy is illustrated by people’s tendency to comply more
readily with a large request if they have already agreed to a smaller favor?
a. Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
55. Which compliance strategy relies on people’s tendency to comply more readily
with a small request if they have already rejected a larger, more outrageous favor?
a. Door-in-the-face phenomenon
56. What is the tendency to respond to a positive action with another positive action?
Conversely, in response to hostile actions they are frequently much more nasty
and even brutal.
a. Norm of reciprocity
Attribution theory tries to explain how people determine the cause of behaviors they
observe.
57. If a car is swerving, and the observer attributes the swerve to the driver being ill,
he has made a:
a. Situational attribution
7
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
58. If a car is swerving, and the observer attributes the swerve to the driver being
crazy, he has made a:
a. Dispositional attribution
59. The honeymoon period when one starts a romance and assume that the other
person agrees with and holds one’s world view is due to/called:
a. False consensus effect
60. If you get a 100 on this exam and congratulate yourself, or fail this exam and
blame the instructor is, this would be an example of:
a. Self-serving bias
61. Over-generalizing an idea about a group of people.
a. Stereotype
62. Undeserved (usually negative) attitude towards a group of people.
a. Prejudice
63. An action based on an undeserved (usually negative) attitude towards a group of
people.
a. Discrimination
64. The tendancy to favor one’s own group that is a principle reason behind prejudice
is:
a. In-group bias
65. Contact Theory states that contact between hostile groups will reduce animosity
if:
a. They are made to work towards a larger goal
66. A prediction that causes itself to be true is a:
a. Self-fulfilling prophecy
67. What is one reason that people are less likely to help someone in need if there are
more people around than fewer according to the Bystander Effect theory?
a. People presume that one of the many other people present will take
appropriate action (diffusion of responsibility)
68. What are the stages of helping behavior?
a. Notice an event; Interpret the event as one in which help is needed;
Assume personal responsibility; Decide what action to take, and then take
that action
69. Which is not a factor of attraction?
a. Opposites
8
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
70. Which attributes do people tend to perceive those who are more physically
attractive to have?
a. Happier; Healthier; More honest; More successful
71. What theory states that if you are good at a task you will perform it better in front
of a group, but if you are not very good at a task you will perform it worse in front
of a group?
a. Social Facilitation Theory
72. In order to strengthen conformity upon an individual, what factors must be
present?
a. The group must be unanimous; The group must have at least 3 people;
One must admires the group’s status; One must have no prior commitment
to another group
73. There was a psychological study in which a person playing the role of a “teacher”
and another playing the role of a “student” were selected at random from a group
of participants. The two were then separated, and the participant assigned the
“teacher” role was to administer a volt of electric shock to the “student” in
another room. The conclusion of the study was that under certain circumstances
where there was an authority figure assuming responsibility, a disproportionate
number of ordinary and decent people would administer potentially lifethreatening electric shock to another under orders. What was the name of this
study?
a. Milgram Study of Obedience
74. The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling efforts
toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable is called:
a. Social loafing
75. When group members suppress their reservations about ideas supported by the
group out of a concern for harmony, we call this:
a. Group think
76. When people get swept up in a group and lose their sense of self in feelings of
anonymity and arousal, we call this:
a. Deindividuation
77. The idea that groups tend to make more extreme decisions than an individual is
called:
a. Group polarization
78. Philip Zimbardo’s study illustrating how we deindividuate and become assigned
roles by taking volunteer participants and arbitrarily assigning them to be either
prisoners or prison guards is commonly referred to as the:
a. Stanford Prison Experiment
9
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
Abnormal Psychology/Mental Illness
79. What percentage of the population is affected by schizophrenia?
a. 1%
80. Which disorder is characterized by depression or mania?
a. Mood disorder
81. Which disorder is characterized by fear?
a. Anxiety disorder
82. Which disorder is characterized by physical impairments with no physical cause?
(In other words there is a psychological cause for the physical impairment.)
a. Somatoform disorder
83. Which disorder is characterized by memory loss and a disconnection from
personal identity, often because of a traumatic event one’s psyche is attempting to
hide:
a. Dissociative disorder
84. Hallucinations and delusions are:
a. Psychotic disorders
85. Addiction, dependency, and withdrawal are all:
a. Substance-related disorders
86. Exhibitionism, fetishism, and transgender issues are all examples of:
a. Sexual functioning disorders
87. Excessive concern about weight gain is indicative of:
a. Eating disorders
88. Momentary behaviors that harm oneself and/or others, such as kleptomania and
pathological gambling or lying, are examples of:
a. Impulse control disorders
89. Disorders that are traceable to a medically diagnosable cause are referred to as:
a. Adjustment disorders
b. Cognitive disorders
c. Factitious disorders
d. General medical disorders
90. An endless preoccupation with an urge or thought is a common type of mental
disorder known as:
a. Obsession
10
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
91. A common type of mental disorder characterized by a symbolic, ritual behavior
that a person must keep acting out in order to avoid anxiety is known as:
a. Compulsion
92. Continued thoughts about performing a certain act over and over again (such as
gambling or cleaning) is known as:
a. Obsessive compulsive
93. Someone with a serious mental disturbance involving loss of contact with reality,
hallucinations, or delusions that moves very little and that may speak very little if
at all may have:
a. Catatonic schizophrenia
94. Someone with a serious mental disturbance involving loss of contact with reality,
hallucinations, or delusions market by strong feelings of suspicion and
persecution (including grandiose beliefs) may have:
a. Paranoid schizophrenia
95. An important neurotransmitter (messenger) in the brain thought to improve nerve
conduction, but when present at levels too high may cause schizophrenia is called:
a. Dopamine
96. Which is not one of the six basic universal human emotions?
a. Love
97. What is a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on the face of humans
according to the emotion one is experiencing?
a. Micro-expression
98. What type of aggression springs from or is provoked by pain, anger, or upset? Its
primary purpose is to do harm or injure.
a. Hostile
99. Which type of aggression is not necessarily caused by anger or emotion, but
instead its coal is to gain some reward?
a. Instrumental
100.
What theories state that aggression is an inherited behavior that is not
learned? Instead, everyone – regardless of age, gender, or religion commits some
violent act.
a. Instinctive
11
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
101.
Which theories attempt to describe the causal mechanisms of aggression –
such as genetics or hormones?
a. Biological
102.
Which theories state postulate that stress and frustration, among other
factors, cause aggression?
a. Environmental
103.
Which theory states that supported people feel less stress?
a. Buffer Effect of Social Support
104.
Which theory of emotion states that physiological changes lead to
emotions?
a. James-Lange Theory of Emotion
105.
What theory of emotion states that emotions drive physiological changes?
a. Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
106.
What theory of emotion states that we deduce feelings in context from our
situation?
a. Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Emotion
107.
What states that we over-estimate the effect of an emotional event?
a. Impact bias
108.
People were asked how much happier they believe Californians are
compared to Midwesterners. Californians and Midwesterners both said
Californians must be considerably happier, when, in fact, there was no difference
between the actual happiness rating of Californians and Midwesterners. Most
people asked focused on and overweighed the sunny weather and ostensibly easygoing lifestyle of California and devalued and underrated other aspects of life and
determinants of happiness, such as low crime rates and safety from natural
disasters like earthquakes (both of which large parts of California lack). The
reason both groups believed Californians were happier could be explained by:
a. Focalism
109.
Stacy suffers a miscarriage, and tells her husband that she is so devastated
she doesn’t think she will ever recover. Five years later, she is a happy new
mother. She hasn’t forgotten the child she lost, but her initial reaction is an
example of:
a. Durability bias
110.
A thrill seeker goes rafting. The excitement of the journey is a mix of fear
of the next rapids and relief at having survived the last one. This is an example of:
a. Opponent-process theory
12
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
111.
What states that our moods bias our judgments?
a. Mood-Congruent Judgment
112.
Fred Farmer remembers vividly the day Texas Longhorn kicker Justin
Tucker nailed a 40-yard field goal as time expired, sending his beloved Aggies to
the SEC losing their final game against arch-rival Texas because it was also the
day his dog Lassie died. This would be an example of:
a. Mood Memory
113.
When someone walks into the room singing a happy song, and we
ourselves become happier, this is an example of:
a. Social Contagion
114.
Which is an example of something that will raise one’s stress as measured
by one’s social readjustment rating scale score (SRRS), which is related to
increased levels of heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure?
a. Life changing events such as marriage, divorce, having children, changes
in jobs, etc.
115.
Drew Barrymore is popping popcorn late at night when she receives a call
from an unlisted number. The caller says that he sees her, then begins to describe
her and what she is doing. What stage of Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome is
Drew experiencing?
a. Alarm
116.
Drew Barrymore hangs up and tries to call the police, but her landline’s
signal is dead and her mobile phone cannot get a signal. She then sees a masked
person outside the window in the backyard towards the pool carrying a large
knife. She screams and runs to hide. What stage of Seyle’s General Adaptation
Syndrome is Drew experiencing?
a. Resistance
117.
The knifed masked man breaks into her house at which point her Black
Russian Terrier, Gusar, begins to attack the intruder. Drew runs and runs and runs
until she reaches the police station, and collapses. What stage of Seyle’s General
Adaptation Syndrome is Drew experiencing?
a. Exhaustion
118.
What is a subjective feeling provoked by real or imagined objects or
events that have high significance to the individual?
a. Emotions
119.
What is an internal condition that orients an individual toward a specific
goal?
a. Drive
13
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
120.
What includes the various psychological and physiological factors that
cause people to act a certain way at a certain time?
a. Motivation
121.
What is a lack of something desirable or useful?
a. Need
122.
What is the result an individual is trying to achieve through is or her
motivated behavior?
a. Incentive
123.
According to Maslow, what is the first level of needs that people have to
satisfy?
a. Physiological need
124.
According to Maslow, what are the needs to love and be loved; belong and
be accepted; need and avoid loneliness/alienation?
a. Belongingness and love needs
125.
According to Maslow, what are the needs to live up to one’s fullest and
unique potential?
a. Self-actualization needs
126.
According to Maslow, what are the needs to feel that the world is
organized and predictable?
a. Safety need
127.
According to Maslow, what are the needs for achievement, competence,
and independence as well as the need for recognition and respect from others?
a. Esteem needs
128.
What states that our behavior is motivated by biological needs in order to
maintain homeostasis?
a. Drive Reduction Theory
129.
What states that we are motivated to seek an optimum level of
stimulation?
a. Arousal Theory
130.
What states that we are motivated by our inborn automated behaviors?
a. Instinct Theory
131.
Which are the three types of motivation?
a. Achievement; Hunger; Sexual
132.
14
What, when stimulated, makes one hungy?
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
a. Lateral hypothalamus
133.
What, when stimulated, makes one feel full?
a. Ventromedial hypothalamus
134.
What is a hormone that converts glucose to fat?
a. Insulin
135.
What hormone increases sexual interest?
a. Testosterone
136.
What hormone peaks in women at ovulation and increases female sexual
receptivity?
a. Estrogen
137.
What hormones serve the functions of the development of sexual
characteristic and activation of sexual behavior?
a. Testosterone and Estrogen
138.
Who conducted 18,000 confidential interviews in the 1950s regarding
people’s sexual histories, and developed a scale of sexuality on which a score of 0
was exclusively heterosexual, a score of 6 was exclusively homosexual, and a
score of 7 was asexual?
a. Alfred Kinsey
139.
Which researchers set out to explore the physiology of sex, and in so
doing filmed 10,000 sex acts between 382 females and 312 males, after which
they founded an institute dedicated to turning gay people straight?
a. William Masters and Virginia Johnson
140.
Internal rewards such as enjoyment or satisfaction are examples of:
a. Intrinsic motivators
141.
Rewards that we get from accomplishments from outside ourselves such
as grades or money are examples of:
a. Extrinsic motivators
142.
What is different about heterosexual men than heterosexual women or
homosexual men?
a. Particular cluster of cells in the hypothalamus is larger
143.
What does current research point to as the most likely cause of a child’s
sexuality?
a. Prenatal hormone levels
15
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
144.
According to what theory do employees work only if rewarded with
benefits or threatened with punishment?
a. Management Theory X
145.
According to what theory are employees internally motivated to do good
work and encourages companies to appeal to Maslow’s higher needs?
a. Management Theory Y
The Brain
146.
Together, the brain and spinal cord form the:
a. Central Nervous System
147.
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls voluntary
movement of skeletal muscles is called the:
a. Somatic Nervous System
148.
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls internal biological
functions is called the:
a. Autonomic Nervous System
149.
A chemical communication system using hormones, by which messages
are sent through the bloodstream is called the:
a. Endocrine System
150.
The nerves branching out from the spinal cord form the:
a. Peripheral Nervous System
151.
What are the nerves that run down the length of the back and transmit
most messages between the body and brain?
a. Spinal Cord
152.
Chemical substances that carry messages through the body in blood are
called:
16
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
a. Hormones
153.
The long, thin cells of nerve tissue along which messages travel to and
from the brain are:
a. Neurons
154.
What are the basic building blocks of heredity?
a. Genes
155.
The gap that exists between individual nerve cells called a:
a. Synapse
156.
The chemicals released by neurons, which determine the rate at which
other neurons fire are called:
a. Neurotransmitters
157.
What is the organelle in the cell body of the neuron that contains the
genetic material of the cell?
a. Nucleus
158.
What are the branching structures of a neuron (attached to the cell body)
that receive messages?
a. Dendrites
159.
What are the hair-like ends of a long extension of a neuron?
a. Axon Terminals
160.
What is one of the many gaps in the myelin sheath where the action
potential occurs during salutatory conduction along the axon?
a. Node of Ranvier
161.
The part of the brain located at the rear base of the skull that is involved in
basic processes of life is called the:
a. Hindbrain
162.
The small part of the brain above the pons that integrates sensory
information and relays it upward is called the:
a. Forebrain
b. Hindbrain
c. Midbrain
d. Parietal Lobe
e. Temporal Lobe
163.
17
A part of the brain that covers the brain’s central core is called the:
a. Midbrain
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013
164.
The different regions into which the cerebral cortex is divided are called:
a. Lobes
165.
What is the top, front region of each of the cerebral hemispheres used for
reasoning, emotions, judgment, and voluntary movement?
a. Frontal Lobe
166.
What is the middle lobe of each cerebral hemisphere between the frontal
and occipital lobes that contains important sensory centers?
a. Parietal Lobe
167.
What are twins who come from one fertilized egg, thus having the same
heredity?
a. Identical twins
168.
What are twins who come from two different eggs fertilized by two
different sperm?
a. Fraternal twins
169.
What affects physical and sexual development in women?
a. Ovaries
170.
What affects physical and sexual development in men?
a. Testes
18
Hansen / Psychology Final Exam Review Answers Spring 2013