Practice Exam 1

1. Josie was given a password by her teacher. To remember the password, she repeated it in her mind multiple times until she typed it into her login screen a few moments later. Which of the following concepts

• Divergent thinking

• Iconic memory

• Phonological loop

• Visuospatial sketchpad

2. A study was conducted with fifty-five preteens (ages 9–12) who were not getting the recommended amount of sleep for their age. All preteens agreed to participate in the study. The participants were told they did not have to complete the study and could leave the study at any time. During the study, participants were randomly placed into either a group that gradually moved bedtimes earlier by five minutes each night or a control group that slept on their normal sleep cycle. The study’s purpose was disclosed to participants once the study was over.

Which of the following ethical considerations was most problematic for this study?

• Participants were not debriefed.

• The risk to participants was too high.

• The participants did not have the right to withdraw.

• Informed consent was not given for the preteens to participate in the study.

3. Which of the following scenarios best describes the monocular depth cue of relative size?

• Abel judges the distance of an object based on the difference between the images processed by the retina in each eye.

• Yvonne judges the distance of an object based on how large the image is on the retina.

• 1. Kenzi judges the distance of an object based on whether it is partially blocked by another object.

• Selah judges the distance of an object based on its location in the visual field compared with other objects in the scene.

4. Dr. Sanjay conducted a study to determine whether eating breakfast affects academic performance. At the beginning of the week, he gathered survey data from students in his third-grade class about whether they ate breakfast. The next day, Dr. Sanjay showed the students ten new vocabulary words. Three days later, he administered a test to the students to measure their word recall. After analyzing the data, he claimed that eating breakfast improves the ability to recall new words.

Which of the following statements best explains why this is a false claim?

• Dr. Sanjay did not obtain informed consent from the parents or guardians of the students.

• Dr. Sanjay needed to confirm that the students told the truth about what they ate.

• Dr. Sanjay cannot make cause-and-effect claims from correlational data.

• Dr. Sanjay needed to wait more than three days to measure word recall.

5. Which of the following is an example of habituation for a dog?

• The dog only responded after his owner repeatedly called his name.

• Although the dog responded the first time his owner called his name, the dog stopped responding when his owner called his name multiple times.

• After his owner first gave him food, the dog continued to beg for food at the table.

• The dog stopped begging for food at the table after his owner did not respond with food multiple times.

6. Dr. Nelson believes that the symptoms of Nellie’s schizophrenia stem from childhood trauma. However, Dr. Khan believes that excess dopamine is causing many of Nellie’s symptoms. Which of the following psychological perspectives is each doctor using to explain Nellie’s symptoms?

• Dr. Nelson is using a psychodynamic perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a biological perspective.

• Dr. Nelson is using a cognitive perspective, while Dr. Khan is using an evolutionary perspective.

• Dr. Nelson is using a behavioral perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a sociocultural perspective.

• Dr. Nelson is using a humanistic perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a psychodynamic perspective.

7. Participants in a study are randomly shown one of two advertisements for a new dessert brand. In each advertisement, the participants are told about how delicious, satisfying, and healthy the dessert is. In one advertisement, this information is presented by a doctor wearing a lab coat. In the other advertisement the information is presented by a popular movie actor. Which of the following research questions is this study most likely trying to answer?

• What type of audience is most receptive to an advertisement?

• How does psychological state affect physical health?

• How does the source of information affect how persuasive the information is?

• How does personality affect decision-making?

8. Tim decided he needed to lose some weight. He started dieting, but he was experiencing

uncomfortable feelings of hunger when he fasted for several hours. He then began eating several small meals over the course of a day and stopped experiencing feelings of hunger.

Which of the following concepts best explains why Tim was not able to maintain fasting as a part of his diet strategy?

• Yerkes-Dodson Law

• Homeostasis

• Reaction formation

• Instincts