Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of
Behaviors || A+ Graded Already.
An individual's drug related behavior may be further reinforced by the way others judge or
classify him/her. Is this an example of prejudice? correct answers No this is an example of
labeling theory
When this part of the brain is damaged, the perception of fear is affected? correct answers
Amygdala
Sadness, Discuss, and Anger are universal emotions found in humans. Which area of the brain is
responsible for each of these emotions? correct answers Sadness - Subcallosal Cingulate; Disgust
- insual and basal ganglia; Anger - left superior temporal sulcus
Define Validity and Reliability in a research design correct answers Validity - A test is valid if it
measures what it is supposed to measure. If the results of the personality test claimed that a very
shy person was in-fact out-going, the test would be invalid. One way to determine if its valid is
the results it shows matches up with the results of another test known to be valid
Reliability and validity are independent of each other. A measurement maybe valid but not
reliable, or reliable but not valid. Realiability - A test has good reliability if the answers are
consistent. This can happen even if the test has low validity.If a test, consistently show the same
results after administering multiple times, then it is reliable.
Damage to this area of the brain causes changes in a person's personality. correct answers Frontal
Lobe
What is the function of the fusiform Gyrus in the brain? correct answers The fusiform gyrus is a
part of the visual system in the brain, and plays a role in high level visual processing and
recognition. Damage to this part of the brain could result in prosopagnosia - the ability to
recognize a person only with facial cues.
Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment; Fixed or variable - ratio or interval
correct answers Reinforcement - increase a behavior; Punishment - decrease a behavior; Positive
- add a stimulus; Negative - decrease a stimulus; When dealing with Operant conditioning ask
yourself these two questions in sequence: are you trying to increase (reinforcement) or decrease
(punishment) a behavior? Are you accomplishing this by taking away (negative) or adding
(positive) something? Ratio is the number of responses and Interval is the period of time
When is a behavior considered generalized? correct answers a behavior is considered generalized
when the conditioned behavior happens are at other circumstances.
Describe Continuous Reinforcement correct answers Continuous reinforcement occurs on a 1:1
ratio - this means that for each behavior, there is a reward.
,Extinction Burst correct answers When an animal no longer receives regular reinforcement, its
original behavior will sometimes spike (meaning increase dramatically) - this is known as an
extinction burst.2pwbx7
x7
Mark reached out to Charlene's hand to hold her hand as they walk. He then let go of her hand
when he saw something on the street. Which receptors are activated when mark, initially hand
her hand, while they were holding hand, and when Mark let go of her hand? correct answers
Meissner Corpuscle and the Pacinian Corpuscle fire when pressure is first applied and when the
pressure is released. Thus these two receptors fired when Mark initially held Charlene's hand and
when he let go of her hand. The Ruffini Cylinder and the Merkel receptor both fires to constant
pressure, thus they were firing while they were holding hand.
Psychological Refractory Period. What is the unit used? correct answers refers to the period of
time during which the response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because the first
stimulus is still being perceived. The refractory period unit is usually in seconds
Sensory Adaptation correct answers sensory adaptation, which is reduced sensitivity to
stimulation that results from CONSTANT STRENGTH of stimulus
Kinesthesia vs. Proprioception correct answers Kinesthesia is the sense of movement, while
proprioception is the sense of position and balance
The mean of an experiment is 4.73 with a confidence interval at 95% (4.02, 5.45). What does this
mean? correct answers The confidence interval is the chance that the mean falls between the
given lower and upper bound. There is a 95% chance that the mean will fall between 4.02 and
5.45
How to the p-value and the significance criterion relate in a statistical study correct answers a p-
value that is less than the significance criterion denotes that the results were significant.
Writing a grocery list by category is an example of what memorizing technique? correct answers
Chunking - categorize items into categories.
Link system, Peg System correct answers LINK SYSTEM - utilizes order and connections
(links) to facilitate memory recovery, but is not a chunking technique. PEG MEMORY
SYSTEM - utilizes numbers, rhymes, shapes, and sounds to create a scene based on a mental
'hook', but is not a chunking technique.
Conditioned Response correct answers The conditioned response would be the result of a paired
stimulus causing a response that it normally would not, i.e. the dog salivating because of a bell
ringing.
What is an Isochoric process? Adiabatic process? correct answers An adiabatic process is one
that occurs so quickly that no energy is lost as heat, cardiac muscle cannot function that quickly.
,isochoric process (also known as a constant-volume process, an isovolumetric process, or an
isometric process) - volume is constant
Homophily correct answers Homophily is defined as the tendency for people to choose
relationships with other people who have similar attributes.
How does conflict theory arise? correct answers Conflict happens when there is a power
difference between groups, often in the form of social or economic inequality resulting from
competition for limited resources.
The unjustified killing of a young African-American male after being stopped by a police caused
a huge riot in Missisippi. What is the thesis and Anti-thesis? correct answers In conflict theory,
the thesis describes the initial environment, the status quo. The anti-thesis is the reaction to the
thesis, the push-back from those unhappy with the status quo. The police raid was an attempt to
maintain the status quo, to which the riots were the response, or anti-thesis.
what is the tell-tale of Exchange-Rational Choice Theory? correct answers Exchange-rational
choice theory believes that decisions are made by rational beings who have weighed all aspects
of the problem, and who then proceed to make the rational choice. The tell tale is if a DECISION
needs to be made and that all aspects of the problem has been considered.
An individual just had a stroke. The doctors tried to figure out which area of the brain is affected
by showing the person a picture of a chair. The individual can draw the chair meaning that she
can see it, but cannot tell what the object is. Where is the damage in the brain? correct answers
The temporal lobes are responsible for processing auditory signals, interpreting visual
stimuli(e.g. Object recognition), and language recognition. The individual has damage to the
temporal lobe as she cannot connect the visual stimuli (a chair) with the rest of her knowledge
about a chair.
Other than somatosensory information, what is another function of the parietal lobe? correct
answers The parietal lobes are responsible for spatial reasoning and receiving somatosensory
information.
What is the floor effect? correct answers Floor Effect - the inability to get a lower score because
the score is already low at baseline
Minimal Justification correct answers When someone does something and there is minimal
justification for them doing it, this creates more dissonance than if they can explain it through a
significant rationale. It often follows an impulsive action which was performed without a real
reason
Selective Exposure correct answers when you only chose information that matches what you
want to hear.
, Strategy for Cognitive Dissonance. correct answers First find the main thought that conflicts with
the behavior. Example: Healthy foods are expensive. Behavior: Buy healthy foods because it
makes the person healthy.
Which of the following strategies is the most effective strategy to elicit Cognitive Dissonance
(Mental Tension). correct answers Shock, scare tactics, Passive and Educational strategies are
usually not good tactics to elicit a behavioral change via cognitive dissonance. Dissonance is best
created when individuals have to directly and actively confront their beliefs.
Which of the following is a sympathetic Nervous System response and why? Constriction vs
Dilation of the blood vessels in skeletal muscles? correct answers Dilation. This allows for more
blood flow to the skeletal muscles needed for a fight or flight response.
Describe the following types of stressors: Ambient, Micro, Major Event, and Catastrophic
Stressors. correct answers Ambient - usually not noticed by an individual and affects a lot of
people (e.g. pollution), Micro - a small stressor, Major event stressor - life-changing event.
Catastrophic stressor - stressors that are out of the control of an individual (e.g. storm, pandemic,
floods, etc.)
Give examples of how you can increase the power of a study? correct answers increase the
number of participants, add a control group, developing more further sophisticated ways to
evaluate or measure the dependent variable. etc.
Symptoms of Paranoid Schizophrenia correct answers Significant delusions of persecution,
delusions of grandiosity, and hallucinations that causes a person to become suspcious or
withdrawn.
Residual Schizophrenia correct answers characterized by a lack of delusions and hallucinations.
A form of schizophrenia that is characterized by a previous diagnoses of schizophrenia, but no
longer having any of the prominent psychotic symptoms. There are some remaining symptoms of
the disorder however, such as eccentric behavior, emotional blunting, illogical thinking, or social
withdrawal.
Catatonic Schizophrenia correct answers criteria for catatonic schizophrenia - requires dramatic
withdrawal from the world and muteness (on the catatonic end) and complete hyperactivity and
mimic of sound/movement (on the hyperactive end). In addition, catatonic schizophrenia is often
characterized by a tendency to hold uncomfortable or bizarre body positions for an extended
period of time, or be completely still for long periods of time.
Delusion vs Hallucination correct answers Hallucinations are things a person sees, hears, smells
or feels. No one else can witness a hallucination. Delusions are false beliefs.
Name the physical manifestations of schizophrenia and the techniques to look at them. correct
answers Elevation Dopamine Type 2 receptors - viewed post-mortem or with a Positron
Emission Tomography (PET) scan; Decreased pre-frontal brain function - via PET or fMRI;
significant loss of temporal lobe gray matter volume, but not white matter - via MRI.
