PSY100 Exam Practice Questions

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1. Each of the following are types of anxiety identified by Freud as being warning
signs of dangers to the ego, except:
a. reality anxiety
b. hedonistic anxiety
c. moral anxiety
d. neurotic anxiety

2. Annabelle was born and raised in Nova Scotia. However, while visiting with her
in-laws who live in Texas, Annabelle finds herself using words such as “y’all”
(instead of “everyone”) and “soda” (instead of “pop”). Annabelle has adopted the
same _____ as her in-laws.
a. syntax
b. lexicon
c. linguistic ingroup bias
d. linguistic intergroup bias

3. A defining characteristic of autism is that the child

a. has extreme difficulty learning from punishment
b. is extremely skilled with numbers and spatial relationships
c. can only communicate using sign language or some other non-verbal form
of communication
d. suffers social impairments
e. all of the above

4. Sandra is suffering from major depression. She is convinced that she will always
be unhappy and her life will never change. What is Sandra demonstrating?
a. Pessimistic explanatory style
b. Life stressors
c. Inhibited temperamental style
d. Hypervigilance

5. Meredith is afraid of snakes. George occasionally gets intensely, overwhelmingly

afraid for no apparent reason. Christina is constantly afraid that “something” will
go wrong, and so is hypervigilant all the time. The disorders these individuals
may be suffering from are (in order):
a. phobic disorder; obsessive-compulsive disorder; generalized anxiety
disorder
b. obsessive-compulsive disorder; panic disorder; generalized anxiety
disorder
c. phobic disorder; panic disorder; generalized anxiety disorder
d. panic disorder; agoraphobia; obsessive-compulsive disorder
e. none of the above
6. In which of the following is the person least likely to be aware of the maladaptive
nature of her or his behaviour?
a. obsessive-compulsive disorder
b. phobic disorder
c. anti-social personality disorder
d. agoraphobia
e. drug addiction

7. People with borderline personality disorder

a. typically cannot stand to be alone; they can therefore be very manipulative
in their relationships
b. typically cannot stand to be with other people; they are therefore quite
manipulative so that they drive others away
c. typically cannot stand to be criticized or praised; as a result, they withdraw
from their goals and all domains that are performance-oriented (such as
school)
d. have an overly strong and inflexible sense of self; as a result they tend to
dominate others in their

8. People with OCD often develop _____ in response to __________.

a. agoraphobia; anxiety
b. anxiety; agoraphobia
c. an obsession; a specific compulsion
d. a compulsion; a specific obsession

9. Bart is asked by his psychotherapist to close his eyes. After a few minutes of
relaxing, the therapist asks him to discuss whatever comes to mind and to
continue without censoring any of the idea of thoughts her experiences. Bart is
experiencing the therapeutic technique of:
a. Active confrontation
b. Transference
c. Mindfulness association
d. Free association
e. Unconditional positive regard

10. Systematic desensitization is specifically designed to help a person deal with his
or her:
a. Depression
b. Phobia
c. Generalized anxiety
d. Mania
e. Psychopathic personality

11. Medications which affect psychological function are collectively referred to as:
a. Psychotropic
b. Tricyclic
 c. Psychedelic
d. Antipsychotic
e. Neuroleptic

12. One biological explanation for the symptoms of schizophrenia is the appearance
of enlarged ____, which are fluid-filled structures that cushion and protect the
brain.
a. atria
b. meninges
c. vesicles
d. ventricles
e. vestibules

13. __________ requires surgery to implant electrodes into the brain and an
embedded power supply under the skin:
a. Deep brain stimulation
b. Electroconvulsive therapy
c. A frontal lobotomy
d. Transcranial magnetic stimulation

14. Who was an early proponent of functionalism?

a. Ivan Pavlov
b. William James
c. Wilhelm Wundt
d. Max Werheimer
e. Albert Bandura

15. The purpose of operational definitions in science is to:

a. Keep participants from knowing which treatment group they are in
b. Reduce demand characteristics
c. Increase ecological validity
d. Carefully define terms and variables so they can be objectively studied
e. Prevent theories from being unfalsifiable

16. What is the function of the myelin sheath?

a. To serve as a structure for neurons
b. To monitor neural activity
c. To speed up neural impulses
d. To produce neurotransmitters
e. To break down neurotransmitters

17. If a researcher sets up a study in which the study materials are given to the
participants in an envelope with the contents unknown to the researcher, this is an
example of a strategy to avoid:
a. operational bias
b. researcher bias
 c. the Hawthorne effect
d. self-report bias
e. the self-selection effect

18. Confounds are a threat to establishing:

a. operational definitions
b. external validity
c. causality
d. dependent variables

19. Our visual sensory receptor cells are located in the ____.
a. Cornea
b. Fovea
c. Optic nerve
d. Sclera
e. Retina

20. The classical conditioning term for a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in
the absence of learning is:
a. Unconditioned stimulus
b. Unconditioned response
c. Spontaneous recovery
d. Conditioned stimulus
e. Second-order conditioning

21. Steve was recalling his first day in university, including walking into the wrong
class, dropping his books as he left, and the long line at the registrar’s office he
encountered when he had to switch classes. These memories are examples of:
a. Semantic memory
b. Nondeclarative memory
c. Procedural memory
d. Episodic memory
e. Sensory memory

22. In Piaget’s theory, the process of modifying existing cognitive structures in

response to experience and new information is known as:
a. Operations
b. Accommodation
c. Conservation
d. Assimilation
e. Equilibration

23. Psychologists use the term personality primarily to refer to characteristics and
behaviours that:
a. are relatively stable over time and circumstances
b. show little variability across persons
 c. naïve observers attribute to others
d. stem from conscious intentions
e. are observed in all healthy “normally functioning” individuals

24. In Freud’s structural model of personality:

a. the superego dominates other structures in determining behaviour
b. the ego operates according to the reality principle
c. the ego eventually becomes unresponsive to the id because of mental
habituation
d. the superego is the realistic, rational portion of the mind

25. At a crowded park, Kayla sees an old man clutch his heart and stumbling. If
Kayla assumes that someone else will help the old man, she is experiencing the
phenomenon known as:
a. Social responsibility norm
b. Social loafing
c. Diffusion of responsibility
d. Evaluation apprehension
e. Bystander effect

26. The broken vending machine in Cathy’s office dispenses soda inconsistently.
Sometimes Cathy gets a soda after putting in two quarters, but sometimes she
only gets a soda after putting in five or six quarters. In operant conditioning terms,
Cathy is being reinforced on a ______ schedule.
a. Fixed ratio
b. Fixed interval
c. Variable ratio
d. Variable interval

27. About ____ of all participants in Milgram’s study of obedience administered the
highest level of shock:
a. 60%
b. 65%
c. 70%
d. 75%

28. In order to have an effect, drugs used to treat psychological disorders must be able
to:
a. Reduce neurotransmitter activity in the brain
b. Increase neurotransmitter activity in the brain
c. Cross from one side of a synapse to the other
d. Cross the blood-brain barrier
e. Cross the corpus collosum
29. Which of the following is a mood disorder?
a. obsessive-compulsive disorder
b. multiple personality disorder
c. narcissistic personality disorder
d. bipolar disorder
e. agoraphobia

30. Adler proposed the concept of “striving for superiority” as a major motivating
source of personality. What did Adler mean by “striving for superiority”?
a. we are inherently competitive as humans
b. we look to better ourselves to overcome feelings of inferiority
c. We look down on others as we interact with them
d. We will try to undermine others in order to make ourselves look better.

31. Which of the following trait dimensions is not in Eysenck’s theory of personality?
a. Extraversion-introversion
b. Neuroticism-emotional stability
c. Machiavellianism-caring
d. Psychoticism-impulse control

32. The ______________ approach utilizes the statistical technique called “factor
analysis” to determine dimensions of personality.
a. Structural
b. Trait
c. Psychodynamic
d. Cross-cultural

33. Penny has been in trouble with the law for as long as she can remember. Some
people consider her to be a criminal. According to Freud, which aspect of her
unconscious mind is overactive, and which part is weak?
a. Id is overactive and superego is weak
b. Ego is overactive and id is weak
c. Superego is overactive, and ego is weak
d. Ego is overactive, and superego is weak

34. Which of the following is true of conformity?

a. Conformity is always bad.
b. While conformity can lead to negative consequences, it also ensures a
degree of societal order.
c. Conformity is not as relevant to individualistic cultures.
d. Collectivist cultures are less likely to value most forms of conformity.

35. Attribution theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding the reasons
behind the behaviour of ourselves and others. Which of the following best
describes the type of attributions we make?
 a. Our ability to assigned attributions is generally quite accurate.
b. We tend to focus upon situational attributions of others.
c. We tend to be very harsh on the attributions of our own actions.
d. We tend to focus on dispositional causes of others behavior.

36. Suppose that you do really well on your first psychology exam. According to the
self-serving bias, what might you assume about your test performance?
a. Psychology is intuitive.
b. The test was really easy.
c. You worked hard and earned your A.
d. You worry you won’t do as well on the next exam.

37. Research has demonstrated cultural differences in the impact of primacy effect in
impression formation. Relative to the United States, in Japan is ______________
impacted by primacy effects in impression formation.
a. More
b. Less
c. Not at all
d. Japanese people don’t form impressions from one meeting

38. Alicia joined learned to ride a motorcycle and joined a biker gang so that she
could research and learn about biker gang culture. Alicia is conducting a:
a. Naturalistic observation
b. Case study
c. Participant observation
d. Correlational study

39. Researchers conducted a study in which they determined that as tendency toward
aggression increases, time spent watching combat sports like boxing and MMA
increases as well. What is the nature of this correlation?
a. Positive
b. Negative
c. Zero
d. Not even information to answer

40. Standard IQ tests measure all of the following except:

a. Emotional intelligence
b. Short term memory
c. Understanding of analogies
d. Ability to complete patterns
1. B
2. B
3. D
4. A
5. C
6. C
7. A
8. D
9. D
10. B
11. A
12. D
13. A
14. B
15. D
16. C
17. B
18. C
19. E
20. A
21. D
22. B
23. A
24. B
25. C
26. C
27. B
28. D
29. D
30. B
31. C
32. B
33. A
34. B
35. D
36. C
37. B
38. C
39. A
40. A