1) Which one of the following statements best describes motivation theorists concept of
a sense of self-determination?
a.Reinforcing yourself when you do a good job
b.Believing that you have some choice about what you do
c.Deciding what kind of person you want to become
d.Knowing you can accomplish something if you just put your mind to it
2) Which one of the following descriptions best illustrates a trait theory of motivation?
a.Did you see that big grin on Maurices face when the principal announced that he was
the winner of the essay contest?
b.Jane is always putting herself in dangerous situations. Maybe she likes the adrenaline
rush that comes with living on the edge.
c.Half of the time, Chloe seems bored with whats going on in class. Ive tried everything
I can think of to motivate her, but so far nothings worked.
d.Morey is really struggling with his reading, and his spelling is atrocious. I wonder if
he has an undiagnosed learning disability.
3) What device did Benjamin Franklin invent to help people read better? It may take
you a long time to think of the answerbifocal lensesbecause Ben was responsible for so
many other inventions as well. In this situation, your lengthy retrieval time can best be
explained in terms of:
a.too many retrieval cues
b.construction error
c.the fan effect
d.repression
4) Which one of the following is the best example of encoding in the process of
learning state capitals?
a.Abe learns Austin, Texas by making sure he is relaxed before he studies it.
b.Bernice focuses her eyes on the page that says St. Paul, Minnesota and keeps them
focused there for at least 10 seconds.
c.Corey learns Atlanta, Georgia by thinking, The Atlantic Ocean is gorgeous.
d.Darcy learns Sacramento, California by having a tape recorder play Sacramento,
California over and over while she sleeps.
5) Which one of the following is the major reason why assigning extra schoolwork is
not an appropriate punishment for classroom misbehavior?
a.It gives students the message that classwork is an unpleasant task.
b.It decreases the likelihood that students will do their assignments appropriately.
c.It asks students to perform tasks without the support they need to complete those tasks
successfully.
d.It is negative reinforcement rather than punishment.
6) Sharon knows that Kathy frequently completes her assignments long after they are
due. She has noticed that their teacher willingly accepts Kathys late assignments
because Kathy always has a creative excuse for turning them in late. Sharon begins to
do the same thingshe turns in assignments past the due date and makes up excuses for
why she is late. Sharons increase in excuse-making is due to:
a.Shaping and intrinsic reinforcement
b.An increase in self-reinforcement
c.A decrease in self-regulation
d.Modeling and vicarious reinforcement
7) When students summarize material they are studying, they learn it more thoroughly.
Which one of these students is most effectively summarizing?
a.Jerry writes down the important ideas and identifies relationships among them.
b.Laura writes down everything she can remember from the lesson.
c.Nora writes each main point on a separate index card and then jots down all the
details she can remember about each one.
d.Phyllis lists the general themes of a lesson in five or six words.
8) Considering current views regarding the capacity of working memory, which one of
the following sets of information could be held entirely in working memory?
a.The names of 20 friends
b.The visual images of 20 friends
c.Two pages of narrative from a mystery novel
d.A list of five miscellaneous household objects
9) Tammy has trouble getting dates, so she begins to observe how other students attract
boys. The four girls below have all had a date within the last week. Without knowing
anything about Tammy, but using criteria proposed by social cognitive theorists, choose
the girl whom Tammy is most likely to model.
a.Amanda has a steady boyfriend, but most of her classmates dont like her.
b.Belinda is much taller and more slender than Tammy.
c.Clara enjoys playing traditionally masculine sports such as football and ice hockey
with the boys.
d.Dorinda is popular and feminine.
10) Tammy is scolded for submitting a messy math homework paper, so she tries to do
her math problems more neatly after that. The scolding Tammy received is an example
of:
a.Positive reinforcement
b.Negative reinforcement
c.Punishment I
d.Punishment II
11) The textbook distinguishes between teacher-directed and learner-directed forms of
instruction. Which one of the following best describes how teachers should view these
two approaches?
a.Generally speaking, teacher-directed instruction is more effective than
student-directed instruction.
b.Generally speaking, student-directed instruction is more effective than
teacher-directed instruction.
c.Teacher-directed instruction is recommended for the elementary and middle school
grades; student-directed instruction is recommended for the high school grades.
d.Either approach can be effective only to the extent that it promotes effective storage
processes.
12) Three of the following experiences should promote higher self-efficacy. Which one
probably wont promote higher self-efficacy?
a.Andrea discovers that she does well on her weekly spelling tests only when she wears
her lucky necklace.
b.On the first day of geometry, Bobs teacher tells the class, The things in your textbook
may look difficult to you now, but with a little effort and practice youll have the basics
down pat by December.
c.Carmella does better in her Spanish class than she expected to.
d.Dicks friend tells him, You shouldnt have any problem in American Literature. Im no
smarter than you are, and I got an A.
13) Given what we know about the effects of retrieval cues on retrieval, in which one of
the following situations are students most likely to remember how the word people is
spelled?
a.Have students use the word people in a meaningful sentence.
b.Give students four choices to pick from: peepal, peapul, pepull, and people.
c.Have students close their eyes and try recall what the word people looks like when
they read.
d.Have students concentrate very hard on how the word sounds as it is pronounced.
14) Only one of the following definitely illustrates high self-efficacy. Which one?
a.Amy knows she is a good singer.
b.Berta swims the fastest butterfly stroke on the swim team.
c.Carmen enjoys being with her friends.
d.Darlene recently got a score of 120 on an intelligence test.
15) From the perspective of information processing theory, incubation facilitates
problem solving primarily by:
a.enhancing attentional focus on the problem to be solved
b.slightly expanding the capacity of working memory
c.enabling a more expansive search of long-term memory
d.increasing ones ability to engage in meansends analysis
16) Three of the following teaching strategies should promote critical thinking. Which
strategy, although beneficial in other ways, will not necessarily promote critical
thinking skills?
a.Teach critical thinking skills within the context of several different subject-area
courses.
b.Have students relate new information to things they already know about the world.
c.Have students debate a controversial issue by taking a perspective in direct opposition
to what they actually believe.
d.Ask students to read a persuasive essay and look for possible flaws in the authors line
of reasoning.
17) Maria is listening to her teacher talk about how rainy weather develops. Maria
thinks, Rain hmm, its supposed to rain tomorrow I wonder where I left my umbrella I
think I took it to the library yesterday Ill bet thats where I left my notebook, too. Marias
thoughts illustrate:
a.construction in storage
b.construction in retrieval
c.the use of a frame
d.spreading activation
18) Which one of the following statements best describes Vygotskys concept of
internalization?
a.As children grow older, they develop an increasing ability to think about events in
abstract rather than concrete terms.
b.With age, children acquire more sophisticated problem solving skills, largely because
their parents and teachers give them increasingly more challenging problems to solve.
c.Over time, children acquire greater self-confidence about their ability to deal with the
world.
d.Through their social interactions with other people, children acquire ways of mentally
approaching and thinking about challenging tasks.
19) Trisha can remember the five Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie,
Superior) by remembering HOMES, because one of the Great Lakes begins with each
of the five letters. What kind of retrieval cue is HOMES providing for Trisha?
a.associative cue
b.identity cue
c.schema
d.frame
20) Nine-year-old Ricky has recently learned how to solve long division problems, and
he still struggles with especially difficult problems. At his mothers request, he helps his
8-year-old sister Lucy with the simple long division problems she must do for her math
homework. From the perspective of Vygotskys theory, which one of the following is
most likely to result?
a.Rickys own long division skills will improve because he will internalize the
instructions he gives Lucy.
b.Ricky will gain nothing from helping his sister because doing long division is outside
his zone of proximal development.
c.Rickys own long division skills will decrease, because any mistakes that Lucy makes
will corrupt his own mathematical thinking.
d.By helping Lucy with her long division problems, Ricky will be able to practice using
the central conceptual structure that underlies his mathematical thinking.