Biological Psychology Exam Review
Course Introduction
Biological Psychology explores the intricate relationship between biological processes and behavior, emphasizing how the brain, nervous system, hormones, and genetics influence human thoughts, emotions, and actions. The course covers fundamental topics such as neural communication, brain anatomy and function, sensory and motor systems, neuroplasticity, and the biological underpinnings of psychological disorders. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of how physiological mechanisms interact with environmental factors to shape cognition, behavior, and emotional experience, employing both classic research and modern neuroscience findings to connect biological systems with psychological phenomena.
Recommended Textbook
Evolutionary Psychology Neuroscience Perspectives concerning Human Behavior and Experience
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction to an Evolutionary Perspective
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Sample Questions
Q1) Contrast the Standard Social Science Model with the Evolutionary Psychology approach. These two approaches reflect a much larger debate within psychology. What is it?
Answer: -SSSM: human mind as blank slate; human behavior mostly learned; no such thing as human nature; wide variability in some behaviors due to culture.
-EP: there is a human nature; behaviors and experiences as adaptive products of evolution; many behaviors are universal across cultures.
-SSSM v. EP reflects nature v. nurture debate.
Q2) According to Cosmides and Tooby, adaptive problems have been with us throughout our history as a species, A) and their solution affects the reproduction of individual organisms. B) and they will continue to be problems for the foreseeable future. C) but we have always been able to adapt to them.
D) but with modern technology they are no longer a problem.
Answer: A
Q3) The _____ combines the study of evolution by natural selection as developed by Darwin with the study of genetics as developed by Mendel.
Answer: modern synthesis
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3
Chapter 2: What Is Evolution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The biogenetic law, stated as "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," means that _____ can be seen as paralleling the evolutionary history of the species.
A) changes over the lifespan
B) development from conception
C) related species
D) the range of abilities in a group
Answer: B
Q2) Skinner developed a process of shaping behavior through reinforcement is known as _____.
Answer: operant conditioning
Q3) Watson argued that the proper study of psychology was A) behavior.
B) consciousness.
C) development.
D) emotion.
Answer: A
Q4) The best-fit line through the values on a scatter plot is called a(n) _____.
Answer: regression line
Q5) "Why do peacocks have colorful tails?" is an example of a(n) _____ question.
Answer: ultimate
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Chapter 3: Evolution and Genetics
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Q1) _____ examines generations of families and looks for the association betwee particular DNA marker alleles and particular traits, commonly done for psychological and physiological disorders that run in families, such as depression or bipolar disorder.
A) correlational analysis
B) factor analysis
C) linkage analysis
D) psychoanalysis
Answer: C
Q2) As a result of _____, the chromosomes of gamete cells is not identical to the parent cell.
Answer: recombination
Q3) Until Landsteiner's discovery of _____, it was not known why some individuals died from transfusions.
A) antigens
B) blood typing
C) codominance
D) immunity
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Evolution of Brain and Function
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Q1) Although humans do not have the largest brain in either absolute or relative terms, they do have the largest number of _____ neurons.
A) cingulate
B) cortical
C) motor
D) sensory
Q2) Studies on "split brain" patients have demonstrated that the left side of the brain is involved in language processing and other serial tasks while the right side of the brain is involved in spatial tasks and other global processes; this division of labor is known as
Q3) It is thought that brains first appeared about _____ million years ago.
A) 10
B) 50
C) 100
D) 500
Q4) Even without an external task to perform, our mind is constantly working. It jumps from one thought to another. William James called this process the _____.
Q5) The front of the brain is referred to as _____.
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Chapter 5: Developmental Processes
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Q1) The ability to take another's perspective is referred to as _____; it develops during the preschool years, and is seen as a prerequisite for the ability to engage in pretend play and to lie.
Q2) Our human ancestry began more than 150,000 years ago in the high grasslands and wooded slopes of _____ Africa.
A) Eastern
B) Northern
C) Southern
D) Western
Q3) At around nine months, human infants develop a form of social fear known as _____ anxiety, which drives the infant to maintain proximity and physical contact with the mother.
A) attachment
B) infantile
C) separation
D) stranger
Q4) True _____ memory is more than just recalling your participation in a particular event; it also includes the ability to do this without any situational cues for its recall in the present.
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Chapter 6: Emotionality
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Sample
Questions
Q1) Ekman showed films of surgery and accidents to American and Japanese individuals. When viewing alone, people from both cultures displayed the same facial expressions, but when the experimenter was present, _____ would not fully display their emotional reactions.
A) few of the Americans or Japanese
B) neither the Americans nor the Japanese
C) the Americans, more than the Japanese,
D) the Japanese, more than the Americans,
Q2) Ekman (2009) suggested that Darwin made five important contributions to our study of emotion. Explain each.
Q3) Panksepp's approach to understanding emotionality and brain processes is to look for core processes across species. Explain what he means by core process and how the concept helps provide an evolutionary approach to understanding emotion. Discuss the seven core processes he proposes.
Q4) In a number of species, newborns will emit vocalizations when separated from their mother and exhibit a comfort response when reunited; this response appears to be mediated by the molecule ______, which has been associated with bonding in a variety of species.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Language
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Q1) Discuss pidgins and creoles. What do they suggest about the nature of language?
Q2) Pinker and Jackendoff posited three questions regarding the evolution of language. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
A) Which aspects of language are uniquely human?
B) Which aspects of language arise from the design of our brains?
C) Which aspects of language belong to more general abilities?
D) Which aspects of language differ from other cognitive processes?
Q3) Hauser and Fitch (2003) name four particular design features that suggest language is an adaptation. Which of the following is NOT one of those design features?
A) It exhibits a characteristic pattern of development.
B) It is important in sexual selection.
C) It is mediated by dedicated neural circuits.
D) It is present in all humans.
Q4) Languages are _____ in that there is no clear relationship between the form of a word and what it represents.
Q5) _____ is the study of meaning and how words relate to the things they refer to.
Q6) To make a speech sound, the _____ in our larynx vibrate, modifying the continuous flow of air from our lungs.
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Chapter 8: Sex and Gender
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Q1) Chimpanzees are found in central Africa. They have been described as smart, social, sexual, and political, as well as a species that fights, reconciles, makes tools, hunts, makes war, and can also practice infanticide and cannibalism. Males are only slightly larger than females. Their social structure is best described as which of the following?
A) They live in fairly stable groups composed of one male and several females with their young.
B) They live in joint male-female territories and remain socially monogamous for decades.
C) They live in social groups of around 50 animals; males establish a dominance hierarchy.
D) They live in small fission-fusion groups; females band together to ward off aggressive males.
Q2) Male chimpanzees, who share females with other males, have _____ testicles for their body size compared with male gorillas, who are assured of paternity.
A) average
B) larger
C) smaller
D) tiny
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Chapter 9: Sexual Selection
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Q1) One of the indicators of sexual availability in primate females is _____, which is often accompanied by changes in color.
Q2) One form of sexual selection is known as _____, which is most obvious in male-to-male competition; from this process would evolve characteristics, such as antlers on deer, that would enable one male to dominate another, and thus have the advantage.
Q3) Gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees have thin penises less than three inches long when erect, whereas human male penises are generally more than five inches long. This is not related to _____, which would require larger testicles, as is seen in chimpanzees.
Q4) In human long-term mating, females seek mates who have resources and males seek mates who are fertile. As a result,
A) a lot of men and women are unable to find satisfactory mates.
B) human mating is quite different from primate mating patterns.
C) men seek younger women, and women seek older men.
D) women need to reach maturity earlier than men.
Q5) Explain the good gene and good provider theories. Discuss their relevance in explaining polyandrous mating in socially monogamous species.
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Chapter 10: Kin and Family Relationships
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Q1) People use Hamilton's rule to determine their behaviors toward their relatives
A) and they are conscious of what they are doing.
B) even though they may not be conscious of it.
C) once they have learned how to use it.
D) only in extreme cases of dire need.
Q2) The dimension of the characteristic closeness of kinship categories is always _____ correlated with the characteristic number of genealogical links defining them; in other words, the degree of genetic relationship parallels the expectation of closeness.
A) negatively
B) positively
C) strongly D) weakly
Q3) In studies of helping behavior among kin, it was found that individuals were more likely to help someone _____ in a life-and-death situation, but more likely to help someone _____ in an everyday situation.
A) closely related, distantly related
B) in good health, in poor health
C) older than them, younger than them
D) who had helped them, who had not helped them
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Social Relations
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Q1) Because one condition of this theory is that the individual is able to recognize and remember who had helped in the past, _____ should be limited to species with those abilities.
A) communal sharing
B) equality matching
C) reciprocal altruism
D) tit-for-tat
Q2) Trivers suggests that _____ is hiding truth from the conscious mind in order to hide subtle facial expressions that could give away the fact we are lying.
Q3) A firefighter sacrifices his own life to save a family he does not even know. This is an example of _____ altruism.
A) indirect
B) reciprocal
C) strong
D) weak
Q4) Giving someone the time of day is an example of helping behavior, but because the cost to you is virtually nothing, this act should be considered a form of _____.
Q5) Discuss the social brain hypothesis and the evidence to support it.
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Chapter 12: Making Social Decisions
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Q1) Simon suggested that one could learn about human decision making by noting how the _____ in which decisions were made could allow for simplifications in adaptive decision making.
A) emotional state
B) environment
C) social situation
D) time frame
Q2) Chimpanzees live in communities of around 150 individuals following a _____ pattern in which smaller subgroups are constructed and disbanded.
Q3) In comparing hunter-gathers to chimpanzees, Wilson and Wrangham (2003) suggest both share three tendencies. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
A) Both are willing to fight to the death instead of surrendering.
B) Both avoid intensive aggressive confrontation by retreating.
C) Both show a tendency to respond aggressively to members of other groups.
D) Both take advantage of imbalances of power when killing males of other groups.
Q4) There is research to suggest that creating a feeling of ____ in a person will increase his or her sense of moral outrage or immorality.
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Health and Disease
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Q1) There is _____ genetic diversity among humans who live past the age of 70 compared with that among those who are 30.
A) about the same
B) almost no
C) less
D) more
Q2) A variety of studies suggest that early _____ relationships help influence later reactions to stress; for example, rat pups that received positive maternal care showed fewer negative hormonal responses to stress.
A) attachment
B) childhood
C) family
D) parental
Q3) Researchers initially did not see differences in male and female responses to stress because
A) females were not studied.
B) the differences are small.
C) these are modern differences.
D) the technology did not exist.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Psychopathology
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Q1) _____ reflect a rigid, manipulative approach to dealing with social relationships, two common types being psychopaths and hysterics; from an evolutionary perspective, these people clearly qualify as "cheaters."
Q2) In Hughlings Jackson's view of the brain, the higher levels of the cortex were seen to _____ the lower subcortical ones.
A) incorporate
B) influence
C) inhibit
D) integrate
Q3) _____ is characterized by repetitive thoughts and feelings, usually followed by repetitive behaviors; these often involve avoiding contamination, aggressive impulses, sexual content, somatic concerns, and the need for order.
Q4) Individuals with _____ display problems in three areas: social functions, communications, and restrictions in behaviors and interests.
A) autism
B) multiple sclerosis
C) schizophrenia
D) Williams syndrome
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Gelfand and colleagues (2011) found that cultures that had present-day or historical threats such as territorial conflicts, resource scarcity, or exposure to high levels of pathogens tended to
A) be more active in shaping their environment.
B) have higher levels of aggression and violence.
C) more strictly regulate social behavior.
D) prefer their practices over those of other cultures.
Q2) Norenzayan and Sherif propose that particular religious beliefs and behaviors are evolutionary adaptations for group living in large communities that have maximized genetic fitness. The problem with this approach is that it does not account for A) changes in religious beliefs and behaviors over time.
B) differences in religious beliefs and behavior around the world.
C) the fact that no genes for religiosity have been found.
D) the practice of religion in small communities.
Q3) Human societies utilize social institutions for transmitting information; these social processes range from parents and kin imparting information to more formal religious and educational institutions. This kind of transmission of information through social means is referred to as _____.
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