Test of General Psychology (1)
A. Multiple Choice ( 1 point each, 30 points in total)
1. For which of the following is Wilhelm Wundt primarily known? (A)
A.the establishment of the first formal laboratory for research in psychology
B.the distinction between mind and body as two separate entities
C.the discovery of how signals are conducted along nerves in the body
D.the development of the first formal program for training in psychotherapy
2. G. Stanley Hall is noteworthy in the history of psychology because he (D)
A.established the firrst American research laboratory in psychology.
B.launched America’s first psychological journal.
C.was the driving force behind the establishment of the American Psychological Association.
D.did all of the above.
3. Which of the following approaches has the closest affinity to scientific methods of collecting
data? (C)
A. trephining
B. phrenology
C. behaviorism
D. structuralism
4. Which of the following perspectives would be most helpful in identifying medications to treat
people with severe mental disorders? (D)
A. psychodynamic
B. behavioral
C. cognitive
D. neuroscientific
5. Theories allow psychologists to: (D)
A. make sense of unorganized, separate observations and bits of information.
B. place pieces within a structured and coherent framework.
C. move beyond already known facts and principles and make deductions about as yet
unexplained phenomena.
D. all of the above
6. Which of the following approaches might William James criticize for examining a movie frame
by frame instead of seeing the motion in the motion picture? (A)
A.structuralism
B.functionalism
C.dualism
D.humanism
7. A tentative prediction about the relationship between two variables is: (D)
A.a confounding of variables.
B.an operational definition.
C.a theory.
D.a hypothesis.
8. In evolutionary theory, ___________ refers to the reproductive success of an individual
organism relative to the average reproductive success in the population. (D)
A.natural selection
B.gene flow
C.adaptation
D.fitness
9. Paul has profound difficulty producing spoken language. If his problem is attributable to brain
damage, the damage would probably be found in: (C)
A.the cerebellum.
B.Sperry’s area
C.Broca’s area
D.Wernicke’s area
10. The reticular formation (A)
A. responds to loud noises.
B. stores memories.
C. transmits motor information.
D. integrates the right and left sides of the cortex.
11. In psychophysical research, the absolute threshold has been arbitrarily defined as: (B)
A.the stimulus intensity that can be detected 100% of the time.
B.the stimulus intensity that can be detected 50% of the time.
C.the minimum amount of difference in intensity needed to tell two stimuli apart.
D.a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus.
12. A tone-deaf person would probably not be able to tell two musical notes apart unless they were
very different. We could say that this person has a relatively large: (A)
A.just noticeable difference.
B.relative threshold.
C.absolute threshold.
D.detection threshold.
13. Which theory would predict that the American flag would have a green, black, and yellow
afterimage? (B)
A.subtractive color mixing
B.opponent process theory
C.additive color mixing
D.trichromatic theory
14. The size of the pupil opening depends on the amount of light in the environment. The dimmer
the surroundings, the more the pupil (A)
A. widens.
B. closes.
C. retracts behind the cornea.
D. becomes elliptical.
15. The fact that cultural groups with less exposure to carpentered buildings are less susceptible to
the Müller-Lyer illusion suggests that (D)
A.not all cultures test perceptual hypotheses.
B.people in technologically advanced cultures are more gullible.
C.optical illusions can be experienced only by cultures that havebeen exposed to the concept of
optical illusions.
D.perceptual inferences can be shaped by experience.
16. Perception of pitch can best be explained by: (C)
A.place theory.
B.frequency theory.
C.both place theory and frequency theory.
D.neither theory.
17. In what way(s) is the sense of taste like the sense of smell? (C)
A.There are four primary stimulus groups for both senses.
B.Both systems are routed through the thalamus on the way to the cortex.
C.The physical stimuli for both senses are chemical substances dissolved in fluid.
D.All of the above.
E.None of the above.
18. An electroencephalogram(EEG) would indicate primarily _____ waves activity while you take
this test. (B)
A.alpha B.beta C.delta D.theta
19. Slow-wave sleep consists of stages _______ of sleep and is dominated by _______ waves. (C)
A.1 and 2; beta
B.2 and 3; alpha
C.3 and 4; delta
D.1 and 2; delta
20. Newborn infants spend about _____% of their sleep time in REM,while adults spend about
_____% of their sleep time in REM. (B)
A.20; 50
B.50; 20
C.20; 20
D.50; 50
21. A common driving experience is “highway hypnosis” ,in which one consciousness seems to be
divided between the driving itself and one’s conscious train of thought. This phenomenon is
consisten with the idea that hypnosis is: (B)
A.an exercise in role playing.
B.a dissociated state of consciousness.
C.a goal-directed fantasy.
D.not an altered state of consciousness.
22. Which of the following is TRUE? (B)
A. If done correctly, correlational studies can permit cause and effect conclusions.
B. An experiment is the only research method that permits cause and effect conclusions.
C. Experiments permit cause and effect conclusions, but the researchers still have to make
their best guess as to which variable is the cause and which is the effect.
D. In psychology, it is rarely possible to determine cause and effect between variables.
23. Yanna used to date a man who wore a lime-scented aftershave. Yanna was very attracted to this
man, and now when she smells the scent of lime, she finds herself feeling slightly aroused. In
this example, the scent of lime is the: (A)
A. CS.
B. US.
C. CR.
D. UR.
24. Skinner maintained that reinforcement determines the acquisition of a response; Bandura
maintains that reinforcement determines the_____________ of a response. (C)
A.acquisition
B.development
C.performance
D.generalization
25. After repeatedly pairing a tone with meat powder, Pavlov found thata dog will salivate when
the tone is presented. Salivation to the tone is a(n): (D)
A.unconditioned stimulus.
B.unconditioned response.
C.conditioned stimulus.
D.conditioned response.
26. The steady, rapid responding of a person playing a slot machine is an example of the pattern of
responding typically generated on a _________ schedule. (B)
A.fixed-ratio
B.variable-ratio
C.fixed-interval
D.variable-interval
27. Positive reinforcement _________ the rate of responding; negative reinforcement _________
the rate of responding. (C)
A.increases; decreases
B.decreases; increases
C.increases; increases
D.decreases; decreases
28. The link between physical punishment and subsequent aggressivebehavior is probably best
explained by: (A)
A.observational learning.
B.noncontingent reinforcement.
C.resistance to extinction.
D.classical conditioning.
29. Tolman’s maze experiment demonstrated the phenomenon of (B)
A. observational learning
B. latent learning
C. operant conditioning
D. rat intelligence
30. Different animal species may not respond to training in the same way. Instead, there are
built-in _________ that may lead a species to behave differently than expected. (C)
A) nurture predispositions
B) evolutionary fitness points
C) biological constraints
D) natural operant effects
B. Defining Terms (4 points each, 20 points in total)
1．Functionalism: An early approach to psychology that concentrated on what the mind does----the
functions of mental activity----and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their
environments.
2. Operationalization: The process of translating a hypothesis into specific, testable procedures
that can be measured and observed.
3. Weber’s law: One of the basic laws of psychophysics, stating that a just noticeable difference is
in constant proportion to the intensity of an initial stimulus.
4. Operant conditioning: Learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened,
depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences.
C. Blank Filling ( 1 point each, 20 points in total)
1. Psychology is the scientific study of ________________ and ________________. (behavior,
mental processes)
2. ___________ psychology focuses on the consistency in people’s behavior over time and the
traits that differentiate one person from other.(Personality)
3. When wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology laboratory in 1879, his aim was to study the
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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10.
11.
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13.
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building blocks of the mind, his psychology was called _____________.( Structuralism)
A procedure in which neither the participants nor the experimenter knows whether the
participants are or are not receiving an actgual treatment is known as the
____________procedure.( double-blind)
Neurons receive information through their ____________, and send messages through
their___________.( dendrite, axon)
Today the field of psychology involve five major perspectives. They are Neuroscience,
Psychodynamic, ____________ , ______________ and _____________.(Behavioral
perspective, Cognitive perspective, Humanistic perspective)
A psychologist wants to study the effect of attractiveness on willingness to help a person with
a math problem. Attractiveness would be the __________ variable，and the amount of
helping would be the __________variable.( Independent variable, Dependent variable)
The_______________ is the illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in
rapid succession. You encounter examples of it nearly every day. For example, movies and TV
consist of separate still pictures projected rapidly one after the other. And then you see smooth
motion. ( phi phenomenon)
In a painting, train tracks may look as if they go off into the distance because the artist draws
the tracks as converging lines, a pictorial cue to depth known as______________.( linear
perspective.)
____________refers to your ability to perceive the true size of an object depite variations in
the size of its retinal image. (Size constancy)
________________is anchored in empirical reality and deals with bits of information and the
transformation of concrete,physical features of stimuli into abstract representations.
(Bottom-up processing/Data-driven processing)
________________is a basic form of learning in which one stimulus or event predicts the
occurrence of another stimulus or event.(Classical conditioning)
The brain makes use of a phenomenon known as _______________, or the difference in the
images the two eyes see, to give three dimensions to sight.( binocular disparity)
____________ occurs when a stimulus that is fairly similar to the conditioned stimulus
produces the conditioned stimulus, in contrast, ____________ occurs when there is no
response to a simulus that is slightly distinct from the conditioned stimulus.(stimulus
generalization, stimulus discrimination)
D．True or false ( 1 point each, 10 points in total)
1. Behaviorist psychologists, whose perspective became prominent in the early 1900s, asked
what the mind does and what role behavior plays in allowing people to adapt better to their
environments. (F)
2. When you speak into the receiver on a telephone, the receiver's function is most like the
function of dendritesof the neuron (T)
3. If you are hypnotized in order to achieve pain relief, you should expect that hypnosis would
change the perception of pain (T)
4. Operant conditioning regulates voluntary responses exclusively (F)
5. The distinction between the two types of conditioning is not absolute, with both types jointly
and interactively governing some aspects of behavior. (T)
6.
7.
8.
9.
In farsightedness, the focus of light from close objects falls behind the retina. (T)
The electromagnetic energy of light is encoded for the brain by the cornea of the eye.(F)
Following meditation, people report increases in heart rate and blood pressure. (F)
We learn many complex skills through observing others' behavior, this process is called
observational learning. (T)
10. Models who are punished for behaving in a particular way are more likely to be mimicked
than those who are not. (F)
E. Essays (10 points each, 20 points in total)
1. What are some of the fundamental differences between the humanistic and behavioral
approaches in psychology?
Answer: Psychologists in the humanistic perspective believe that behavior is largely the result of
people’s free choice. That is, people have the freedom to choose their own behaviors, and those
choices typically help them to achieve self-fulfillment. Importantly, humanists like Carl Rogers
and Abraham Maslow believed that all people had the potential to reach personal fulfillment. In
contrast, traditional behaviorists believed that human behavior was governed by environmental
factors that are outside an individual’s control. Behaviorists like John Watson believed that a
person could shape an organisms behavior simply by controlling the rewardingness of the
consequences associated with the behavior. The humanistic and behavioral psychologists also
differ in their orientation toward internal states versus observable behaviors. Humanists prefer to
focus on internal states (e.g., fulfillment), whereas behaviorists tend to focus on behaviors that can
be directly observed and measured.
2. Why are partial reinforcement schedules more effective than a continuous reinforcement
schedule in maintaining a high rate of responding? How does this difference relate to
resistance to extinction?
Answer: In partial reinforcement, the organism must maintain a higher rate of responding
because reinforcement is only provided after a period of time or after a certain number of
responses have been performed. In continuous reinforcement, the reinforcement will always be
provided, so the organism is guaranteed a reward whenever the desired response is performed.
Another reason for the persistence of behavior learned under partial reinforcement is that when
reinforcement ceases, this may mean an end to reinforcement or a switch to a noncontinuous
schedule. Hence, responses learned under partial reinforcement are more resistant to extinction.