Deck 19: Psychobiology

Question 1

Hebb's contention that neurons that are active together become associated was instrumental in the development of

A)new connectionism
B)research on enriched sensory environments
C)research on the reticular activating systems
D)research on fear

Answer 1

new connectionism

Question 2

Lashley's address to the International Congress of Psychology did much to further the acceptance of

A)Gestalt psychology
B)Pavlov's localization of motor centers in the brain
C)Watson's classical conditioning
D)the search for the engram

Answer 2

Gestalt psychology

Question 3

According to Hebb,it was ____ that allowed neurons that were temporarily separated to become associated.

A)mass action
B)equipotentiality
C)thinking
D)reverberating neural activity

Answer 3

reverberating neural activity

Question 4

Lashley's search for the engram:

A)was a search for the neurophysiological locus of memory and learning
B)ended without finding the engram
C)resulted in finding the engram in protein sequences
D)was a search for the neurophysiological locus of memory and learning and ended without finding the engram

Question 5

Lashley:

A)was an opponent of Watsonian behaviorism
B)sought to support Watsonian behaviorism with neurophysiological evidence
C)found the engram - neurophysiological locus of memory and learning
D)was an opponent of Watsonian behaviorism and found the engram - neurophysiological locus of memory and learning

Question 6

The professional relationship between Watson and Lashley was strained because:

A)Watson was too obsessed with finding the neurophysiological correlates of learning
B)Lashley's research did not support Watson's switchboard conception of the brain
C)Watson was interested in the learning process and Lashley was not
D)Lashley found Watson's Gestalt orientation intolerable

Question 7

Lashley did pioneering ethological research with

A)Watson
B)Lorenz
C)Sperry
D)Yerkes

Question 8

For Hebb:

A)childhood learning involves a slow buildup of cell assemblies and phase sequences
B)adult learning involves insight and creativity
C)learning of all types can be explained in terms of building Gestalt cell assemblies
D)childhood learning involves a slow buildup of cell assemblies and phase sequences and adult learning involves insight and creativity

Question 9

Roger Sperry and his colleagues found that the interhemispheric transfer of information could be eliminated if the:

A)corpus callosum was ablated before training
B)optic chiasm was ablated before training
C)corpus callosum and the optic chiasm were ablated after training
D)corpus callosum and the optic chiasm were ablated before training

Question 10

Lashley's work:

A)showed that brain activity was like a complex switchboard
B)showed that brain activity was similar to the description of the Gestaltists
C)led to the discovery of what he had been looking for - the engram
D)was supportive of Watsonian behaviorism

Question 11

According to Hebb,when a phase sequence fires we experience a(n):

A)idea
B)stream of thought
C)general state of well-being
D)mass action

Question 12

The effort to determine the biological foundations of cognition and behavior is called:

A)psychobiology
B)new connectionism
C)cybernetics
D)information theory

Question 13

According to Hebb,when a cell assembly fires we experience a(n):

A)thought of the environmental object or event to which the assembly corresponded
B)stream of thought
C)emotion
D)insight

Question 14

The idea of mass action:

A)states that the amount of loss of ability is related to the amount of cortex
B)destroyed rather than the location of the destruction in the cortex
C)was true only for the ablation of cortical tissue following complex learning
D)states that the amount of loss of ability is related to the amount of cortex and was true only for the ablation of cortical tissue following complex learning

Question 15

A phase sequence:

A)is a group of cell assemblies which became neurologically interrelated
B)can be fired by internal or external stimulation or by a combination of the two
C)amounts to a stream of thought
D)all of these choices

Question 16

Roger Sperry and his colleagues discovered that information could be transferred from one cerebral hemisphere to the other via the:

A)corpus callosum
B)optic chiasm
C)both corpus callosum and optic chiasm
D)neither corpus callosum nor optic chiasm

Question 17

Which of the following is not an accomplishment of Hebb?

A)He published an article on the nature of fear.
B)He found that animals reared in an enriched sensory environment were relatively better learners as adults.
C)He reported research showing the relationship between level of activity in the reticular activating system and cognitive and behavioral performance.
D)He conducted research on hemispheric specialization with split-brain patients.

Question 18

Lashley found that his principle of mass action applied only following ____ learning.

A)simple
B)complex
C)insightful
D)concept

Question 19

Lashley's observation that any part of a functional area of the brain could perform the function associated with that area was called:

A)mass action
B)functionalism
C)equipotentiality
D)psychobiology

Question 20

A brain that is a split-brain preparation has had

A)its corpus callosum ablated
B)its corpus callosum and optic chiasm ablated
C)its frontal lobe separated from the rest of the brain
D)its reticular formation removed

Question 21

According to David Barash,humans possess an innate ____ that structures their social behavior.

A)idea of an ideal society
B)love for their fellow humans
C)biogrammar
D)predisposition toward monogamous marriage

Question 22

Using the split-brain preparation,Sperry and his colleagues found that:

A)the functions performed by the two cerebral hemispheres were the same
B)there was hemispheric specialization in nonhuman animals but not in humans
C)the functions performed by the two cerebral hemispheres were slightly different
D)the functions performed by the two cerebral hemispheres were dramatically different

Question 23

Nothing butism is

A)the claim that behavior is caused only by biological factors
B)the claim that behavior is caused only by environmental factors
C)the claim that behavior is caused only by biological factors or that it is caused only by environmental factors
D)the claim that behavior is caused by both biological and environmental factors

Question 24

____ studies a specific category of an animal's behavior in its natural habitat and attempts to explain that behavior in terms of evolutionary theory.

A)Ethology
B)Radical behaviorism
C)Cognitive science
D)Methodological behaviorism

Question 25

Concerning the mind-body relationship,Sperry was a(n):

A)interactionist
B)epiphenomalist
C)physical monist
D)idealist

Question 26

According to the sociobiologists,the strategy typically used by males to project copies of their genes into the next generation is ____,whereas for females it is ____.

A)promiscuity;the careful selection of an adequate mate
B)the careful selection of an adequate mate;promiscuity
C)to seek females with good resources with whom to reproduce;to seek males who are young and physically attractive
D)to seek females with prominent family backgrounds with whom to reproduce;to seek selfish males

Question 27

What was once called sociobiology is now generally referred to as?

A)new connectionism
B)silly
C)evolutionary psychology
D)ethology

Question 28

The study of ____ is especially important to ethologists.

A)the learning process
B)species-specific behavior
C)language
D)cost-benefit analyses

Question 29

Sociobiologists:

A)tend to concentrate their interests on social behavior
B)employ terms such as strategy and cost-benefit analysis when studying behavior
C)study various types of stereotyped automatic responses
D)tend to concentrate their interests on social behavior and employ terms such as strategy and cost-benefit analysis when studying behavior

Question 30

In explanations of behavior,sociobiologists urge social scientists to avoid ____ .

A)cultural factors
B)biological factors
C)cognitive factors
D)nothing butism

Question 31

The founder of sociobiology was

A)Barash
B)Wilson
C)Lorenz
D)Buss

Question 32

According to Jerre Levy,which of the following is true?

A)some people with normal brains are left-brain dominated and others right-brain dominated
B)educational practices can be designed that enhance either right-brain of left-brain performance
C)in normal people under normal circumstances,the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain are inseparable
D)all of these choices

Question 33

The influence of ethology on contemporary psychology comes mainly through:

A)radical behaviorism
B)sociobiology
C)cognitive science
D)research on instinctual drift

Question 34

According to Edward Wilson,humans created culture because doing so:

A)proved human superiority to the rest of the animal kingdom
B)reduced the probability of humans engaging in warfare
C)allowed humans to manifest the love they felt toward one another
D)facilitated survival

Question 35

Edward Wilson indicates the close relationship between culture and the satisfaction of biological needs with his:

A)concept of biogrammar
B)leash principle
C)whisper principle
D)concept of nothing butism

Question 36

According to Buss,the sociobiological fallacy refers to what?

A)the contention that we live to pass copies of our genes into the next generation
B)the idea that behaviors were selected in our evolutionary past because they solved problems
C)the application of Darwinian principles to human social behavior
D)the idea that if a bodily structure or a behavioral tendency now exists,it must have contributed to the survival of the ancestors of a species

Question 37

Barash wrote the book,The Whisperings Within."Whisperings" refers to what?

A)a hard-wired set of behaviors
B)environmentally controlled behaviors
C)predispositions to act in certain ways
D)complex human social behaviors

Question 38

According to the sociobiologists,the social behavior of any individual is determined by:

A)inherited dispositions (biology)
B)culture
C)both inherited dispositions (biology)and culture
D)neither inherited dispositions (biology)nor culture

Question 39

With research with split-brain preparations speculation concerning hemispheric specialization and differences began to exceed the facts,the speculations include:

A)belief that tests could be devised to determine right and left brain dominance
B)ideas that educational practices could be employed to specifically enhance right and left brain functions
C)each hemisphere is a separate personality which we can measure
D)belief that tests could be devised to determine right and left brain dominance and ideas that educational practices could be employed to specifically enhance right and left brain functions

Question 40

Ethology was developed primarily by Von Frisch,Lorenz,and

A)Tinbergen
B)Hebb
C)Sperry
D)Watson

Question 41

Bouchard reasoned that if intelligence and personality are largely determined by experience (nurture)then:

A)both fraternal and identical twins reared together would correlate highly on these traits
B)both fraternal and identical twins reared apart would correlate highly on these traits
C)fraternal twins,whether reared together or apart,should show modest correlations on these traits
D)identical twins,whether reared together or apart,should show high correlations on these traits

Question 42

Chomsky's explanation of language is basically:

A)empiricistic
B)nativistic
C)associationistic
D)mechanistic

Question 43

Which of the following assumptions did the work of the Brelands support?

A)animals bring no genetic predispositions with them to the learning experience
B)genetic differences among various species of animals are unimportant
C)any response that an animal is capable of making can be conditioned to any stimulus that the animal can detect
D)animal behavior cannot be properly understood without a knowledge of the animal's instinctual tendencies

Question 44

After their work for 14 years,the Brelands concluded that the behavior of any species cannot be understood,predicted,or controlled without knowledge of:

A)its instinctive patterns
B)its evolutionary history
C)its ecological niche
D)all of these choices

Question 45

Adaptationism has been criticized for several reasons (faults).Among these are:

A)factors other than adaptation cause evolutionary change
B)a trait must be adaptive in the present environment because it was adaptive in past environments
C)a trait may have evolved for a specific purpose in the past but may function in totally different ways in the present
D)factors other than adaptation cause evolutionary change and a trait may have evolved for a specific purpose in the past but may function in totally different ways in the present

Question 46

According to Bouchard,any similarities in intelligence or personality between twins separated at birth must be due to:

A)shared family environment
B)genetic influences
C)learning
D)nurture

Question 47

____ indicates how much of the variation among measures (e.g. ,test scores)is attributed to genetic influences.

A)Nurture
B)Heritability
C)The preparedness continuum
D)The correlation coefficient (r)

Question 48

Seligman has found that:

A)for any given species of animal,some associations are easier to learn than others
B)some species of animals can learn associations that other species find difficult or impossible to learn
C)an animal comes to the learning situation as a tabula rasa
D)for any given species of animal,some associations are easier to learn than others and some species of animals can learn associations that other species find difficult or impossible to learn

Question 49

Chomsky weakened the position of radical behaviorism by showing that:

A)language acquisition could not be explained using operant principles
B)learned behavior is eventually displaced by instinctual behavior
C)some associations are more easily learned than others
D)language is explained in the same way as any other form of learned behavior

Question 50

According to the research cited in the text:

A)genetics is a major contributor to intelligence
B)genetics is only a small contributor to personality
C)genetics is a major contributor to personality
D)genetics is a major contributor to intelligence and to personality

Question 51

The Brelands referred to the interference or displacement of learned behavior by instinctive behavior as:

A)response generalization
B)the habit family hierarchy
C)instinctual drift
D)more than one of these choices

Question 52

Bouchard reached all of the following conclusions except:

A)common family environment has practically no influence on personality
B)people have similar personality traits to the extent that they are genetically related
C)people have similar personality traits to the extent that they have common experiences
D)the heritability of personality traits is about .50

Question 53

Bouchard and his colleagues found the heritability for personality traits to be about ____ and for religious interest,attitudes,and values to be about ____.

A).70;.10
B).10;.70
C).80;.20
D).50;.50

Question 54

According to Seligman,____ determines how easily an animal will learn an association.

A)where an association falls on the preparedness continuum
B)the cleverness of the trainer
C)the prior experience of the animal involved
D)the age of the animal involved

Question 55

The co-option of an original adaptation for a useful but unrelated function is called:

A)a spandrel
B)an extirpation
C)an exaptation
D)pseudoevolution

Question 56

Bouchard and his colleagues found that the single most important determinant of a person's religious interests,attitudes,and values was:

A)shared family experience
B)one's culture
C)genetics
D)early childhood experience

Question 57

Dizygotic twins ____,while monozygotic twins ____.

A)are genetically identical;are just as genetically similar as any siblings
B)will always be the different sexes;will always be the same sex
C)are just as genetically similar as any siblings;are genetically identical
D)do not prove that intelligence is inherited/prove that intelligence is inherited

Question 58

According to Bouchard and his colleagues,which of the following properly describes the determinants of personality (the first listed factor is assumed to be the most powerful contributor to personality and the last listed the weakest contributor)?

A)shared family experience ® idiosyncratic experience ® genetics
B)idiosyncratic experience ® shared family experience ® genetics
C)genetics ® shared family experience ® idiosyncratic experience
D)genetics ® idiosyncratic experience ® shared family experience

Question 59

Bouchard's studies used four groups that differed on certain characteristics,which were:

A)monozygotic vs.dizygotic twins
B)reared apart vs.reared together
C)post high school education vs.high school education
D)both monozygotic vs.dizygotic twins and reared apart vs.reared together

Question 60

Bouchard estimated the heritability of intelligence to be about:

A).10
B).50
C).70
D)1.00

Question 61

Describe Lashley's principles of mass action and equipotentiality.

Question 62

Describe the Brelands' work with instinctual drift and its impact on behavioral psychology,and describe what is meant by the preparedness continuum.

Question 63

Discuss the research presented in the text regarding the heritability of intelligence and personality.

Question 64

Describe Hebb's work with cell assemblies and phase sequences.

Question 65

Lashley spent years searching for the engram - the neurophysiological basis of perception.

Question 66

The Brelands believed that their observations with instinctive drift contradicted three assumptions the behaviorists made.

Question 67

The split-brain preparation is described as ablation of the corpus callosum and the optic chiasm essentially stopping all communication between the two hemispheres.

Question 68

Ethology is the study of specific categories of behavior in an animal's natural environment.

Question 69

For Barash,humans possess a biogrammar that structures our ability to learn complex relationships.

Question 70

Chomsky maintains that learning is the basis of language acquisition.

Question 71

If a particular trait is largely determined by genetics,then monozygotic twins reared apart and monozygotic twins reared together should show high correlations on the trait.

Question 72

The interference with learned behavior by instinctual behavior is called pseudolearning.

Question 73

The attempt to explain psychological phenomena in biological terms is called psychobiology.

Question 74

Wilson's leash principle describes the interaction of our genetic predisposition to create culture and our survival needs.

Question 75

Hebb speculated that our environmental experiences cause a complex package of neurons to fire;he called this complex package of neurons a neuronal circuit.

Question 76

Behavioral genetics studies genetic influences on cognition and behavior.

Question 77

Hebb reported research indicating a relationship between level of activity in the reticular activating system and cognitive and behavioral performance.

Question 78

The nature-nurture factor is not an issue in contemporary psychology.

Question 79

Discuss Sperry's work with the split-brain preparation.

Question 80

Lashley's observations resulted in the principles of mass action and equipotentiality.