PSY 201 Exam 1

How are Psychology and common sense different?

• Psychology is simply a fancy term for common sense.

• Psychology includes graphology and numerology, and common sense is limited to astrology and fortune telling.

• Common sense identifies the true causes of behavior; psychology is the tool to confirm what we already know.

• Unlike common sense, Psychology's principles are based on rigorous research and verifiable evidence.

The _________ allows psychologists to determine that one variable influenced the other variable (cause and effect).

• Experiment

• Correlational Study

• Case Study

• Naturalistic Observation

Social norms have been referred to as "social constraints." Do social norms provide any benefits?

• No, social norms prevent people from expressing their individuality.

• Yes, they contribute to the positive contributions of unanimity and invulnerability in group processes.

• No, they are directly responsible for the lack of creativity and spontaneity in the society.

• Yes, they make interactions with other people predictable and orderly.

Entrapment works to cause people to obey by:

• Getting them to engage in an embarrassing behavior which can be used like blackmail.

• Using the social convention of being polite to the authority figure.

• Getting people to increase their commitment to a course of action in order to justify their investment in it.

• Transforming the activity into a series of routine activities.

The central nervous system:

• Carries messages to the brain and spinal cord.

• Contains the somatic and autonomic nervous system.

• Consists of the brain and spinal cord.

• Contains the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is responsible for:

• Hunger, thirst and emotion.

• Processing sensory information.

• Ability to set goals and plan.

• Processing sounds and language comprehension.

While trying to explain the behavior of the guards who became abusive in the prison experiment, John emphasizes their personality and underestimates the influence of the power of the social influences of the roles the guards were given. This type of attribution is called:

• Fundamental attribution error

• Illegitimazation of authority effect.

• Situational attributional style.

• Groupthink.

Which of the following is NOT characteristic of the processes used in indoctrination of suicide bombers?

• Access to disconfirming evidence is controlled.

• The person's problems are defined as so multi-faceted that only the group has the ability to sort things out.

• The person is offered a new identity and promised salvation.

• The person is subjected to entrapment.

The ________ receives messages from the other nerve cells, and the ___________transmits messages to other neurons:

• Axon; dendrite.

• Myelin sheath; axon.

• Dendrite; axon.

• Cell body; dendrite.

Dr. Blatz administers 20 pounds of delicious chocolate to college freshmen to see what the effect of chocolate has on weight gain. Which of the following is the dependent variable?

• 20 lbs. of chocolate

• weight

• acne

• freshmen