Dr. Don S. ChristensenShorelineCommunity College

Psych 100Psychology

Exam 2

Potential Short Answer Questions

States of Consciousness (Modules 15, 16, & 17, & Lecture)

  1. What is meant by the term “dual processing” as it relates to states of consciousness?
  2. What is meant by the term inattentional blindness? Briefly discuss one research example that illustrates it.
  3. What is meant by the term change blindness? Briefly discuss one research example that illustrates it.
  4. What is a circadian rhythm? Give two examples of processes that follow circadian rhythms.
  5. What is the name (full name or initials) of the main brain structure that regulates circadian rhythms?
  6. Explain how the jet lag that results from flying 3 times zones east (flying from Seattle to New York) is related to circadian rhythm disruptions.
  7. Explain how the sleep problems that result for someone moving from the day shift (working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to the grave yard shift (working from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.) are related to circadian rhythm disruptions.
  8. List and briefly describe the five stages of sleep and one stage of wakefulness. In what stages are alpha and delta waves found? (see Figure 5.8)
  9. According to the textbook, what are four possible reasons for why humans sleep? (see page 78)
  10. Describe the major symptoms of insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea. (see sleep disorders handout available on the class web site)
  11. What is a night terror and how is it different from a nightmare?
  12. According to the Freudian, why do we dream?
  13. According to activation-synthesis theory, why do we dream?
  14. What is the REM rebound effect?
  15. Contrast the explanations of divided consciousness theory and social influence theory for hypnotic effects.
  16. What is the difference between tolerance and withdrawal?
  17. What is the difference between physical dependence and psychological dependence?
  18. Describe three misconceptions about addiction.
  19. What are three broad categories of psychoactive drugs (see section beginning on the bottom of page 93) and what kinds of effects they do generally produce?
  20. Classify each of the following drugs using the three categories mentioned in the previous question: alcohol, heroin, caffeine, methamphetamine, cocaine, nicotine, & marijuana (see Table 7.1)

Learning and Adaptation (Modules 17, 18, 19, & Lecture)

  1. According to the text, what does the term “learning” mean?
  2. How do you create a (classically) conditioned salivation response in a dog? Be sure to use all of the relevant classical conditioning terminology in your answer.
  3. When the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, ______occurs.
  4. Differentiate between generalization and discrimination.
  5. What is Thorndike’s law of effect?
  6. What is learned in the process of operant conditioning?
  7. What is shaping and to which general type of learning is it most strongly related?
  8. How does negative reinforcement differ from positive reinforcement and from punishment?
  9. List and give an example of each of the two different types of partial reinforcement schedules that keep track of the number of correct responses an animal or person has shown.
  10. List and give an example of each of the two different types of partial reinforcement schedules that keep track of the first correct response shown by an animal or human after a certain amount of time has passed.
  11. Which is type of partial schedule of reinforcement is more resistant to extinction: A fixed schedule or a variable schedule? Why?
  12. Describe three disadvantages of using punishment to control behavior.
  13. How do “cognitive maps” and “latent learning” challenge the traditional behaviorist view of learning?
  14. Explain how Bandura’s (Bobo doll) experiment illustrates the distinction between learning and performance.

Memory (Modules 20, 21, & Lecture)

  1. What are the three fundamental memory processes?
  2. List the stages of the Atkinson-Shiffrin three stage model of memory.
  3. What is the difference between automatic and effortful processing? Be able to give an example of each.
  4. What is the serial position effect? Under what conditions do the primacy and recency effects occur?
  5. Memory researchers have determined that the amount you remember depends both on how much time you spend learning something and on how ______you make it.
  6. What are two types of sensory memory?
  7. Describe the limitations (e.g., capacity and duration) of working-term memory and how they can be overcome (2 different ways of extending short-term memory were mentioned in lecture).
  8. When referring to the second stage of memory, why is “working” memory now considered to be a more appropriate term than “short-term” memory?
  9. Define long-term potentiation (LTP). What does LTP appear to provide the neural basis for?
  10. What are flashbulb memories and what does research (discussed in lecture) suggest about their accuracy?
  11. Describe the two different types of amnesias (presented in lecture).
  12. What is the difference between an explicit memory and an implicit memory?
  13. ______memory consists of facts and general knowledge while ______memory is comprised of personally experienced events. Both of these types of memories are examples of the broader ______memory.
  14. List and briefly describe the functions of four brain structures that are involved in memory (two additional structures were discussed in lecture).
  15. Differentiate between context-dependent memory (or “Context Effects”) and state dependent memory.
  16. What is mood congruent recall?
  17. Explain how encoding failure, storage decay, and retrieval failure can contribute to forgetting.
  18. What is the difference between retroactive interference and proactive interference?
  19. What is the misinformation effect?
  20. What is source amnesia?
  21. Explain the concept of depth of processing and how is it related to the results of the Craik and Tulving (1975) study presented in lecture?
  22. According to the text, what are 7 things you could do to study more effectively?

Revised: 10/10/2018