AP Psychology : History and Research
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Psychology
All AP Psychology Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1705 : Ap Psychology
The Strange Situation test is most closely associated with which psychologist?
Carol Gilligan
Alfred Kinsey
Mary Ainsworth
Karen Horney
Mary Ainsworth
Mary Ainsworth, whose studies of attachment models in children drastically changed the way behavioral and developmental psychologists viewed the child-parent bond, developed her Strange Situation test to demonstrate how different parenting styles and different childhood dispositions towards parents relate to later social behaviors.
Example Question #22 : Influential Psychologists
Paul Costa and Robert McCrae co-developed which commonly used psychological instrument?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Inkblot test
Big 5 Personality Inventory (OCEAN)
Big 5 Personality Inventory (OCEAN)
The Big 5 Personality Inventory was co-developed in an effort to determine which personality traits were most essential in describing adult behaviors and attitudes.
Example Question #1706 : Ap Psychology
Harry Harlow is perhaps most well-known for a famous experiment involving what unusual situation?
A cat raised in a chamber with vertical stripes finds it difficult or impossible to perceive horizontally oriented shapes.
A rhesus monkey forms attachments bonds to a cloth surrogate mother without food over a wire mother with food.
Students instructed to shock another person were much more likely to do so with light prodding from an authority figure in the same room.
An infant presented with a false-bottom glass floor representing a drop in the floor will not cross it to reach their mother.
A rhesus monkey forms attachments bonds to a cloth surrogate mother without food over a wire mother with food.
Harlow's experiments on attachment and bonding in rhesus monkeys formed the backbone of companionship and caregiving as necessary elements in social development, and would influence the works of humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow.
Example Question #1704 : Ap Psychology
Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is regarded as the creation of which psychologist?
Albert Ellis
Konrad Lorenz
Carol Gilligan
Fritz Perls
Albert Ellis
In addition to the development of REBT, Ellis is seen as one of the founders of the American "sexual revolution", having authored and co-authored several hundred scientific papers and over 75 books dedicated to the two subjects.
Example Question #1707 : Ap Psychology
Which of the following psychologists proposed the theory of the language acquisition device?
Elissa Newport
Lev Vygotsky
B. F. Skinner
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
The language acquisition device is the innate “tool” in the brain that allows children to learn language and grammar easily. Noam Chomsky proposed that language learning cannot be totally dependent on observation and reward—since young children learning to speak make errors and generate novel expressions that they have never heard anyone else say (e.g. a parent is unlikely to have said “I wants cookie yesterday” or “do you think dinosaurs liked candy?” in front of the child).
Example Question #1708 : Ap Psychology
Which psychologist matches the given description?
This German psychologist is most closely associated with Gestalt psychology. After seeing the devastation caused by World War I, this psychologist focused on helping injured soldiers by being a therapist. After moving to Manhattan, he and his wife—Laura—founded the Gestalt Institute. The couple later moved to Los Angeles, and this psychologist began studying at the famed Esalen Institute.
Carl Jung
Sigmund Freud
Fritz Perls
Kurt Lewin
Ivan Pavlov
Fritz Perls
The correct answer is Fritz Perls. Perls and his wife were attributed with bringing Gestalt psychology to the United States. Their methods of psychoanalysis offered an alternative to the traditional psychoanalytic perspective that was already being offered.
Example Question #1711 : Ap Psychology
Which psychologist matches the given description?
This German, Neo-Freudian psychologist is known for bringing feminist values to Freud's work. The psychologist questioned Freud's concepts surrounding sexuality. She took particular issues with the concept of "penis envy", claiming that men must have "womb envy"—jealousy directed at women because they can bear life, but men cannot.
Melanie Klein
Mamie Phipps Clark
Mary Whiton Calkins
Karen Horney
Mary Ainsworth
Karen Horney
The correct answer is Karen Horney. Horney is a Neo-Freudian psychologist who is also known as the mother of Feminist psychology.
Example Question #1712 : Ap Psychology
Which psychologist matches the given description?
This American psychologist is known for "attachment theory.” This psychologist’s most famous study—the strange situation study—analyzed different styles of attachment children had to their mothers. She did so by putting the children in a new environment with plenty of toys. Next, this psychologist removed the mother and observed if the children continued to play or cried. Finally, the mothers were reintroduced into the room and the child's acknowledgement of their mother’s presence was noted.
Jean Piaget
Solomon Asch
Karen Horney
Mary Ainsworth
Mary Whiton Caulkins
Mary Ainsworth
The correct answer is Mary Ainsworth. Although Ainsworth had many contributions to psychology, she is best known for discovering the three forms of attachment—secure, insecure, and ambivalent.
Example Question #1713 : Ap Psychology
Which psychologist matches the given description?
This Swiss psychologist is known for his work in developmental psychology. This psychologist broke down children's psychological development into four stages: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage.
Jean Piaget
Philip Zimbardo
Alfred Bandura
Sigmund Freud
Alfred Binet
Jean Piaget
The correct answer is Jean Piaget. In conjunction with the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Tests, Piaget's findings changed the face of the modern education system.
Example Question #1714 : Ap Psychology
Which psychologist matches the given description?
This psychologist was the first female president of the American Psychological Association. Despite attending classes at Harvard as a "guest" and presenting her thesis to faculty, this psychologist was denied a degree because of her gender.
Mamie Phipps Clark
Karen Horney
Sabrina Spielrein
Mary Whiton Calkins
Mary Ainsworth
Mary Whiton Calkins
The correct answer is Mary Whiton Calkins. Calkins was elected President of the APA in 1905. Although she did not receive a degree from Harvard, Calkins was granted a Doctorate of Letters from Columbia in 1909, and a Doctorate of laws from Smith College—her alma mater—in 1910.
All AP Psychology Resources
