2nd Summative Test Practice Exam 2011-2012
1.|Your psychology professor has announced that the next test will assess your understanding of sensation and perception. When you receive the test, however, you find that very few questions actually relate to these topics. In this instance, you would be most concerned about the ________ of the test.|
A)|reliability|
B)|factor analysis|
C)|standardization|
D)|validity|
E)|normal distribution|

2.|One of the most consistently damaging teratogens is:|
A)|epinephrine.|
B)|testosterone.|
C)|serotonin.|
D)|dopamine.|
E)|alcohol.|

3.|The best predictor of a couple's marital satisfaction is the:|
A)|frequency of their sexual intimacy.|
B)|intensity of their passionate feelings.|
C)|ratio of their positive to negative interactions with each other.|
D)|experience or nonexperience of a prior marriage.|

4.|Compared to authoritarian parents, authoritative parents are likely to be:|
A)|more conservative.|
B)|less educated.|
C)|more responsive.|
D)|less trusting.|

5.|The relative lack of neural interconnections in the brain at the time of birth most directly contributes to:|
A)|poor memory for early life experiences.|
B)|decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation.|
C)|an insecure attachment to one's primary caregiver.|
D)|the fear of strangers commonly displayed by infants.|

6.|The fact that many happy and well-adjusted adults were once rebellious and unhappy as adolescents is most relevant to the issue of:|
A)|continuity or stages.|
B)|preconventional or postconventional morality.|
C)|fluid or crystallized intelligence.|
D)|stability or change.|
E)|nature or nurture.|

7.|Critics of Kohlberg's theory of moral development have suggested that postconventional morality is more characteristic of ________ than of ________.|
A)|men; women|
B)|Democrats; Republicans|
C)|socialists; capitalists|
D)|African Americans; white Americans|
E)|Catholics; Protestants|

8.|Mr. and Mrs. Batson can't wait to begin toilet training their year-old daughter. The Batsons most clearly need to be informed about the importance of:|
A)|imprinting.|
B)|habituation.|
C)|fluid intelligence.|
D)|maturation.|
E)|object permanence.|

9.|Every Saturday morning Arnold quickly washes the family's breakfast dishes so that his father will allow him to wash his car. In this instance, washing the car is a(n):|
A)|positive reinforcer.|
B)|unconditioned response.|
C)|conditioned response.|
D)|negative reinforcer.|

10.|Ten-year-old Heidi is maturing early and already towers over all the girls and most of the boys in her fifth-grade class. Heidi is likely to be:|
A)|the most popular student in class.|
B)|self-assured and independent.|
C)|challenging her teacher's authority.|
D)|the object of some teasing.|

11.|A test of your capacity to learn to be an automobile mechanic would be considered a(n) ________ test.|
A)|reliability|
B)|interest|
C)|achievement|
D)|aptitude|
E)|intelligence|

12.|According to Piaget, egocentrism refers to:|
A)|a sensorimotor need for self-stimulation, as evidenced in thumb sucking.|
B)|young children's exaggerated interest in themselves and their own pleasure.|
C)|the inability to perceive things from another person's point of view.|
D)|the inability to realize that things continue to exist even when they are not visible.|

13.|People are likely to take less time to recognize a woman as a nurse than a man as a nurse because a woman more closely resembles their ________ of a nurse.|
A)|heuristic|
B)|prototype|
C)|algorithm|
D)|mental set|

14.|Lilianne is beginning to develop a fear of strangers and will reach for her mother when she sees someone who is unfamiliar. It is likely that Lilianne has just:|
A)|mastered the principle of conservation.|
B)|overcome the limitation of egocentrism.|
C)|developed a sense of object permanence.|
D)|lost her sense of secure attachment.|

15.|Howard Gardner is most likely to agree that the concept of intelligence includes:|
A)|minimizing one's negative emotions.|
B)|spatially analyzing visual input.|
C)|experiencing positive self-esteem.|
D)|behaving morally.|

16.|Dean overestimates the proportion of family chores for which he takes sole responsibility because it's easier for him to recall what he has done than to recall what other family members have done. This best illustrates the impact of:|
A)|overconfidence.|
B)|functional fixedness.|
C)|the representativeness heuristic.|
D)|confirmation bias.|
E)|the availability heuristic.|

17.|Last year, Dr. Moritano cleaned Natacha's skin with rubbing alcohol prior to administering each of a series of painful rabies vaccination shots. Which of the following processes accounts for the fact that Natacha currently becomes fearful every time she smells rubbing alcohol?|
A)|observational learning|
B)|classical conditioning|
C)|the overjustification effect|
D)|operant conditioning|
E)|latent learning|

18.|Erikson suggested that the adolescent search for identity is followed by a developing capacity for:|
A)|competence.|
B)|intimacy.|
C)|autonomy.|
D)|trust.|

19.|Binet and Simon designed a test of intellectual abilities in order to:|
A)|provide a quantitative estimate of inherited intellectual potential.|
B)|distinguish between academic and practical intelligence.|
C)|identify children likely to have difficulty learning in school.|
D)|assess general capacity for goaldirected adaptive behavior.|

20.|The overconfidence phenomenon refers to the tendency to:|
A)|cling to our initial conceptions, even though they have been discredited.|
B)|search for information consistent with our preconceptions.|
C)|underestimate the extent to which our beliefs and judgments are erroneous.|
D)|judge the likelihood of an event in terms of how readily instances of its occurrence are remembered.|

21.|Olivia understands her world primarily by grasping and sucking easily available objects. Olivia is clearly in Piaget's ________ stage.|
A)|preoperational|
B)|concrete operational|
C)|sensorimotor|
D)|formal operational|

22.|Operant behavior is to ________ associations as respondent behavior is to ________ associations.|
A)|stimulus-stimulus; response-response|
B)|stimulus-response; response-stimulus|
C)|response-stimulus; stimulus-stimulus|
D)|response-response; stimulus-stimulus|

23.|Five-year-olds who were surprised to discover that a Band-Aids box contained pencils subsequently delighted in anticipating their friend's false belief about the contents of the box. This best illustrates that the children had developed a(n):|
A)|secure attachment.|
B)|conventional morality.|
C)|theory of mind.|
D)|concept of conservation.|

24.|Nikki has learned to expect the sound of thunder whenever she sees a flash of lightning. This suggests that associative learning involves:|
A)|the overjustification effect.|
B)|cognitive processes.|
C)|spontaneous recovery.|
D)|continuous reinforcement.|
E)|shaping.|

25.|A real estate agent showed Gavin several pictures of lakeshore property while they were eating a delicious, mouth-watering meal. Later, when Gavin was given a tour of the property, he drooled with delight. For Gavin, the lakeshore property was a:|
A)|UCS.|
B)|CS.|
C)|UCR.|
D)|CR.|

26.|Sasha is mildly mentally retarded. She has achieved the equivalent of a fifth-grade education and will soon begin vocational training so that she can earn a living. Sasha's intelligence score is most likely between:|
A)|5 and 20.|
B)|20 and 35.|
C)|35 and 50.|
D)|50 and 70.|
E)|75 and 90.|

27.|When researcher Karen Wynn (1992, 1995) showed 5-month-old infants a numerically impossible outcome, the infants:|
A)|stared longer at the outcome.|
B)|displayed rapid habituation.|
C)|demonstrated an obvious lack of object permanence.|
D)|showed signs of formal operational reasoning.|

28.|Marlene forgot to bring a pillow on the camping trip, so she spent a very uncomfortable and restless night. Unfortunately, she never thought of using her down-filled jacket as a pillow. Marlene's oversight best illustrates:|
A)|confirmation bias.|
B)|belief perseverance.|
C)|functional fixedness.|
D)|the availability heuristic.|
E)|overconfidence.|

29.|When placed close to a gauze breast pad from their nursing mothers, week-old babies are likely to:|
A)|move their eyes in a visual search for their mother.|
B)|turn their head toward the smell of their mother's pad.|
C)|open their mouth in a vigorous search for a nipple.|
D)|demonstrate signs of stranger anxiety.|

30.|By pushing vending machine buttons, children often learn that this action is associated with the delivery of a candy bar. This best illustrates the process underlying:|
A)|latent learning.|
B)|respondent behavior.|
C)|spontaneous recovery.|
D)|operant conditioning.|
E)|habituation.|

31.|The taste of food and the termination of painful electric shock are both ________ reinforcers.|
A)|positive|
B)|negative|
C)|primary|
D)|conditioned|

32.|A prototype is a:|
A)|mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people.|
B)|step-by-step procedure for solving problems.|
C)|best example of a particular category.|
D)|rule-of-thumb strategy for solving problems efficiently.|

33.|Three-year-old Angela has a history of being securely attached to her mother. It is most likely that Angela is:|
A)|unusually intelligent but also highly anxious.|
B)|easily frustrated and irritable when her mother is absent.|
C)|preoccupied with maintaining close physical contact with her mother.|
D)|outgoing and responsive in her interactions with other children.|

34.|As men advance through middle adulthood they experience a gradual decline in:|
A)|testosterone level.|
B)|sperm count.|
C)|ejaculation speed.|
D)|all of the above.|

35.|The first experimental studies of associative learning were conducted by:|
A)|Watson.|
B)|Skinner.|
C)|Bandura.|
D)|Pavlov.|
E)|Wundt.|

36.|The various vowel sounds that can be placed between a “t” and an “n” produce words such as tan, ten, tin, and ton. These various vowel sounds represent different:|
A)|morphemes.|
B)|prototypes.|
C)|phonemes.|
D)|semantics.|
E)|phenotypes.|

37.|Edith abuses both her 3-year-old and 1-year-old daughters. Her behavior is most likely related to a lack of:|
A)|childhood experience with younger brothers and sisters.|
B)|maturation.|
C)|an early and secure attachment to her own parents.|
D)|formal operational intelligence.|
E)|object permanence.|

38.|If both depressed and nondepressed individuals receive similar scores on a diagnostic test for depression, it is said that the test:|
A)|has not been standardized.|
B)|is not valid.|
C)|is not reliable.|
D)|has not been factor-analyzed.|
E)|does not produce scores that form a normal distribution.|

39.|Which psychological specialty is most directly concerned with the systematic study of problem solving, decision making, concept formation, and forming judgments?|
A)|developmental psychology|
B)|social psychology|
C)|clinical psychology|
D)|cognitive psychology|
E)|personality psychology|

40.|Four-year-old Jennifer mistakenly believes that her mother would like to receive a toy doll as a Christmas present. This best illustrates Piaget's concept of:|
A)|accommodation.|
B)|attachment.|
C)|object permanence.|
D)|conservation.|
E)|egocentrism.|

41.|On which of the following tasks is a 20-year-old most likely to outperform a 70-year-old?|
A)|recalling previously presented nonsense syllables|
B)|recognizing previously presented foreign-language words|
C)|recalling previously presented names of cities|
D)|recognizing previously presented names of fruits and vegetables|

42.|Makayla developed an intense fear of flying five years ago when she was in a plane crash. The fact that today she can again fly without distress indicates that her fear has undergone:|
A)|spontaneous recovery.|
B)|extinction.|
C)|generalization.|
D)|discrimination.|

43.|The fact that we can think without language is best illustrated in research on:|
A)|mental imagery.|
B)|functional fixedness.|
C)|the framing effect.|
D)|algorithms.|
E)|the representativeness heuristic.|

44.|Infants can learn the difference between syllable sequences that follow an ABA pattern (such as: ga-ti-ga) and those that follow an ABB pattern (such as: wo-fe-fe). This best illustrates the infant's capacity to learn:|
A)|telegraphic speech.|
B)|statistical probabilities in speech.|
C)|a universal grammar underlying speech.|
D)|any speech system by means of operant conditioning.|

45.|The normal curve would represent the distribution of:|
A)|the American population in terms of gender.|
B)|American schoolchildren in terms of their ages.|
C)|American women in terms of their physical heights.|
D)|all of the above.|

46.|A fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement is one in which a response is reinforced only after a(n):|
A)|specified time period has elapsed.|
B)|unpredictable time period has elapsed.|
C)|specified number of responses have been made.|
D)|unpredictable number of responses have been made.|

47.|When completing a verbal aptitude test, members of an ethnic minority group are particularly likely to perform below their true ability levels if they believe that the test:|
A)|is a measure of emotional intelligence as well as academic intelligence.|
B)|assesses their interests as well as their abilities.|
C)|is biased against members of their own ethnic group.|
D)|results in a distribution of scores that form a bell-shaped curve.|

48.|The tendency to think of objects only in terms of their normal uses is called:|
A)|functional fixedness.|
B)|the availability heuristic.|
C)|confirmation bias.|
D)|belief perseverance.|
E)|the representativeness heuristic.|

49.|Some mothers feed their infants when they show signs of hunger, whereas others fail to respond predictably to their infants' demands for food. These different maternal feeding practices are most likely to contribute to differences in infant:|
A)|habituation.|
B)|attachment.|
C)|conservation.|
D)|maturation.|
E)|egocentrism.|

50.|The use of heuristics rather than algorithms is most likely to:|
A)|save time in arriving at solutions to problems.|
B)|yield more accurate solutions to problems.|
C)|minimize the overconfidence phenomenon.|
D)|involve greater reliance on language skills.|

51.|Scientists are trained to carefully observe and record any research outcomes that are inconsistent with their hypotheses. This practice most directly serves to inhibit:|
A)|the framing effect.|
B)|artificial intelligence.|
C)|functional fixedness.|
D)|confirmation bias.|
E)|naturalistic observation.|

52.|If research suggested that a pregnant mother's use of an artificial sweetener caused harm to the fetus, the artificial sweetener would be considered a(n):|
A)|FAS.|
B)|form of DNA.|
C)|depressant.|
D)|teratogen.|
E)|neurotransmitter.|

53.|The symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome are most likely to include:|
A)|egocentrism.|
B)|mental retardation.|
C)|visual impairments.|
D)|autism.|

54.|When grocery shopping with his mother, 4-year-old Hakim sometimes throws temper tantrums if his mother refuses his requests for a particular snack food. Parent training experts would suggest that his mother should:|
A)|threaten to punish Hakim if he continues his tantrums.|
B)|offer to buy the snack food Hakim wants only if he quiets down and behaves himself.|
C)|continue shopping while ignoring Hakim's tantrums.|
D)|return any snack foods that are already in her cart to the store shelves.|

55.|Toddlers taught to fear speeding cars may also begin to fear speeding trucks and motorcycles. This best illustrates:|
A)|generalization.|
B)|secondary reinforcement.|
C)|shaping.|
D)|latent learning.|
E)|spontaneous recovery.|

56.|Wu believes that some murderers truly love their own children; he also believes that all who truly love their own children are effective parents. Wu's negative attitude toward murderers is so strong, however, that he finds it very difficult to accept the logical conclusion that some murderers are effective parents. His difficulty best illustrates:|
A)|overconfidence.|
B)|the framing effect.|
C)|confirmation bias.|
D)|the availability heuristic.|
E)|belief bias.|

57.|Increasing years of schooling over the last half century have most likely contributed to:|
A)|the eugenics movement.|
B)|the Flynn effect.|
C)|the normal curve.|
D)|savant syndrome.|

58.|Piaget was convinced that the mind of a child:|
A)|is like a blank slate at birth.|
B)|is not heavily influenced by maturation.|
C)|assimilates reality differently than an adult's does.|
D)|is heavily dependent on the child's personality.|

59.|Jacquelyn suffered symptoms so similar to those associated with pregnancy-induced morning sickness that she erroneously concluded that she was pregnant. Jacquelyn's conclusion best illustrates the influence of:|
A)|confirmation bias.|
B)|the availability heuristic.|
C)|the representativeness heuristic.|
D)|functional fixedness.|

60.|We find it harder to frown when viewing a smile than when viewing a frown. This can most clearly be attributed to:|
A)|the overjustification effect.|
B)|spontaneous recovery.|
C)|mirror neurons.|
D)|extrinsic motivation.|

61.|Children first begin to use sounds to communicate meaning during the ________ stage.|
A)|one-word|
B)|two-word|
C)|echoic|
D)|telegraphic|
E)|babbling|

62.|Spearman's g factor refers to:|
A)|the internal consistency of an intelligence test.|
B)|the genetic contribution to intelligence.|
C)|a general intelligence that underlies success on a wide variety of tasks.|
D)|a highly developed skill or talent possessed by an otherwise retarded person.|
E)|the ability to understand and regulate emotions.|

63.|The similarity between the intelligence test scores of identical twins raised apart is:|
A)|less than that between children and their biological parents.|
B)|equal to that between identical twins reared together.|
C)|equal to that between fraternal twins reared together.|
D)|greater than that between ordinary siblings reared together.|

64.|For purposes of effective child-rearing, most psychologists favor the use of ________ over ________.|
A)|shaping; modeling|
B)|reinforcement; punishment|
C)|spontaneous recovery; extinction|
D)|classical conditioning; operant conditioning|
E)|primary reinforcers; secondary reinforcers|

65.|On Monday, the meteorologist forecast a 20 percent chance of rain, so Sheryl took her umbrella to work. On Friday, he reported an 80 percent chance that it would not rain, so Sheryl left her umbrella at home. Sheryl's behavior illustrates:|
A)|confirmation bias.|
B)|the belief perseverance phenomenon.|
C)|overconfidence.|
D)|the representativeness heuristic.|
E)|the framing effect.|

66.|Watson and Rayner's study of Little Albert demonstrated how specific fears:|
A)|can interfere with the process of learning.|
B)|can be used as negative reinforcers.|
C)|are acquired through observational learning.|
D)|may be produced through classical conditioning.|

67.|The desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment involves:|
A)|latent learning.|
B)|extrinsic motivation.|
C)|partial reinforcement.|
D)|delayed reinforcers.|

68.|The ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus is called:|
A)|shaping.|
B)|acquisition.|
C)|discrimination.|
D)|generalization.|
E)|latent learning.|

69.|If a test is standardized, this means that:|
A)|it accurately measures what it is intended to measure.|
B)|a person's test performance can be compared with that of a pretested group.|
C)|most test scores will cluster near the average.|
D)|the test will yield consistent results when administered on different occasions.|

70.|According to Erikson, isolation is to intimacy as role confusion is to:|
A)|mistrust.|
B)|guilt.|
C)|competence.|
D)|inferiority.|
E)|identity.|

Answer Key

1.|D||21.|C||41.|A||61.|A|
|Level: EasyPage: 436|||Level: EasyPage: 144|||Level: DifficultPage: 180|||Level: EasyPage: 403|
2.|E||22.|C||42.|B||62.|C|
|Level: MediumPage: 137|||Level: DifficultPage: 323|||Level: MediumPage: 316|||Level: EasyPage: 423|
3.|C||23.|C||43.|A||63.|D|
|Level: EasyPage: 184|||Level: EasyPage: 147|||Level: EasyPage: 411|||Level: EasyPage: 442|
4.|C||24.|B||44.|B||64.|B|
|Level: MediumPage: 158|||Level: MediumPage: 317|||Level: MediumPage: 406|||Level: MediumPage: 328|
5.|A||25.|B||45.|C||65.|E|
|Level: EasyPage: 141|||Level: DifficultPage: 314|||Level: DifficultPage: 434-435|||Level: DifficultPage: 394|
6.|D||26.|D||46.|C||66.|D|
|Level: MediumPage: 190|||Level: DifficultPage: 439|||Level: EasyPage: 327|||Level: MediumPage: 320-321|
7.|A||27.|A||47.|C||67.|B|
|Level: MediumPage: 165|||Level: MediumPage: 145-146|||Level: MediumPage: 451|||Level: EasyPage: 330|
8.|D||28.|C||48.|A||68.|C|
|Level: MediumPage: 142|||Level: MediumPage: 389|||Level: EasyPage: 389|||Level: EasyPage: 317|
9.|A||29.|B||49.|B||69.|B|
|Level: DifficultPage: 325|||Level: MediumPage: 138|||Level: DifficultPage: 152|||Level: EasyPage: 434|
10.|D||30.|D||50.|A||70.|E|
|Level: MediumPage: 162|||Level: EasyPage: 311|||Level: MediumPage: 387|||Level: MediumPage: 166|
11.|D||31.|C||51.|D||||
|Level: EasyPage: 432|||Level: EasyPage: 325|||Level: DifficultPage: 388||||
12.|C||32.|C||52.|D||||
|Level: EasyPage: 146|||Level: EasyPage: 386|||Level: MediumPage: 137||||
13.|B||33.|D||53.|B||||
|Level: MediumPage: 386|||Level: MediumPage: 154|||Level: MediumPage: 137||||
14.|C||34.|D||54.|C||||
|Level: DifficultPage: 150|||Level: EasyPage: 174|||Level: MediumPage: 333-334||||
15.|B||35.|D||55.|A||||
|Level: MediumPage: 424|||Level: EasyPage: 312|||Level: EasyPage: 316||||
16.|E||36.|C||56.|E||||
|Level: EasyPage: 390|||Level: MediumPage: 401|||Level: DifficultPage: 395||||
17.|B||37.|C||57.|B||||
|Level: MediumPage: 312|||Level: DifficultPage: 154|||Level: EasyPage: 445||||
18.|B||38.|B||58.|C||||
|Level: MediumPage: 168|||Level: MediumPage: 436|||Level: MediumPage: 143||||
19.|C||39.|D||59.|C||||
|Level: EasyPage: 420|||Level: EasyPage: 385|||Level: DifficultPage: 390||||
20.|C||40.|E||60.|C||||
|Level: EasyPage: 391|||Level: DifficultPage: 146|||Level: MediumPage: 336||||