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Questions 1 - 10
1

For thousands of years, cultures throughout the world have been able create natural drugs from which of the following classes?

All of these

Stimulants

Depressants

Hallucinogens

None of these

Explanation

Throughout human history, people have utilized naturally occurring substances to reach altered states of consciousness. These substances range widely among the categorizations that modern Western science has created, including stimulants (e.g. coffee), depressants (e.g. wine), and hallucinogens (e.g. certain mushrooms). Generally, drug addiction and abuse has only become a problem with the advent and manipulation of synthetic drugs, along with social changes and stresses.

2

Which of the following is not a monocular depth cue?

Retinal disparity

Relative size cue

Texture gradient

Linear perspective

Explanation

“Retinal disparity” is a binocular depth cue, not a monocular cue. The other answers—relative size cue, texture gradient, and linear perspective—are all monocular cues.

3

Which of the following is not one of the four stages of Martin Hoffman's theory of empathy development?

Theory of Mind

Global Distress Reaction

Person Permanence

Role Taking

Comprehensive Empathy

Explanation

Theory of Mind refers to a person's general understanding that the people around them each have their own unique beliefs, perceptions, and desires. The other four answers are specifically the four stages of Hoffman's Theory (in order: Global Distress Reaction, Person Permanence, Role Taking, and Comprehensive Empathy).

4

What's the difference between a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist?

A psychiatrist prescribes medication whereas a clinical psychologist performs therapy

A clinical psychologist prescribes medication whereas a psychiatrist performs therapy

There is no difference

A psychiatrist has to get a graduate degree whereas a clinical psychologist does not

A clinical psychologist has to get a graduate degree whereas a psychiatrist does not

Explanation

The difference between a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist is mostly in their functions-- psychiatrists give referrals for medications and clinical psychologists act as therapists. Both psychiatrists and clinical psychologists have to go to graduate school for multiple years. Keep in mind that although their functions differ, they often work together to help a patient successfully go through treatment.

5

Which of the following is not one of the four stages of Martin Hoffman's theory of empathy development?

Theory of Mind

Global Distress Reaction

Person Permanence

Role Taking

Comprehensive Empathy

Explanation

Theory of Mind refers to a person's general understanding that the people around them each have their own unique beliefs, perceptions, and desires. The other four answers are specifically the four stages of Hoffman's Theory (in order: Global Distress Reaction, Person Permanence, Role Taking, and Comprehensive Empathy).

6

Hank has recently been attending sessions with a psychoanalyst. He has developed an attachment to his analyst and feels very emotionally involved with her. This is an example of which of the following?

Transference

Countertransference

Reaction

None of these

Explanation

Transference is when a patient reacts to the analyst as if they were an important person in the patient's life. The patient develops an emotional attachment to the analyst. The opposite, when an analyst develops feeling of personal attachment or significance towards a patient, is called countertransference.

7

A series of lights rapidly blinking off and on in succession creates the illusion of motion. This effect, which is often used in animation pictures, is referred to as which of the following?

Phi phenomenon

Prägnanz effect

Gestaltian experience

Opponent-process theory

Explanation

The Gestalt laws of perception are a set of principles that govern the way humans tend to perceive visual stimuli as a collective whole, rather than discrete individual objects or events. Different names are given to the specific applications of this overarching principle. For example, the phi phenomenon refers to the tendency to perceive a series of lights blinking on and off down a line as a single light moving along, instead of a number of lights turning on and off for no apparent reason. The law of prägnanz (not the prägnanz effect that was listed as an answer choice) is the Gestalt law that suggests that people perceive visual stimuli in terms of the simplest explanation or form possible. Opponent-process theory is a concept of visual perception that explains why some colors seem to be incompatible (e.g. we might see a yellowish green, but we cannot really imagine a reddish green).

8

How did Noam Chomsky propose that we acquire language?

We are born with an innate capacity to rapidly learn language

We acquire language through teachings from caregivers and peers

We acquire the native language of our parents

We acquire the dominant language of the society in which we live

Explanation

Noam Chomsky proposed that we all are born with a "language acquisition device" in our minds, which gives us universal principles of human language. We learn our language's own "settings" for human communication according to these universal principles. For instance, if all human language has temporal tenses, we learn how our particular language expresses tense. Although the behaviorists believe we only learn language through our environment, Chomsky pointed out that we learn language very quickly through processes that appear similar to the human species, regardless of environment.

9

Which of the following is an example of synesthesia?

When solving math problems, Angela gets a certain taste in her mouth whenever she sees a certain digit– for example, she tastes the number 9 as sour.

George still feels pain in his left arm below the elbow, even though his left arm was amputated three years ago.

Ashley was in a car accident that resulted in severe head trauma, and now she cannot remember any events that occurred leading up to the accident or six months prior to it.

Taylor once ate pineapple pizza and got very sick to his stomach afterwards. He later learned that he had gotten the stomach flu and so his sickness had nothing to do with the pizza, but he still hates pineapple pizza.

Explanation

The situation with Angela is the best example of synesthesia—a phenomenon, in which stimulation of one sensory pathway triggers a response by a different, unrelated sensory pathway. People with synesthesia might see a certain color whenever they taste a certain food. The important thing to note is that in synesthetic perception, the person experiences the synesthetic connection as being projected outside the body, not just in the mind’s eye (e.g. Angela does not simply imagine the color red when she sees the letter A: she actually sees A as being colored red, even if it is printed in plain black font). The other situations described in the answer choices reflect other psychological phenomena. Ashley is experiencing amnesia; George, phantom limb syndrome; and Taylor, taste aversion.

10

Hank has recently been attending sessions with a psychoanalyst. He has developed an attachment to his analyst and feels very emotionally involved with her. This is an example of which of the following?

Transference

Countertransference

Reaction

None of these

Explanation

Transference is when a patient reacts to the analyst as if they were an important person in the patient's life. The patient develops an emotional attachment to the analyst. The opposite, when an analyst develops feeling of personal attachment or significance towards a patient, is called countertransference.

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