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  1. Although he has been suffering from insomnia for several months, Brad prefers to avoid prescription drugs because he fears side effects. What hormone available in synthetic form might he consider taking to alleviate his sleep problem?
    a) insulin
    b) melatonin
    c) epinephrine
    d) vasopressin

  2. REM sleep refers to
    a) dreamless sleep.
    b) sleep induced by sleeping pills.
    c) sleep periods in which sleepwalking is likely.
    d) sleep periods in which a person’s eyes move rapidly.

  3. Which device would a sleep researcher use to monitor a sleeping person’s heart rate? a) electromyograph (EMG)
    b) electrocardiograph (EKG)
    c) electro-oculograph (EOG)
    d) electroencelphalograph (EEG)

  4. Your brain waves are being monitored in a sleep laboratory. Although you are drowsy, you are not yet asleep. What brain waves will be detected at this point?
    a) beta
    b) delta
    c) sigma
    d) alpha

  5. Sid is taking part in research on the effects of sleep deprivation; he has been without sleep for 75 hours. Right now researchers have asked him to sit in front of a computer screen and hit a button each time he sees the letter “S” on the screen. A few days ago, Sid was a whiz at this task; however, he is doing very poorly today. How would sleep researchers explain Sid’s poor performance?
    a) Due to the sleep deprivation, Sid does not understand the task.
    b) Microsleeps are occurring due to the sleep deprivation and he is asleep for brief periods of time.
    c) He is determined to ruin the research because of the suffering he is enduring at the hands of the researchers.
    d) He is probably dreaming that he is somewhere else and has no interest in responding to the “here and now.”

  6. How does Hobson and McCarley’s activation-synthesis hypothesis explain dreaming? a) the surfacing of repressed sexual urges
    b) attempts to make recent memories more permanent
    c) the brain making sense of a high level of brain activity
    d) the use of elaborate symbolism to disguise “unthinkable” topics

  7. The effects of most psychoactive drugs can be explained by their actions on a) glands.
    b) muscles.
    c) the spinal cord.
    d) neurotransmitters.

  8. Which of these illustrates an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)? a) your favorite song
    b) a puff of air to your eye
    c) blinking when air is blown into your eye
    d) blinking when you hear your favorite song

  9. Which of these illustrates a conditioned response (CR)?
    a) a thick, juicy steak
    b) your favorite restaurant
    c) salivation when you taste a thick, juicy steak
    d) salivation when you see your favorite restaurant

  10. A dog is conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell. Then the bell is presented alone until the dog no longer salivates to it. A few days later, the dog again salivates to the bell. The underlined sentence represents
    a) extinction.
    b) acquisition.
    c) generalization.
    d) spontaneous recovery.

  11. Chris has always been afraid of riding in elevators or being in small places. Which phobia does Chris seem to exhibit?
    a) cynophobia
    b) ailurophobia
    c) zoophobia
    d) claustrophobia

  12. In the famous experiment with chemotherapy patients and taste aversion, children formed an aversion to Mapletoff ice cream that then prevented them from forming a taste aversion to their normal diet. This is an example of
    a) cue-to-consequence learning.
    b) blocking.
    c) natural conditioning.
    d) contrapreparedness.

  13. What is the proper sequence for a teacher using the technique of shaping?
    a) Remain consistently generous with reinforcement throughout training.
    b) Remain consistently demanding with reinforcement throughout training.
    c) Begin by being generous with reinforcement and gradually demand more precise behavior.
    d) Begin by being demanding with reinforcement and gradually allow more behaviors for reward.

  14. What is a major difference between FR and VR schedules of reinforcement?
    a) VR schedules are easier to extinguish.
    b) Pauses tend to occur on FR not on VR schedules.
    c) Behavior on a VR schedule tends to generalize faster than behavior on FR schedules. d) Behavior on a FR schedule tends to generalize faster than behavior on VR schedules.

  15. Rob is a computer programmer whose job is to program the mechanism that operates slot machines. Which schedule of reinforcement will he program into the slot machine?
    a) fixed-ratio
    b) fixed-interval
    c) variable-ratio
    d) variable-interval

  16. You are designing a new course on “How to be a good psychological detective.” In order to understand any event, you tell your students that they first must be able to answer which of these questions?
    a) What occurred?
    b) How is the law of parsimony operating?
    c) What psychological principle is operating?
    d) How does the event differ from folk wisdom?

  17. Time for another round of Jeopardy. One of the categories is “Famous Authors.” With great confidence you say, “I’ll take ‘Famous Authors’ for $200.” The revealed answer is “Believed in mediums and fairies.” Just before the buzzer sounds, what will you say?
    a) “Who is Mark Twain?”
    b) “Who is Sigmund Freud?”
    c) “Who is Ernest Hemingway?”
    d) “Who is Arthur Conan Doyle?”

  18. A study of communication patterns in dolphins yields results that probably did not occur by chance. The researchers are likely to describe their results as
    a) notable.
    b) relevant.
    c) experimentally important.
    d) statistically significant.

  19. The College Board’s Validity Study Service reported a correlation of +.42 between college grade- point average and SAT scores. Which statement is most consistent with this report?
    a) SAT scores cause grade-point averages to rise.
    b) The relation means SAT scores can be used to predict grade-point average.
    c) There is little relation between SAT scores and grade-point average for most college students.
    d) The relation is not based on sound scientific principles of investigation and should not influence admissions decisions.

  20. Police officers across the country have noticed an interesting trend: the lower the temperature, the fewer crimes are reported; the higher the temperature, the more crimes are reported. Which correlation coefficient most likely describes the relation between temperature and crime?
    a) .00
    b) -.35
    c) +.10
    d) +.76

Answer key:
1. ANS: b
2. ANS: d
3. ANS: b
4. ANS: d
5. ANS: b
6. ANS: c
7. ANS: d
8. ANS: b
9. ANS: d
10. ANS: d
11. ANS: d
12. ANS: b
13. ANS: c
14. ANS: b
15. ANS: c
16. ANS: a
17. ANS: d
18. ANS: d
19. ANS: b
20. ANS:d