PSYCHOLOGY 339
Sample Exam Questions
Midterm 1
1.Which of the following is a key component of the DSM-IV definition of mental disorder?
a.There is a conflict between the individual’s behavior and social expectations.
b.The person’s behavior must produce a biological, behavioral, or psychological dysfunction.
c.The person’s behavior must be caused by dysfunction in his/her family.
d.The behavior must be characterized by defiant political, religious, or sexual behavior.
ans. b
2.If a pharmaceutical company were looking for a drug that would maximally treat generalized anxiety disorder they would want one that:
a.suppressed the activity of the locus coeruleus in the brain stem and the central gray in the midbrain.
b.decreased GABA levels while increasing norepinephrine.
c.increased GABA levels while regulating serotonin.
d.decreased serotonin levels and suppressed activity in the locus coeruleus.
ans. c
3.Which of the following best describes the DSM?
a.a work in progress that classifies mental disorders based on what is currently known
b.a fundamentally flawed collection of unfounded assumptions about mental disorders
c.a complete guide to the origin, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders
d.an objective guide to diagnosing mental disorders
ans. a
4.Researchers have observed that women who wear bras for more than 16 hours a day are more likely to develop breast cancer than those who spend less time in a bra. In other words, there is a correlation between wearing a bra and breast cancer. Based on this finding, which of the following statements is true?
a.There is no relationship between wearing a bra and breast cancer; these data are clearly flawed.
b.All women should avoid wearing a bra for more than 16 hours a day.
c.Wearing a bra causes cancer.
d.Some additional variable may serve to explain the relationship observed between wearing a bra and developing cancer.
ans. d
5.Several studies have found that there is a correlation in children between amount of television watched and weight. What is one of the problems with using this finding to report that watching lots of television makes children obese?
a.It is just as possible that being obese causes children to watch more television.
b.The sample was probably not representative.
c.The data might be inaccurate.
d.There wasn't a control group that watched no television.
ans. a
6.Which statement about treatment of abnormal behavior in the Middle Ages is accurate?
a.Although the Hippocratic tradition was continued in most of Europe, Islamic countries emphasized demonology.
b.Islamic forms of treatment were more humane than European approaches.
c.Scientific reasoning and humane treatments were valued in both European and Islamic societies.
d.The Chinese emphasized prayer, the Europeans emphasized exercise, and the Islamic peoples emphasized balancing the four bodily humors.
ans. b
7.While having a gene for Parkinson's Disease guarantees that Parkinson's Disease will develop, this is not the only factor that can lead to Parkinson's disease. In other words, the presence of the gene is a ______, but not a ______.
a.risk factor; sufficient cause.
b.sufficient cause; necessary cause.
c.contributory cause; sufficient cause.
d.necessary cause; risk factor.
ans. b
8.Attractive children and unattractive babies tend to be treated differently. In other words, an infant's physical phenotype may alter how others respond to him or her. What type of genotype-environment correlation is this an example of?
a.active
b.persuasive
c.passive
d. evocative
ans. d
9.Highly coordinated children are picked out at an early age by coaches and given special opportunities to excel at sports. Extraverted children seek out social situations and become unusually comfortable with strangers. Both of these phenomena illustrate
a.genotype-environment correlations.
b.the power of the phenotype over the genotype.
c.how the environment shapes one's genetic endowment.
d.the polygenic effect of chromosomes on behavior.
ans. a
10.If fraternal twins are more likely to be concordant for a trait than other siblings, can it be concluded that the higher concordance rate is due to the greater degree of genetic relatedness?
a.Yes, but only if the siblings studied are of the same sex and age.
b.Yes.
c.No, because the greater similarity can be attributed to environmental influence.
d.No, because fraternal twins are no more genetically alike than other siblings.
ans. d
11.New perceptions and experiences tend to be worked into our existing schemas, even if the new information must be distorted to fit them. This process is called
a.accommodation.
b.appropriation.
c.assimilation.
d.attribution.
ans. c
12.Megan's boyfriend suddenly broke up with her. Megan spends most evenings crying. She calls her friends over and over to talk about the relationship and the break-up, to the point that her friends are beginning to dread talking to her. Megan is
a.experiencing a double avoidance conflict.
b.using a task-oriented response to stress.
c.using ego-defense mechanisms.
d.using a defense-oriented response to stress.
ans. d
13.High levels of anxiety sensitivity
a.are seen in all who develop agoraphobia.
b.are a diathesis for panic attacks.
c.can be effectively treated with drugs that minimize noradrenergic function.
d.increase the risk of all types of anxiety disorder.
ans. b
14.Thought-action fusion is
a.a psychotic symptom that helps distinguish between anxiety disorders and psychotic disorders.
b.the reason why trying to suppress unwanted thoughts often causes an increase in those thoughts.
c.support for the preparedness theory of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
d.the belief that thinking about something is as bad as actually doing it.
ans. d
PSYCHOLOGY 339
Sample Exam Questions
Midterm 2
1.After learning of her father’s death Sophia felt dazed and confused. When speaking of her response to the news, she said she felt like she was in a movie watching the events happening to her. Despite this strange feeling, she understood what was happening and did the things that she needed to do. What can be said of Sophia’s response to her father’s death?
a.Her response is not typical and suggests that she is suffering from acute stress disorder.
b.She experienced an instance of derealization.
c.She had a psychotic break.
d.She experienced an instance of depersonalization.
ans. b
2.If a patient seems to have lost interest in all pleasurable activities, awakens early in the morning for “no reason”, feels worse in the morning than in the afternoon, shows no evidence of personality disturbance prior to the first major depressive episode, he or she is a victim of the ______type of clinical depression.
a.non-melancholic
b.major
c.melancholic
d.dysthymic
ans. c
3.Among melancholic individuals who are severely depressed or who have delusions, ECT is, in the short term
a.markedly superior to antidepressant drugs.
b.more effective than antidepressant drugs but not psychotherapy.
c.more effective than psychotherapy but not antidepressant drugs.
d.no more effective than antidepressant drugs.
ans. a
4.If a person has “glove anesthesia”, the diagnosis of conversion disorder
a.depends on the degree of accompanying anxiety experienced by the patient.
b.is not appropriate; somatization disorder is the correct term.
c.may be incorrect if the patient has a job involving housecleaning.
d.can be made with near certainty.
ans. c
5.The prognosis for people with antisocial personality disorder is:
a.some “burn out” (for example, developing substance use disorders), but the majority continue in their criminal careers.
b.almost all remain exclusively diagnosable with antisocial personality throughout adulthood.
c.most recover completely by mid-adulthood.
d.most develop other severe disorders, like clinical depression and schizophrenia.
ans. a
6.Joe may act sad one minute and happy the next. He seems to have no idea what he wants out of life. He says he cannot stand being alone, yet he gets into violent fights with his friends over minor matters. When his marriage broke up due to his drastic mood shifts and impulsive gambling, Joe attempted suicide. Which of the following diagnoses best fits Joe’s symptoms?
a.bipolar disorder
b.schizotypal personality disorder
c.borderline personality disorder
d.histrionic personality disorder
ans. c
7.Individuals with a Type A behavior pattern are likely to change their behavior
a.only when faced with imminent danger from another myocardial infarction.
b.when they first are warned by a physician.
c.once their blood pressure is elevated.
d.when they first experience chest pains.
ans. a
8.More recent psychodynamic theorists have emphasized the importance of ______as a vulnerability factor to depression.
a.oral fixation
b.insecure early attachment to the parental figures
c.“anger turned inward”
d.anal fixation
ans. b
9.Given what we know about depression and sleep, treatment for depression might include
a.stopping the person from experiencing deep (Stage 3 and Stage 4) sleep.
b.getting depressives to wake up earlier than they normally would.
c.giving depressives dexamethasone just before they go to sleep.
d.none of these alternatives.
ans. d
10.Jill is a mother who often gives laxatives to her 9 year-old daughter, in order to make her daughter appear sick. There is, in fact, nothing medically wrong with her daughter (except being given laxatives). Jill would be seen as a potential case of
a.malingering.
b.vicarious factitious disorder.
c.factitious disorder by proxy.
d.malingering by proxy.
ans. c
11.Felicia has been diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, purging subtype. We should expect that she
a.strongly denies that she has a serious disorder.
b.is unconcerned about becoming fat.
c.experiences electrolyte imbalances and mineral deficiencies.
d.is less than 85 percent of normal body weight but still considers herself “fat”.
ans. c
12.How is a patient with anorexia nervosa most likely to describe her parents?
a.My father is loving but my mother is emotionally absent.
b.My father and my mother are very demanding.
c.My father isemotionally absent, my mother is loving.
d.My father isemotionally absent, my mother is demanding.
ans. d
13.Leonard has had episodes when he feels he is floating above his body, that he can watch himself. This is called ______and it is considered ______.
a.a dissociative fugue; a form of amnesia
b.depersonalization; a severe form of dissociative disorder
c.decompensation: a predictor of later dissociative identity disorder
d.derealization; a common experience and no cause for alarm
ans. d
14.All of the following are explanations for the relationship between depression and
Coronary Heart Disease EXCEPT
a.The neurochemical changes associated with depression put strain on the cardiovascular system.
b.Individuals who are depressed are likely to have less social support.
c.Depressed individuals may not take proper care of themselves.
d.The medications most commonly used to treat depression have direct effects on the heart.
ans. d
PSYCHOLOGY 339
Sample Exam Questions
Final Examination
1.Both of Mary's parents have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Bob has an identical twin who has schizophrenia. Who is more likely to develop schizophrenia and why?
a.Bob because he is male and has a family history of schizophrenia.
b.Mary because all of her genes come from her parents and they both have the disease.
c.Bob because he has inherited the same susceptibility that his twin is expressing.
d.Mary because females are more susceptible than males to the genetic forms of schizophrenia.
ans. c
2.Which of the following suggests a diagnosis of disorganized schizophrenia?
a.Dillon rarely sits still, but will respond to any direction he is given.
b.Peter appears to feel no emotion and tends to make odd facial expressions and movements.
c.Kyle constantly is asking for a doctor as he is convinced that his stomach is going to explode.
d.Trista fears for her life because the pictures on the wall have told her that she is not safe.
ans. b
3.Which of the following is inaccurate regarding involuntary civil commitment in Alberta?
a.two medical doctors must independently examine the person
b.the examinations must occur within 24 hours of each other
c.the involuntary patient cannot appeal the commitment immediately
d.the involuntary patient cannot appeal their treatment
ans. d
4.Unlike schizophrenics, individuals with delusional disorders
a.have visual as well as auditory hallucinations.
b.show perceptual and cognitive symptoms in childhood.
c.may behave normal apart from their delusion.
d.tend to have biological parents who share their disorder.
ans. c
5.Schizophrenia
a.accounts for about half of all available mental hospital beds in this country.
b.first occurs during childhood.
c.rarely occurs outside western cultures.
d.is about three times as common in males as in females.
ans. a
6.Among patients labeled as psychotic and admitted to mental hospitals, about ______percent can be discharged within a few weeks or at most a few months.
a.50 − 70
b.30 − 50
c.70 − 90
d.10 − 30
ans. c
7.In schizophrenia, low levels of neurological activity in the frontal lobes is most likely to be associated with
a.negative symptoms.
b.positive symptoms.
c.delusions.
d.hallucinations.
ans. a
8.In cases of recalling childhood sexual abuse,
a.adults who remember abuse are almost always mistaken.
b.adults may be influenced to construct repressed memories of abuse when no abuse occurred.
c.one should assume that the person recalling the events is mistaken, unless proven otherwise.
d.one should assume that the person recalling the events is accurate, unless proven otherwise.
ans.b
9.In a series of studies of preschool aged children’s memories of events, Ceci has found that
a.young children tend to be highly accurate when reporting positive events, but tend to be inaccurate when reporting negative events.
b.young children have difficulty in recalling whether repeatedly imagined events really occurred, but mental health professionals are usually able to tell whether or not the children are accurate in their memories.
c.the use of anatomically correct dolls in interviews with young children improved the accuracy of the children’s reports considerably.
d.young children have difficulty distinguishing between real and imagined events.
ans.d
10.The treatment of sexual dysfunctions
a.has become very successful for male dysfunctions, but not for female dysfunctions.
b.has shown little progress in the past few decades.
c.has shown remarkable progress in the past few decades.
d.has become very successful for most female dysfunctions, but less so for male dysfunctions.
ans.c
11.The American Public Health Association has proposed that vitamin B1 (thiamine) be added to all alcoholic beverages to prevent aspects of
a.alcohol intoxication.
b.alcohol withdrawal delirium (delirium tremens).
c.chronic alcoholic hallucinosis.
d.alcohol amnestic disorder (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome).
ans. d
12.The text described a cognitive-behavioral treatment program aimed at relapse prevention in individuals recovering from addictions. This program includes
a.the short-term use of antabuse.
b.individual therapy sessions designed to explore early experiences that led to the addiction problem.
c.immediate hospitalization upon relapse with an aversive conditioning regimen.
d.training to recognize the little decisions that put an individual into situations where relapse is more likely.
ans.d
13.DeJuan is highly suggestible and automatically obeys the commands of his brother. He sometimes stands in the same strange posure for hours despite his hands and feet becoming swollen due to immobility. Which subtype of schizophrenia does this best illustrate?
a.catatonic
b.disorganized
c.undifferentiated
d.positive-symptom
ans.a
14.All of the following have been found to lead to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia EXCEPT:
a.prenatal alcohol exposure
b.prenatal influenza exposure
c.birth complications
d.Rh incompatibility
ans.a