5 Steps to a 5: AP Psychology - McGraw Hill 2021

AP Psychology Practice Exam 1
STEP 5 Build Your Test-Taking Confidence

ANSWER SHEET FOR MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

AP Psychology Practice Exam 1

SECTION I

Time—70 minutes

100 Questions

Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by five suggested answers or completions. Select the one that is best in each case and then fill in the corresponding oval on the answer sheet.

1. Which of the following would play a role in quickly alerting you to a gas leak in your car?

(A) olfactory receptors

(B) gustatory receptors

(D) basilar membrane

(E) Pacinian corpuscles

2. A population frequently studied to best assess the relative effects of nature versus nurture is

(A) identical twins

(B) identical quadruplets

(D) couples who have been married for many years

(E) families with genetic diseases

3. After watching cartoons in which characters hit, punch, and kick other characters, nursery school students engage in more aggressive behavior than after watching Barney. This observation best supports

(A) psychoanalytic theory

(B) psychodynamic theory

(D) humanistic theory

(E) opponent process theory

4. The words fish and farm share a common

(A) concept

(B) syntax

(D) morpheme

(E) grammar

5. Nat’s therapist tells him to relax, close his eyes, and breathe slowly whenever he begins to experience fear associated with being in an enclosed space. The therapist is using a technique that is central to

(A) person-centered therapy

(B) psychoanalysis

(D) Gestalt therapy

(E) systematic desensitization

6. An aroused, motivated state often triggered by a physiological need is referred to as

(A) self-actualization

(B) a need

(D) a drive

(E) an instinct

7. A therapist used the Rorschach inkblot test to help him analyze his patient’s problems. He was most likely a

(A) psychoanalyst

(B) person-centered therapist

(D) certified clinical social worker

(E) psychiatrist

8. A pigeon trained to peck at a green light pecks at a yellow light also. This illustrates

(A) generalization

(B) discrimination

(D) spontaneous recovery

(E) shaping

9. Who referred to a common reservoir of images from universal experiences as a collective unconscious?

(A) Alfred Adler

(B) Karen Horney

(D) Sigmund Freud

(E) Carl Rogers

10. The minimum level of stimulation necessary to trigger a neural impulse is called the

(A) action potential

(B) threshold

(D) reflex

(E) reuptake

11. Joey, a 25-year-old convict, has a history of conduct disorder in elementary school and bullying in junior high. By high school, he was mugging peers and taking whatever he wanted from elderly shoppers without caring if he hurt anyone. Joey would most likely be diagnosed with

(A) antisocial personality disorder

(B) dissociative identity disorder

(D) somatoform disorder

(E) amnesia

12. Your little cousin watches you at the computer, and when you get up, he immediately tries to use the keyboard. His behavior in this situation can best be explained on the basis of

(A) superstition

(B) classical conditioning

(D) modeling

(E) discrimination

13. Although Andy wanted to cut class to get to the Yankee opener, he came to class to take a quiz and review for an exam. According to Freud, this behavior evidences a strong

(A) egocentricity

(B) super id

(D) superego

(E) libido

14. According to Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis,

(A) we have an innate language acquisition device

(B) apes do not have language because they don’t use proper syntax

(D) language determines the way we think

(E) rewarding good behavior increases its frequency

15. A severely overweight rat would most likely result from lesioning of the

(A) hippocampus

(B) thalamus

(D) amygdala

(E) pineal gland

16. An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members is called

(A) prejudice

(B) ethnocentrism

(D) discrimination

(E) scapegoating

17. Which approach emphasizes that therapists can effectively help their clients by offering unconditional positive regard?

(A) Gestalt therapy

(B) cognitive therapy

(D) behavior modification

(E) psychoanalysis

18. Some groups of gang members wear head coverings and sunglasses when they assault people. The use of such disguises contributes to

(A) social loafing

(B) cognitive dissonance

(D) deindividuation

(E) the fundamental attribution error

19. Of the following, which is characteristic of formal operational thinking?

(A) simple motor responses to sensory stimuli

(B) failure to understand reversibility

(D) logical reasoning and systematic planning

(E) magical thinking and egocentrism

20. Which neurotransmitter is most closely associated with both Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia?

(A) acetylcholine

(B) dopamine

(D) endorphins

(E) GABA

21. Today, it is unlikely that a psychologist could condition a baby to fear a rat and other small animals in a research study at a university because

(A) no parent would permit a child to participate in such a study

(B) the study violates ethical guidelines

(D) conditioning experiments are no longer done

(E) fear of animals is inborn

22. According to Abraham Maslow, the first priority of need is one’s

(A) self-transcendence needs

(B) safety needs

(D) physiological needs

(E) esteem needs

23. Brenda gets enraged when people criticize her, talks about becoming the first woman president, exaggerates her abilities and talents, takes advantage of classmates, and constantly demands attention in class. When she received a certificate for participating in an essay contest, she told everyone she’d won a prestigious writing award. She most likely would be diagnosed as evidencing

(A) conversion disorder

(B) schizophrenia

(D) narcissistic personality disorder

(E) major depressive disorder

24. “Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes” is a common definition of psychology. In their definition of psychology, behaviorists would be likely to eliminate

I. science

II. behavior

III. mental processes

(A) I only

(B) II only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, and III

25. According to Erikson, children learning the pleasure of applying themselves to certain tasks is indicative of the achievement of

(A) isolation

(B) initiative

(D) integrity

(E) industry

26. The perceived volume of a tone is mainly determined by its

(A) frequency

(B) timbre

(D) overtones

(E) saturation

27. Shannon forgot her pillow when she went camping, so she complained about having to sleep with her head flat on the ground the whole night. Her failure to fold up her jeans and sweater to use as a pillow-substitute best illustrates the effects of

(A) the availability heuristic

(B) functional fixedness

(D) the representativeness heuristic

(E) belief perseverance

28. Which of the following would not agree with Freud’s theory of penis envy?

(A) Horney

(B) Jung

(D) Adler

(E) Maslow

29. The most widely used self-report inventory for personality assessment is the

(A) MMPI-2

(B) TAT

(D) Rorschach

(E) PSAT

30. Behavioral therapy typically alters the patterns of responding of clients by

(A) helping patients identify a hierarchy of anxiety-arousing experiences

(B) vigorously challenging clients’ illogical ways of thinking

(D) repeating or rephrasing what a client says during the course of therapy

(E) focusing attention on clients’ positive and negative feelings toward their therapists

31. Scott tried to unscramble the letters NEBOTYA for 20 minutes to spell a word but was not successful. While walking to class, the answer suddenly came to him that the word was BAYONET. This exemplifies

(A) classical conditioning

(B) operant conditioning

(D) insight

(E) observational learning

32. A disorder characterized by delusions of persecution, hallucinations, and disordered thinking is

(A) schizophrenia

(B) anorexia nervosa

(D) hypochondriasis

(E) organic mental disorder

33. Jyoti notes the behavior of people as they wait in line for tickets to rock concerts. Which of the following research methods is she using?

(A) naturalistic observation

(B) survey

(D) quasi-experiment

(E) case study

34. In daylight, objects that reflect all wavelengths of light appear

(A) black

(B) white

(D) ultraviolet

(E) infrared

35. The Intelligence Quotient is defined as the

(A) chronological age/mental age × 100

(B) performance score/verbal score × 100

(D) verbal score/performance score × 100

(E) range/standard deviation × 100

36. According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the first reaction of a person faced with a terminal illness is

(A) acceptance

(B) anger

(D) denial

(E) depression

37. When Jared saw shadows of people on the walls of his bedroom, his blood pressure increased and his breathing rate sped up. These physical reactions were most directly regulated by his

(A) sensorimotor system

(B) somatic nervous system

(D) pineal gland

(E) parasympathetic nervous system

38. Which psychoactive drugs are most frequently prescribed to relieve pain?

(A) stimulants

(B) depressants

(D) antipsychotics

(E) narcotics

39. During the manic phase of a bipolar disorder, individuals are most likely to experience

(A) high self-esteem

(B) delusions of persecution

(D) visual hallucinations

(E) extreme sleepiness

40. Dan read a list of 30 vocabulary words only once. If he is typical and shows the serial position effect, we would expect that the words he remembers two days later are

(A) at the beginning of the list

(B) in the middle of the list

(D) distributed throughout the list

(E) unpredictable

41. Tony got accepted to the college he wants to attend, is going to the prom with a girl he really admires, and was hired for the summer job he sought. He has high

(A) self-efficacy

(B) self-doubt

(D) introversion

(E) deindividuation

42. Species-specific behaviors that cannot be explained as a result of social learning or conditioning, such as Monarch butterflies flying to Mexico to mate, are called

(A) motives

(B) fixed-action patterns

(D) imprinting

(E) reflexes

43. Tests that have been pretested with a sample of the population for whom the test is intended and have a uniform set of instructions and administration procedures are

(A) valid

(B) standardized

(D) fair

(E) predictive

44. A famous character in a Shakespearean play keeps washing her hands to get them clean of blood that is no longer on them. The repeated washing of her hands is

(A) a delusion

(B) a compulsion

(D) an obsession

(E) an attribution

45. After collecting and analyzing the responses of 2,000 randomly selected study participants, Adeel finds that college juniors who work at paying jobs 15 hours a week get higher grades than juniors who don’t have paying jobs or who work full-time. Which of the following research methods did Adeel use?

(A) experimental

(B) naturalistic observation

(D) survey

(E) quasi-experimental

46. Which of the following best exemplifies sensory adaptation?

(A) enjoying a song the more you hear it

(B) responding immediately every time the fire alarm is sounded

(D) relying heavily on your hearing when you are walking down a dark corridor

(E) not knowing what other people at a cocktail party are saying while you are attending to one conversation

47. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, provides information about all of the following EXCEPT

(A) names of mental disorders

(B) categorization of all mental disorders

(D) subtypes of some mental disorders

(E) causes of all mental disorders

48. Dieters often have difficulty losing additional weight after reaching a specific plateau because their bodies function at a lowered metabolic rate according to

(A) VMH theory

(B) opponent process theory

(D) the law of effect

(E) drive reduction theory

49. Which of the following scans can image brain function?

I. CAT

II. MRI

III. PET

(A) I only

(B) II only

(D) II and III only

(E) I, II, and III

50. If arrested for committing a crime, who of the following would be most likely to be declared legally insane?

(A) Aaron, who suffers symptoms of schizophrenia

(B) Brett, who has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder

(D) Don, who has symptoms of conversion disorder

(E) Ed, who has been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder

51. During cooperative learning, all the students in Group A initially were opposed to the death penalty, whereas two of the students in Group B were opposed to the death penalty and two were in favor of the death penalty. According to research, after an intense discussion within each group about capital punishment, we would expect

(A) both groups would moderate their positions

(B) Group A’s members would moderate their positions, but Group B’s members would retain their original positions

(D) Group A’s members would retain their original positions, but Group B’s members would moderate their positions

(E) both groups would have every member more firmly entrenched in his or her positions

52. Wilder Penfield’s studies suggest that some long-lost memories can be elicited through electrical stimulation of the brain. This suggests that forgetting may be a matter of

(A) displacement

(B) gradual decay

(D) failure to encode the memories

(E) unconscious wishes to forget

53. During World War II, millions of Jews and other minorities were slaughtered because they were blamed for the financial and social problems of Germany. Such scapegoating illustrates

(A) sour grapes rationalization

(B) displacement

(D) projection

(E) reaction formation

54. Of the following, which provides the most valid and reliable data about individuals as they progress through various stages of development?

(A) cross-sectional studies

(B) surveys

(D) longitudinal studies

(E) correlational studies

55. As the time for the AP Psychology exam approached, several students in the class who had not been doing homework or attending classes earlier in the term became more concerned about studying and attending regularly. Their motivation seems to be

(A) intrinsic

(B) extrinsic

(D) pessimistic

(E) homeostatic

56. A classically conditioned response can best be eliminated by presentation of

(A) the unconditioned stimulus without the conditioned stimulus

(B) the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus

(D) conditioned stimulus a few seconds before the unconditioned stimulus

(E) unconditioned response

57. The scores of Brian’s team on the quiz were 8, 6, 9, 7, 10, 9, 5, 4, 9. The median of the team’s scores is

(A) 9

(B) 8

(D) 7

(E) 6

58. What type of test is the Advanced Placement Examination in Psychology?

(A) aptitude

(B) projective

(D) intelligence

(E) individual

59. Functionally, receptors in the retina of the eye differ most from receptors in the cochlea of the ear in the

(A) magnitude of the resting potentials of their membranes

(B) ions involved in their action potentials

(D) number of axons each cell possesses

(E) ability to reproduce

60. Irrelevant thoughts that provide stimulation when your interest is flagging, letting you experience positive emotions, are

(A) nonconscious

(B) unconscious

(D) delusions

(E) circadian

61. Which of the following contributes most directly to people’s exaggerated perceptions of the likelihood of air travel disasters, nuclear power accidents, and terrorist violence?

(A) belief perseverance

(B) the framing effect

(D) the representativeness heuristic

(E) the availability heuristic

62. The arousal theory of motivation can best explain a person’s urge to

(A) sleep

(B) study

(D) travel

(E) take a soothing bath

63. A projective test with ambiguous pictures that are frequently used to assess achievement motivation is the

(A) Thematic Apperception Test

(B) Rorschach inkblot test

(D) MMPI-2

(E) Stanford-Binet

64. David collected data on 15 research participants. Their scores were 42, 38, 14, 13, 12, 12, 11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9, 9. Which of the following statistics best reflects the central tendency of this data set?

(A) standard deviation

(B) correlation coefficient

(D) median

(E) mean

65. The medical model of psychologically disordered behavior is most likely to be criticized for neglecting the importance of

(A) depression

(B) anxiety disorders

(D) genetic abnormalities

(E) social circumstances

66. Which of the following explanations of why a 17-year-old drives his car at or below the speed limit best illustrates Kohlberg’s conventional level of morality?

(A) “I don’t want to get any tickets.”

(B) “It’s the law.”

(D) “I don’t want to crash my car.”

(E) “With so many people in our society driving cars, I cannot put anyone else or myself in danger by driving at a faster speed than the number of cars, roads, and weather conditions permit.”

67. The president of a company brought in an outside consultant to disagree with him about an important decision to be discussed at a meeting of his top-level executives in order to avoid

(A) the bystander effect

(B) groupthink

(D) the mere exposure effect

(E) the fundamental attribution error

68. Javier wants to study the effects on achievement of taking a course in chemistry in the afternoon, rather than in the morning. A teacher has chemistry classes with the same number of students at 8:30 A.M. and 1:00 P.M., and volunteers to participate with her classes. A major problem in this study would be

(A) poor replication

(B) lack of a hypothesis

(D) difficulty in obtaining informed consent

(E) the placebo effect

69. The heritability for traits of a cloned population is

(A) 0 percent

(B) 25 percent

(D) 75 percent

(E) 100 percent

70. “Get cookie” best exemplifies

(A) babbling

(B) cooing

(D) telegraphic speech

(E) mental set

71. Research reveals that the most critical factor in Type A behavior associated with heart disease is

(A) anger

(B) competitiveness

(D) conscientiousness

(E) motivation

72. Dr. Scarlett conducted experiments in which she electrically stimulated parts of a cat’s brain. A cat that became terrified in the presence of a mouse was most likely stimulated in the

(A) limbic system

(B) thalamus

(D) cerebellum

(E) temporal lobe

73. Which of the following LEAST influences sexual behavior?

(A) hypothalamus

(B) pituitary

(D) cerebral cortex

(E) reticular formation

74. Ben thinks students will answer questions printed on yellow paper more quickly than those printed on blue paper. All study participants will take three tests with 35 multiple-choice questions each. The independent variable in Ben’s experiment is

(A) the color of the paper

(B) the number of questions answered correctly

(D) the total number of questions answered

(E) the difference in results between the experimental and control groups

75. Which of the following best illustrates hostile aggression?

(A) A man slaps his wife because he is angry that she made hamburgers for dinner again.

(B) A sanitation man knocks over some rose bushes when he throws an empty can to the curb.

(D) A careless driver hits and severely injures a pedestrian who is crossing the street.

(E) An adolescent hangs up on an irritating salesperson.

76. Cognitivists claim that classical conditioning results from

(A) an association between the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response

(B) an association between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus

(D) an association between the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response

(E) an expectation of what is coming following the conditioned stimulus

77. Which is likely to increase as a normal, healthy individual ages from 25 to 75 years of age?

(A) visual acuity

(B) crystallized intelligence

(D) fluid intelligence

(E) intelligence quotient

78. In the rock opera Tommy, Tommy becomes deaf and blind after witnessing a terrible murder, although there is nothing organically wrong with his ears or eyes. Tommy is suffering from

(A) panic disorder

(B) post-traumatic stress disorder

(D) obsessive-compulsive disorder

(E) illness anxiety disorder

79. Which of the following are included in the peripheral nervous system?

(A) brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves

(B) cranial nerves, spinal nerves, autonomic ganglia

(D) medulla, pons, thalamus

(E) amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus

80. The loss of the ability to understand language results from the loss of tissue in which of the following lobes?

(A) right frontal

(B) right temporal

(D) left frontal

(E) left temporal

81. When a 17-year-old student is failing at school, which society would most likely hold the parents accountable?

(A) United States of America

(B) Canadian

(D) English

(E) German

82. Receptors that respond to gravity and keep you informed of your body’s location in space are located primarily in the

(A) cochlea of the ear

(B) macula of the eye

(D) muscles and joints of the skeleton

(E) semicircular canals of the ear

83. Although Jen is a very bright 4-year-old, she doesn’t think her mother’s sister has any sisters. This lack of understanding reflects

(A) conservation

(B) introspection

(D) magical thinking

(E) egocentrism

84. You are given four lists of words to learn: 1, 2, 3, and 4. You must learn list 1, then list 2, etc. Which list(s) would cause proactive interference for remembering list 2?

(A) list 1 only

(B) list 3 only

(D) lists 3 and 4 only

(E) lists 1, 3, and 4

85. Dr. Ramchandran found that his patients who brushed their teeth after lunch had 1/20 the number of cavities in their teeth as those who didn’t. After interviewing the dentist, a local newswriter reports that brushing teeth after lunch prevents cavities. Based on the dentist’s research, which of the following statements is true?

(A) If at least 100 patients were studied, the writer’s statement is justified.

(B) If a minimum of 500 patients were studied, the writer’s statement is justified.

(C) At least 100 of the patients needed to have brushed their teeth after lunch for the writer’s statement to be justified.

(D) Dr. Ramchandran’s study needs to be replicated for the writer’s statement to be justified.

(E) No matter how many participants, the writer’s statement is not justified.

86. Which of the following endocrine glands is NOT paired with a hormone that it produces?

(A) pineal—melatonin

(B) hypothalamus—thyroid-stimulating hormone

(D) adrenals—cortisol

(E) pancreas—glucagon

87. If you are trying to get your parents to extend your curfew by 2 hours, you may want to start by asking for a 15-minute, then a 30-minute, and then a 1-hour extension. This strategy is best explained using:

(A) just-world hypothesis

(B) mere-exposure effect

(D) foot-in-the-door

(E) bystander effect

88. A special diet can prevent the expression of the trait for

(A) Tay-Sachs syndrome

(B) PKU (phenylketonuria)

(D) Down syndrome

(E) Klinefelter’s syndrome

89. Implications of Harlow’s study (of baby monkeys reared by artificial mothers) for humans include which of the following?

I. Providing breast milk is the key to developing an attachment between the baby and the mother.

II. An infant can form an attachment with a nurturing father or other caretaker.

III. Lack of nursing at the breast leads to maladjustment of a child.

(A) I only

(B) II only

(D) I and II only

(E) I, II, and III

90. Michelle watches David Letterman on television but doesn’t recognize him when she walks past him in Manhattan. Which effect on perception does this best illustrate?

(A) convergence

(B) context

(D) closure

(E) monocular cues

91. Emily scored at the 65th percentile on a standardized achievement test. This indicates which of the following? Her score was

(A) above average

(B) average

(D) just passing

(E) unreliable

92. As a result of an accident, Abdul lost sight in his right eye. To judge the distance of vehicles when he is driving, Abdul is able to rely on cues of

I. accommodation

II. relative size

III. retinal disparity

(A) I only

(B) II only

(D) I and II only

(E) I, II, and III

93. All of the following are positive symptoms of schizophrenia EXCEPT

(A) auditory hallucinations

(B) visual hallucinations

(D) flat affect

(E) incoherent speech

94. Today, Susan took a pill for her allergy that raised her blood pressure, caused her heart to beat faster, and raised her body temperature. Now caught in traffic, she feels angry. Yesterday, when she took the pill, she was with her husband. When her blood pressure rose, her heart speeded up, she got hotter, and she felt amorous. This description exemplifies

(A) the adaptation-level phenomenon

(B) two-factor theory

(D) Cannon—Bard theory

(E) homeostatic theory

95. Which of the following reinforcement schedules results in maintenance of behavior that is LEAST resistant to extinction?

(A) continuous

(B) fixed ratio

(D) variable ratio

(E) variable interval

96. When the class listened to a list of words, half the group was directed to listen for sounds while the other half was asked to gauge the emotional impact of the words. The group that gauged the emotional impact remembered many more words. This is evidence that better retention results with attention to

(A) semantic features

(B) echoic features

(D) surface processing

(E) rehearsal

97. Romantic attraction is most influenced by which of the following:

(A) similarity

(B) mere-exposure effect

(D) personality

(E) attraction

98. The focus of structuralists most closely matches the current perspective of

(A) psychoanalysts

(B) behaviorists

(D) humanists

(E) evolutionists

99. As you were about to perform you final presentation for your AP Psychology class, you felt your heartrate accelerate, you started to sweat, and your blood pressure rose. This arousal was due to activation of your

(A) parasympathetic nervous system

(B) sympathetic nervous system

(D) autonomic nervous system

(E) central nervous system

100. After sending a decal to display on a window and greeting cards with its logo, a charity sent the same people envelopes requesting contributions. Many people send contributions. The charity is using a technique known as

(A) overcompensation

(B) foot-in-the-door phenomenon

(D) proximity

(E) in-group bias

END OF SECTION I

SECTION II

Time—50 minutes

Directions: Take approximately 50 minutes to answer both of the essay questions. According to the College Board directions, “It is not enough to answer a question by merely listing facts. You should present a cogent argument based on your critical analysis of the question posed, using appropriate psychological terminology.” Write your essays on separate sheets of paper.

Essay 1:

For each of the pairs of terms below, provide an example of how the first term in each pair affects or is related to the second.

● Basal metabolic rate . . . . . obesity

● Spacing effect . . . . . studying

● Industrial/organizational psychology . . . . . product design

● Chameleon effect . . . . . mirror neurons

● Maturation . . . . . infant memory

Essay 2:

A neuroscientist thinks he has developed a drug that can stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people who are in the initial stages of the disease. Design a research experiment that will support or refute his hypothesis. In your research design describe the following:

● sample

● assignment

● independent variable

● dependent variable

● experimental group

● control group

● possible confounding variable

● how you would determine whether or not the drug is effective

END OF PRACTICE EXAM

Answers and Explanations

Section 1

1. A—(Chapter 7) Olfactory (smell) receptors in the nasal passages would detect the gas molecules and send impulses directly to the brain for fast perception and response.

2. A—(Chapter 10) Identical twins. Since they share the same genes, the differences between them would be a result of nurture. Identical quadruplets would be extremely rare, and so it would be difficult to find a large enough sample size for a study.

3. C—(Chapter 8) The children’s more aggressive behavior following the more violent cartoon supports Albert Bandura’s social learning theory of aggression studied in the Bobo doll study.

4. C—(Chapter 9) A phoneme is the basic unit of sound, such as d, o, g, which are three phonemes that together make the word dog. Phonemes, on their own, may not have any meaning, whereas a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that has meaning. The word a is both a morpheme and a phoneme.

5. E—(Chapter 12) Systematic desensitization is a behavior therapy especially effective in the treatment of phobias such as claustrophobia in this question. The patient learns through classical conditioning to replace the fear with relaxation.

6. D—(Chapter 11) A drive is a psychological state in which a person is aroused and motivated. A need is a physiological necessity, such as thirst or hunger.

7. A—(Chapter 11) The Rorschach inkblot test is a projective test designed to reveal the unconscious mind and is a technique quite useful to the psychoanalytic therapist.

8. A—(Chapter 8) When the pigeon sees the yellow light instead of the green one, he generalizes his pecking response to a similar stimulus. The pigeon can be taught to discriminate between the two colored lights but has not yet been trained to do so.

9. C—(Chapter 6) Carl Jung proposed that the collective unconscious is derived from ancestral memories and experiences and is common to all humankind, not just an individual.

10. B—(Chapter 7) The threshold is the minimum level of stimulation necessary to start a neural impulse. The neural impulse is also referred to as the action potential.

11. A—(Chapter 12) Joey seems to have antisocial personality disorder. He shows no guilt when he hurts others. The condition is first evident in teen years, as in this case, and the criminal behavior often accelerates over time.

12. D—(Chapter 8) Modeling is a social cognitive process in which new behavior is learned by watching others and then imitating their actions.

13. D—(Chapter 11) Freud’s superego operates on the morality principle and, thus, overrides the impulse to cut class in this example and causes Andy to do the right thing by attending class.

14. D—(Chapter 9) Although largely discredited, Whorf believed that language determines the way we think. He cited studies of bilingual people who said that they experienced a different sense of self when thinking in two different languages.

15. C—(Chapter 11) A lesion in the ventromedial hypothalamus would cause a rat to continue to eat. It is theorized to be the “satiety” center, or off button, for hunger sensation, so if it were lesioned, the rat would continue to eat as long as the food supply was available.

16. A—(Chapter 13) Prejudice is the unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group and its members, while discrimination would be acting upon this attitude.

17. C—(Chapter 12) One technique used by Carl Rogers in his client-centered humanistic therapy is to give unconditional positive regard to his clients to undo the effects of conditions of worth and to allow the individual to realize his or her positive actualizing potential.

18. D—(Chapter 13) People dressed alike or disguised can easily lose their sense of identity and become less self-aware, which are characteristics of deindividuation.

19. D—(Chapter 10) Piaget’s formal operational thought is the final stage of reasoning, characterized by hypothetical thought, systematic planning, and abstract, logical reasoning abilities.

20. B—(Chapter 6) In patients with Parkinson’s disease, damage occurs in the dopamine-rich substantia nigra. With the degeneration of these neurons, movement problems begin to occur. A synthetic drug known as L-dopa is able to alleviate some of their movement problems. Symptoms of schizophrenia are related to an excessive amount of dopamine.

21. B—(Chapter 5) Watson and Raynor’s classic study involving classical conditioning of fear in 9-month-old baby Albert would today violate the APA ethical guidelines that prohibit physical or mental suffering by subjects.

22. D—(Chapter 11) According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the base consists of one’s physiological needs, followed by safety, belongingness and love, esteem, self-actualization, and self-transcendence, respectively.

23. D—(Chapter 12) Brenda’s constant attention-seeking and egotistical attitudes are classic markers of the narcissistic personality.

24. C—(Chapter 5) Behaviorists discount the role of “mentalistic” aspects that cannot be directly observed.

25. E—(Chapter 11) According to Erik Erikson, when children gain pleasure from applying themselves to certain tasks, they are feeling a sense of industry. Those who do not derive pleasure from applying themselves may feel inferior.

26. C—(Chapter 7) The height of the wave or its amplitude allows us to perceive loudness from sound waves.

27. B—(Chapter 9) Shannon’s inability to think of using her jeans and sweater as a pillow is an example of functional fixedness—not seeing unusual uses for familiar objects.

28. A—(Chapter 11) Karen Horney disagreed with Freud’s assumption that all women have weak superegos and experience “penis envy.” She founded feminist psychology and believed the differences between men and women are biological, not psychological.

29. A—(Chapter 11) The MMPI-2 is the most widely used self-report inventory for personality assessment.

30. C—(Chapter 12) Behaviorists believe that we learn new behavior through rewards and punishment. Any maladaptive behavior can be changed by altering the consequences of that behavior.

31. D—(Chapter 9) Insight learning is the sudden appearance of a solution when directed thinking is no longer being utilized. As Scott consciously shifted his attention to other matters, the solution to the anagram came to him.

32. A—(Chapter 12) People with schizophrenia suffer from disordered thinking and often have delusions of persecution and hallucinations.

33. A—(Chapter 5) Jyoti is utilizing the naturalistic observation technique frequently used by behaviorists.

34. B—(Chapter 7) White is the appearance of reflected wavelengths of all colors.

35. C—(Chapter 9) Used on the old Stanford—Binet intelligence tests, the Intelligence Quotient originally coined by William Stearns represents your mental age divided by your chronological age multiplied by 100. Your mental age is a measure of your intellectual development relative to others.

36. D—(Chapter 10) Kübler-Ross’s classic study of 200 terminal cancer patients determined their emotional reactions followed a similar pattern. Denial is followed by the emotions of anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

37. C—(Chapter 6) The sympathetic nervous system is the part of the autonomic nervous system activated in stressful situations. When Jared realizes the shadows are just that, the parasympathetic nervous system will be activated to return his body to homeostasis.

38. E—(Chapter 6) Narcotics or opiates are the classification of drugs most used to relieve patients’ pain. Because they are highly addictive, a doctor must prescribe their limited use.

39. A—(Chapter 12) One of the characteristics of the manic high is an inflated ego and sense of euphoria. The patient has little need for sleep during this phase of the condition.

40. A—(Chapter 9) According to the serial positioning effect, words at the beginning of the list are stored in your long-term memory. Words remembered at the end of the list are in your short-term memory, which lasts only 20+ seconds and would be forgotten 2 days later. Poorest recall would occur for words in the middle of the list.

41. A—(Chapter 11) Tony’s sense of self-efficacy or belief in his abilities to accomplish tasks should be maximized by all of these accomplishments.

42. B—(Chapter 11) Fixed-action patterns are species-specific innate behaviors unaffected by learning.

43. B—(Chapter 9) To standardize a test, each of the actions mentioned would be taken—pretesting of a sample population for whom the test is intended under uniform instructions.

44. B—(Chapter 12) Compulsive hand washing is a common experience of those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. A compulsion is the repetition of some action over and over even though it serves no useful purpose.

45. D—(Chapter 5) The survey technique is being utilized here. It is a research method that obtains large samples of responses through questionnaire or interview. No variables have been manipulated as in an experiment.

46. C—(Chapter 7) Sensory adaptation is the lessening of perception of a stimulus with repeated stimulation, like the temperature of the pool water. You perceive the pool water as cold when you first jump in, but the neural firing decreases over time with repeated stimulation and you no longer notice it.

47. E—(Chapter 12) DSM-5 is a diagnostic guide used by mental health professionals to diagnose patients. It lists symptoms of these disorders, but does not list the causes of mental disorders.

48. C—(Chapter 11) According to set point theory, an individual’s regulated weight is balanced by adjusting food intake and metabolic rate.

49. C—(Chapter 6) Only the PET scan images function of the brain. The CAT and MRI both show the structures of the brain in good detail. The fMRI, like the PET, can show both structure and function.

50. A—(Chapter 12) To have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Aaron would have had to have a break with reality and may have been unable to tell the difference between right and wrong. A person who is legally insane during the commission of acts constituting an offense is unable to appreciate the nature and quality, or the wrongfulness, of his acts. According to law, “Mental disease or defect does not otherwise constitute a defense.”

51. C—(Chapter 13) Group A is likely to become more entrenched. This is an example of group polarization.

52. C—(Chapter 10) Penfield’s studies suggest that the old memories are still present and probably have not been stimulated or needed to be retrieved recently.

53. B—(Chapter 11) Displacement, a Freudian defense mechanism, allows us to express feelings toward a group or individual perceived to be less threatening to us, rather than the direct target or ourselves.

54. D—(Chapter 10) Longitudinal studies follow the same group of people for a longer time. They are tested at several points, thus providing reliable data about age effects. Cross-sectional studies may be confounded by the cohort effect and are not as valid for measuring age effects.

55. B—(Chapter 11) Their goal seems more related to successful completion of the course with a passing grade than learning the material. Grades represent extrinsic rewards, while learning for pleasure and internal satisfaction represent intrinsic rewards.

56. B—(Chapter 8) Repeated presentations of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus brings about extinction in classical conditioning. The conditioned response will disappear.

57. B—(Chapter 5) The median is a measure of central tendency achieved by ordering the numbers consecutively and determining the middle number. Here there are nine numbers, so the 5th number, 8, is the median of the scores.

58. C—(Chapter 9) Because the AP exam in Psychology is supposed to measure what you have learned in a course already taken, it is an achievement test.

59. C—(Chapter 7) Transduction is the conversion of physical stimuli into changes in the activity of receptor cells of sensory organs. The rods and cones are stimulated by photons of light, while the hair cells in the cochlea are stimulated by sound waves.

60. C—(Chapter 6) When our interest decreases, we often daydream about seemingly irrelevant ideas.

61. E—(Chapter 9) The availability heuristic is a tendency to estimate the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind. Each time any of these events do occur, the media publicize the information very thoroughly.

62. D—(Chapter 11) The arousal theory of motivation states that people see an optimum level of excitement and arousal. For some, this may mean skydiving, while for others, this may mean travel.

63. A—(Chapter 11) David McClelland and others used the TAT to assess achievement motivation in their subjects. The stories that subjects told interpreting the pictures displayed were rated for achievement themes.

64. D—(Chapter 5) In data sets that have a few outliers like the 42 and 38 here, the median is a better measure of central tendency than the arithmetic mean.

65. E—(Chapter 12) The medical model attributes mental illness to faulty processes in neurochemistry, brain structures, and genetics. Social circumstances would not be considered causative factors.

66. B—(Chapter 10) According to Kohlberg, most teens follow a conventional level of morality. Stage IV, or the law and order stage, says that you understand the need for laws and, thus, conform to them for the good of the community.

67. B—(Chapter 13) Irving Janis described the dangerous implications of groupthink during the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. The top executives may want to preserve group harmony, so they would tend to self-censor opposing viewpoints to those of the president. Bringing in outside consultants to play devil’s advocate will increase the likelihood that more possibilities will be explored and the pros and cons will be discussed before the decision is made.

68. C—(Chapter 5) Although Javier found someone who teaches the same subject at both time periods, confounding variables, such as the mean GPA of both groups, if left uncontrolled, are likely to give him faulty results.

69. A—(Chapter 6) Heritability is the percentage of variation among individuals that is caused by genes. Since clones have exactly the same genes, none of their differences can be attributed to heredity.

70. D—(Chapter 9) Telegraphic speech, or shortened two-word sentences, are characteristic of children’s language development, at around age 2.

71. A—(Chapter 11) Though Type A individuals tend to have each of these traits, further research showed that the Type A traits of anger, hostility, and cynicism were the ones most correlated with heart disease.

72. A—(Chapter 6) The limbic system is considered to be “emotion central” of the central nervous system. The amygdala is a structure within the limbic system that has been found to be very active in strong emotional responses, such as fear.

73. E—(Chapter 11) The reticular formation arouses our attention but not specifically our sexual behavior. It keeps us alert to incoming stimuli and filters out stimuli when we are asleep. Each of the other answers is more directly involved in some action of sexual behavior, especially in humans.

74. A—(Chapter 5) The color of the paper is the independent variable. How long it takes students to answer questions is the dependent variable.

75. A—(Chapter 13) Hostile aggression is defined as inflicting pain upon an unwilling victim. The man is slapping his wife out of anger and consciously choosing to display it in this fashion.

76. E—(Chapter 8) Upon further investigation of Pavlov’s findings in classical conditioning, Rescorla and others found that conditioning occurs because of the expectation that follows the conditioned stimulus more so than just their pairing in time. This revised cognitive view is called the contingency model of conditioning.

77. B—(Chapter 10) In late adult development, fluid intelligence or abstract, flexible reasoning declines somewhat, but most people’s crystallized intelligence for concrete information continues to increase.

78. C—(Chapter 12) Tommy’s blindness and deafness are the result of a conversion disorder. Excessive anxiety over witnessing the murder has caused these symptoms, which have no organic basis.

79. B—(Chapter 6) The peripheral nervous system is made up of all nervous tissue outside the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. Each of the other answers includes aspects of the central nervous system.

80. E—(Chapter 6) The inability to understand language suggests damage to Wernicke’s area, located in the left temporal lobe. If the problem had been an inability to speak or find words, damage to Broca’s area in the left frontal lobe would have been the likely cause.

81. C—(Chapter 13) The Japanese culture is a collectivist society, which would blame the group or parents specifically for a child’s behavior. The other countries are individualistic societies, which would tend to blame the behavior on the individual, especially a 17-year-old capable of intelligent thought.

82. D—(Chapter 7) Body awareness and positioning are regulated by the kinesthetic or proprioceptive sense, whose receptors are found in the muscles and joints of the skeleton, as well as in the tendons, ligaments, and skin.

83. E—(Chapter 10) Jen’s egocentrism allows her to see things from only her own point of view; thus, her failure to understand that her mother’s sister is also her aunt’s sister.

84. A—(Chapter 9) Proactive interference is forgetting new information because of prior information that blocks its encoding. In this case then, list 1 interferes with your recall of list 2.

85. E—(Chapter 5) Unfortunately, the newspaper took Dr. Ramchandran’s finding and made correlational data into cause and effect data, which can only be determined by a controlled experiment.

86. B—(Chapter 6) The pituitary gland secretes thyroid-stimulating hormone. The hypothalamus produces releasing factors.

87. D—(Chapter 13) Foot-in-the-door is a compliance technique that gets someone to agree to a larger request by starting with a small request. Door-in-the-face is the opposite: asking someone for a large request and then reducing it.

88. B—(Chapter 6) Each of the other answers involves a genetic disorder that is irreversible. PKU is a recessive trait that results in severe, irreversible brain damage unless the baby is fed a special diet low in phenylalanine.

89. B—(Chapter 10) Harlow’s study showed that contact comfort (touch) was more important than the feeding situation for normal physical and psychological development.

90. B—(Chapter 7) Context is an important stimulus variable in determining what we perceive.

91. A—(Chapter 5) Average ranking would be the 50th percentile, so the 65th percentile is above that point. Emily scored better than 64 out of every 100 students who took that test.

92. D—(Chapter 7) Accommodation is a change in the shape of the lens that occurs when an object moves closer or farther away, and relative size is a monocular cue for depth. Abdul would use both of these to judge the distance of vehicles when he is driving. Retinal disparity requires binocular vision.

93. D—(Chapter 12) Positive symptoms indicate the presence of symptoms and negative symptoms the absence of symptoms. A flat affect is a lack or absence of an emotional response to stimuli.

94. B—(Chapter 11) Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory says that when physiologically aroused for no apparent immediate reason, we tend to look to environmental factors for an explanation. Susan’s change in emotional response was caused more by the situation she found herself in.

95. A—(Chapter 8) Although continuous reinforcement is used for the quickest learning, it also is the fastest to extinguish. Variable schedules of reinforcement are the more resistant to extinction.

96. A—(Chapter 9) By gauging the emotional impact of the words, the class was making a connection to them and, thus, ensuring more meaning (semantic), deeper processing, and greater retention in long-term memory.

97. E—(Chapter 13) Initial attraction is shown to be highly influenced by physical attraction.

98. C—(Chapter 5) The focus of structuralists like Wundt and Titchener was on the units of consciousness and identification of elements of thought using introspection. This led to the present-day cognitive exploration of the thinking process.

99. B—(Chapter 6) The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for our “fight-or-flight” responses showed by an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, dilated pupils, and sweat.

100. B—(Chapter 13) By accepting the gift of the greeting cards, many recipients felt obligated to send a donation when it was requested later. This is known as the foot-in-the-door technique of compliance often used by organizations.

Section II

Scoring Rubric for Essay 1

This is a 10-point essay: one point for each correct connection made between the first and second terms.

Point 1: Explanation of basal metabolic rate and obesity should be established.

Point 2: The connection must include the effect of a low basal metabolic rate with the increased likelihood of a sedentary lifestyle and obesity.

Point 3: Describe or define the spacing effect.

Point 4: The connection between distributed study time and improved long-term recall must be established.

Point 5: A description of the role of an industrial/organizational psychologist should be included.

Point 6: The connection between the role of an industrial/organizational psychologist and improving the workplace must be established.

Point 7: The definition or description of chameleon effect and mirror neurons should be included.

Point 8: The connection between the chameleon effect and mirror neurons must be described.

Point 9: Define or describe the term maturation, as a biological process.

Point 10: The connection between maturation and infant memory should be discussed.

Sample Essay

The basal metabolic rate is defined as the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure. This rate can be high, meaning you use more energy when you are at rest, or low, meaning you use less energy to maintain homeostasis. Those who expend less energy may tend to lead a more sedentary lifestyle. This, in turn, can lead to obesity through decreased exercise and increased caloric intake.

The spacing effect is the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than that achieved through massed practice, or cramming. Those who practice distributed study, work to master the material over several sessions rather than during one or two sessions. Several studies have proven that this practice will improve retention.

Industrial/organizational psychology applies psychological principles to the workplace. Products designed to make the workplace easier, safer, and more efficient are often due to consultation and input with an I/O psychologist. The I/O psychologist may suggest that lunch breaks be staggered by department, to improve morale, or that a person is more likely to purchase a bottle of soap if it has a curved shape and comfortable hand grips.

The chameleon effect describes how we unconsciously mimic others’ expressions, stance, and tone so that we may unconsciously match the mannerisms of others in our current environment. Mirror neurons fire both when a person acts and observes others acting in a particular way. These neurons allow a person to mimic others in passive, unconscious ways such as crossing your arms when the other person engaged in conversation does so or scratching your forehead and observing that your partner in conversation does the same.

Maturation is the natural and orderly sequence of biological growth which enables changes in behavior based on experience. For a long time, it was believed that infants are not capable of learning and have no memory. In fact, most children do not have memories before the age of about three years old. However, it has been shown that infants are capable of learning, as evidenced by experiments by Rovee-Collier, who tied an infant’s foot to a mobile above the crib. Infants kicked more when tethered to a familiar mobile and recalled the effect of kicking their feet the following day when tethered again to the mobile. This is evidence of infants’ memory.

Scoring Rubric for Essay 2

This is a 10-point essay: 2 points assigned for the design of the experiment and 8 points for the individual components asked for in the question.

Design an experiment:

2 points for identification of two of the following: research question, hypothesis, ethics.

Question: Will a new drug stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people who are in the initial stages of the disease?

Hypothesis: If the new drug is given to a sample of people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, then it will stop the progression.

Ethics: Because this drug is experimental, patients who volunteer and show a baseline memory loss will be told that they may or may not be given the drug. Should it be found to be effective, with possible side effects noted, those receiving the placebo will be allowed to take the drug as well. The potential harm would be discussed with patients and informed consent must be given for participation. Patients may withdraw at any point during the experiment.

1 point for sample—a subgroup of the population of Alzheimer’s patients that participates in the study; could be obtained by volunteers from a newspaper solicitation in major cities or from lists of patients with Alzheimer’s from gerontologists in the area. You want it to be representative of all early-stage patients.

1 point for assignment—division of the sample into groups such that every individual has an equal chance of being put in either the drug or placebo group. Group matching would be important.

1 point for identifying the independent variable—drug/no drug or placebo.

1 point for identifying the dependent variable—effects of the drug on Alzheimer’s symptoms; degree of progression of symptoms.

1 point for identifying the experimental group—participants who receive the drug.

1 point for identifying the control group—participants who receive a placebo or no drug group.

1 point for mentioning possible confounding variables—sex of patients and varying ages; misdiagnosis; other medical conditions during the trial period; not taking the dosage as prescribed.

1 point for describing how you would determine effectiveness—comparison of two group baseline scores and final results after the experimental period. Inferential statistics such as t test or ANOVA to determine significance of results. A p value of .05 or less will be considered significant.

Sample Essay

For the purpose of this essay, my neuroscientist will be Dr. Hylton, and her new drug will be called Lacetyl. Her research question is whether her new drug is effective, and her hypothesis is that if she administers the drug for a period of 6 weeks or more, then patients with early symptoms of Alzheimer’s will not get worse. Collecting a representative sample is her first problem.

Since Alzheimer’s is usually definitively diagnosed with an autopsy to determine whether or not neural tangles and plaques are present, she must solicit elderly patients (age 75 or older) who are showing early symptoms and then carefully screen them to rule out other conditions. Tests might include not only blood and urine tests but also cognitive functioning tasks, especially dealing with memory loss. She might solicit volunteers through newspaper ads, but because of the problem with diagnosis, she may wish to contact gerontologists or specialists dealing with patients with Alzheimer’s and solicit volunteers from them. Since impairment should be limited in the early stages, potential risks should be discussed with the volunteers, their written consent forms should be signed, and their identities should be kept anonymous. To prevent bias on her part, Dr. Hylton would create a double-blind condition in which neither she nor the patients will know whether or not they are taking the drug or the placebo. To prevent confounds, group matching will be used to assign the patients, with both groups representing a similar range of initial functioning.

The independent variable in this experiment is the drug and the dependent variable is its effectiveness in improving patients’ symptoms. The experimental group receives the drug and the control group the placebo. It might also be beneficial to have a second control group that receives no drug at all. The drug would be administered daily and weekly tests of urine, blood, and cognitive tasks would be repeated for a period of 6 weeks. Any potential negative side effects would be noted, and the experiment would be halted immediately if these proved dangerous to any subjects receiving the drug.

Potential confounds are many. If a prescription is given, the patients may forget to take the medication. Sex, age, race, and other demographic variables not controlled in the sample could also prove a problem. Other medical conditions during testing and improper diagnosis in the first place could throw off our results. Obviously, when this study is concluded, replication would be necessary.

To determine whether Lacetyl is effective or not, baseline results would be compared in subjects and the differences between the results in the placebo and drug groups compared. Using inferential statistics, we would try to determine whether or not there was a significant difference between the two groups by using t tests or ANOVA. If her p value is .05 or less, then she will conclude that the drug is effective and await further studies and replication.

Scoring and Interpreting

Now that you’ve finished Practice Exam 1 and scored your answers, you can examine your results. Did you get all the questions correct for a particular chapter? That’s excellent. You don’t need to spend much time going over that topic. Did you answer several questions incorrectly for a particular chapter? Go over that material carefully.

After taking this practice test, complete the following factor analyses to see how you did by topic/chapter. This will give you a better idea as to which units need more of your attention in the upcoming weeks.

You can roughly equate your results to an AP test score. To put an approximate AP score on the results of your practice test, follow these steps:

5 Steps to a 5: AP Psychology - McGraw Hill 2021

AP Psychology Practice Exam 1STEP 5 Build Your Test-Taking Confidence

AP Psychology Practice Exam 1
STEP 5 Build Your Test-Taking Confidence