Name: ___________________________
Date: ______________
AP Psychology Midterm Review Practice
Write the Unit each question is from then
answer.
1. When an eyewitness to an auto accident is
asked to describe what happened, which
test of memory is being used?
A. reconstruction
A. parasympathetic nervous system;
thalamus
B. sympathetic nervous system; cortex
C. thalamus; hypothalamus
D. cerebellum; cortex
E. parasympathetic nervous system;
sympathetic nervous system
5.
B. recognition
C. rehearsal
B. belongingness
D. recall
E. relearning
2. Motivation is defined by psychologists as
A. an impulse to accomplish something of
significance.
C. incentive
D. self-actualization
E. set point
6.
B. rigidly patterned behavior characteristic
of all people.
C. a need or desire that energizes and
directs behavior toward a goal.
D. the cause of behavior.
B. correlation
C. survey
D. experimentation
E. case study
4.
According to the Cannon-Bard theory,
body arousal is related to the subjective
awareness of emotion in the same way as
the ________ is related to the ________.
Why is Wilhelm Wundt often considered
the first scientific psychological
researcher?
A. His scientific philosophy was carefully
built on Descartes' idea about mindbody dualism.
B. He gathered data through experiments
in his lab.
E. an external reward or goal that pushes a
person toward accomplishments.
3. In 1953, H.M. underwent surgery to control
his seizures. Doctors removed tissue from
the hippocampus. As a result H.M.'s
memory was severely impaired.
Psychologists studied H.M.'s memory
function until his death in 2008. Which
research method did the psychologists
utilize in this situation?
A. naturalistic observation
Foolish conformity to peer pressure is most
likely to be motivated by ________ needs.
A. safety
C. He treated patients with mental
illnesses using a medical model for the
first time.
D. His attention to genetic causes was
ahead of his time.
E. He analyzed data from his studies
using inferential statistics.
7.
Sexually active unmarried teens are more
likely to use contraceptives if they
A. underestimate their peers' sexual
activity.
B. do not want to appear to be sexually
promiscuous.
C. are in an exclusive sexual relationship
involving open communication.
D. have been extensively exposed to TV
shows in which unmarried people are
having sex.
E. previously made written commitments
to remain celibate until marriage.
8.
Cognitive psychologists are most directly
concerned with the study of
A. emotion.
B. genetics.
C. the unconscious.
D. brain chemistry.
E. thinking.
9.
Retroactive interference involves the
disruption of
A. automatic processing.
B. iconic memory.
C. memory retrieval.
D. semantic encoding.
E. echoic memory.
10. Molecular behavior geneticists seek links
between __________ and specific
disorders.
A. chromosomes
B. proteins
C. genes
D. environment
E. behavior
11. Split-brain patients have had their
________ surgically cut.
A. hippocampus
B. limbic system
C. corpus callosum
D. sensory cortex
E. reticular formation
12. Rochelle is extremely thin but is
convinced that she is too fat. Rochelle's
certainty is best explained by which of the
following concepts?
A. framing
B. availability heuristic
C. belief perseverance
D. overconfidence
E. representativeness heuristic
13. Which psychological perspective most
directly addresses questions about the
relative influences of nature and nurture?
A. behavioral perspective
B. humanistic perspective
C. psychopharmacology
D. cognitive perspective
E. biopsychosocial perspective
14. The sudden comprehension of the double
meaning of a humorous pun best
illustrates
A. the representativeness heuristic.
B. belief perseverance.
C. the availability heuristic.
D. the framing effect.
E. insight.
15. Any stimulus that, when presented after a
response, strengthens the response is
called a(n)
A. conditioned stimulus.
B. unconditioned stimulus.
C. positive reinforcer.
D. negative reinforcer.
E. positive punishment.
16. The biopsychosocial approach provides an
understanding of social-cultural influences
integrated within the larger framework of
A. functionalism.
B. introspection.
C. humanistic psychology.
D. multiple levels of analysis.
E. structuralism.
17. Someone trying to figure out an optical
illusion is probably experiencing
increased brain waves and bloodflow to
which brain structure?
A. left hemisphere
to recognize meaningful objects and
events is called
A. sensory adaptation.
B. thalamus
C. reticular formation
B. parallel processing.
C. sensation.
D. right hemisphere
E. medulla
D. perception.
E. accommodation.
18. The term catharsis refers to emotional
A. disturbance.
B. inhibition.
C. release.
D. adaptation.
E. stress.
19. What is the danger of labeling behaviors
such as too much eating, shopping,
exercise, sex, or gambling as addictions?
A. It can lead to increased feelings of
shame and guilt.
B. No physical or emotional pain is
associated with these behaviors.
C. Abusers may be more likely to hide
their abuse and avoid seeking help.
D. Abusers are more likely to experience
prejudice and discrimination.
E. It can be used as an “all-purpose”
excuse to explain away the behaviors.
20. As a psychologist employed by a medical
school, Dr. McNerney specializes in
research on the causes of stress and on the
effectiveness of various techniques for
coping with stress. Dr. McNerney is most
likely a(n) ________ psychologist.
A. educational
B. behavioral
C. forensic
D. health
E. humanistic
21. The process by which we select, organize,
and interpret sensory information in order
22. Which of the following describes
evidence for the brain's dual-processing
ability?
A. The right occipital lobe perceives
stimuli from our left visual field.
B. The corpus callosum allows impulses
to travel between the two
hemispheres.
C. The brainstem keeps our heart beating
while the cerebral cortex maintains
awareness of the outside world.
D. The amygdala shares responsibility
for some basic emotions with the
hypothalamus and endocrine system.
E. The cerebral cortex is divided into two
sets of lobes on each hemisphere.
23. Women are most likely to be sexually
attracted to men who seem
A. shy and reserved.
B. emotionally reactive and intense.
C. interested in recreational sex.
D. mature and affluent.
E. extraverted and dependent.
24. At the age of 22, Mrs. LaBlanc was less
than 4 feet tall. Her short stature was
probably influenced by the lack of a
growth hormone produced by the
A. pancreas.
B. thyroid.
C. adrenal gland.
D. pituitary gland.
E. myelin.
25. The World Health Organization identifies
obesity as a high
A. basal metabolic rate.
B. body mass index.
C. set point.
D. unit bias.
E. glucose level.
26. Research suggests that an important factor
contributing to drug abuse by youth and
young adults is
A. having a parent who suffers from
narcolepsy.
B. feeling that one's life is meaningless.
C. abnormally high levels of the brain
chemical NPY.
D. sleep apnea.
E. disturbing latent content in dreams.
27. As drug users experience neuroadaptation,
they demonstrate signs of
A. dissociation.
B. narcolepsy.
C. tolerance.
D. hallucinations.
E. NREM.
28. Deep sleep appears to play an important
role in
A. narcolepsy.
B. sleep apnea.
C. paradoxical sleep.
D. environment.
E. natural selection.
30. In trying to solve a potentially
complicated problem quickly, we are most
likely to rely on
A. prototypes.
B. heuristics.
C. phonemes.
D. algorithms.
E. framing.
31. Which of the following is true of negative
reinforcement and punishment?
A. Negative reinforcers increase the rate
of operant responding; punishments
decrease the rate of operant
responding.
B. Negative reinforcers decrease the rate
of operant responding; punishments
increase the rate of operant
responding.
C. Negative reinforcers decrease the rate
of operant responding; punishments
decrease the rate of operant
responding.
D. Negative reinforcers have no effect on
the rate of operant responding;
punishments decrease the rate of
operant responding.
E. Negative reinforcers decrease the rate
of operant responding; punishments
have no effect on the rate of operant
responding.
D. posthypnotic amnesia.
E. physical growth.
29. If a genetic predisposition to fear darkness
contributes to reproductive success, that
trait will likely be passed on to subsequent
generations. This best illustrates
A. mutation.
B. psychopathology.
C. behavior genetics.
32. After looking up his friend's phone
number, Alex was able to remember it
only long enough to dial it correctly. In
this case, the telephone number was
clearly stored in his ________ memory.
A. echoic
B. short-term
C. flashbulb
D. long-term
E. implicit
33. In a well-known experiment, preschool
children pounded and kicked a large
inflated Bobo doll that an adult had just
beaten on. This experiment served to
illustrate the importance of
A. negative reinforcement.
B. operant conditioning.
C. respondent behavior.
D. observational learning.
E. spontaneous recovery.
E. the double-blind procedure.
37. The statement, “The haystack was
important because the cloth ripped,”
becomes easier to understand and recall
when you are given the following prompt:
“A parachutist.” This best illustrates the
influence of
A. visual encoding.
B. parallel processing.
C. sensory memory.
D. semantic encoding.
E. mnemonic devices.
34. A correlation coefficient is a measure of
the
A. difference between the highest and
lowest scores in a distribution.
B. average squared deviation of scores
from a sample mean.
38. In a distribution of test scores, which
measure of central tendency would likely
be the most affected by a couple of
extremely high scores?
A. median
C. direction and strength of the
relationship between two variables.
B. range
C. mode
D. statistical significance of a difference
between two sample means.
D. standard deviation
E. mean
E. frequency of scores at each level of
some measure.
35. Endocrine glands secrete hormones
directly into
A. synaptic gaps.
B. the bloodstream.
C. dendrites.
D. sensory neurons.
E. interneurons.
36. Giving half the members of a group some
purported psychological finding and the
other half an opposite result is an easy
way to demonstrate the impact of
A. overconfidence.
B. illusory correlation.
C. the hindsight bias.
D. random sampling.
39. Long after being bitten by a stray dog,
Alonzo found that his fear of dogs seemed
to have disappeared. To his surprise,
however, when he was recently
confronted by a stray dog, he experienced
a sudden twinge of anxiety. This sudden
anxiety best illustrates
A. delayed reinforcement.
B. latent learning.
C. spontaneous recovery.
D. shaping.
E. discrimination.
40. Contemporary psychologists are most
likely to reject which of the following as
appropriate for the study of psychology?
A. empiricism
B. observation
C. introspection
D. experimentation
A. quivering eye movements that enable
the retina to detect continuous
stimulation.
E. mental activity
41. Experiencing a green afterimage of a red
object is most easily explained by
A. the opponent-process theory.
B. the gate-control theory.
C. place theory.
B. process by which stimulus energies
are changed into neural signals.
C. diminished sensitivity to an
unchanging stimulus.
D. system for sensing the position and
movement of individual body parts.
D. the Young-Helmholtz theory.
E. frequency theory.
E. process of organizing and interpreting
sensory information.
42. Astrid was emotionally aroused by a TV
horror movie. She became extremely
angry when her younger brother
momentarily blocked her view of the
screen. When her movie viewing was
interrupted by a phone call from her
boyfriend, however, she experienced
unusually intense romantic feelings.
Astrid's different emotional reactions to
her brother and her boyfriend are best
explained by the
A. catharsis hypothesis.
44. Neural networks refer to
A. the branching extensions of a neuron.
B. interconnected clusters of neurons in
the central nervous system.
C. neural cables containing many axons.
D. junctions between sending and
receiving neurons.
E. neurons that connect the central
nervous system to the rest of the body.
45. Clinical psychologists specialize in
A. constructing surveys.
B. James-Lange theory.
C. adaptation-level principle.
D. two-factor theory.
B. animal research.
C. providing therapy to troubled people.
E. Cannon-Bard theory.
D. providing drugs to treat behavioral
disorders.
E. treating patients in clinical settings.
43. Kinesthesis refers to the
Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
D
C
E
B
B
B
C
E
9. C
10. C
11. C
12. C
13. E
14. E
15. C
16. D
17. D
18. C
19. E
20. D
21. D
22. C
23. D
24. D
25. B
26. B
27. C
28. E
29. E
30. B
31. A
32. B
33. D
34. C
35. B
36. C
37. D
38. E
39. C
40. C
41. A
42. D
43. D
44. B
45. C