Psychology for Beginners Practice Questions
Course Introduction
Psychology for Beginners introduces students to the fundamental concepts, theories, and methods of psychology, the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The course covers key topics including the history of psychology, major psychological approaches, brain and nervous system functions, learning and memory, sensation and perception, development across the lifespan, personality, psychological disorders, and social behavior. Emphasis is placed on understanding how psychological principles apply to everyday life, building critical thinking skills, and fostering curiosity about human thought, emotion, and action. No prior experience in psychology is required, making this course ideal for students from all backgrounds.
Recommended Textbook
The Science of Psychology An Appreciative View 2nd Edition by Laura A. King
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17 Chapters
2124 Verified Questions
2124 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Science of Psychology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Professionals in the field of developmental psychology
A) focus on the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.
B) are most interested in infant development.
C) specialize in the study of human growth and change over time.
D) specialize in the changes various crises bring to personality.
Answer: C
Q2) John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner believed that
A) consciousness should always be investigated through the process of individual introspection.
B) psychology should focus on interactions with the environment that can be seen and measured.
C) psychology should study both outwardly observed behaviors and inborn mental processes.
D) psychological methods could be developed to study the process of human cognition.
Answer: B
Q3) List and describe the fundamental goals of psychological research.
Answer: Address the three mains goals of describing, explaining, and predicting behavior.
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3
Chapter 2: Psychologys Scientific Method
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Sample Questions
Q1) The independent variable is what the experimenter arranges or has control over to allow a comparison in an experiment.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Skinner discovered that a pigeon will peck at a button more often if the pecking is rewarded with a food pellet. In Skinner's study, the food pellet is the ________ variable.
A) dependent
B) third problem
C) independent
D) correlational
Answer: C
Q3) Variables are elements of research which A) can change.
B) cannot be depended upon.
C) are invalid due to fluidity.
D) remain constant.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Biological Foundations of Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) Your brain has instructed your muscles to move so that you avoid an oncoming bicyclist. Which division of the nervous system carried this information to your muscles?
A) sympathetic nervous system
B) somatic nervous system
C) autonomic nervous system
D) parasympathetic nervous system
Answer: B
Q2) Which of the following are the two integrated parts of the autonomic nervous system?
A) sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
B) central and peripheral nervous systems
C) afferent and efferent nervous systems
D) thalamic and hypothalamic nervous systems
Answer: A
Q3) A person's phenotype can change over the course of the lifespan.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception
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Sample Questions
Q1) The cocktail party effect could be easily demonstrated in a crowded bar.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Jenny did not blink an eye when she paid an extra fifty cents for her favorite CD, but almost fell out of the car when her local gas station raised the price of gas by a dollar over night. What concept best explains her contradicting reactions?
A) absolute threshold
B) just noticeable difference
C) subliminal perception
D) Weber's law
Q3) One way to think about how we process color images is that the ________ describes the events at the first level of neurons in the visual system, while the ________ best describes the activities of neurons in the rest of the visual system.
A) camera theory; opponent-process theory
B) opponent-process theory; trichromatic theory
C) trichromatic theory; opponent-process theory
D) opponent-process theory; camera theory
Q4) Describe the difference between bottom-up processing and top-down processing.
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Page 6
Chapter 5: States of Conciousness
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Sample Questions
Q1) ________ is a psychological state of altered attention and expectation in which an individual is more open to suggestions.
A) Awareness
B) Consciousness
C) Hypnosis
D) Automaticity
Q2) Sleepwalking is
A) usually due to the use of sleeping pills.
B) related to mental illness.
C) not really that abnormal.
D) a symptom of sleep apnea.
Q3) The sleep disorder narcolepsy occurs when individuals
A) fall unexpectedly into a deep sleep in the middle of daily activities.
B) have difficulty falling asleep at the hour at which they would like.
C) wake up earlier than desired, sometimes several times a night.
D) stop breathing while they are sleeping.
Q4) Hypnosis can be used to reduce pain in patients.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss the effects of sleep deprivation.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Learning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is the response most parents give when asked why they physically punish their children?
A) The parent was spanked as a child and their child also needs strong discipline.
B) The parent was spanked as a child and their child also needs to learn respect for adults.
C) The child is "bad" and needs to be punished.
D) The child is "bad" and needs to learn respect for the parent's rules.
Q2) In Pavlov's well-known study on classical conditioning, the bell was the ________ before conditioning and the ________ after conditioning had occurred.
A) neutral stimulus; unconditioned stimulus
B) conditioned stimulus; neutral stimulus
C) neutral stimulus; conditioned stimulus
D) neutral stimulus; reinforced stimulus
Q3) Pavlov's dog salivated to the sound of a bell because the bell had become A) associated with food.
B) a CR.
C) a reflex.
D) a reinforcer for food.
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Chapter 7: Memory
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Sample Questions
Q1) Short-term memory is the same as working memory.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Margaret fell down her basement stairs and suffered serious injury to her amygdala.
What memory problems is she most likely to experience?
A) difficulty remembering her address and telephone number
B) difficulty adding numbers
C) difficulty with emotional memories
D) difficulty with short-term memories
Q3) Motivated forgetting is usually associated with what type of memories?
A) procedural
B) flashbulb
C) autobiographical
D) traumatic
Q4) Which of the following individuals is demonstrating divided attention?
A) Kyle is watching television.
B) Maria is painting her nails.
C) Kenny is listening to his iPod.
D) Riley is listening to her teacher and her friend Misty.
Q5) Provide examples of shallow, intermediate, and deep levels of processing.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Thinking, Intelligence, and Language
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the type of thinking involved in creativity and describe some characteristics of creative people.
Q2) The word "ckprqpgezxeenfvk" violates English
A) phonology.
B) morphology.
C) syntax.
D) semantics.
Q3) Every week during football season, Fred and his friends have fun following the local high school teams. Before the games, Fred never really talks too much about how the games will turn out. On Monday, however, it is a different scenario altogether. Fred is more than happy to share with his friends that the games came out exactly as he thought they would and why. Fred is demonstrating
A) overconfidence bias.
B) hindsight bias.
C) inductive reasoning.
D) deductive reasoning.
Q4) Positive moods are related to divergent thinking.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Human Development
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Sample Questions
Q1) You would expect an individual at a higher level of moral development to show an increase in concern over
A) understanding rules and laws.
B) the ethics of a person's actions.
C) the consequences of a person's actions.
D) doing what society thinks is right.
Q2) Behavior that helps others is called prosocial behavior.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The main class of male sex hormones is
A) estrogens.
B) androgens.
C) estradiol.
D) cortisol.
Q4) ________ refers to a child's behavioral style and characteristic way of responding.
A) Identity
B) Personality
C) Generativity
D) Temperament
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Chapter 10: Motivation and Emotion
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Sample Questions
Q1) After being in a car accident, Sally's ventromedial hypothalamus was severely damaged. She should expect that she will
A) lose weight rapidly.
B) lose weight gradually.
C) gain weight rapidly.
D) gain weight slowly.
Q2) Which of the following systems is responsible for calming the body?
A) immune
B) parasympathetic
C) respiratory
D) sympathetic
Q3) Discuss whether or not the polygraph test should be used to hire or fire employees.
Q4) ________ antagonists have been used to treat obesity.
A) Dopamine
B) Serotonin
C) Acetylcholine
D) Norepinephrine
Q5) Discuss why it is often more difficult to recognize that someone has bulimia nervosa as opposed to anorexia nervosa.
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Chapter 11: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
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Sample Questions
Q1) The only empirically evaluated treatment for someone diagnosed with gender identity disorder is
A) psychotherapy.
B) antidepressants.
C) sex reassignment surgery.
D) sexual orientation therapy.
Q2) The 2D:4D ratio refers to A) brain size.
B) finger length.
C) testosterone levels.
D) hemispheric symmetry.
Q3) The use of condoms helps to prevent chlamydia.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Abstinence-only sex education promotes the A) safe use of condoms.
B) safe use of oral contraceptives.
C) practice of no sex outside of marriage.
D) All of these.
Q5) Discuss how the social cognitive perspective views gender development.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Personality
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the five-factor model of personality, a person who is reserved and quiet is low on
A) openness.
B) extraversion.
C) agreeableness.
D) neuroticism.
Q2) What defense mechanism is being used when the ego transforms the unacceptable (e.g., looking at pornography) into the acceptable (e.g., becoming a vocal advocate against pornography)?
A) regression
B) displacement
C) sublimation
D) reaction formation
Q3) The spoiled child within you is to the id as the referee within you is to the A) pleasure principle.
B) superego.
C) Oedipus complex.
D) ego.
Q4) Describe Carl Rogers's approach to personality.
Q5) Define and provide examples of displacement and sublimation.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Social Psychology
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Allport, which of the following is NOT conducive to reducing prejudice during intergroup contact?
A) equal status of all members
B) tasks that encourage competition
C) the feeling that an authority figure sanctions their positive relationships
D) the belief that friendships might emerge from the interaction
Q2) In American society, it is socially unacceptable to admit to racial prejudice. Identify and describe a test that might allow social scientists to find out if this trend is due to a real change in social consciousness or is merely a form of expected social correctness?
Q3) ________ helps individuals to resist persuasion.
A) Conformity
B) Inoculation
C) Proximity
D) Groupthink
Q4) Define and give an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory. What can be done to resolve the state of dissonance?
Q5) Discuss conformity in terms of informational social influence and normative social influence.
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Chapter 14: Industrial and Organizational Psychology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Pablo's boss just finished interviewing a potential new employee. He tells Pablo that he is confident that the new person is honest and hardworking. Pablo's boss may be exhibiting
A) normative commitment.
B) interviewer illusion.
C) organizational citizenship behavior.
D) idealized influence.
Q2) If an executive allows input from any member of the company regardless of status, that executive is practicing the ________ system.
A) strengths-based management
B) theory X management
C) open-management
D) waigawa
Q3) The halo effect is especially significant when a male manager is evaluating a female employee.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe the three types of employee commitment.
Q5) Describe the four areas of emphasis of industrial psychology.
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Chapter 15: Psychological Disorders
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Sample Questions
Q1) Frank believes that he is the most skilled fisherman and that, when he is out on the lake, thousands of people with binoculars are watching his every move in the hopes of discovering his technique. This is an example of ________ in schizophrenia.
A) a delusion
B) a hallucination
C) a misattribution
D) flat affect
Q2) Oscar feels that if he does not circle his car five times before he gets in it, he will have an accident. The feeling that he is going to have an accident represents a(n) A) delusion.
B) compulsion.
C) hallucination.
D) obsession.
Q3) Alcohol abuse is a major risk factor for attempted suicide in A) Latinos.
B) non-Latino White males.
C) African American males.
D) American Indian/ Alaska Natives.
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Chapter 16: Therapies
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Sample Questions
Q1) During her last session with her psychoanalyst, Fran was asked about an uncle who visited one summer. Subsequently, Fran has missed her last two sessions. Fran is exhibiting A) free association.
B) interpretation.
C) transference.
D) resistance.
Q2) Your therapist, Dr. Schmitt, tells you that he practices integrative therapy. This means that he
A) treats the whole person not just the behavioral symptoms.
B) uses techniques from a variety of therapeutic models.
C) uses guided association to help the client see connections between different thoughts and ideas.
D) believes in the individual's self-healing capacities.
Q3) Your friend's ten-year-old son was just diagnosed with depression. Your friend is concerned about the risk of suicide associated with some anti-depressant medications. Based on recent research, what would you tell your friend?
Q4) Describe what is meant by the therapeutic alliance and discuss how it affects the success of psychotherapy.
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Chapter 17: Health Psychology
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to research findings, is being lean, or being fit, more important to good health?
Q2) Missy has decided to start eating healthier. She has even been to the grocery store and purchased a bunch of fruit and vegetables to begin her new nutritional program. Missy is at which stage of the stages of change model?
A) precontemplation
B) contemplation
C) preparation/determination
D) action/willpower
Q3) Selye's three-stage pattern of reaction to stress is known as the A) factor theory of stress.
B) stress response syndrome.
C) personal adjustment system.
D) general adaptation syndrome.
Q4) Having a perception of control over the outcome is the main difference between the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior.
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