Psychology Trivia Questions for Students

Dr. Scarlett conducted experiments in which she electrically stimulated parts of a cat's brain. A cat that became terrified in the presence of a mouse was most likely stimulated in the

• Acerebellum
• Bthalamus
• Cmedulla
• Dlimbic system

Irrelevant thoughts that provide stimulation when your interest is flagging, letting you experience positive emotions, are

• Aunconscious
• Bdelusions
• Cdaydreams
• Dnonconscious

Iconic memory refers to

• Afrontal sensory registries
• BSTM sensory registries
• Cvisual sensory registries
• Dolfactory sensory registries

Which technique controls for both experimenter and subject bias?

• Asingle blind study
• Bdemand characteristics
• CHawthorne effect
• Ddouble blind study

Which of the following accurately states the order of the transmission of visual information?

• ABipolar cells; ganglion cells; fovea; optic nerve
• BRods and cones; retina; optic nerve; ganglion cells
• COptic nerve; ganglion cells; bipolar cells; rods and cones
• DRods and cones; bipolar cells; ganglion cells; optic nerve

Stimulation of norepinephrine receptors appears to produce

• Aincreased motor activity
• Banxiety
• Calertness
• Deuphoria

According to Sigmund Freud, what is the dominant factor determining our personality traits?

• Agenetic and nutritional factors
• Bparenting styles
• Csecondary drives and needs
• Dunconscious conflicts

Michelle watches David Letterman on television, but doesn't recognize him when she walks past him in Manhattan. Which effect on perception does this best illustrate?

• Aproximity
• Bclosure
• Cconvergence
• Dcontext

For which of the following would drive-reduction theories not provide a reasonable explanation?

• ATish decides to skip lunch because she is still full from eating a very large breakfast.
• BIn the middle of his five-mile race, Jerome grabs water from the water station to quench his thirst.
• CKezia is very full after eating dinner but decides to order the strawberry cheesecake anyway.
• DErnest gobbles a few cookies on his way to class because he did not have time for lunch.

In most people, the left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for

• Alogic
• Blanguage
• Cmathematical reasoning
• Danalytical reasoning

A game show like Jeopardy! asks players to demonstrate which of the following types of intelligence?

• ACrystallized intelligence
• BFluid intelligence
• CGeneral intelligence
• DIQ

According to the opponent process theory of emotions,

• Arepetitions of an emotion-arousing event strengthen the opposing emotion
• Bhappiness and unhappiness combine to keep someone relatively stable over a lifetime
• Cred emotions are followed by green emotions
• Dopposing emotions after a primary emotion are always weaker than the primary one

The primary reason why we cannot taste sand or smell platinum is that

• Athey are not soluble in water
• Bthey are not chemicals
• Cthey have no nutritional value
• Dthey are poisonous

The incidence of schizophrenia in the population is closest to

• A1 in 100.
• B1 in 10,000.
• C1 in 1,000.
• D1 in 10.

Which of the following best illustrates hostile aggression?

• AA sanitation man knocks over some rose bushes when he throws an empty can to the curb.
• BA man slaps his wife because he is angry that she made hamburgers for dinner again.
• CA waitress breaks several cups and saucers when she drops a tray on the floor.
• DA careless driver hits and severely injures a pedestrian who is crossing the street.

Shafi cited Tony's and David's 100% math test scores in providing evidence that boys do better in math than girls. His failure to recognize that seven girls in the class earned 100% while only two boys earned that score best exemplifies

• Ahindsight bias
• Bproactive interference
• Cfunctional fixedness
• Dconfirmation bias

A comprehensive final examination in AP Psychology that consists of questions dealing solely with motivation and emotion, social psychology, and the biological basis of behavior units lacks

• Atest–retest reliability
• Bcontent validity
• Cpredictive validity
• Dalternate-forms reliability

Due to brain damage, 10-year-old Genna underwent surgery to remove nearly the entire right hemisphere of her brain. Which of the following observations the day after the operation best illustrates the brain's plasticity?

• AGenna was able to move her right leg.
• BGenna was able to understand what was said to her.
• CGenna was able to move her left hand.
• DGenna was able to speak.

Probabilistic reasoning from specific observations to general propositions is known as

• Ainductive reasoning
• Bintuitive reasoning
• Cstatistical reasoning
• Ddeductive reasoning

Nat's therapist tells him to relax, close his eyes, and breathe slowly whenever he begins to experience fear associated with being in an enclosed space. The therapist is using a technique that is central to

• Arational-emotive therapy
• Bsystematic desensitization
• Cpsychoanalysis
• Dperson-centered therapy

Your little cousin watches you at the computer, and when you get up, he immediately tries to use the keyboard. His behavior in this situation can best be explained on the basis of

• Aoperant aversive conditioning
• Bclassical conditioning
• Cmodeling
• Dsuperstition

A researcher tests the problem solving skills of twenty 10-year-old, twenty 20-year-old, and twenty 30-year-old participants for a study on age and problem solving. What research method is this researcher using?

• Adevelopmental
• Bstage
• Clongitudinal
• Dcross-sectional

A population frequently studied to best assess the relative effects of nature vs. nurture is

• Aidentical twins
• Bcouples who have been married for many years
• Cidentical quadruplets
• Dadopted children and their adoptive parents

Eli is just beginning to sit up. Assuming he is developing at a typical pace, how old is Eli?

• A6 months
• B1 month
• C3 months
• D9 months

Damage to the occipital lobes of the brain would most likely affect which of the senses?

• Atouch
• Bsight
• Cbalance
• Dhearing

A group of participants in a sleep study are to be deprived of sleep for four days. After their second sleepless night, participants may begin reporting which of the following?

• AThirst
• BLack of coordination
• CHallucinations
• DHunger

Delia was accepted to both Harvard University and Yale University and is having difficulty choosing which school to attend. With which of the following conflicts is she faced?

• Aintrinsic-extrinsic
• Bapproach-avoidance
• Cfrustration-aggression
• Dapproach-approach

Complete the following example using deductive reasoning: All students who attend the Peddie School study Latin. Some students who study Latin also study calculus. Jerome is a student at the Peddie School. It can therefore be determined that

• AJerome studies calculus
• BJerome studies either calculus or Latin
• CJerome studies Latin
• DJerome studies both calculus and Latin

A psychologist focusing on whether development occurs in stages is most interested in which of the following controversies?

• Asubjectivity versus objectivity
• Bcontinuity versus discontinuity
• Cstability versus change
• Dnature versus nurture

"Mommy gived me a cookie" best illustrates a basic understanding of

• Agrammar
• Bphonemes
• Cholophrases
• Dprelinguistic speech

Turning up the volume on a music player changes which aspect of sound?

• Apitch of the tone
• Bfrequency of the wave
• Camplitude of the wave
• Dtransduction of the tone

Receptors that respond to gravity and keep you informed of your body's location in space are located primarily in the

• Aolfactory mucosa
• Bcochlea of the ear
• Cmuscles and joints of the skeleton
• Dmacula of the eye

What kinds of factors are ignored or de-emphasized when people commit the fundamental attribution error?

• Acognitive
• Bdispositional
• Csituational
• Dsocial

If arrested for committing a crime, who of the following would be most likely to be declared legally insane?

• ADon, who has symptoms of hypochondriasis
• BAaron, who suffers symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia
• CClara, who suffers symptoms of zoophobia
• DBrett, who has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder

All public institutions subscribe to all of the following ethical guidelines EXCEPT

• Aavoiding unnecessary pain to humans and other animals
• Bprotecting confidentiality
• Cavoiding use of animals when computers are available
• Davoiding unnecessary deception to humans

Which of the following is a hallucination?

• Athinking you are President of the United States
• Bbeing sure that your boss is out to get you
• Chearing voices that are not actually there
• Dthinking this is 2010

According to Jean Piaget, egocentrism, animism, and trial-and-error learning are characteristic of the stage of development known as

• Apreoperational
• Bconcrete operational
• Csensorimotor
• Dadolescence

Species-specific behaviors that cannot be explained as a result of social learning or conditioning, such as Monarch butterflies flying to Mexico to mate, are called

• Amotives
• Bimprinting
• Cfixed-action patterns
• Dschemas

A research study establishes that most people can taste one gram of salt in one quart of water. Which of the following concepts is most closely related to the goal of this study?

• Adifference threshold
• Bsensory adaptation
• Cabsolute threshold
• Dtaste constancy

Some contemporary intelligence researchers like Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg complain that schools focus too much on

• Atraditional subjects and methods.
• Bthe environmental factors that influence the expression of intelligence.
• Cnonessential subjects like art and music.
• Dencouraging creative thought.

Functionalists such as William James were mainly interested in

• Ateaching introspection
• Bthe purpose of behavioral acts
• Cidentifying the smallest unit of behavior
• Dthe basic elements of consciousness

Which of the following types of scientists were the first to contend that an individual's ways of thinking are shaped primarily by cultural values and ideas?

• AStructuralists
• BEthologists
• CAnthropologists
• DSociobiologists

Nell decides not to throw her stuffed animal in the toilet after she witnesses her brother Matthew being punished for putting his stuffed animal in the toilet. Nell's decision exemplifies

• Avicarious learning
• Btutelage
• Cscheduled reinforcement
• Dprepared conditioning

A disorder characterized by delusions of persecution, hallucinations, and disordered thinking is

• Ahypochondriasis
• Banorexia nervosa
• Cparanoid schizophrenia
• Dconversion disorder

In people, rods, unlike cones,

• Ahave a low absolute threshold for light.
• Brespond more quickly to bright colors.
• Care located in the center of the retina.
• Dsynapse with bipolar cells.

Which of the following terms refers to the body's tendency to maintain a relatively constant state that permits cells to live and function?

• ASet point
• BKinesthesia
• CPerceptual constancy
• DHomeostasis

Which structure is found in the inner ear?

• Atympanic membrane
• Bpinna
• Chammer
• Dbasilar membrane

Someone with brain damage who has difficulty making the muscle movements needed to produce accurate speech might have damage to which area of the brain?

• ABroca's area
• Bamygdala
• Chippocampus
• DWernicke's area

Which of the following is the most accurate definition of learning?

• AThe association of experiences due to their occurrence in close proximity
• BThe result of a variety of experiences that temporarily shape behavior
• CThe sole result of classical and operant conditioning
• DAn enduring change in an organism's behavior based on experience

Dr. Bonneau helped a company redesign its offices to raise morale and the productivity of the employees. With which of the following subfields of psychology is Dr. Bonneau most likely affiliated?

• Aeducational
• Bindustrial/organizational
• Cdevelopmental
• Dcounseling