Psychology Trivia Questions for Students — page 2

An action potential involves the movement of

• Amolecules in the synaptic gap
• Bsodium ions into the axon
• Cglucose into the axon
• Dfats out of the axon terminal

Which of the following is the most reliable indicator of emotions across all cultures?

• Afacial expressions
• Bvoice intonation
• Chand gestures
• Dbody posture

Which of the following refers to the benefit of having an emotional release to reduce aggressive tendencies?

• AJames-Lange theory of emotion
• BCounterconditioning
• CTransference
• DCatharsis hypothesis

Standardized tests are

• Aany examination given by your state or country
• Btests with norms, which indicate average, high, and low scores for the test
• Ctests for which a person's performance can be compared with a pilot group
• Dall examinations with exactly the same directions

Which of the following best summarizes the psychoanalytic perspective's view of behavior?

• ABehavior is a response to external reward and punishment.
• BBehavior is motivated by inner, unconscious forces.
• CBehavior is a product of genetic programming and evolution.
• DBehavior is a compilation of the ways in which people think and interact.

Maria, a bright high school student, fears success. To which of the following colleges would she most likely apply?

• AHarvard, Stanford, and the local community college
• Bthe local community college and distant community colleges
• CStanford, Oxford, and the most competitive state college in her state
• DHarvard, Yale, and Stanford

The brainstem is comprised of the

• Acerebellum and cerebrum.
• Bhindbrain and midbrain.
• Cright and left hemispheres.
• Dforebrain and RAS.

Abraham Maslow proposed the idea that some motives are more imperative to survival than others. Which of the following approaches expresses this?

• AExpectancy-value
• BHomeostatic regulation
• CHierarchy of needs
• DGoal-setting

A psychologist who believes in the humanistic perspective would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

• AHuman behavior is a result of conflicting unconscious motives.
• BPeople's behavior is primarily a result of free will.
• CBehavior results from conditioning.
• DAll behavior can be traced to human biological functions.

Which of the following is the best example of a categorical variable?

• ADisposition
• BOptimism
• CGender
• DIntelligence

Which of the following disorders is most likely related to the amount of light to which a susceptible person is exposed?

• Aclaustrophobia
• BAlzheimer's disease
• Ccatatonic schizophrenia
• Dseasonal affective disorder

"Behavior is personality" best characterizes which of the following personality theories?

• Abehavioral
• Bbiological
• Csociocultural
• Dpsychodynamic

Why can experiments determine causal relationships when no other research method can?

• AExperiments are more precise than the other research methods.
• BExperiments isolate the effects of independent variables on dependent variables.
• CExperiments take place in more realistic, real-life settings.
• DExperiments typically involve more participants than other research methods do.

Alpha waves are most closely associated with

• AStage 4 sleep
• BStage 3 sleep
• Cthe hypnagogic state
• DStage 2 sleep

Neural transmission is often described as an electrochemical process. Which of the following is most directly involved in the electrical aspect?

• Amyelin
• Bthe synapse
• Cterminal buttons
• Dhormones

What type of psychologist would assert that a key motivation for people is the desire to spread their genetic material?

• Apsychodynamic
• Bevolutionary
• Chumanistic
• Dcognitive

The fact that Will was better able to memorize his lines in the school play after finding out the meanings behind the words best illustrates the influence of

• Asemantic memory
• Bmaintenance rehearsal
• Cshaping
• Dchunking

Wilder Penfield's studies suggest that some long-lost memories can be elicited through electrical stimulation of the brain. This suggests that forgetting may be a matter of

• Aretrieval failure
• Bgradual decay
• Cdisplacement
• Dfailure to encode the memories

Quinn awoke from a dream, shaking and covered with sweat. When his wife asked him what had happened, he said he had dreamed he was falling to his death. Quinn's experience is often categorized as a

• Anarcoleptic event
• Bhallucination
• Cnightmare
• Dphobia

Which of the following most accurately describes the firing of a neuron?

• AIts strength diminishes as it travels along the soma.
• BIt has an all-or-none quality: it either happens, or it does not.
• CIt occurs gradually as the neuron reaches hyperpolarization.
• DIt occurs only in the post-synaptic neuron.

A person who experiences flashbacks and nightmares after being involved in a serious car accident is likely to be diagnosed with which psychological disorder?

• Adissociative identity disorder
• Bbipolar disorder
• Cpost-traumatic stress disorder
• Dschizophrenia

Six-month-old Sasha loves to play "peek-a-boo" with her mother, an indication that she has developed a sense of

• Atransitivity
• Bmetacognition
• Cplay versus learning
• Dobject permanence

Menarche occurs at about age

• A12 in females only
• B12 in males only
• C12 in both sexes
• D12 in females and 14 in males

Janice often has feelings of hostility and contempt for her husband of forty years. However, instead of expressing these feelings, Janice goes overboard to dote on her husband. Janice is using which of the following defense mechanisms?

• AReaction formation
• BSublimation
• CRepression
• DRational philosophy

Which schedule of reinforcement is followed by Soledad, who answers every e-mail message her friend sends?

• Acontinuous
• Bfixed interval
• Cfixed ratio
• Dvariable ratio

Detection of a just-noticeable difference (JND) depends on the

• Aintensity of the new stimulus and that of the stimulus already present
• Bfrequency of the existing stimulus and the presence of one or more sensory modalities
• Cpresence of a "no stimulus" control and the sensitivity of the signal-detection equipment
• Dinitial determination of the absolute threshold and the variation of the difference threshold

The position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depends on the frequency of a tone, according to which theory?

• Avolley
• Bopponent-process
• Ctrichromatic
• Dplace

The AP Psychology examination given by the College Board in May exemplifies which of the following types of tests?

• Aprojective
• Bintelligence
• Captitude
• Dachievement

A projective test with ambiguous pictures that are frequently used to assess achievement motivation is the

• ARorschach inkblot test
• BMMPI-2
• CWAIS-R
• DThematic Apperception Test

Donia was soaked by an unexpected cloudburst while walking to her car from the office. The fact that she failed to realize that the newspaper she was carrying would have made a great makeshift umbrella is an example of

• Alimited visualization
• Bconfirmation bias
• Cfunctional fixedness
• Dconceptual constriction

A lesson from Janis's research on groupthink is that

• Asmall groups function better than large ones.
• Bgroups function well under pressure.
• Cunanimity is important.
• Dit is important for people to voice dissent.

A nonprofit environmental group includes a free gift of address labels in a letter asking for contributions. Which social psychological principle is the nonprofit group trying to use to increase contributions?

• Afundamental attribution error
• Bcompliance strategy
• Cstable attribution
• Dself-fulfilling prophecy

In classical conditioning the learner learns to associate the unconditioned stimulus with

• Aa negative reinforcer
• Ba conditioned stimulus
• Can unconditioned response
• Da conditioned response

Which of the following kinds of personality theorists is the most likely to use a projective test?

• Asocial-cognitive
• Bbehaviorist
• Chumanist
• Dpsychoanalyst

What is the principal tool used in all forms of psychotherapy?

• Acognitive/behavioral interventions
• Bsomatic therapies
• Ctalking to a patient
• Dbiomedical/cognitive treatments

The adaptive response of a six-month-old child who shows distress when an attachment figure leaves is known as

• Aobject permanence
• Battachment anxiety
• Creactive attachment disorder
• Dseparation anxiety

Stella remembered the order of the planets from the Sun by recalling the sentence, "My very educated mother just served us noodles." For Stella, this sentence is a

• Amnemonic device
• Bacoustic encoding sequence
• Cpeg system
• Dchunking strategy

Your girlfriend dumps you. "I knew you shouldn't have gone out with her," says your best friend, who has never uttered this sentiment before. Your friend's comment best illustrates

• Aresponse bias.
• Bhindsight bias.
• Coverconfidence.
• Da theory.

Which of the following best explains why babies have poor vision for the first few weeks of life?

• AThe nodes of Ranvier have not yet formed.
• BThe axons are covered in tight coats of lipids, which impede neural firing.
• CThe neural connections to the primary visual cortex are not fully connected.
• DThe synaptic cleft of the neuron is filled with an aqueous humor.

Which of the following terms describes the behavioral component of negative attitudes toward particular groups?

• ADiscrimination
• BConditioning
• CCatharsis
• DBias

What kind of therapy involves both behavioral and cognitive interventions?

• Acounterconditioning
• Bsymptom substitution
• Csystematic desensitization
• Dprimary preventions

Which of the following are most directly designed to help determine whether the findings of a study reflect a truly replicable phenomenon rather than the outcomes of chance processes?

• AInferential statistics
• BDescriptive statistics
• CStandard deviation
• DExtraneous variables

Answering multiple-choice questions is often easier than answering fill-in or completion questions, because multiple choice questions

• Acheck memorization rather than critical thinking
• Bprovide more retrieval cues
• Cenhance retention of information
• Dare definitional rather than conceptual

"Get cookie," best exemplifies

• Aholophrases
• Btelegraphic speech
• Ccooing
• Dbabbling

Hunger and eating are primarily regulated by the

• Asomatosensory cortex
• Bmedulla oblongata
• Chypothalamus
• Doccipital lobes

After sending a decal to display on a window and greeting cards with its logo, a charity sent the same people envelopes requesting contributions. Many people send contributions. The charity is using a technique known as

• Aovercompensation
• Bthe bystander effect
• Cproximity
• Dfoot-in-the-door phenomenon

Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus

• Asucceeds the unconditioned stimulus
• Bprecedes the unconditioned stimulus
• Cno longer evokes the conditioned response
• Devokes the conditioned response

Shannon forgot her pillow when she went camping, so she complained about having to sleep with her head flat on the ground the whole night. Her failure to fold up her jeans and sweater to use as a pillow-substitute best illustrates the effects of

• Athe representativeness heuristic
• Bthe availability heuristic
• Cconfirmation bias
• Dfunctional fixedness

A longitudinal study would be useful in assessing which of the following?

• ACultural environments
• BGender differences
• CAge differences
• DChanges in behavior over time

Which of the following represents the correct order of auditory transmission from the time the sound is first heard to when it is processed in the brain?

• ATympanic membrane→ oval window→ cochlea→ auditory nerve→ auditory canal
• BOval window→ cochlea→ tympanic membrane→ auditory nerve→ auditory canal
• CAuditory canal→ ossicles→ oval window→ cochlea→ auditory nerve
• DAuditory canal→ auditory nerve→ cochlea→ tympanic membrane→ ossicles