Introduction to Psychology Exam MCQs

______________ is the science of understanding individuals—animals as well as people.
Question options:
a)  Archaeology
b)  Sociology
c)  Anthropology
d)  Psychology

Question 2  1 / 1 point
______________ psychologists treat and assess relatively healthy people and assist them with career and vocational interests.
Question options:
a)  Cognitive
b)  Counseling
c)  Clinical
d)  Health

Question 3  1 / 1 point
______________ psychology is also known as folk psychology.
Question options:
a)  Popular
b)  Clinical
c)  Scientific
d)  Research

Question 4  1 / 1 point
Which of the following questions is most likely to be discussed by a developmental psychologist?
Question options:
a)  Why are we attracted to particular kinds of people?
b)  How does the presence of other people change an individual’s thoughts, feelings, or perceptions?
c)  How do people visualize objects in their minds?
d)  How does parent-infant bonding affect adult relationships?

Question 5  0 / 1 point
Which of the following questions is most likely to be discussed by a cognitive psychologist?
Question options:

a)  How does the presence of other people change an individual’s thoughts, feeling, or perceptions?
b)  Why are we attracted to particular kinds of people?
c)  How do people visualize objects in their minds?
d)  How does parent-infant bonding affect adult relationships?

Chapter 1 Perspectives in Psychology
Question 6  1 / 1 point
Psychoanalysis assumes that:
Question options:
a)  dreams have no meaning to or relationship with the unconscious mind.
b)  social forces are the most powerful motivators of adult behavior.
c)  underlying biological events such as hormonal changes mediate all human behavior.
d)  the unconscious mind is the most powerful motivator of behavior.

Question 7  1 / 1 point
Which of the following psychologists asserted that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives?
Question options:
a)  Abraham Maslow
b)  Carl Rogers
c)  John Watson
d)  William James

Question 8  1 / 1 point
Mary Whiton Calkins:
Question options:
a)  opened the first psychology laboratory in the United States.
b)  started the first scientific journal in American psychology, the American Journal of Psychology.
c)  was the first female president of the American Psychological Association.
d)  was a student of Sigmund Freud.

Question 9  1 / 1 point
Wilhelm Wundt is credited with:
Question options:
a)  developing the discipline of psychophysics.
b)  evaluating the effects of social forces on one’s behavior.
c)  identifying the effects of childhood experiences on the development of our adult personality.
d)  giving psychology its independence from philosophy and physiology.

Chapter 1 Evolutionary psychology
Question 10  1 / 1 point
Structures or features that perform a function that did not arise through natural selection are often called _____________.
Question options:
a)  exaptations
b)  adaptations
c)  chance mutations
d)  habits

Question 11  1 / 1 point
Jack is a psychologist. Rather than just describing what the mind does, he is more interested in the functions of the human mind. Jack is a(n) ______________ psychologist.
Question options:
a)  evolutionary
b)  gestalt
c)  clinical
d)  positive

Chapter 1 Nature versus Nurture
Question 12  1 / 1 point
Which of the following is shown by Kandel (2006) with respect to certain genes in the human brain?
Question options:
a)  They cannot facilitate new connections between neurons in an adult brain.
b)  They do not differ between organisms despite variations in experience.
c)  They are all present and functional at birth.
d)  They can be turned on or off by our experiences.

Question 13  1 / 1 point
Which of the following concepts allows for the idea that a soul survives bodily death?
Question options:
a)  Nature versus nurture
b)  Mind-body dualism
c)  Evolutionary theory
d)  Natural selection

Question 14  1 / 1 point
In terms of the nature-nurture debate, psychologists’ contemporary view is that human behavior is:
Question options:
a)  solely a product of ancestral influences.
b)  a product of the interdependence between biology and experience.
c)  mostly a product of environmental experience.
d)  mostly a product of biology, inborn tendencies, and genetically based traits.

Chapter 1 Research Method
Question 15  1 / 1 point
Which of the following types of psychologists is most likely to conduct research on the age at which the usage of Internet social networks peaks?
Question options:
a)  Developmental psychologist
b)  Evolutionary psychologist
c)  Clinical psychologist
d)  Educational psychologist

Question 16  1 / 1 point
In the context of electronic interactions, being publicly private means:
Question options:
a)  avoiding online interactions with those people whom you have never met face-to-face.
b)  connecting with many other people, while being relatively nonpublic about revealing who you are.
c)  disclosing a lot of details of your private life.
d)  ensuring that you remove all the traces of your electronic interactions.

Chapter 2 Scientific Method
Question 17  1 / 1 point
If there is scientifically sound evidence for something—even if it is difficult to explain—and it has been replicated, we have to ____________ it.
Question options:
a)  test
b)  rectify
c)  predict
d)  accept

Question 18  1 / 1 point
Which of the following would be considered a pseudoscience?
Question options:
a)  Anthropology
b)  Biology
c)  Astrology
d)  Psychology

Question 19  1 / 1 point
A theory is defined as:
Question options:
a)  a practice that appears to be and claims to be science, even though it does not use the scientific method to come to conclusions.
b)  a specific, informed, and testable prediction of what kind of outcome should occur under a particular condition.
c)  a set of related assumptions from which testable predictions can be made.
d)  the repetition of a study to confirm the results.

Question 20  1 / 1 point
The first step in obtaining a sample is for the researchers to decide the makeup of the ____________ in which they are interested.
Question options:
a)  group
b)  descriptive design
c)  topic of research
d)  variable

Question 21  1 / 1 point
When a researcher is interested in a particular question or topic that is relatively new to the field, it is best to use a(n) ____________.
Question options:
a)  representative sample
b)  experimental study
c)  descriptive design
d)  case study

Question 22  1 / 1 point
Cal believes that a larger percentage of a city’s population will engage in public displays of affection in highly populated cities due to feelings of anonymity when an individual is among a lot of other people. He watches people’s interactions with each other in the university area, and unobtrusively counts the number of couples who are holding hands, hugging, or kissing. He then does the same in the sparsely populated city of Stillwater, Oklahoma. The research method Cal used is known as ____________.
Question options:
a)  interviewing
b)  a true experiment
c)  naturalistic observation
d)  a case study

Question 23  1 / 1 point
____________ measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another.
Question options:
a)  Correlational designs
b)  Descriptive statistics
c)  Descriptive designs
d)  Random assignments

Question 24  0 / 1 point
The ____________ is the middle score, which separates the lower half of scores from the upper half.
Question options:
a)  mean
b)  frequency
c)  median
d)  mode

Question 25  1 / 1 point
The ____________ is a statistical measure of how much scores in a sample vary around the mean.
Question options:
a)  standard deviation
b)  mode
c)  mean
d)  median

Question 26  1 / 1 point
The process of informing participants of the exact purposes of the study, revealing any and all deceptive practices, and explaining why they were necessary to conduct the study and ultimately what the results of the study were is known as ____________.
Question options:
a)  debriefing
b)  scientific thinking
c)  decreeing
d)  descriptive statistics

Question 27  1 / 1 point
What does recent research in consciousness through neural firing suggest?
Question options:
a)  An individual in a vegetative state can show signs of awareness without wakefulness.
b)  An individual in a vegetative state cannot react to any stimulus from the environment.
c)  Behavioral responsiveness is not the only determining factor of an individual’s capacity to communicate with other people.
d)  Behavioral non-responsiveness cannot be the sole determinant of one’s ability to interact with the world.

Question 28  1 / 1 point
Which of the following acts as a stage for the “main event” of the brain at a given moment in time?
Question options:
a)  consciousness
b)  memory
c)  perception
d)  cognition
Question 29  1 / 1 point
People show signs of intentional behavior when they are:
Question options:
a)  in an unconscious state.
b)  comatose.
c)  minimally conscious.
d)  in a subconscious state.

Question 30  1 / 1 point
Which of the following refers to a phenomenon by which one fails to notice unexpected objects in his/her surroundings?
Question options:
a)  change phenomenon
b)  inattentional blindness
c)  subliminal perception
d)  visual masking

Question 31  1 / 1 point
Which of the following is found to be the most distracting while driving causing significantly slower reaction times?
Question options:
a)  using the phone with a hands-free device
b)  texting
c)  eating
d)  chatting with someone in the vehicle

Question 32  1 / 1 point
Which of the following best describes narcolepsy?
Question options:
a)  A sleep disorder that causes an almost irresistible urge to move your legs or arms.
b)  A sleep disorder where the facial muscles are hyperactive.
c)  A sleep disorder that involves excessive, uncontrollable daytime sleepiness.
d)  A common sleep disorder in which breathing temporarily stops during sleep due to blockage of the upper airways.

Question 33  1 / 1 point
What did Barber and colleagues find when they asked students to complete a daily sleep log and online diaries of perceived stress in life over a five-day period?
Question options:
a)  A few days of sleep deficiency early on in the week can add to psychological strain but can be offset with sleep later in the week.
b)  A few days of sleep deficiency early in the week does not contribute to psychological strain.
c)  A few days of sleep deficiency early in the week can contribute to psychological strain later in the week despite attempts to offset with subsequent sleep.
d)  Consistent sleep patterns can wear us down as the body then cannot adjust suitably to any inconsistency in sleep that may arise.

Question 34  1 / 1 point
Which of the following refers to a concept that enables one to know and make up for one’s sleep deficit?
Question options:
a)  sleep debt
b)  sleep apnea
c)  narcolepsy
d)  sleep onset latency

Question 35  1 / 1 point
In humans, a surge of melatonin release occurs during the:
Question options:
a)  night.
b)  morning.
c)  evening.
d)  afternoon.

Question 40  1 / 1 point
When do people respond easily to hypnosis?
Question options:
a)  When they are fully conscious.
b)  When they are relaxed.
c)  When they have voluntary control of their own behavior.
d)  When their critical faculties of mind are in control.

Question 41  1 / 1 point
Which of the following refers to a term that numbs the mind and creates an alcohol-like effect?
Question options:
a)  endorphins
b)  morphine
c)  opioids
d)  sedatives
Question 42  0 / 1 point
Why would a personnel psychologist want to employ an intelligence test?
Question options:
a)  If the job is complex
b)  If the job is minimum wage
c)  If the job is simple
d)  If the job pays well
Question 43  1 / 1 point
Which of the following is not a characteristic of a structured interview?
Question options:
a)  Similar questions are asked to all job candidates
b)  The interviewer tends to show great warmth and compassion
c)  Less open ended
d)  Focuses on how a job candidate would resolve work conflicts
Question 44  1 / 1 point
Butch is an employee at the “Gaggle” corporation. At “Gaggle,” he has contributed a number of innovations. In fact, his clients and other customers rave about his enthusiasm and commitment to the Gaggle corporation. It sounds like Butch could be a/an __________ employee.
Question options:
a)  Disgruntled
b)  Engaged
c)  Satisfied
d)  Overachieving
Question 45  1 / 1 point
Which of the following characteristics is not associated with successful entrepreneurs?
Question options:
a)  Strong social skills
b)  Optimism
c)  Pessimism
d)  Attractiveness
Question 46  1 / 1 point
Research indicates that someone who is lying tends to ___________ less often than people telling the truth.
Question options:
a)  Blink
b)  Cough
c)  Fidget
d)  Hiccup
Question 47  1 / 1 point
Dr. Hughes conducts laboratory studies of the thought processes involved in problem solving. Which of the following types of psychologists is she most likely to be?
Question options:
a)  Evolutionary
b)  Cognitive
c)  Educational
d)  Social

Question 48  1 / 1 point
Personality psychology:
Question options:
a)  focuses on the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.
b)  considers what makes people unique as well as the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations.
c)  examines the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals and their relationship to behavior and thought.
d)  considers how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior.
Question 49  1 / 1 point
______________ is the study of how we perceive information, how we learn and remember, how we acquire and use language, and how we solve problems.
Question options:
a)  Social psychology
b)  Cognitive psychology
c)  Clinical psychology
d)  Educational psychology

Question 50  1 / 1 point
The industrial side of industrial/organizational psychology:
Question options:
a)  develops treatments for mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.
b)  aims to increase productivity and satisfaction of workers by considering how the work environment and management styles influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and productivity.
c)  applies principles of psychology to the selection and training of employees.
d)  explores how thought and behavior change and show stability across the life span.