PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Mr. Krohn, a carpenter, is frustrated because he misplaced his hammer and needs to pound in the last nail in the bookcase he is building. He overlooks the fact that he could use the tennis trophy sitting above the workbench to pound in the nail. Which concept best explains why Mr. Krohn overlooked the trophy?

(A) representativeness heuristic

(B) retrieval

(C) functional fixedness

(D) belief bias

(E) divergent thinking

2. Phonemes and morphemes refer to

(A) elements of telegraphic speech toddlers use.

(B) elements of language.

(C) building blocks of concepts.

(D) basic elements of memories stored in long-term memory.

(E) two types of influences language has on thought according to the linguistic relativity hypothesis.

3. Which example would be better explained by the levels of processing model than the information-processing model?

(A) Someone says your name across the room and you switch your attention away from the conversation you are having.

(B) You forget part of a list you were trying to memorize for a test.

(C) While visiting with your grandmother, you recall one of your favorite childhood toys.

(D) You are able to remember verbatim a riddle you worked on for a few days before you figured out the answer.

(E) You pay less attention to the smell of your neighbor’s cologne than to the professor’s lecture in your college class.

4. Contrary to what Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis originally predicted, what effect does recent research indicate language has on the way we think?

(A) Since we think in language, the language we understand limits what we have the ability to think about.

(B) Language is a tool of thought but does not limit our cognition.

(C) The labels we apply affect our thoughts.

(D) The words in each language affect our ability to think because we are restricted to the words each language uses.

(E) The linguistic relativity hypothesis predicts that how quickly we acquire language correlates with our cognitive ability.

5. Which of the following is an example of the use of the representativeness heuristic?

(A) judging that a young person is more likely to be the instigator of an argument than an older person because you believe younger people are more likely to start fights

(B) breaking a math story problem down into smaller, representative parts, in order to solve it

(C) judging a situation by a rule that is usually, but not always, true

(D) solving a problem with a rule that guarantees the right, more representative, answer

(E) making a judgment according to past experiences that are most easily recalled, therefore representative of experience

6. Which of the following is the most complete list of elements in the three-box/information-processing model?

(A) sensory memory, constructive memory, working memory, and long-term memory

(B) short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory

(C) shallow processing, deep processing, and retrieval

(D) sensory memory, encoding, working memory, and retrieval

(E) sensory memory, working memory, encoding, long-term memory, and retrieval

7. Which of the following is an effective method for testing whether a memory is actually true or whether it is a constructed memory?

(A) checking to see whether it was deeply processed or shallowly processed

(B) testing to see if the memory was encoded from sensory memory into working memory

(C) using a PET scan to see if the memory is stored in the hippocampus

(D) using other evidence, such as written records, to substantiate the memory

(E) there is no way to tell the difference between a true memory and a constructed one

8. One of the ways memories are physically stored in the brain is by what process?

(A) deep processing, which increases levels of neurotransmitters in the hippocampus

(B) encoding, which stimulates electric activity in the hippocampus

(C) long-term potentiation, which strengthens connections between neurons

(D) selective attention, which increases myelination of memory neurons

(E) rehearsal, which causes the brain to devote more neurons to what is being rehearsed

9. According to the nativist theory, language is acquired

(A) by parents reinforcing correct language use.

(B) using an inborn ability to learn language at a certain developmental stage.

(C) best in the language and culture native to the child and parents.

(D) only if formal language instruction is provided in the child’s native language.

(E) best through the phonics instructional method, because children retain how to pronounce all the phonemes required for the language.

10. According to the three-box/information-processing model, stimuli from our outside environment is first stored in

(A) working memory.

(B) the hippocampus.

(C) the thalamus.

(D) sensory memory.

(E) selective attention.

11. Which of the following is the best example of the use of the availability heuristic?

(A) judging a situation by a rule that is usually, but not always, true

(B) making a judgment according to past experiences that are most easily recalled

(C) judging that a problem should be solved using a formula that guarantees the right answer

(D) making a judgment according to what is usually true in your experience

(E) solving a problem by breaking it into more easily available parts

12. Which sentence most accurately describes sensory memory?

(A) Sensory memory stores all sensory input perfectly accurately for a short period of time.

(B) Sensory memory encodes only sensations we are attending to at the time.

(C) Sensory memory receives memories from the working memory and decides which memories to encode in long-term memory.

(D) Sensory memory records all incoming sensations and remembers them indefinitely.

(E) Sensory memory records some sensations accurately, but some are recorded incorrectly, leading to constructive memory.

13. Recall is a more difficult process than recognition because

(A) memories retrieved by recognition are held in working memory, and recalled memories are in long-term memory.

(B) memories retrieved by recognition are more deeply processed.

(C) the process of recall involves cues to the memory that causes interference.

(D) memories retrieved by recognition are more recent than memories retrieved by recall.

(E) the process of recognition involves matching a person, event, or object with something already in memory.

14. Which of the following would be the best piece of evidence for the nativist theory of language acquisition?

(A) a child who acquires language at an extremely early age through intense instruction by her or his parents

(B) statistical evidence that children in one culture learn language faster than children in another culture

(C) a child of normal mental ability not being able to learn language due to language deprivation at an early age

(D) a child skipping the babbling and telegraphic speech stages of language acquisition

(E) a child deprived of language at an early age successfully learning language later

15. A friend mentions to you that she heard humans never forget anything; we remember everything that ever happens to us. What concept from memory research most directly contradicts this belief?

(A) sensory memory

(B) selective attention

(C) long-term memory

(D) constructive memory

(E) recovered memory

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Paul takes a test in the army to see if he would make a good pilot. Such a test is a (an)

(A) standardized test.

(B) aptitude test.

(C) intelligence test.

(D) achievement test.

(E) biased test.

2. If a test is reliable, it means that it

(A) is given in the same way every time.

(B) tests what it is supposed to test.

(C) is a fair assessment.

(D) yields consistent results.

(E) is also valid.

3. The standardization sample is

(A) the group of people who take the test.

(B) a random sample of the test takers used to evaluate the performance of others.

(C) the people used to represent the population for whom the test was intended.

(D) all the people who might ever take the test.

(E) the top 15 percent of scores on the test.

4. Which of the following is not one of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences?

(A) practical

(B) musical

(C) interpersonal

(D) spatial

(E) linguistic

5. Mrs. Cho is careful to make sure that she fairly represents the whole year’s work on the final exam for her American literature class. If Mrs. Cho achieves this goal, her test will have

(A) test-retest reliability.

(B) construct validity.

(C) content validity.

(D) split-half reliability.

(E) criterion validity.

6. Astor scores at the 84th percentile on the WISC. Which number most closely expresses his IQ?

(A) 85

(B) 110

(C) 115

(D) 120

(E) 130

7. Spearman argued that intelligence could be boiled down to one ability known as

(A) s.

(B) i.

(C) g.

(D) a.

(E) x.

8. Which of the following would provide the strongest evidence for the idea that intelligence is highly heritable?

(A) The IQ scores of parents are positively correlated with the scores of their children.

(B) Monozygotic twins separated at birth have extremely similar IQ scores.

(C) Dizygotic twins score more similarly on IQ tests than do other siblings.

(D) Adopted children’s IQ scores are positively correlated with their adopted parents’ scores.

(E) Different ethnic groups have different average IQ scores.

9. Which is the best example of crystallized intelligence?

(A) Tino uses his exceptional vocabulary to excel at Scrabble.

(B) Susan quickly learns to use a computerized statistics program for her class.

(C) Gina is always the first to finish class math tests.

(D) Arjun changes jobs and adapts to the demands of the new environment.

(E) Kevin is able to perform complex mathematical calculations in his head.

10. Which statement is true of power tests?

(A) They are administered in a short amount of time.

(B) They are an example of an individual test.

(C) They are a pure measure of achievement.

(D) They consist of items of varying difficulty levels.

(E) They yield IQ scores.

11. People with high EQs would be likely to

(A) pursue high-paying occupations.

(B) complete college.

(C) find jobs well suited to their individual strengths.

(D) be creative problem solvers.

(E) have a lot of close friends.

12. Although her score on the personality test indicated that Mary was devoid of social grace, painfully shy, and frightened of other people, she is extremely popular and outgoing. This personality test lacks

(A) reliablity.

(B) standardization.

(C) consistency.

(D) validity.

(E) practical worth.

13. Santos is 8 years old and, according to the Stanford-Binet, he has a mental age of 10. What is his IQ?

(A) 80

(B) 100

(C) 120

(D) 125

(E) 150

14. The Flynn effect is the finding that

(A) intelligence seems to increase with every generation.

(B) television has decreased intellectual performance.

(C) linguistic skills decline with age.

(D) within-group differences are larger than between-group differences.

(E) the more times people take a test, the better they tend to score.

15. Desmond believes that nature is far more important in shaping personality than nurture. Desmond probably believes in the strong influence of

(A) environment.

(B) learning.

(C) reinforcement.

(D) genetics.

(E) culture.