University of California, Berkeley
Department of Psychology

Psychology 1
Summer 2010

Midterm Examination 1

Scoring Key and Item Analysis

In the scoring key that follows, correct answers are marked with double pound signs (##).

The average score on the exam, before rescoring, was 62.75% correct, which was a little low, compared to the historical range of 65-70% correct on exams in Psych 1.

Following procedures outlined in the Exam Information page, the statistical analysis identified two (2) bad items, #s 6 and 35. Both items were rescored correct for all responses. No other items will be rescored.

Midterm 2 Exam PerformanceThe average score on the exam, after rescoring, was 32.78, with a standard deviation of 7.00 (actually, 6.996), or 65.56% correct, which while maybe a little low, is still within the historical standards.

The exam scores now shown in the ANGEL gradebook already reflect this rescoring. Because of the rescoring, many students will notice that the exam score posted to the gradebook grade is higher, by 1-2 points, than the initial score they received as feedback when they submitted their exam.

In what follows, I provide the percentage of the class that got each item correct, as well as the item-to-total correlation (rpb)for each item. I also include commentary on why the right answer is right, and the others wrong.

Choose the best answer to each of the following 50 questions. Questions are drawn from the text and lectures in roughly equal proportions, with the understanding that there is considerable overlap between the two sources. Usually, only one question is drawn from each major section of each chapter of the required readings; again, sometimes this question also draws on material discussed in class. Read the entire exam through before answering any questions: sometimes one question will help you answer another one.

Most questions can be correctly answered in one of two ways: (1) by fact-retrieval, meaning that you remember the answer from your reading of the text or listening to the lecture; or (2) inference, meaning that you can infer the answer from some general principle discussed in the text or lecture. If you cannot determine the correct answer by either of these methods, try to eliminate at least one option as clearly wrong: this maximizes the likelihood that you will get the correct answer by chance. Also, go with your intuitions: if you have actually done the assigned readings and attended the lectures, your "informed guesses" will likely be right more often than they are wrong.

Correct answers are marked with ##.

1. A drug that prevents processing of information into long-term memory is administered to a subject prior to a memory task. Under these conditions, which effect will likely be eliminated?

a. The primacy effect will be eliminated. ##

b. The recency effect will be eliminated.

c. Any recall of items will be eliminated.

d. Neither the primacy nor the recency effect will be eliminated.

65.9% of the class got this item correct; item-to-total rpb = .48. Chapter 8: Recall that people tend to remember more of the content in a learning situation (e.g., a free recall task with a list of words) that appears either at the beginning or end. The primacy effect is responsible for this increased memory for items at the beginning. The key to this question is to notice that the drug affects long-term memory and the primacy effect occurs because the early appearing content in the list is stored in LTM (whereas the recency effect is due to working memory).

2. Which of the following is the principal distinction between retrograde and anterograde amnesia?

a. Retrograde is inherited; anterograde is learned.

b. Anterograde is temporary; retrograde is permanent.

c. Anterograde involves forgetting things after a certain time; retrograde involves forgetting things prior to a certain time. ##

d. Anterograde affects long-term memory; retrograde affects working memory.

82.4% correct; rpb =.22.Chapter 8: The primary difference between these two types of amnesia involves the timing of lost memories ' this is basically a definition question. Anterograde amnesia involves damage that inhibits the consolidation and retrieval of new memories, whereas retrograde amnesia involves loss of memories that you already have. To remember which is which, it's easiest to think about what the word retro means in everyday speech.

3. Dr. Ellis is contrasting the depth-of-processing and encoding-specificity hypotheses. In her experiment, two groups of subjects study a word list in a psychology laboratory. Subjects in group I determine whether each word is a synonym of a target word; those in group II determine whether each word rhymes with a target word. Some time later, half the subjects in each group try to recall the list given sound-focused cues; the other half try to recall the list given meaning-focused cues. Subjects given meaning-focused retrieval cues outperform those given sound-focused cues, regardless of the task they performed when they learned the list. What does this result say with respect to the depth-of-processing and encoding-specificity hypotheses?

a. It supports the encoding-specificity hypothesis.

b. It supports the depth-of-processing hypothesis. . ##

c. It contradicts both hypotheses.

d. It is uninformative with respect to these hypotheses.

70.6%; .13. Chapter 8: Although there is a lot of specific detail in this question, the key is to notice that each group learned words through different processes (rhyming vs. thinking of synonyms). The people who completed retrieval through meaning-focused cues, regardless of the specific way in which they memorized things, performed best. A prediction of the encoding-specificity hypothesis is that the exact way in which you encode the memories is extremely important but the depth of processing hypothesis suggests that using meaning is better for memory because it makes connections with information one already has.

4. After reading a story about two people going to a movie, the reader is most likely to make which of the following errors in recalling the story?

a. forgetting the fact that the fire alarm went off during the movie

b. claiming that the protagonists bought tickets, even though the story did not mention that. ##

c. claiming that the movie was a comedy even though it was a drama

d. claiming that the people sitting behind the two people in the story were men when, in fact, they were women

77.6%; .43. Chapter 8: B is most likely because the step of buying tickets is ingrained in long-term memory in terms of a script for going to movies. Therefore, we might assume it happened even though it didn't. It's easy to see why you wouldn't forget A and C but D might be tempting. D is not as good of an answer because people tend to remember the gist of an event, and this includes components like genders.

5. A recent news report tells that a patient with serious and permanent anterograde amnesia has, through special training, been able to remember some things well enough to use them at a job. From what you know about memory, you guess that the kinds of things this patient has acquired entail _____ memory.

a. verbal

b. procedural ##

c. explicit

d. episodic

81.2%; .35. Chapter 8: Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory, and these are more likely candidates for people with anterograde amnesia to be able to access because they're sub-conscious. We saw examples of this from patient H.M. showing that people with this type of amnesia will learn through unconscious practice, even if they don't remember the specific events of having done something before.

6. According to the early selection theory of attention:

a. stimuli are filtered in accordance with their meaning early in the information-processing sequence.

b. stimuli are filtered in accordance with their meaning late in the information-processing sequence. ##

c. only explicit analyses can be performed preattentively.

d. post-attentive processes are performed automatically.

21.2%; .18. A bad item. Lecture 17: Remember that the "early" in early selection theories of information processing is in reference to attention and not meaning. In these theories, attentional selection occurs first and meaning is used to filter later on so pre-attentive processes do not involve meaning at all. A lot of people went for A, which is exactly wrong. In early-selection theories, attentional selection occurs early in the information-processing sequence, after some perceptual analysis but before semantic analysis.

7. I learned the planets of the solar system in 3rd Grade. My knowledge of the solar system is _____, while my memory of the learning experience is _____.

a. episodic; semantic

b. semantic; episodic ##

c. declarative; procedural

d. procedural; declarative

84.7%; .35. Lecture 18: Semantic memories involve facts and knowledge. Episodic memories record events in our lives like a scene in an episode of a television show. (C) Declarative and procedural memory don't fit here because declarative memory encompasses both episodic and semantic memory and procedural memory is memory for the step-by-step process of how to do things.

8. The principal cause of forgetting over long retention intervals is:

a. passive decay.

b. displacement.

c. consolidation failure.

d. interference. ##

52.9%; .45. Lecture 19: The first three theories all hypothesize either a failure of encoding or a loss from storage. Interference hypothesizes a failure of retrieval. A and B can be responsible for forgetting with short-term memory but over long retention, either consolidation or interference are at play. Remember from lecture that John Anderson's findings in a recall experiment helped illustrate why interference of retrieval is most likely to blame in forgetting over long intervals.

9. New memories are encoded in a framework of prior knowledge. Memory is best for:

a. information that is irrelevant to pre-existing knowledge.

b. information that is congruent with pre-existing knowledge.

c. information that is incongruent with pre-existing knowledge. ##

d. information that has been stored as part of a cognitive schema.

28.2%; .35. Lecture 20: Remember the example of Judy and the U-shaped function of memory for events. Memory is better in general for items that are relevant in some way to pre-existing knowledge but it is better still for these low probability events that are incongruent with our pre-existing knowledge or schemas.

10. The Roman numeral X is an example of a(n) _____ representation.

a. symbolic ##

b. analogical

c. hypothetical

d. psychological

94.1%; .22. Chapter 9: This symbol X represents the number 10 ' there is nothing about an X that feels like, or looks like the number 10, we've just previously mapped this symbol to this concept 10. An analogical representation would be something like 10 dots or a 10-unit long number line.

11. When you use the representativeness heuristic, you are _____.

a. making frequency estimates based on the ease with which things come to mind

b. assuming that something is typical of its class. ##

c. mistaking visual images and other forms of mental representations for reality

d. converting analogical representations into symbolic representations

80.0%; .32. Chapter 9: The representativeness heuristic is a reasoning shortcut where people things like, e.g., a sample ought to match a population or a specific lawyer (Mr. Smith) ought to be well read and analytical because we think lawyers in general have these qualities. (A) is describing the availability heuristic; (C and D) are about representation but not in terms of a reasoning bias or heuristic, which is the way we're thinking about it here.

12. What does it mean to say that a confirmation bias is a frequent error in hypothesis testing?

a. One tests more examples than are necessary to confirm the hypothesis.

b. One looks for evidence against the hypothesis, rather than considering all evidence equally.

c. One assumes that any hypothesis that sounds reasonable with respect to prior knowledge is true.

d. One pays more attention to evidence that is consistent with the hypothesis than to contradictory evidence. ##

80.0%; .35. Chapter 9: A and C are close to being correct in that C is part of what leads people to engage in confirmation bias and A is a behavior that one might perform when confirmation bias is at play. D is correct because the idea is that people misuse the data they see where they are more likely to pay attention to and remember confirmatory evidence but they downplay or even fail to notice disconfirming evidence.

13. Gambler 1 has won $100 and Gambler 2 has lost $100. They are both offered a double-or-nothing coin flip. In other words, rather than winning $100, Gambler 1 will end up winning either $200 or $0, and rather than losing $100, Gambler 2 will end up losing either $200 or $0. Research suggests that which of the following outcomes is most likely?

a. Both will take the bet.

b. Neither will take the bet.

c. Gambler 1 will not take the bet and Gambler 2 will. ##

d. Gambler 1 will take the bet and Gambler 2 will not.

25.9%; .26. Chapter 9: This question has to do with loss-aversion, and also sunk costs. Remember that, according to prospect theory, "losses loom larger than gains". Gambler 1 has a big chance of losing $200, and that is going to deter him from taking a chance in which he could lose it. But Gambler 2 has already lost $100, and he's going to try to make that loss up by taking the bet.

14. With regard to how chess masters differ from chess novices, which of the following is TRUE?

a. Master analysts encode complex patterns of play into a number of small chunks. ##

b. Novices use heuristics that can hinder recall; master analysts have learned to inhibit these.

c. Master analysts generally have a larger-capacity working memory store.

d. Master analysts have learned to use eidetic (photographic) imagery.

61.2%; .17. Chapter 9: Although it would be helpful to have a superior working memory in chess, it turns out that the real advantage comes from the ability to break down the problem into chunks. Remember that it's not the case that master players have more knowledge; it's the structure of the knowledge that's important. They are thinking in terms of broad strategic groupings rather than individual pieces.

15. A researcher administers a certain intelligence test to a large sample of adults. The test contains verbal, numerical, and spatial subtests. The researcher finds a correlation coefficient of .15 between verbal and numerical scores, a correlation coefficient of .75 between numerical and spatial scores, and a correlation of .10 between verbal and spatial scores. How might the researcher interpret this pattern of results with respect to (i) the view that intelligence is a unitary ability and (ii) the idea that intelligence consists of multiple, independent, specialized abilities?

a. The data support the idea that intelligence is a unitary ability.

b. The data support the idea that intelligence consists of multiple, specialized components.

c. The data support an intermediary view. ##

d. The data are uninformative with respect to these views of intelligence.

22.4%; .36. Chapter 11: Because some aspects of intelligence in this example are highly correlated (.75) and others only show low correlations, it looks like there is support here for more unified intelligence (with numerical and spatial intelligence being highly related) and for unrelated intelligence between faculties (with verbal and spatial scores showing a very low correlation).

16. Vivian scores high on measures of crystallized intelligence. This implies that _____.

a. she has a high working memory capacity

b. her mental processes are rapid

c. she has highly developed knowledge and skills. ##

d. her executive control functions are efficient

90.6%; .08. Chapter 11: Although it could be the case that A,B, and D contributed to Vivian's good crystallized intelligence, none of these things necessarily need to be true. The key here is just getting the definition correct.

17. Which of the following pieces of empirical evidence does not support Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?

a. the intercorrelations among the different forms of intelligence ##

b. savant syndrome

c. brain damage

d. the intuitive distinction between talent and intelligence

55.3%; .27. Chapter 11: A represents support for the theory because it suggests that there is a relationship between different types of intelligence. It turns out that some of the types of intelligence that Gardner defined were in fact highly correlated with one another, which means that they may not be as distinct as he thought they were.

18. The importance of environmental factors in the development of intelligence is illustrated by all of the following EXCEPT _____.

a. the intelligence scores of adopted children are correlated with the intelligence scores of their adoptive mothers

b. the greater the separation in age between brothers, the less correlated are their IQ scores

c. the longer children are in impoverished environments, the lower their intelligence scores are likely to be.

d. the IQ scores of adopted children increasingly converge with those of their biological mothers as they approach adolescence ##

67.1%; .45. Chapter 11: D is the correct answer here because it suggests that biological mothers and adopted children do have related intelligence. The other three examples are good indicators that environment plays a big role. B is support for the importance of environment because siblings born further apart in time will share the same amount of genes as siblings close in age but their experiences, especially within the family, will be quite different if they're born at very different times.

19. Examine the sentence "The strangers left". What is the s at the end of the word strangers?

a. a function phoneme

b. a function morpheme. ##

c. a content phoneme

d. a content morpheme

63.5%; .43. Chapter 10: Getting this right involves two things: knowing that a morpheme is the smallest unit of sound that carries meaning on its own whereas a phoneme is the smallest unit of speech and does not need to carry independent meaning. A function morpheme serves a grammatical purpose (such as an 's' indicating plural) while a content morpheme has semantic meaning (such as the word 'at')

20. Most people interpret the sentence "Can you pass me the butter?" to mean, "Please pass me the butter." This illustrates _____.

a. the fact that meaning and reference are not the same thing

b. the inability of an associationist theory to explain language

c. an example of conversational inference. ##

d. our tendency to assign conceptual properties to language where there is none

72.9%; .33. Chapter 10: This is a case where you make the inference (and it's an inference because you don't really have all the relevant information in the input) that a person is making a request. They aren't asking if you are physically capable of handing them butter, they're asking you to give it to them and you know this because of conventional knowledge you have acquired.

21. What is a child likely to assume when an experimenter points to two objects that have the same shape but are different colors?

a. The child will think that the two objects have the same linguistic label. ##

b. The child will assume no relation between the two.

c. The child will ignore the shapes and focus on the colors.

d. The child will assume that the two objects have different labels but are related on a subordinate level.

40.0%; .26. Chapter 10: A is correct because children learning words typically operate using the shape bias ' objects that share the same shape, but not necessarily the same color tend to be of the same kind and objects of the same kind tend to share labels. Although adults might think that D is correct because basic level categories tend to split into subordinate categories that have different labels ' and this distinction is often indicated by color - children likely don't start out with this assumption because they also tend to have a basic-level bias.

22. What does research on language acquisition in deaf individuals indicate?

a. No system of functional communication can be developed in the absence of auditory stimuli.

b. Sign language is unlike spoken language because it has few morphemes and it lacks syntactical structure.

c. Similar developmental stages exist for the acquisition of sign language in deaf children and spoken language in hearing children. ##

d. Sign language only permits very primitive and basic communication between individuals.

90.6%; .35. Chapter 10: A, B and D are not correct because we find that sign language contains a similar level of complexity and has similar syntactic structure to spoken language. This is shown by the parallels in language development of individual children between hearing and deaf children. For example, there is a similar sensitive period of language development in sign language just as there is in spoken language.

23. A study examined deaf users of ASL who had acquired ASL at different points during their childhood and adolescence. What were the results?

a. The age of ASL acquisition appeared to have little or no effect.

b. Those who acquired ASL at any point after birth displayed great deficits in their use of ASL.

c. Those who acquired ASL during adolescence and adulthood displayed great deficits in their use of ASL. ##

d. Those who acquired ASL at any point after birth displayed minor deficits in their use of ASL.

60.0%; .31. Chapter 10: The point here is that there is a sensitive period for acquiring any language, even sign language and this tends to occur at around the age of 12. People will show deficits, mainly in grammar and accent if they learn a language after childhood.

24. On average, it takes subjects more time to identify a dog as a mammal than it does to identify a dog as an animal. This fact is inconsistent with the _____ assumption of the classical view of categories.

a. defining features.

b. all-or-none

c. perfect nesting ##

d. homogeneity

43.5%; .52. Lecture 21: Perfect nesting suggests that each level of a hierarchy contains all features from the level above plus one additional feature. The idea of perfect nesting in cognitive psychology is that it organizes category information in the brain. Animal is at the top of the hierarchy and mammal is below this. However, dogs appear to be a very good example of animal (we often think of them quickly when asked to think about animals). They don't come to mind as easily when naming mammals.

25. When subjects estimate the results of a mathematical problem, they often go "too high" or "too low", based on initial calculations. This illustrates the _____ heuristic in judgment.

a. representativeness

b. availability

c. simulation

d. anchoring and adjustment ##

62.4%; .57. Lecture 22: Answers A, B and D are all judgment heuristics but D is correct. The key to anchoring and adjustment is that people will obtain an initial guess that anchors them and then they will insufficiently adjust it.

26. According to Simon's theory of "bounded rationality":

a. rational choice is constrained by the fluid intelligence of the subject who is making the decision.

b. most problems encountered in the real world are well defined.

c. application of judgment algorithms is constrained by limitations on information-processing capacity. ##

d. rational decision-makers make choices intended to optimize outcomes.

54.1%; .30. Lecture 23: D is the correct definition of rational decision-making but C is the correct answer because bounded rationality is the rationality of real humans operating in real decision-making contexts. Real people have information processing limitations and they can use judgment heuristics to avoid reasoning through an entire problem each and every time, reducing cognitive demands.

27. One criterion for mental retardation is a tested IQ less than 70. Given this criterion,

a. there are more "geniuses" than "retarded" people in the population.

b. there are more "mildly" than "profoundly" retarded people in the population. ##

c. approximately 15% of the population classifies as mentally retarded.

d. measurement of IQ in such individuals is not very reliable.

42.4%; .3. Lecture 24: Getting this question correct requires that you remember how IQ is calculated and how a normal curve works. Because IQ scores in the population have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15, we know that it is very unlikely (and equally unlikely) to have outliers above 130 and below 70 (2 s.d. away from the mean). Thus A is incorrect because of symmetry, C is incorrect because the number is much too high (2.5% is correct) and D is incorrect because reliability does not differ across the range of the scale. B is correct because mild retardation would fall closer to the mean and thus there will be more area under the curve there than below 70.

28. George tells Martha that he really loves her. Martha says "I know you don't mean it, because you're not looking at me when you say it. This exchange illustrates the _____ of language.

a. phonology

b. syntax

c. semantics

d. pragmatics ##

69.4%; .38. Lecture 25: This isn't about semantics because the words George says convey a meaning of: "I love you". It is about pragmatics because this includes things like body language, which encompasses eye contact.

29. Stuart is overweight. He goes on a starvation diet in the hopes of slimming down before graduating from college. He starts consuming about 1,000 calories a day. He loses some weight, but not nearly as much as he thought he would. What is the most likely reason for Stuart's failure to lose a great amount of weight?

a. Stuart has a larger number of fat cells.

b. Stuart is probably just losing excess water, which is easily replaced.

c. Stuart's activity level needs to be greatly increased.

d. Stuart's body has compensated for this caloric reduction by reducing its metabolism. ##

85.9%; .41. Chapter 12: Although A through C might be factors, evidence suggests that the most likely culprit of Stuart's disappointingly small weight loss is due to a slowed metabolism. Starvation causes the metabolism to slow because this is an adaptive thing to do when one is suddenly faced with a situation where they cannot access food and are thus likely to starve.

30. Hormonal influences on sexual behavior are evident in the fact that women's preferences and behavior change as they move through their menstrual cycle. For example:

a. women prefer more "feminine" looking men when in a fertile phase.

b. women have almost zero sex drive when not in a fertile phase.

c. women prefer men with a stronger chin and a more prominent brow when in a fertile phase. ##

d. injections of hormones have no effect on women during menses.

80.0%; .44. Chapter 12: Answer A is the opposite of C, and C has been shown experimentally to be true. Other effects similar to this have also been shown, e.g., women prefer the scent of men more when they are most fertile. B is not the case, although a woman's sex drive might be heightened during a fertile phase, it is not common for it to drop near zero at all other times (and this result isn't always found in experiments).

31. Which of the following statements regarding the motive to achieve is TRUE?

a. A fear of failure is strongly associated with the desire for success.

b. When parents do not punish failure, children are less likely to be successful.

c. A performance orientation is associated with greater success than is a mastery orientation.

d. A mastery orientation is associated with greater success than is a performance orientation. ##

45.9%; .48. Chapter 12: Although A and B might follow some people's folk theories regarding success, this question is getting at performance vs. mastery orientation. C is not correct because, over the long run, a mastery orientation (where one is motivated to truly grasp the full extent of what one is learning) is most highly associated with success.

32. In Schachter and Singer's experiment on emotion, _____.

a. subjects informed of true drug effects showed more emotion than other subjects

b. subjects misinformed of drug effects showed less emotion than other subjects

c. informed and misinformed subjects showed the same amount of emotion

d. subjects informed of true drug effects showed less emotion than other subjects. ##

44.7%; .49. Chapter 12: Schachter and Singer found that it isn't enough for someone to experience a change in their body (i.e., increased agitation or emotional arousal) to increase emotionality, they will react differently emotionally if they know what is causing their feelings. In their experiment, the subjects who knew the drug would induce these feelings showed less emotion because they knew the increased arousal was due to drugs and not the situation.

33. Lying in bed at night, Cassie tries not to feel sad about the death of a close friend by thinking of the positive legacy of her friend's life. At work, Cassie tries not to show her sadness. In bed at night, Cassie is engaged in _____. At work, she is practicing _____.

a. Suppression; suppression as well

b. suppression; cognitive reappraisal

c. cognitive reappraisal; cognitive reappraisal as well

d. cognitive reappraisal; suppression. ##

90.6%; .29. Chapter 12: Cognitive reappraisal is an explicit attempt at reframing your thoughts to make a situation better or change your mood or emotions. Cassie is engaging in suppression when she makes a conscious attempt at removing or burying her feelings without attempted to supplant them with a different perspective.

34. Cannon noted that the pattern of physiological responses does not differ from one emotional state to another. This fact is inconsistent with the _____ theory of emotion.

a. James-Lange ##

b. Schachter-Singer

c. cognitive-evaluation

d. hypothalamic

77.6%; .46. Lecture 26: The James-Lange theory suggests that we feel particular emotions based on the unique physiological symptoms that each emotion causes us to feel and then we use our cognitive capacities to tell us what emotion we're feeling. The fact that our physical response to many emotions is roughly the same is evidence against this theory, otherwise, we might not know when we are, e.g., happy vs. angry.

35. What sort of reward would be expected to most seriously impair intrinsic motivation?

a. controlling ##

b. unexpected, task-contingent

c. informative, performance-contingent

d. rewards that address the person's need for love and belongingness.

28.2%; .15. A bad item. Lecture 27: We learned that a great deal of factors go into whether a reward will undermine or enhance a behavior. The worst strategy of the ones listed here is (A). Controlling is intended to just make a person do a task, and does not provide information about competence. A plurality of students chose C, but informative performance-contingent rewards -- like the medal you receive when you win a race -- are precisely the kinds of rewards that support or even enhance intrinsic motivation.

36. Jamal and Liz are each given two tests of fearfulness, both rated on a 10-point scale, on which zero means no fear and 10 means maximum fear. In the first test, both Jamal and Liz are confronted with a vicious dog. Here, Jamal's fear rating is 9 points and Liz's is 5. In the second test, both are about to take a difficult examination. Here, Jamal's rating is 5 points and Liz's is 9. These results illustrate _____.

a. the unreliability of traits

b. differences in personal traits

c. the interaction of the situation with personality. ##

d. none of the above

61.2%; .39. Chapter 15: C is correct since both people were capable of feeling moderate fear as well as extreme fear but in different situations. This doesn't mean that traits are unreliable or that these two people are extremely different in their general ability to feel fearful, it means that they experience fear to greater or lesser extents depending on the situation they are in.

37. Greg was certain that he could influence his adopted children and cause them to grow up happy, intellectually curious, and outgoing. He was very surprised 20 years later to find that his three adopted children had completely different personalities. The likely reason for Greg's experience is that _____.

a. family environment has a relatively weak effect on personality development. ##

b. adopted children disrupt the normal influence of family environment

c. Greg is a poor parent for deliberately attempting to shape the personalities of his children

d. environment does not influence personality development

72.9%; .27. Chapter 15: This requires reading all of the options carefully. D is not specific enough. It's not that environment doesn't influence personality development it's that family environment has a weak impact on personality development. Although you may feel that B or C is either true or not true, there is no real evidence for either of these judgments. Evidence from twin and adoption studies suggest that, at least in average to high SES families, it is the case that family environment has a weak effect.

38. With respect to dreams, Freud argued that _____.

a. every dream presents unfulfilled wishes

b. a complex dream is a compromise between forbidden urges and the repression that keeps them unconscious

c. the latent content is modified to produce the manifest content

d. all of the above. ##

84.7%; .20. Chapter 15: These are all true of Freud's theory of dreams. He felt that they were a lens into the subconscious, so long as the content was de-coded correctly. Freud's theories centered around unfulfilled urges and their repression and he felt that dreams were an outlet for this kind of internal conflict.

39. Sonya is very accepting of herself. She sets realistic goals and sees her problems through to their conclusion. She has a satisfying relationship with her husband and several close friends. From Maslow's point of view, Sonya could best be described as _____.

a. being self-directed and strong

b. having a positive self-image

c. being self-actualizing. ##

d. having a strong sense of self-worth

70.6%; .17. Chapter 15: This is simply about getting the correct term in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, this women is at the top having gone through Physiological needs, Safety needs, Love and belonging, Esteem needs, and Sefl-actualization (i.e., reaching your full potential).

40. In his studies of delay of gratification in children, Mischel found that _____.

a. the length of time that children could delay a desired reward did not depend on whether the reward was visible while the child was waiting

b. children delayed gratification longer if they spent the time imagining the pleasures they would get from the reward

c. children delayed gratification longer if they distracted themselves from thinking about the reward. ##

d. children's ability to delay gratification was not related to thoughts or behaviors during the delay interval, but was highly correlated with personality characteristics such as introversion and responsibility

64.7%; .42. Chapter 15: B would almost certainly make this task harder and D is incorrect because, although performance on this task is correlated with later personality traits, the first half of the response is definitely incorrect. C is correct, children who thought of other things during the task did best. The results of a manipulation like answer A were not discussed.

41. People tend to describe a person who is unemployed as "lazy" or a "loser". Ascribing people's behavior to their nature rather than to their situation is called _____.

a. illusory correlation

b. in-group favoritism

c. self-handicapping

d. the fundamental attribution error. ##

82.4%; .42. Chapter 13: This is a definition question. The F.A.E. is demonstrated most often in Western cultures, where people tend to make more person-based attributions than situation-based attributions in general. This stems from the fact that Western cultures highlight the importance of the individual rather than the group or social context in most cases. An illusory correlation is quite an unrelated concept; self-handicapping is when a person sabotages their own efforts and in-group favoritism is not a technical term for the described situation.

42. Which of the following statements is true concerning attitude stability?

a. Because events change so frequently, our attitudes tend to shift fairly regularly.

b. Our attitudes remain fairly stable, in part because we tend to remain in the same environment and associate with similar people much of the time. ##

c. Our attitudes can be changed fairly easily if we decide we wish to change them.

d. Once attitudes have been established, it is nearly impossible for them to change.

63.5%; .26. Chapter 13: D is close because we find that attitudes remain fairly stable throughout life; however, B is a better answer because attitudes are malleable, it's just that our surroundings don't tend to drastically change, and this is a large part of what drives attitudinal change. Going off to college is a good example of a time where attitudes do often change because you are likely to be exposed to different types of people and new cities and regions.

43. A group of like-minded individuals are discussing the best strategy for marketing their new product with the limited amount of funds available. One safe strategy would be to simply follow the same marketing campaign used with last year's products. However, some of the group members have expressed support for a new, untested strategy that will cost more money but could generate much greater sales. In this scenario, which of the following is most likely?

a. Because of the presence of others, a "safe middle ground" will be chosen.

b. Because they are all like-minded, they will likely revert to last year's marketing strategy.

c. Because they have similar ideas, but each wants to stand out somewhat, the riskier new strategy is more likely to be selected. ##

d. Because they have similar ideas, increased disagreement is more likely, as each becomes dissatisfied with his or her previous position.

36.5%; .24. Chapter 13: This is an example of what is called "risky shift". People in a group are more likely to take a risk in terms of taking a more extreme stance or trying something untested in a group than they are if they are making a decision as an individual. It's not an example of groupthink, because there is diversity of views within the group at the outset. The group members do not already think alike. There is a divergence of opinon, and group discussion will lead toward increased polarization.

44. The "halo effect" refers to _____.

a. the finding that physically attractive people are better in most respects than other people

b. the tendency to assume that those with a single good trait, such as physical attractiveness, also have other positive traits. ##

c. the presumption that physically attractive people are less likely to commit legal offenses

d. the unconscious belief that having one positive attribute should be offset by the presence of a less desirable trait

89.4%; .22. Chapter 13: An example often given about this phenomenon is the structure of fairytales. The protagonist is always wonderful in every way and the villain has only negative traits (e.g., unattractive, morally repugnant, etc). Answer A is an example of what the halo effect may cause a person to believe; C is a consequence of the halo effect in that jurors are less likely to convict attractive people and D is describing another phenomenon.

45. The attribution of arousal theory of romantic love _____.

a. is not supported by the data regarding romantic love

b. predicts that fear could be misinterpreted as romantic love. ##

c. predicts that romantic love will wilt under adversity

d. predicts that romantic love will eventually fade

34.1%; .24. Chapter 13: Remember the Capilano Suspension Bridge experiment. Here subjects were more likely to call the attractive female if they took the survey from her while crossing the bridge (and thus in a heightened state of fear). The mistook their fear response for feelings of love or passion.

46. The basic idea behind the Doctrine of interactionism is:

a. social behavior can be reliably predicted from combinations of the Big Five personality traits.

b. personality reveals itself in patterns of social interaction.

c. people create the situations to which they respond. ##

d. instrumental behavior changes the environment in which it occurs.

54.1%; .07. Lecture 28: The idea behind this doctrine is that people influence a situation and a situation influences people. Thus C is correct because people have a hand in creating the situations they are in (think of the phrase "you make your own luck").

47. Mischel's "personality coefficient" contradicts which assumption of the Doctrine of Traits?

a. Coherence.

b. Stability

c. Consistency

d. Predictability ##

40.0%; .40. Lecture 30: Because the coefficient is quite low (.3 ' only accounting for 10% of the variance) this means that the ability to predict one's behavior traits from one's personality traits (P ==> B) is very low. The Doctrine of Traits suggests that this should be high.

48. Perceived self-efficacy can be modified by performance accomplishments, illustrating the

a. effect of the person on behavior.

b. effect of behavior on the person. ##

c. effect of the situation on the person.

d. effect of behavior on the situation.

45.9%; .32. Lecture 30: Self-efficacy refers to a person's belief or expectation that he or she can act effectively to bring about desired results. Bandura believed that if you try something the first time and succeed, this will make you likely to try it again. This seems very simple and is likely at least in part responsible for the fact that most people like to do the things that they are good at.

49. Some social behaviors occur automatically and unconsciously, illustrating the

a. effect of the person on the situation.

b. effect of the situation on behavior. ##

c. impact of social pressure on behavior.

d. diffusion of responsibility.

71.8%; .29. Lecture 31: B is the best answer here because the situation is an environmental factor that can lead a person to behave in particular ways without their awareness. You can even think back to the work on reflexes here. The environment (or the situation) can trigger you to behave in a particular way.

50. In a "prisoner's dilemma" game, a cooperative player is paired with a competitive opponent. Over time,

a. the cooperative person will become more competitive. ##

b. the competitive person will become more cooperative.

c. the cooperative person will become even more cooperative.

d. the competitive person will gradually become less competitive.

72.9%; .19. Lecture 32: It turns out that the competitor changes the environment for the cooperator. That is, cooperative actors paired with cooperative partners consistently made cooperative choices, and this tendency increased across trials. But cooperative actors paired with competitive partners made fewer cooperative moves.

Retain this exam, along with a record of your answers.

A provisional answer key will be posted to the course website tomorrow.

The exam will be provisionally scored to identify and eliminate bad items.

The exam will then be rescored with bad items keyed correct for all responses.

Grades will be posted to the course website.

A final, revised, answer key, and analyses of the exam items,

will be posted on the course website after grades are posted.

Requests for rescoring must be received within

two (2) days of the posting of grades.

Each request should be accompanied by a paragraph

indicating why the answer given in the key is incorrect

or why the answer you chose was better.