Multiple Choice History of Modern Psych, 4e: Study Guide, Chapter 14 14-2
1. In his “War of the Ghosts” study, Bartlett
a. replicated the Ebbinghaus finding about the rate of forgetting with the passage of time
b. used himself as the only subject (in the Ebbinghaus tradition)
c. found that recall was influenced by the culture-bound schemata of his subjects
d. used the method of serial recall—one person read the story, told it to a second person,
who told it to a third person, and so on through a half dozen people
2. In his analysis of the serial order problem, Lashley concluded that
a. mass action still held as a general principle, but equipotentiality had to be revised
b. the concept of linear associative chains, fundamental to behaviorism, simply don’t
reflect how the brain works
c. by adding intervening variables, neobehaviorism could handle the serial order problem
d. explanations of behavior can stand on their own—they need not relate to neuro-
physiological mechanisms
3. Leahey argues that the concept of a cognitive revolution
a. would not have occurred to anyone without the timely appearance of Kuhn’s paradigm book
b. is a useful way to summarize a historic trend
c. is valid, as is the earlier behaviorist revolution
d. implies a sudden change, which occurred in the early 1950s when behaviorism essentially
disappeared
4. Which of the following is true about Neisser’s book Cognitive Psychology?
a. it emphasized research that had ecological validity
b. because it was published when behaviorism was strong, it required an entire
chapter to defend its existence
c. the title of the book gave the movement (toward increased study of cognitive variables) a name
d. its central concept was the cybernetic TOTE unit
5. When solving an anagram, Sean considers all possible combinations of letters and eventually solves the problem. This is an example of
a. using a means-ends analysis
b. the Turing test
c. heuristic thinking
d. algorithmic thinking
6. Leon Festinger is best known for
a. the development of the theory of cognitive dissonance
b. writing social psychology’s first textbook
c. developing a research program that rejected the use of deception in research
d. all of the above
7. All of the following are associated with Gordon Allport except
a. advocated the case study as a method
b. believed the “trait” was the central unit of personality
c. doctoral research not well received by Titchener’s group
d. advocated an approach to personality assessment in the psychoanalytic tradition
8. What did Bartlett and Piaget have in common?
a. they were both interested in cognitive development
b. they were both interested in cultural influences on memory
c. they both used the term schema and they used in similar ways
d. they were both well known in America during the heyday of behaviorism, even though
they were doing cognitive work
Answers
1. a. Bartlett was not interested in replicating Ebbinghaus
b. he used a number of subject, not including himself
c. CORRECT ANSWER – subjects altered the story to fit better into Western cultural traditions (about
death, for example)
d. he used this method, but not in the War of the Ghosts study
2. a. the serial order problem was not related to his earlier research on the relationship between brain
ablation and learning
b. CORRECT ANSWER – too many events happen simultaneously rather than in sequence
c. intervening variables didn’t help the serial order problem
d. a case can be made for this (Skinner tried), but this is not an argument that Lashley would make
3. a. CORRECT ANSWER – Leahey believed that Kuhn’s book significantly influenced the use of
language at a time when behaviorism was weakening and cognitive psychology was strengthening
b. he did not believe that “revolution” was an appropriate term to describe the development of cognitive
psychology
c. he rejected the idea that psychology had experienced true scientific revolutions
d. the change was anything but sudden
4. a. not true of this book, but true of his second book, Cognition and Reality (1976)
b. Neisser a point of the fact that a long defense against behaviorism was no longer needed in 1967
c. CORRECT ANSWER – until that point, the movement had no clear name
d. this was true of Plans and the Structure of Behavior (1960)
5. a. a means ends-analysis is a heuristic, the main one in the GPS (General Problem Solver)
b. this is a test used to differentiate computer thinking from human thinking
c. heuristics are strategies that are not exhaustive
d. CORRECT ANSWER – algorithms are exhaustive strategies that guarantee solution
6. a. CORRECT ANSWER – and the theory remains viable today
b. this was Allport (Floyd)
c. Festinger used a lot of deception in his research
d. alternatives b. and c. are not true
7. a. this was true of Allport (e.g., Letters from Jenny)
b. this was true of Allport (e.g., cardinal and central traits)
c. this was true of Allport’s unfortunate experience at a meeting of Titchener’s group
d. CORRECT ANSWER – Allport was not impressed with the psychoanalytic (Freudian) tradition
8. a. only true of Piaget
b. mainly true of Bartlett
c. CORRECT ANSWER – both used the term as being similar to the idea of a “concept”
d. neither became well known in America until behaviorism began to fade