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1) Which one of the following statements best describes the perspective known as
theory theory?
a.The ways in which people categorize their experiences usually have little relevance to
physical reality.
b.In the preschool years, children develop concrete understandings of events; these
understandings become increasingly abstract as they reach adolescence.
c.People develop general belief systems about how certain aspects of the world operate.
d.People form hypotheses about the defining features and correlational features of a
concept and then test those hypotheses against specific examples of the concept that
they encounter.
2) A number of learning principles emerged from early verbal learning research. Which
one of the following statements contradicts what verbal learning theorists found?
a.People tend to organize unorganized information.
b.People are more likely to remember general ideas than word-for-word information.
c.Practicing for a long time all at once is more effective than practicing for short periods
on different occasions.
d.People sometimes change information into a form they can learn and remember more
easily.
3) In the human brain, a great deal of synaptic pruning occurs in early childhood. This
pruning appears to be:
a.The unfortunate result of insufficiently stimulating home environments
b.An adaptive process that allows children to deal more efficiently with their
environment
c.Due to an imbalance of important nutrients, and especially to low levels of the B
vitamins in many childrens diets
d.Reflective of the fact that the forebrain is slowly taking over responsibility for
functions that have previously been regulated by the hindbrain and midbrain
4) Applied behavior analysis can best be described as a group of techniques that can
change peoples behavior by changing their:
a.Environment
b.Self-concepts
c.Curriculum
d.Attitudes
5) Which one of the following statements best describes the history of contemporary
cognitive theory?
a.It has been a major force guiding learning research ever since the work of Tolman and
the Gestaltists in the 1930s.
b.It has been the dominant perspective in learning research only in the past five or six
decades.
c.Its roots can be traced to the work of verbal learning theory, which in turn evolved
from Jean Piagets research in Switzerland.
d.It gained prominence only when psychologists began to cast aside the need for
objectivity in psychological research.
6) Three of the following statements accurately describe how a child can acquire
learned helplessness in a particular domain. Which statement is not a likely explanation
of learned helplessness?
a.A child has consistently focused on mastery goals, without regard for important
performance goals.
b.A child has consistently encountered failure despite hard work and persistence.
c.A parent has consistently encouraged a child to give up when success doesnt come
quickly and easily.
d.A child sees most or all peers consistently encountering failure in the domain.
7) Kevin and Ron are taking the same physics course but with different teachers.
Kevins teacher gives a short quiz over class material every Friday. Rons teacher gives a
lengthy test the first Monday of every month. Which boy is likely to learn physics more
effectively, and why?
a.Kevin, because frequent testing fosters more visual imagery
b.Kevin, because he must review what he has learned more often
c.Ron, because students do better on tests given at the beginning of the week than at the
end of the week
d.Ron, because its virtually impossible to ask higher-level questions on a weekly basis
8) After being bitten by a neighbors dog, Kathy is now afraid of the puppy her family
has just adopted. Kathys father gives Kathy a hot fudge sundae; then, while she is
happily eating it, he brings the puppy about fifteen feet from where she is sitting. On
each successive day, Kathy gets another ice cream treat, and her father brings the puppy
a little closer than he did on the previous day. Eventually Kathy is able to pet and enjoy
the new puppy. Kathys father is using a procedure known as:
a.sensory preconditioning
b.stimulus discrimination
c.extinction
d.counterconditioning
9) Which one of the following is the best example of a signal in teacher-directed
instruction?
a.Ms. Allen encourages her students to relate the new material to things they already
know.
b.Mr. Bloskass enthusiasm about science is evident in every lecture he presents.
c.Mr. Christiansen gives students a list of the important concepts he will describe in
class that day.
d.Ms. Driver looks sternly at two whispering students who are obviously not paying
attention to the video she is showing.
10) Considering factors that affect transfer, identify the group of students most likely to
transfer what they are learning.
a.Students in Mr. Allens geography class are studying several countries this week,
memorizing the locations of their rivers and major cities.
b.Students in Ms. Elberts music class are practicing major chords in different keys this
semester, practicing each one in a variety of songs.
c.Students in Mr. Ivys science class are studying the characteristics of mammals and
reptiles this week.
d.Students in Ms. Martins social studies class are studying major events in the history
of Mexico this month, beginning with the Aztec empire and continuing until the present
time.
11) Three of the following examples are consistent with how epistemic beliefs typically
change as learners grow older. Which one is not consistent with typical developmental
trends in epistemic beliefs?
a.Anna used to think that studying history involved memorizing factsnames, dates,
places, etc. She now believes that studying history involves learning interrelationships
among historical eventshow one event led to another, and so on.
b.Beatrice used to think that scientists might have different but possibly equally valid
views of how the world operates. She now believes that there is probably only one
correct explanationone that scientists will eventually determine.
c.Charmaine used to think that if she was going to learn a particular mathematical
concept, she would learn it either quickly or not at all. She now believes that her
understanding of particularly difficult math concepts may evolve slowly over time and
require considerable effort on her part.
d.Delores used to think that people were naturally either good at or not good at learning
a foreign language. She now believes that successful learning results more from
persistence and hard work.
12) Three of the following testing practices are consistent with the textbooks discussion
regarding motivation and classroom assessment practices. Which one is not?
a.Make sure students have enough time to answer all questions or complete all assigned
tasks.
b.Make sure assessment results provide substantive information about what students do
well and how they can improve.
c.Give students increasingly difficult questions or tasks when they get high scores.
d.Base grades on many small assessments rather than one or two big ones.
13) Three of the following are authentic activities related to using a computer. Which
one is, in and of itself, not an authentic activity?
a.Learning how to save files on a hard drive
b.Analyzing data collected in a science experiment
c.Sending an e-mail message to a government official
d.Writing a letter to a friend using a word processing program
14) Maria moved to this country several months ago. She has been studying English as
a second language but still has much to learn about the language of her new homeland.
One day her teacher tells the class, Bring an empty coffee can to school tomorrow for a
project were going to do. Maria hears only two familiar wordscoffee and schooland
guesses that her teacher is saying that students should not drink coffee at school. Marias
misinterpretation illustrates which one of the following?
a.Conceptual change
b.Auditory imagery
c.Construction in retrieval
d.Construction in storage
15) Which one of the following educational practices is most clearly derived from
behaviorist principles?
a.Having students make overt responses
b.Teaching students how to apply information
c.Asking students to generate questions about what they read
d.Presenting information in a logical sequence that stresses interrelationships among
ideas
16) Which one of the following best illustrates automaticity?
a.Knowing more about dinosaurs than most people your age
b.Playing a musical piece on the piano easily and effortlessly
c.Helping two friends resolve their differences and make amends
d.Sculpting a lifelike model of the human hand
17) Punishment received little attention in the psychological research literature prior to
the 1960s, primarily due to the fact that:
a.Punishment was rarely used at that time.
b.Most people objected to punishment on religious or ethical grounds.
c.Early cognitivists argued that punishment has counterproductive effects.
d.Early behaviorists believed that punishment is ineffective in reducing behavior.
18) Ms. Sharp wants her students to use what they learn in their psychology class to
interact with other people more effectively. Given what we know about factors that
promote transfer, which one of the following teaching strategies is most likely to
accomplish this objective?
a.Present a prototype of how effective interaction occurs.
b.Have students describe behaviors that might promote effective interaction.
c.Have students apply effective interaction skills in role-playing situations.
d.Ask questions that encourage students to review the basic principles they have learned
about human interaction.
19) From Piagets perspective, why is language critical for childrens cognitive
development?
a.It helps them get things they want.
b.It gives them a means for symbolically thinking about objects and events.
c.It takes up much of their mental energy and so helps to keep them from being easily
distracted.
d.It enhances their self-efficacy, because they are now aware that they can communicate
effectively with other human beings.
