GRE Psychology Subject Test Practice Questions

An athlete's performance may improve or worsen according to the level of arousal. Under extreme pressure, performance may diminish. This is an example of

• The Yerkes-Dodson Law

• Clark Hull's theory of motivation

• the Garcia effect

• Zajonc's theory

• the James-Lange theory

A developmental psychologist is interested in conducting a study on children's gender perceptions. The psychologist recruits children who are either 5 years of age, 8 years of age, or 10 years of age to complete the study. Which of the following best describes the psychologist's research design?

• Longitudinal

• Case Study

• Cross-sectional

• Experimental

• Time-series

Piaget's stages of cognitive development (in order) are

• preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational, sensorimotor

• sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

• sensorimotor, preoperational, formal operational, concrete operational

The term 'vicarious reinforcement' was coined by

• John Dewey

• Albert Bandura

• William James

• Carl Rogers

• Kurt Lewin

Which of the following Gestalt laws refers to perceptual organization as being as "good" as possible?

• Closure

• Proximity

• Similarity

• Good continuation

• Prägnanz

At dinner, Karen's brother spills his drink on the table; Karen concludes this happened because he is clumsy and careless. This is an example of the

• social facilitation theory

• social exchange theory

• halo effect

• fundamental attribution error

• fundamental situation error

Which of the following is the neurotransmitter linked to Alzheimer's disease?

• GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid)

• Norepinephrine

• Acetylcholine

• Dopamine

• Lithium

Which of the following is NOT related to the psychological understanding of conformity, obedience, and compliance?

• Batson's electroshock study

• Milgram's electroshock study

• Asch's length of lines study

• Sherif's autokinetic effect study

• The foot-in-the-door effect

The "strange situation" was an experiment devised to examine the quality of the parent-child attachment relationship by which researcher?

• Diana Baumrind

• Karen Horney

• John Bowlby

• Carol Gilligan

• Margaret Ainsworth

Which well-known critic of trait theory argued that behavior is largely determined by characteristics of the situation rather than by those of the person?

• Diana Baumrind

• Karen Horney

• John Bowlby

• Carol Gilligan

• Walter Mischel