Question 1

Emily is planning a trip to northern Canada in January. She decides to buy the warmest coat she can find, no matter what its cost or appearance. Emily is relying on the _____ to decide which coat to buy.

Accepted Answer

Emily is using a single-feature model to make her decision, as she is only considering the warmth of the coat as the sole feature that matters to her.

Question 2

Which of the following statements about animal communication is TRUE?

Accepted Answer

While there is much research on animal communication and cognitive abilities, there is no consensus among psychologists regarding the extent to which animals are capable of complex linguistic feats or self-awareness. Instead, many focus on the evolved cognitive abilities of specific species and caution against anthropomorphizing animal behavior.

Question 3

Davion and Angelo are identical twins. At birth, their mother gave the babies up for adoption. Davion was adopted by a couple in California, while Angelo was adopted by a family in New York. Despite growing up in different homes, both boys have similar IQ scores. This finding illustrates the importance of _____ on intelligence.

Accepted Answer

The similarity in IQ scores between Davion and Angelo, who were raised in different environments, underscores the significant role that genetics (genes) play in determining intelligence.

Question 4

ESP believers and ESP disbelievers participated in a study in which they watched two attempts to demonstrate telepathic communication. Although the participants didn't know it, one attempt was rigged to appear successful, and the other attempt was rigged to fail. Following the demonstration:

Accepted Answer

The study demonstrates the belief-bias effect, where ESP believers interpret even unsuccessful attempts as successful due to their prior belief in ESP. Thus, only ESP believers said that ESP had taken place in the unsuccessful attempt. Option A is incorrect since this implies that all participants remembered both attempts as unsuccessful, which is not the case according to the scenario. Option B is also incorrect since it implies that ESP disbelievers did not believe in ESP even during the successful demonstration, which is not stated. Option D is incorrect as it describes the fallacy of positive instances, which is not demonstrated in the study.

Question 5

When people need to make a decision involving a high degree of uncertainty, what techniques do they often use to estimate the probability of an event occurring?

Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic involves estimating the likelihood of an event based on how easily instances of that event come to mind. The representativeness heuristic involves making judgments based on how closely the event matches the stereotypical or prototypical representation of that event. These heuristics are often used to estimate the probability of uncertain events. The other options (A, B, D) do not involve specific techniques that are commonly used to estimate probability.

Question 6

Juliana is equally proficient in both English and Spanish. Julia has achieved:

Accepted Answer

Juliana has achieved balanced proficiency in both English and Spanish, meaning she is equally proficient in both languages. This is not related to telegraphic speech, bilingual pragmatics, or bilingual code switching.

Question 7

_____ is formally defined as the mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge, including memory and perception.

Accepted Answer

Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring and using knowledge, including perception, attention, memory, language, and problem solving. While thinking, motivation, and problem solving are all related to cognition, they are not comprehensive enough to encompass the full range of cognitive processes.

Question 8

_____ refers to the percentage of variation within a given population that is due to genetic factors.

Accepted Answer

Heritability refers to the percentage of variation within a given population that is due to genetic factors, meaning the degree to which genes contribute to a certain trait or characteristic. It does not refer to the ability to understand or be understood by others (intelligibility), the process of genes being turned on or off by the environment (epigenesis), or factors in the environment that are shared by individuals (shared environmental influences).

Question 9

The linguistic relativity hypothesis:

Accepted Answer

The linguistic relativity hypothesis, also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, proposes that the language we use influences the way we think and perceive the world around us. Therefore, option B is the correct answer. Option A is incorrect as ASL is a fully-formed language with its own grammatical rules and structure. Option C is partially correct as the formal characteristics of a language are relative to other languages, but not relative in an absolute sense. Option D is partially correct as language does influence our perception of the world, but it does not suggest that it influences the formal language development of different linguistic groups.

Question 10

According to Focus on Neuroscience: Seeing Faces and Places in the Mind's Eye, researchers utilized fMRIs used to study mental imagery. Evaluations of the brain scans revealed whether or not participants were:

Accepted Answer

The article specifically states that researchers used fMRIs to study mental imagery and evaluated brain scans to determine whether participants were imagining a face or a place.

Question 11

Erika is asked to generate a list of five different animals that can be kept as pets. She quickly responds, "dogs, cats, goldfish, gerbils, and canaries." Dogs would thus represent Erika's _____ for the _____ concept of "pets."

Accepted Answer

Dogs are a prototypical example of pets. This means that when people think of pets, dogs are likely to come to mind first. The concept of "pets" is a natural (as opposed to formal) concept, meaning that it is based on everyday experience rather than a specific set of criteria or rules.

Question 12

A _____ is defined as the tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past.

Accepted Answer

A mental set is defined as the tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past. This can lead to difficulty in finding a new solution or thinking outside of the box. Heuristic refers to a problem-solving strategy, schema refers to a mental framework for organizing and interpreting information, and feedback loop refers to a cyclical process of information being received and used to modify behavior.

Question 13

For his independent project in Cooking 101, Henry decides to develop a new dip for raw vegetables, using sour cream and herbs. He tries one combination of ingredients after another, adjusting the seasoning as he goes along. What problem-solving strategy is Henry using?

Accepted Answer

Henry is using a trial and error approach to develop the new dip. He is trying different ingredient combinations and adjusting the seasoning as needed.

Question 14

The term _____ refers to the rules for combining words in a particular language.

Accepted Answer

Syntax refers to the rules for combining words in a particular language. Generative refers to the innate ability of humans to create new sentences based on these rules. Displacement refers to the ability of humans to talk about things that are not present in the immediate environment. Exemplar refers to a specific instance or example of something.

Question 15

Who translated and revised Binet's intelligence test for use in the United States?

Accepted Answer

Lewis Terman translated and revised Binet's intelligence test for use in the United States.

Question 16

According to the In Focus box on neurodiversity, an individual with Asperger's syndrome (a mild form of autism spectrum disorder) is likely to:

Accepted Answer

Individuals with Asperger's syndrome often have narrow interests and inflexible behavior, but their intelligence is typically within the average to above-average range.

Question 17

According to psychologist _____, there are multiple, independent forms of intelligence, such as linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, or interpersonal intelligence.

Accepted Answer

The concept of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner, who believed that intelligence is not a single, fixed trait, but rather is composed of various independent forms of intelligence. Gardner identified eight different types of intelligences, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.

Question 18

In the two-stage theory of intuition, the _____ stage refers to the process where conscious, analytic thought processes take over and you try to prove or disprove your hypothesis.

Accepted Answer

The integrative stage in the two-stage theory of intuition is where conscious, analytical thought processes are employed to evaluate the initial intuitive insights or hypotheses, aiming to validate or refute them. This stage involves deliberate and logical thinking.

Question 19

Rick asks you how many stop signs you encounter on your drive home. To answer his question, you probably rely on a:

Accepted Answer

When Rick asks for the number of stop signs encountered on the drive home, you would rely on a mental image of the route you take and the stop signs that you encounter. Mental images are visual representations of objects or events created in the mind and can be used in tasks such as spatial reasoning or navigational tasks.

Question 20

When a psychological test is administered to the same group of people on different occasions and it produces very similar scores for each of the participants, it is said to be:

Accepted Answer

When a psychological test is administered to the same group of people on different occasions and produces similar scores each time, it is said to be reliable. Reliability refers to the consistency of results over time or across different scorers. A reliable test gives consistent results and is therefore a crucial aspect of any valid evaluation.

Quiz 7: Section 4: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence