All AP Psychology Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #751 : Individual Psychology And Behavior
Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates functional fixedness?
Eric has been playing piano since early childhood, and now he can play certain songs almost by muscle memory.
Marie has a bad habit: she always responds to her younger sister by aggressively snapping at her. This always happens, even though she wishes to change her behavior.
Tom does not know how to use the operating system on his workplace’s computers, so he brings his own laptop, which has a familiar operating system on it, in to use.
Joanne needs to open a keychain ring to add a key, but her nails are too short to easily do so. She does not think of using the teeth of the staple remover on her desk as an alternative to using her nails.
Joanne needs to open a keychain ring to add a key, but her nails are too short to easily do so. She does not think of using the teeth of the staple remover on her desk as an alternative to using her nails.
Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits the way a person thinks about an object, restricting his or her view of that object’s uses to the “traditional” or typical uses of that object. The example with Joanne is the best choice, as it reflects functional fixedness restricting her view of the staple remover. She is probably used to using the staple remover to remove staples, so when she realized she could not open the keychain ring with her nails, she felt stuck. She did not think of being able to use the staple remover to hold open the keychain ring.
Example Question #221 : Cognition And Consciousness
According to psychoanalysis, the preconscious includes thoughts that are unconscious at the moment, but can be recalled at a later time. Which of the following famous psychologists would be most likely to examine a patient's preconscious thoughts?
Sigmund Freud
Stanley Milgram
Phil McGraw
B.F. Skinner
Ruth Ginsberg
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud is considered to be "the father" of psychoanalysis. This theoretical orientation believes that people can be cured of psychiatric illnesses by bringing their unconscious thoughts to the surface to be addressed. This allows repressed emotions and behaviors to be released and dealt with by the therapist and patient.
Example Question #221 : Cognition And Consciousness
Which of the following is best described as a basic and clear definition for cognition?
Cognition relates to almost any activity in the brain, particularly thinking, reasoning and remembering
Cognition is when the brain is performing logical reasoning
Cognition is the process of remember significant events in one's life
None of these
Cognition is a process of police investigation
Cognition relates to almost any activity in the brain, particularly thinking, reasoning and remembering
A succinct and clear definition for cognition could be the following: "thinking, reasoning, remembering or almost any other activity in the brain." Cognition drastically changes throughout our lifetimes and is the object of much psychological study. In other words, the correct choice for the basic and clear definition of cognition is the following: "cognition relates to almost any activity in the brain, particularly thinking, reasoning and remembering."
Example Question #752 : Individual Psychology And Behavior
Visiting a political website that only has content you agree with is an example of which of the following?
The confirmation bias
Halo effect
Gambler's fallacy
Ingroup bias
Status quo bias
The confirmation bias
The confirmation bias is a fallacy almost all of us are prone to. The premise of the confirmation bias is that we seek out things in the world the confirm our preformed thoughts about the world. That is, in terms of what we think, believe, do and are interested in we tend to be very narrow! That's why throughout a lifetime people will not change political beliefs and are often found browsing the same political website they have for years.
Example Question #151 : Cognition
Believing that your university is generally smarter than all others is an example of which of the following?
Bandwagon bias
Anchoring effect
Ingroup bias
Current moment bias
Negativity bias
Ingroup bias
The incorrect answers are biases mainly to do with decision making and selective focus. The "ingroup bias" has more to do with our beliefs about what "groups" we belong to and how we measure our groups to the "others". The essential bias is that we are prone to believe that OUR group is better than all the others. Indeed in the past we have identified with racial groups and this bias was the source of violent racism. On the flipside, the ingroup bias also maintains our solidarity with others and creates morale.
Example Question #152 : Cognition
Which of the following sectors are most affected by the "negativity bias"?
Auto industry
Hospitality industry
News and media
Technology industry
Food and beverage industry
News and media
The negativity bias that we as humans are prone to affects news and media the most. The other industries listed have more of an interest in promoting the positive things about their products to attract consumers. Though we may not like to hear that the car we're going to buy is going to break down in five years when it comes to learning about the world we like to hear bad news! This is most likely due to natural selection: it may be more important for our survival to pay attention to bad news than good.
Example Question #153 : Cognition
Which of the following is an example of the status quo bias?
Thinking your group of friends is better
Not wanting to change the way you do things
None of these
Only wanting to do things you want to do
Thinking your nation is better
Not wanting to change the way you do things
The status quo bias refers to our tendency to keep things the way they are. This provides a sense of stability for us that makes day-to-day living manageable and we avoid a sense of cognitive dissonance. This can be damaging though, when the status quo itself is toxic or damaging to others.
Example Question #1 : Sensation And Perception
Gustatory receptors are sensitive to all of the following flavors except __________.
salty
sweet
spicy
umami
spicy
The sensation of spiciness is not actually a taste, but a pain reaction. Chemicals in the food (such as capsaicin) trigger stimulation of free nerve endings in the mouth, resulting in the sensation of spiciness in the same way that the fibers would detect pain.
Sweet, salty, and umami are all tastes that gustatory receptors in the taste buds can recognize independently.
Example Question #1 : Sensation And Perception
Which method is commonly used in sleep research to detect brain waves?
EEG
MRI
fMRI
PET scan
RAM
EEG
EEG (electroencephalogram) involves the placement of electrodes on a person's scalp to detect brain waves, specifically when the subject is asleep.
Example Question #2 : Sensation And Perception
Where are rods and cones located in the eye?
The pupil
The iris
The retina
The optic disc
The medulla
The retina
Rods (which detect black and white) and cones (which detect colors) are both located in the retina, which lines the back of the eye. After the rods and cones detect visual stimuli the information is relayed to the brain via the optic nerve, which exits the eye via the optic disc. There are no photoreceptors on the optic disc, resulting in our blind spot.
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