Essential Psychology
Student Resources
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Reductionist and materialist approaches to the study of psychological phenomena led psychology to look for explanations in terms of
- physiological properties
- psychological properties
- evolution
- social factors
Answer: A
2. Donders (1818–89) introduced psychology to the concept of being able to ascertain the exact duration of a mental judgement following the presentation of a stimulus. This is referred to as
- mental chronometry
- zietgerber
- reaction time
- mental synchronicity
Answer: A
3. Fechner also proposed the idea that the physical intensity of a physical stimulus is NOT accurately reflected in our perceived intensity of the stimulus. To measure perceived intensity, he proposed the idea of perceptual discrimination – being able to detect changes in the physical intensity itself. The unit of measure was referred to as the
- Just Negligible Discrepancy
- Just Noticeable Discrepancy
- Just Noticeable Difference
- Just Negligible Difference
Answer: C
4. Francis Galton and Alfred Binet also developed methods for measuring and quantifying
- personality
- intelligence
- locus of control
- gender
Answer: B
5. An example of a psychological phenomenon that Wundt proposed was beyond experimental or objective scientific methodology is
- complex feelings
- drug-–neuron interaction
- altruistic behaviour
- adrenal output
Answer: A
6. Wundt also emphasised the importance of researching individuals in their ______ and ______ contexts in order to fully appreciate psychological phenomena.
- private, social
- private, environmental
- social, cultural
- social, family
Answer: C
7. Freud’s hysteria is now referred to as
- dissociative disorder
- personality disorder
- neuroticism
- psychoticism
Answer: A
8. What did Freud believe to be the cause of hysteria?
- neurochemical imbalance
- faulty cognition
- unconscious content
- negative reinforcement
Answer: C
9. Freud was the founder of a form of talking therapy that aims to help the patient to coax unconscious desires into the conscious awareness. This form of therapy is known as
- behaviourism
- humanistic therapy
- transpersonalism
- psychoanalysis
Answer: D
10. What is the key tenet of Freud’s psychoanalytic therapy?
- all human behaviour is caused by the Oedipus complex
- all human behaviour is caused by unconscious content
- all human behaviour is caused by stimulus–response associations
- all human behaviour is caused by interactions with the environment
Answer: B
11. One of the many means by which Freud analyzed the unconscious content of his patients included
- interpreting dreams
- gradual exposure
- cognitive restructuring
- interpreting non-verbal behaviour
Answer: A
12. Freud’s early ideas regarding the motivation behind human behaviour had important implications for the development of which branch of psychology?
- therapeutic psychology
- cognitive psychology
- atypical psychology
- abnormal psychology
Answer: D
13. William James’s ideas regarding psychological phenomena centred around the idea of
- a stream of consciousness
- the sea of the subconscious
- a stream of subconsciousness
- a sea of consciousness
Answer: A
14. Two key ideas defined James’s concept of a stream of consciousness:
Consciousness has evolved to be ______, in that people choose between alternative courses of action. Consciousness is also ______, in that these choices are important in helping the individual to adapt to his/her environment.
- selective, functional
- functional, selective
- transcendent, predetermined
- predetermined, transcendent
Answer: A
15. The debate over whether our behaviour and thinking are controlled by physiological, unconscious and environmental forces versus being able to behave and think as we wish, is referred to as
- the reductionist-determinism debate
- the freewill-determinism debate
- the biological-freewill debate
- the freewill-reductionism debate
Answer: B
16. What was the goal of the behaviourist approach to psychology?
- to use self-reports of experiences
- to objectively predict behaviour
- to condition humans to salivate upon the mere presentation of food
- to demonstrate the role of freewill in human behaviour via controlled experiments
Answer: B
17. Pavlov’s work in demonstrating behaviourist principles regarding the relationship between stimuli and behavioural responses became known as
- operant conditioning
- associative learning
- classical conditioning
- shaping
Answer: C
18. Thorndike’s work demonstrated another form of behaviourist learning, whereby organisms can be trained to display a specific behavioural response more frequently if the outcome of that behaviour led to the acquisition of a desirable reward. This form of conditioned learning is now referred to as
- operant conditioning
- classical conditioning
- positive reinforcement
- social learning
Answer: A
19. Bartlett, Piaget and Gestalt psychologists like Lewin and Zeigarnik are examples of key figures in psychology who challenged the behaviourist notion that certain processes play no role in determining human behaviour. Which processes are these?
- biological processes
- mental processes
- environmental processes
- sociocultural processes
Answer: B
20. A key weakness of behaviourist theories is
- explaining human behaviour based on observations of animal behaviour
- an overwhelming focus on cognitive processes
- the use of self-reported data
- its positive view of all human behaviour
Answer: A
21. Following criticisms of behaviourism, what was the new approach to exploring psychological phenomena to gain momentum?
- cognitive science
- psychoanalysis
- transpersonalism
- phenomenology
Answer: A
22. Which of the following is an example of an abstract structure that the cognitive approach considers underpins psychological phenomena?
- attitudes
- neuronal receptors
- nervous system
- hormones
Answer: A
23. One of the key methods that cognitive approaches to psychology utilize in order to link subjective mental phenomena to brain function is
- implicit association tests
- neurosurgery
- extrasensory perception
- cognitive neuroscience
Answer: D
24. Humanistic psychologists argue that in order to properly understand human nature, we need to take account of
- subjective human experience
- underlying mental disturbances
- inherent gender differences
- repressed animal instincts
Answer: A
25. Key figures in psychology who propelled humanism include
- Laurel and Hardy
- Maslow and Rogers
- Pegg and Frost
- Watson and Skinner
Answer: B
26. Which of the following does Rogers NOT list as a feature of a psychologically healthy person?
- spontaneity and flexibility
- creativity
- a firm belief in his/her own importance
- the will to follow his/her own instincts
Answer: C
27. The concept that modern psychologists will usually use techniques that best fit the problem they’re investigating is referred to as
- expedient psychology
- the path of least resistance
- pragmatic psychology
- the limited horizon hypothesis
Answer: C
28. Frederic Bartlett carried out an investigation that demonstrated how the accuracy of a person’s recall of details from a story could be significantly distorted by
- whether or not someone has eaten in the last hour
- the temperature of the room where the experiment was conducted
- the cultural background of the person hearing the story
- the current phase of the moon
Answer: C
29. What research method has been associated with psychology’s return to a focus on the importance of subjective psychological phenomena?
- qualitative
- self-reports
- face-to-face interviews
- psychometrics
Answer: A
30. The most important historical figure to develop the idea of evolution is
- Darwin
- Mendel
- Crick
- Buss
Answer: A