According to Donders, the time it takes to perform the mental act of discrimination is
determined by:
A. subtracting simple reaction time from the reaction time that involves discrimination
B. computing the choice reaction time
C. computing the mental chronometry
D. presenting several different stimuli to subjects, but allowing them to only respond to
one, and timing their response
What factor most influenced Kepler’s acceptance of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory?
A. Kepler was a Platonist seeking mathematical simplicity and harmony.
B. Kepler was a Lutheran minister.
C. Kepler believed that the heliocentric theory explained humans as the center of the
universe.
D. Kepler was a Hermetic.
Which of the following has been a common element found in all forms of
psychotherapy through the centuries?
A. psychopharmacological intervention
B. talk therapy
C. trepanation
D. some form of ritual
Why is it inaccurate to say that psychology is becoming cognitively oriented?
A. Radical behaviorism is as popular today as it has ever been.
B. The most popular model of human behavior today is in fact the computer model.
C. With only a few exceptions psychology has always been cognitively oriented.
D. The study of cognitive processes has in fact been steadily losing popularity.
Who suggested a threshold above which an idea is conscious and below which an idea
is unconscious, and proposed a conflict model of the mind according to which ideas
struggle for conscious expression?
A. Leibniz
B. Herbart
C. Schopenhauer
D. Brentano
Which part of the human body did Descartes identify as the house for the mind?
A. heart
B. pineal gland
C. ventricles
D. cerebral cortex
You are a monist with regard to the mind-body question. Which of the following does
your position most likely represent?
a. materialism
b. occasionalism
c. psychophysical parallelism
d. interactionism
____ focuses on a specific category of an animal’s behavior in its natural habitat and
attempts to explain that behavior in terms of evolutionary theory.
A. Ethology
B. Radical behaviorism
C. Cognitive science
D. Methodological behaviorism
According to the Hippocratics, physicians assign supernatural causes to a disease in
order to:
A. charge larger fees for their services
B. make the disease more comprehensible to their patient
C. mask their ignorance concerning the nature of the disease
D. cure the disease more effectively
Binet disagreed with Stern’s use of the intelligence quotient because:
A. he believed intelligence was too complex to be represented by a number
B. he thought the equation was too complex
C. there was not enough data to support the quotient
D. the quotient could not distinguish between normal and intellectually disabled
children
Eventually, most psychologists agreed with the logical positivists that
A. unless a concept can be operationally defined, it is meaningless
B. psychology should not contain any theories
C. empiricism and rationalism must be wedded together
D. rational analysis is more powerful than empirical analysis
Gall believed which of the following?
A. There is no relationship between the size of the cortex and intelligence.
B. The faculties of the mind are aspects of the soul, not of the brain.
C. The bumps and indentations on the skull indicate the magnitude of the underlying
faculties.
D. The mind functions as an indivisible whole.
Descartes believed that innate ideas:
A. are figments of the imagination
B. have a strong biological component
C. come from experience
D. are revealed by God
Which of the following allows reference to internal events in explanations of behavior
provided that those events are indexed by overt behavior?
A. radical behaviorism
B. methodological behaviorism
C. physical monism
D. psychophysical parallelism
According to James’s ____, all consistently reported aspects of human experience were
worthy of study.
A. radical empiricism
B. religion
C. positivism
D. materialism
No matter how complex something is, Democritus believed that it can be explained in
terms of atoms and their activity. This view is referred to as:
A. solipsism
B. animism
C. elementism
D. material cause
The position on the mind-body question claiming that both mental events and bodily
responses occur simultaneously even though the two events are independent of each
other is called:
a. interactionism
b. epiphenomenalism
c. psychophysical parallelism
d. double aspectism
____ is the belief that behavior cannot be explained in terms of internal events of any
type.
A. Radical behaviorism
B. Methodological behaviorism
C. Physical monism
D. Psychophysical parallelism
Bouchard reasoned that if intelligence and personality are largely determined by
experience (nurture) then:
A. both fraternal and identical twins reared together would correlate highly on these
traits
B. both fraternal and identical twins reared apart would correlate highly on these traits
C. fraternal twins, whether reared together or apart, should show modest correlations on
these traits
D. identical twins, whether reared together or apart, should show high correlations on
these traits
According to Bacon, accepting a scientific theory:
A. acts as an effective guide for scientific research
B. is likely to bias one’s observations
C. is constructive only if it is nonmathematical
D. is constructive only if it yields deductions
Helmholtz expressed amazement over the fact that:
A. sensations so accurately reflect physical reality
B. physiological mechanisms provide feedback with minimal stimulation
C. sensory systems distort our knowledge of the physical world to such a great extent
D. the faculties of the mind can correct our distorted sensory information about the
physical world
The German word Prgnanz has no exact English counterpart but an approximation is
A. essence
B. best fit
C. completion
D. organized
The founder of artificial intelligence was:
A. Turing
B. Hebb
C. Searle
D. Fetzer
According to Hebb, when a cell assembly fires, we experience a(n):
A. thought of an environmental object
B. stream of thought
C. emotion complex
D. personal insight
According to Lamarck, if an adult member of species develops a trait, such as powerful
muscles, that make its survival more likely, the trait can be passed down to the adult’s
offspring. This phenomenon is called:
A. survival of the fittest
B. the inheritance of acquired characteristics
C. natural selection
D. the law of effect
According to ____, psychology’s persistent questions are most appropriately addressed
philosophically rather than scientifically.
A. Wittgenstein and Popper
B. Wittgenstein and Medawar
C. Russell and Popper
D. Russell and Medawar
An area in cognitive development that concerns how we come to know the beliefs,
feelings, plans, and behavioral intentions of other people is referred to as:
A. theory of forms
B. theory of the mind
C. laws of subjective norms
D. laws of association
Sigmund Freud viewed the ego defenses as obstacles to the understanding of the
unconscious; Anna Freud viewed them ____.
A. as having independent importance
B. in the same way
C. as offering no help in understanding abnormal behavior
D. as a window into the unconscious
Which of the following best summarizes Darwin’s view of the evolutionary process?
A. To evolve is to progress.
B. Evolution always occurs in the direction of increased perfection.
C. Evolution just happens.
D. Evolution always occurs in the direction of increased differentiation.
Hedonism, according to Epicurus, is:
A. pleasure in having one’s basic needs satisfied and avoiding pain
B. avoiding pain at all costs
C. seeking extreme pleasure
D. attaining a relationship with a higher power
According to Wittgenstein, disputes among philosophers and psychologists typically
occur when:
A. terms and concepts are not operationally defined
B. there are debates over linguistic practices
C. the tenets of science are violated
D. the profit motive is involved
Concerning the treatment of children, Watson and Watson’s advice was to:
A. pamper them
B. treat then as small adults
C. reinforce desirable behavior and punish undesirable behavior
D. have as much bodily contact with them as possible
A consistently observed relationship between two or more classes of empirical events
defines a:
a. scientific theory
b. scientific law
c. scientific problem
d. rational deduction