AP Psychology
Midterm
Spring 2014
AP Psychology – MIDTERM EXAM
1) Which brain structure receives information from all the senses except smell?
a. Hippocampus
d. Thalamus
b. Amygdala
e. Medulla
c. Pons
2) When a person’s test performance can be compared with that of a representative and pretested sample of
people, the test is said to be _________________
a. Reliable.
d. Normally distributed
b. Standardized.
e. Internally consistent
c. Valid
3) After learning to fear a white rat, Little Albert also responded with fear to the sight of a rabbit. This best
illustrates the process of ______________
a. Secondary reinforcement
d. Shaping
b. Generalization
e. Spontaneous Recovery
c. Latent learning
4) Split-brain patients have had their _______ surgically cut.
a. Hippocampus
d. Sensory cortex
b. Limbic system
e. Reticular formation
c. Corpus callosum
5) Which type of reinforcement schedule generates the highest rates of responding?
a. Fixed schedule
d. Delayed schedule
b. Variable schedule
e. Secondary schedule
c. Continuous schedule
6) The process of reinforcing successively closer attempts to a desired behavior is called _________
a. Generalization.
d. Secondary reinforcement
b. Intermittent reinforcement.
e. Modeling
c. Shaping
7) The explanatory power of a scientific theory is most closely linked to its capacity to generate testable _________
a. Assumptions
d. Variables
b. Correlations
e. Placebos
c. Predictions
8) The discomfort and distress that follow the discontinued use of certain drugs is called __________
a. Intolerance
d. REM rebound
b. Narcolepsy
e. Dissociation
c. Withdrawal
9) Opiate drugs occupy the same receptor sites as _____________
a. Acetylcholine
d. Dopamine
b. Serotonin
e. Epinephrine
c. Endorphins
10) The ability to detect whether your body is in a horizontal or vertical position depends most directly on ________
a. Accommodation
d. Olfactory Receptors
b. Sensory adaptation
e. Subliminal stimulation
c. The vestibular sense
11) A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron is called the ________
a. Dendrite
d. Myelin sheath
b. Agonist
e. Refractory period
c. Action potential
12) Tests designed to predict one’s ability to learn new skills are called ____________
a. Achievement tests
d. Standardized assessments
b. Interest inventories
e. Aptitude tests
c. Factor analytic measures
13) Albert Bandura’s experiments indicate that ________ is very important in the process of learning.
a. Shaping
d. Respondent behavior
b. Generalization
e. Secondary reinforcement
c. Modeling
14) Freud called the remembered story line of a dream its ________ content.
a. Manifest
d. Paradoxical
b. Latent
e. Delusional
c. Dissociated
15) Morphine and heroin are both ___________
a. Cocaine
b. Opiates
c. Hallucinogens
d. Barbituates
e. Stimulants
16) Promising people monetary rewards for doing what they already enjoy doing is most likely to undermine ______
a. Latent learning
d. Generalization
b. Intrinsic motivation.
e. Discrimination
c. Spontaneous recovery
17) Any event that decreases the continuation of behavior that precedes it is a ___________
a. Negative reinforce
d. Delayed reinforcer
b. Punishment
e. Secondary reinforcer
c. Conditioned stimulus
18) Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two
variables?
a. +0.02
d. +0.25
b. +1.00
e. -0.50
c. -0.99
19) As the retinal image of a horse galloping towards you becomes larger, it is unlikely that the horse will appear to
grow larger. This best illustrates the phenomenon of _____________
a. Visual capture
d. Convergence
b. Size constancy
e. Linear perspective
c. Closure
20) To minimize the extent to which outcome differences between experimental and control conditions can be
attributed to placebo effects, researchers make use of _________________
a. Random sampling
d. Operational definitions
b. The double-blind procedure
e. Replication
c. Random assignment
21) The discovery that high-frequency sounds trigger large vibrations near the beginning of the basilar membrane
supports the _______ theory.
a. Gate-control
d. Opponent-process
b. Frequency
e. Place
c. Young-Helmholtz
22) Spearman referred to one’s general capacity that may underlie all of a person’s specific mental abilities as _____
a. IQ
d. Factor analysis
b. Heritability
e. Emotional intelligence
c. The g factor
23) Our ability to learn by witnessing the behavior of others best illustrates ________
a. Respondent behavior
d. Observational learning
b. Prosocial behavior
e. Classical conditioning
c. Operant conditioning
24) At 3 o’clock in the morning, John has already slept for four hours. As long as his sleep continues, we can expect
an increasing occurrence of __________
a. Sleep walking
d. REM sleep
b. Hypnagogic sensations
e. Stage 4 sleep
c. Muscle tension
25) In Pavlov’s experiments, the dog’s salivation triggered by the taste of food was a(n) _______________
a. Conditioned response
d. Conditioned stimulus
b. Unconditioned response
e. Neutral stimulus
c. Unconditioned stimulus
26) The occipital lobes are to _______ as the temporal lobes are to _______.
a. Hearing; sensing movement
b. Seeing; sensing touch
c. Sensing pleasure; sensing pain
d. Seeing; hearing
e. Speaking; hearing
27) Which of the following is most useful for helping survey researchers avoid false generalizations?
a. The case study
b. Naturalistic observation
c. Random sampling
d. Operational definitions
e. Standard deviations
28) Mr. and Mrs. Berry have five children aged 2,3,7,9 & 9. The median age of the Berry children is _________
a. 3
d. 8
b. 7
e. 9
c. 8
29) The coiled, fluid-filled tube in which sound waves trigger nerve impulses is called the ____________
a. Eustachian tube
d. Cochlea
b. Auditory canal
e. Vestibular apparatus
c. Semicircular canal
30) In an experiment, the variable that you expect to cause a particular change is known as the _____________
a. Dependent variable
d. Placebo
b. Independent variable
e. Correlational variable
c. Confounding variable
31) Correlational research is most useful for purposes of _____________
a. Explanation
d. Replication
b. Prediction
e. Experimentation
c. Control
32) The specialist most likely to have a medical degree is a(n) _____________
a. Clinical psychologist
b. Industrial/organizational psychologist
c. Developmental psychologist
d. Psychiatrist
e. Biological psychologist
33) Which endocrine gland regulates body growth and controls most of the body’s other glands?
a. Parathyroid
d. Pituitary
b. Adrenal
e. Pancreas
c. Thyroid
34) After recovering from a serious motorcycle accident, Gina was afraid to ride a motorcycle but not a bicycle.
Gina’s pattern of fear best illustrates ___________
a. Shaping
d. Discrimination
b. Generalization
e. Negative reinforcement
c. Spontaneous recovery
35) The process of replication will be much simpler based on the accuracy of _____________
a. The hindsight bias
d. Operational definitions
b. The false consensus effect
e. The placebo effect
c. Illusory correlation
36) A test that measures or predicts what it is supposed to is said to have a high degree of ___________
a. Validity
d. The g factor
b. Standardization
e. Factor analysis
c. Reliability
37) The hindsight bias leads people to perceive research findings as ____________
a. Invalid
d. Unreplicable
b. Unpredictable
e. Unsurprising
c. Inexplicable
38) Which of the following is the component of the limbic system that plays an essential role in the processing of
new memories?
a. Hypothalamus
d. Cerebellum
b. Thalamus
e. Medulla
c. Hippocampus
39) According to Bandura, reciprocal determinism involves multidirectional influences among ____________
a. Mind, body, and behavior.
b. Thoughts, emotions, and actions.
c. Behaviors, internal personal factors, and environmental events.
d. Id, ego, and superego.
e. Learned helplessness, locus of control, and optimism.
40) The IQ scores of five members of the Duluth family are 100, 82, 104, 96, and 118. For this distribution of scores,
the range is __________
a. 6
d. 48
b. 14
e. 100
c. 36
41) Intrinsic motivation is thought to be an important component of ___________
a. Practical intelligence
d. Savant syndrome
b. Creativity
e. The g factor
c. The Flynn effect
42) The neuroscience perspective in psychology would be most likely to emphasize that behavior is largely
influenced by ________
a. Environmental circumstances
d. Subjective interpretations
b. Blood chemistry
e. Memory processes
c. Unconscious conflicts
43) The amount of light entering the eye is regulated by the _______________
a. Lens
d. Optic nerve
b. Iris
e. Feature detectors
c. Retina
44) Which perspective is most concerned with how individuals interpret their experiences?
a. Behavioral
d. Behavior genetics
b. Cognitive
e. Psychodynamic
c. Neuroscience
45) The researcher most closely associated with the study of classical conditioning is __________
a. Thorndike
d. Bandura
b. Deci
e. Pavlov
c. Skinner
46) Twin studies suggest that intelligence is influenced by ________
a. Testosterone
d. Gender-typing
b. Gender schemas
e. Environment
c. Heredity
47) If a distribution has a positive skew, the average should be ___________
a. To the right of the median
d. The same as the mode
b. To the left of the mode
e. The same as both the median and the mode
c. The same as the median
48) The part of a neuron that receives incoming neural messages from other neurons is called the __________
a. Amygdala
d. Myelin sheath
b. Dendrites
e. Pituitary gland
c. Corpus callosum
49) Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to distinguish between ___________
a. Facts and theories
d. Random samples and representative samples
b. Causes and effects
e. Hypotheses and operational definitions
c. Case studies and surveys
50) When the release of Ach (Acetylcholine) is blocked, the result is __________
a. Depression
d. Schizophrenia
b. Muscular paralysis
e. Euphoria
c. Aggression
51) Evelyn wants to know how consistent her bowling scores have been during the past season. Which of the
following measures would be most relevant to this specific concern?
a. Mean
d. Standard deviation
b. Median
e. Correlational coefficient
c. Scatterplot
52) The minimum amount of stimulation a person needs to detect a stimulus 50% of the time is called the ________
a. Adaptation threshold
d. Absolute threshold
b. Difference threshold
e. Change threshold
c. Subliminal threshold
53) Any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response is called a(n) ____________
a. Conditioned stimulus
d. Negative reinforcer
b. Unconditioned stimulus
e. Positive punishment
c. Positive reinforcer
54) Which region of your brainstem controls your level of alertness and arousal?
a. Reticular formation
d. Amygdala
b. Cerebellum
e. Medulla
c. Hypothalamus
55) Research participants who carefully observe and report their immediate reactions and feelings in response to
different high-pitched sounds are using the method known as _____________
a. Correlational study
d. Natural Selection
b. Introspection
e. Replication
c. Psychoanalysis