Name_____________________________________ Date_________

AP Psychology-Midterm Review(Chapters 1-8)

1) One of the reasons to study psychology is
a. To understand the human mind and how it works.
b. To explain how men and women are different
c. To learn how to manipulate others
d. To completely understand and predict human behavior.
e. To have the answers to all of life's questions.

2) The "father" of psychology and founder of the first psychological laboratory was
a. Sigmund Freud
b. Wilhelm Wundt
c. John B. Watson
d. B. F. Skinner
e. Carl Rogers

3) In random sampling, it is essential that

a. the standard deviation be small
b. there is a 5% margin for error
c. there is an equal number of males and females in the sample
d. you include at least 50% of the target population in your sample
e. all members of the target population have an equal chance of being chosen

4) One advantage of a case study approach over a survey approach in psychological

research is that
a. there is often a significant difference between what individuals report they
would do in a certain circumstance and what they actually do in such a
circumstance
b. over 90% of subjects have been proven to knowingly lie in responding to surveys
c. it is impossible to ever get a truly representative sample of respondents when
administering surveys
d. the case study method allows for relatively easy control of confounding variables
e. the case study method allows for the gathering of more specific empirical data

5) A correlation coefficient of -1.09 indicates a(n)

a. strong positive correlation
b. strong negative correlation
c. natural correlation
d. cause/effect relationship
e. error in computation.
 6) The quote “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” is an example of
a. The Barnum effect
b. Hindsight bias
c. Overconfidence
d. The scientific attitude
e. Critical thinking
Use the scenario below and your knowledge of psychology to answer the following question.
A mother brings her daughter who has been diagnosed with autism to two different doctors. The
first doctor tells her that autism is a genetic problem. The second doctor tells her it was caused
by a vaccine the child received when she was younger.
7) These two dissenting opinions reflect the
a. mind-brain problem
b. psychodynamic perspective
c. role of genetics
d. nature vs nurture debate
e. behaviorist viewpoint

8) Your friend is taking her first psychology class. She comes up to you and says “I don’t
know why we’re studying the brain; I thought this was psychology class” Because of
your background in psychology, your best response should be
a. Everything psychological is simultaneously biological
b. It’s been known since Aristotle’s time that the brain is the center of intelligence
and thought
c. Phrenologists established the importance of studying the physical brain to
understand mental abilities
d. Science has demonstrated that Plato’s belief in the heart as the origin of emotion
is correct
e. Being able to name the parts of the brain helps us understand the basis of behavior

9) The synapse is the

a. unit of function of the nervous system
b. junction between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of the next neuron
c. support neuron
d. receiver of signals
e. sender of signals

10) A long thin fiber that conducts impulses away from the body of the nerve cell
a. Neurotransmitter
b. myelin sheath
c. axon
d. glia
e. synapse
11) If you were being chased by a bear, the sympathetic nervous system would be stimulated
causing all of the following to occur EXCEPT
a. constricted arteries
b. increased heart rate
c. increased secretion from sweat glands
d. increased digestion
e. dilated eyes

12) In the brain, the region that controls blood pressure, cardiac rate, and respiratory
functions is called the
a. Temporal lobe(involved in high-level auditory processing)
b. Occipital lobe(the visual processing center)
c. Pons(helps relay messages from the cortex and the cerebellum)
d. Medulla
e. Hypothalamus(link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary)

13) Which of the following is LEAST likely to result in a release of epinephrine (adrenaline)
from the adrenal glands?
a. Having a teacher surprise you with a pop test
b. Taking a nap after school
c. Running in a 50-yard dash
d. Being chased by a stray dog
e. Swimming in a very cold body of water

14) The way in which our brain modifies itself after damage is known as what?
a. Brain Plasticity
b. Brain regeneration
c. Immaculate Degeneration of the brain
d. The Split Brain Theory
e. The Phineas Gage Phenomena

15) Gestalt psychology is often most associated with Max Wertheimer looks to study which
of the following
a. Focused on how we experience the world
b. What you sense and feel and how those things relate
c. How the mental and behavior processes function
d. The study of the unconscious
e. Describes behavior
16) Research on individuals that have a deficit in one sensory system, such as blind or deaf
people, shows us that
a. Other senses are also likely to be impaired
b. New senses will develop
c. Other senses will be enhanced
d. Overall brain areas responsible for sensory information will be smaller
e. Top-down processing is more likely

17) A difference threshold is

a. used to determine sound wave amplitudes
b. the difference between the maximum strength of a stimuli and the minimum
strength
c. the maximum amount that two stimuli must differ in order for one to be detected
more than the other
d. the minimum amount that two stimuli must differ in order to be perceived
differently half the time
e. used to estimate how many pain sensors people have

18) A sound waves’ frequency determines its

a. Timbre
b. Height
c. Pitch
d. Strength
e. Amplitude

19) Skin senses include all of the following except

a. Touch
b. Pressure
c. Temperature
d. Pain
e. Olfaction

20) A sign at a baseball field has two stationary pictures of a batter near one another. These
pictures blink on and off, one after the other, to make it look like the batter is taking a
swing at the ball. This illusion of movement is known as
a. Motion parallax
b. Retinal disparity
c. The phi phenomenon
d. The visual capture effect
e. The automatic effect
21) Our ability to focus on one conversation while other conversations are going on around
us is known as
a. Binaural listening
b. Focused attention
c. Split-span attention
d. The cocktail-party phenomenon
e. Dichotic listening

22) Which of the following is the most important determinant in hypnosis?

a. The ability of the hypnotist to control the subject
b. The subject's openness to suggestion
c. The ability of a subject to recover accurate past memories
d. The intelligence of the subject being hypnotized
e. The ability of the hypnotist to subtly influence the subject and elicit the
appropriate responses

23) Which of the following is characteristic of normal sleep?

a. The deepest part of sleep occurs in the late morning before a person wakes up
b. A normal pattern of sleep goes through 15 minute cycles
c. The most common form of sleep is from an awake state straight to Stage 4 sleep
d. A person progresses from one stage of sleep to the next without cycling to a
previous stage of sleep
e. There is an increase in the duration of REM sleep as sleep progresses

24) A circadian rhythm refers to

a. The body's internal physiological processes that cycles throughout a 24 hour
period
b. The 30 day reproductive cycle a female experiences each month
c. The stages of sleep that a person cycles through each night
d. The systematic function of the heart and circulatory systems
e. The cycle of emotions that one experiences in a strange or unfamiliar situation

25) Caffeine, cocaine and nicotine are examples of:

a. Natural neurotransmitters
b. Psychoactive drugs
c. Hallucinogens
d. Depressants
e. Stimulants
26) Which of the following distorts a person's perception of their surrounding environment,
and sensory input from that environment, causing hallucinations?
a. LSD
b. Alcohol
c. Barbiturates
d. Cocaine
e. Nicotine

27) Which of the following reduces the activity of the central nervous system?
a. Hallucinogens
b. Barbiturates
c. Cannabis
d. Amphetamines
e. Opiates

28) The researcher most closely associated with the study of classical conditioning is
a. Edward Thorndike
b. John Watson
c. B.F. Skinner
d. John Garcia
e. Ivan Palov

29) Seals in an aquarium will repeat behaviors, such as clapping and barking, that promote
people to toss them a fish. This best illustrates
a. Respondent behavior
b. Operant conditioning
c. Observational learning
d. Latent learning
e. Spontaneous recovery

30) A dogs salivation at the sight of a food dish is a(n)

a. Conditioned stimulus
b. Unconditioned stimulus
c. Unconditioned response
d. Conditioned response
e. Neutral stimulus

31) Which of the following is an unconditioned response

a. Playing jump rope
b. Running through a maze to get food
c. Sweating in hot sun
d. Clapping after a thrilling concert performance
e. Getting money as a reword
32) If a tone causes a dog to salivate because it has regularly been associated with the
presentation of food, the tone is called a(n)
a. Unconditioned stimulus
b. Primary reinforcer
c. Conditioned stimulus
d. Immediate reinforcer
e. Conditioned reinforcement

33) Toddlers taught to fear moving cars may also begin to fear moving trucks and
motorcycles. This best illustrates
a. Generalization
b. Shaping
c. Extinction
d. Secondary reinforcement
e. Higher level processing

34) Every Saturday morning, Arnold quickly washes the family’s breakfast dishes so that his
father will allow him to drive his car. In this instance driving the car is a(n)
a. Positive reinforcer
b. Unconditioned response
c. Conditioned response
d. Negative reinforcer
e. Punishment

35) Without any explicit training from adults, many 8-year old children can turn the ignition
key to start their parents car. This best illustrates the importance of
a. Observational learning
b. Classical conditioning
c. Operant conditioning
d. Spontaneous recovery
e. Discrimination

36) Every day as she walk so school Joanna passes a mural on the side of a building.
However, when asked she says she does not remember ever seeing it. Which of the
following is the best explanation for this occurrence?
a. Implicit memory is stored in the cerebellum, thus she must have experienced
damage to that region
b. She has not paid attention to the incoming information so it was not encoded
into long-term memory
c. Because of the time span between being exposed to the mural, the spacing effect
has blocked it from her memory
d. The memory of the mural has delayed over time
 e. She is experiencing amnesia, and that leads her to forget the last 12 hours of each
day

37) You are most likely to automatically encode information about

a. Politician’s names
b. Friends birthdays
c. New phone numbers
d. The sequence of a day’s events
e. Dates in a history book

38) Iconic memory refers to

a. The encoded meanings of words and events in short-term memory
b. Photographic, or picture image, memory that lasts for only a few tenths of a
second
c. The effortlessly processed incidental information about the timing and frequency
of events
d. The visually encoded images in long-term memory
e. Important events often encoded through flashbulb memory

39) After studying biology all afternoon, Aaron is having difficulty remembering details of
the organic chemistry material that he memorized that morning. Aaron’s difficulty best
illustrates
a. Transience
b. Retroactive interference
c. The spacing effect
d. Proactive interference
e. Amnesia
40) Studying psychological concepts while riding the bus, walking to lunch and waiting for
class to begin will improve your memory of the concepts by taking advantage of
a. Chunking
b. Self-reference effect
c. Priming
d. The serial position effect
e. The spacing effect

41) You are most likely to automatically encode information about

a. Politician’s names
b. Friends birthdays
c. New phone numbers
d. The sequence of a day’s events
e. Dates in a history book

42) After reading a newspaper suggesting that drunken drivers may have contributed to a
recent auto accident, several people who actually witnessed the accident began to
remember the driver involved as traveling more recklessly than was actually the case.
This provides an example of
a. Proactive interference
b. The serial-position effect
c. State-dependent memory
d. The self-reference effect
e. The misinformation effect

43) An aroused of activated state that is often triggered by a physiological need is called a(n)
a. Instinct
b. Incentive
c. Drive
d. Set point
e. Requirement

44) Homeostasis, which is the goal of drive reduction theory, is defined as

a. A desire to perform a behavior in return for reward
b. A rigidly patterned behavior characteristic of an entire species
c. An aroused or activated state that is often triggered by a physiological need
d. The body’s tendency to maintain a constant internal state
e. A physical need that is usually triggered by motivational arousal
45) Jake’s home was broken into and many things were taken, after the break-in his wife
worries and is afraid to be home alone, and installs a new alarm system. Maslow would
suggest Jake’s wife is trying to satisfy her
a. Physiological needs
b. Safety needs
c. Belongings needs
d. Esteem needs
e. Self-actualization needs

46) “You know you are in love when your heart beats fast and you experience that unique
trembling feeling inside of you” That remark best illustrates__________________ theory
of emotion
a. Cannon-Bard
b. Two-factor
c. Catharsis
d. James-Lange
e. Common-sense

47) According to the Cannon-Bard theory, the experience of emotion

a. Depends on the intensity of arousal
b. Can occur only after psychological arousal
c. Occurs simultaneously with physiological arousal
d. Precedes physiological arousal
e. Is only intensified over time

48) According to the two-factor theory, the two basic components of emotions
are_____________ and_______________
a. Facial expressions and cognitive labels
b. Emotion-arousing events and physical labels
c. Physical arousal and overt behavior
d. A cognitive label and physical arousal
e. Conscious experience and unconscious experience

49) Which of the following is LEAST likely to happen when you are evacuated from a
building that is on fire?
a. Pupils dilate
b. Digestion is inhibited
c. Adrenal glands produce noradrenaline
d. Respiration slows
e. Heart rate slows
50) The specific body weight maintained automatically by most adults over long periods of
time is known as the
a. Set point
b. Refractory period
c. Hypothalamic plateau
d. Basal metabolic rate
e. Homeostatic weight