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1) When 15-year-old Valerie discovers that she earned an A on last weeks assignment,
she expresses pride to her teacher and explains that she worked very hard on it. On the
way home from school, however, she tells her friends that she didnt put much effort into
the project at all and so is quite surprised about her high grade. From the perspective of
research on attributions, how can we best explain Valeries conflicting statements?
a.She suspects that her friends have performance goals rather than mastery goals, and
she is trying to go along with the crowd.
b.She knows that her teacher is more likely than her friends to have an entity view of
intelligence, and she tailors her explanations accordingly.
c.She knows that her teacher values hard work but that her friends do not, and she
tailors her explanations accordingly.
d.Her social goals are taking precedence over her achievement goals on both occasions.
2) Which one of these is an example of overgeneralization?
a.Russ takes his teddy bear out for a walk because he has heard that pets need exercise.
b.Uri times himself when he swims laps because he wants to improve his speed.
c.Yolanda thinks she should not go to medical school because she wants to have
children and, You cant be a mom and a doctor, too.
d.Bernita wants to take four science classes her first semester in college because she
intends to major in science.
3) Ms. Kaehler is hoping that the students in her mathematics class will transfer the
things they learn in class to real-world situations. Which one of the following things
should she not do?
a.Help students understand the logic behind mathematical procedures.
b.Make sure that students master each topic before moving to the next one.
c.Have students practice basic arithmetic operations on just one or two vivid examples.
d.Teach students general principles more than specific facts.
4) An instructional objective that requires students to rephrase a definition in their own
words is at the ________ level in Blooms taxonomy.
a.application
b.knowledge
c.comprehension
d.analysis
5) Four people read the same textbook about physiological psychology. Other things
being equal, which one will probably learn the information in the book most
meaningfully?
a.Art is taking his first college course after working twenty years as an insurance agent.
b.Bert has a double major in astronomy and earth science, so has quite a bit of
knowledge about both subjects; however, he has never studied physiology or
psychology before.
c.Curt took two physiology and three psychology courses last year and still remembers
a great deal about both topics.
d.Durwood took a physiological psychology course last semester; he spent more time
playing on the football team than studying his textbooks and so didnt learn very much.
6) When we make important decisions on the basis of students achievement test
resultsfor instance, when we identify which students to promote, which teachers to
reward with salary increases, and so on, on the basis of students test scoreswe are most
likely to see:
a.Improvements in students reading and writing skills but not in their math skills
b.Improvements only in knowledge and skills specifically addressed in the tests
c.Significant increases in students motivation to work hard in their classes
d.Decreases in students overall achievement levels
7) Three of the following statements reflect contemporary perspectives of instrumental
conditioning and reinforcement. Which one does not?
a.Punishment has a more pronounced effect on behavior than reinforcement does.
b.Behavior can sometimes be better understood if we look at complex environmental
conditions rather than at simple, specific stimuli.
c.Instrumental conditioning can more adequately be explained when we talk about
mental processes as well as observable events.
d.Any single consequence may be more or less reinforcing depending on a learners
particular motives at the time.
8) Researchers and theorists have offered numerous suggestions regarding how teachers
might help students develop more effective learning and study strategies. Which one of
the following is not consistent with their suggestions?
a.Show students in a concrete fashion (perhaps by giving them a short quiz) just how
ineffective their current strategies are.
b.Teach students some techniques for evaluating their own performance on a regular
basis.
c.Help students acquire epistemic beliefs that are implicit rather than explicit, so that
students apply them unconsciously and automatically.
d.Have students work together in pairs or small groups on challenging learning tasks.
9) Vance is quite surprised to hear that his friend Adam has been caught shoplifting, as
he has always thought of Adam as someone who is honest, law-abiding, and respectful
of others rights and possessions. There must be a logical explanation for why Adam was
seen shoplifting, Vance thinks to himself, and I wont rest until I find out what it is.
Vances motivation can best be explained using the concept of:
a.cognitive dissonance
b.state anxiety
c.need for relatedness
d.optimal level of arousal
10) Ms. Villanueva has her students engage in a variety of activities in her middle
school geography class. Three of the activities described below are authentic activities.
Which one is not an authentic activity?
a.Constructing a map of the neighborhood around the school
b.Describing the difference between latitude and longitude
c.Finding the most direct route to Chicago on a road map
d.Using library resources to identify a good place to take a vacation
11) Perry is trying to solve the following riddle: What creature walks first on four legs,
then two, then three? He repeatedly tries to think of an animal that might walk on three
legs, but he can only think of animals that walk on either two or four legs. Finally, he is
told the correct answer: a human being, who crawls, then walks, then walks with a cane.
Which one of the following is the most likely explanation of Perrys difficulty?
a.He has encoded the problem with too narrow a definition of legs.
b.He doesnt have enough working memory capacity.
c.He doesnt have a sufficient knowledge base.
d.He is suffering from functional fixedness.
12) Which one of the following definitely illustrates theory of mind in a preschooler?
a.Casey asks his friend Julia, Did you forget what I told you yesterday?
b.Although he cannot yet read, Manuel enjoys looking at picture books.
c.Liza frowns and complains to her mother, My head hurts really bad!
d.Toula tells her playmate Joey all about her camping trip over the weekend.
13) If you wanted to take a Vygotskian approach to teaching students a new study
strategy, you would be most likely to:
a.Initially work collaboratively with students in applying the strategy, gradually
withdrawing your support as they become more proficient in using it.
b.Explain how the human memory system works and relate the strategy to effective
memory processes.
c.Show students how little they can remember when they use their current, ineffective
strategies, thereby motivating them to learn the new strategy.
d.Wait until students are at least 11 or 12 years old and thus capable of abstract thought.
14) Several sources of evidence have been used to address the question of whether
working memory and long-term memory are separate entities. Which one of the
following is not a source of evidence that has been used for this purpose?
a.The serial learning curve
b.The behaviors of people who have sustained brain injuries
c.The form in which information is stored in different memory tasks
d.Peoples descriptions of how they remember information
15) Vanessa frequently complains of getting terrible headaches and so ends up at the
nurses office several times a week. Yet two different physicians have been unable to
find a cause for Vanessas headaches, and Vanessas parents report that their daughter
rarely has headaches at home. Vanessa is falling further and further behind in her
schoolwork, so Vanessas teacher and parents meet with the nurse and school
psychologist to brainstorm possible solutions to Vanessas problem. The school
psychologist suggests that the teacher keep track of the occasions when Vanessa
complains about a headache. Two weeks later, the teacher reports that all of Vanessas
complaints occur just before a test or difficult assignment. Suddenly the teacher and
parents begin to suspect that perhaps Vanessa complains of headaches as a way of
getting out of having to do difficult assignments. Here we see the initial steps in a
process known as:
a.The use of incompatible behaviors
b.Behavioral momentum
c.Functional analysis
d.Extinction of inappropriate behavior
16) An instructional objective that requires students to identify the different parts of
speech in a sentence is at the ________ level in Blooms taxonomy.
a.analysis
b.synthesis
c.knowledge
d.comprehension
17) The textbook describes Patricia Alexanders theory regarding the development of
expertise. Which one of the following statements best characterizes Alexanders theory?
a.People develop expertise primarily by turning verbal codes and images into
propositions and productions.
b.People develop expertise primarily by learning certain skills and practicing them over
and over until they can perform the skills almost without thinking.
c.The development of expertise is characterized by a series of five stages of
increasingly abstract problem-solving strategies.
d.The development of expertise is characterized by the acquisition of more and better
integrated knowledge about a topic.
18) According to the textbook, which one of the following conclusions is most
warranted from research on brain development?
a.To become truly skilled in such domains as art and music, children should begin
systematic instruction in these domains before the age of five.
b.The ability to think abstractly depends on the development of many synaptic
connections during the first five years of life.
c.Children probably wont acquire the basic skills essential to success in the adult world
(e.g., reading, writing, math) unless they begin developing those skills in the early
elementary grades at the latest.
d.Classroom experiences can significantly enhance peoples cognitive development
throughout the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary school years.
