Psychology 201/202

Item Analysis

Breadth of knowledge outcome 1

Proficiency outcomes 1,2,4

  1. Researchers who were studying memory had participants learn a list of words after consuming a soft drink with caffeine or a decaffeinated version of the same soft drink. The researchers then counted the number of words that were recalled from the list. In this study, the type of beverage (caffeinated or decaffeinated) would be
  1. the independent variable
  2. an extraneous variable
  3. the dependent variable
  4. a placebo

% of students who answered correctly: 64%

2. Maria plans to study the relationship between self-esteem and being raised in a single-parent or a two-parent family. She decides she must use correlational research, rather than experimental research, to investigate this problem because correlational studies
  1. tend to be more accurate than experiments
  2. have higher internal validity than experiments when there are two dependent variables
  3. can be used to investigate factors that would be impossible to manipulate in an experimental study
  4. can be used to study either positive or negative relationships, whereas experiments can only be used to study positive relationships

% of students who answered correctly: 51%

3. Dr. Macator predicts that people will act more aggressively during the heat waves of summer than they will during the cold spells of winter. This suggests that Dr. Macator believes that temperature and level of aggression are
  1. negatively correlated
  2. independent variables
  3. uncorrelated
  4. positively correlated

% of students who answered correctly: 77%

 

Breadth of knowledge outcome 2

Proficiency outcomes 1,2,4

4. Holly was dancing with her new boyfriend at an Elvis tribute. When the band started playing "Can’t Help Falling in Love with You" her boyfriend gave her a long, passi0onate kiss, which Holly found very enjoyable. Now Holly finds that every time she hears "Can’t Help Falling in Love with You" on the radio she becomes a little flushed. In this example, the conditioned stimulus is
  1. the long, passionate kiss
  2. the song "Can’t Help Falling in Love with You"
  3. the enjoyment she experienced after the kiss from her boyfriend
  4. the flushing she experiences when she hears the song on the radio

% of students who answered correctly: 76%

5. Dillon is four years old, and his parents want to teach him to say "please" and "thank you." They will be most successful in altering Dillon’s behavior if they use
  1. classical conditioning
  2. higher-order conditioning
  3. non-contingent reinforcement
  4. operant conditioning

% of students who answered correctly: 48%

6. Elias is having difficulty figuring out how to use a new computer program. Jeremiah shows him the basic steps in using the program. In this case Elias is benefiting from
  1. operant conditioning
  2. observational learning
  3. classical conditioning
  4. noncontingent reinforcement

% of students who answered correctly: 94%

 

Breadth of knowledge outcome 3

Proficiency outcomes 1,2,4

7. You make an appointment to see a therapist and, as you are waiting, you notice that a large number of the books on the therapists shelves deal with Aaron Beck’s work on cognitive therapy for depression. You might expect that this therapist will
  1. emphasize the need to bring unconscious conflict and defenses into conscious awareness
  2. help you recognize and change negative thoughts and maladaptive beliefs
  3. provide a supportive emotional environment while allowing you to determine the pace and direction of your therapy
  4. use counterconditioning to reverse maladaptive behaviors

% of students who answered correctly: 56%

8. Gil has a psychological disorder and his doctor has prescribed an antipsychotic drug to reduce the severity of Gil’s symptoms. In this case, Gil’s therapist is most likely treating him for
  1. panic disorder
  2. mild depression
  3. generalized anxiety disorder
  4. schizophrenia

% of students who answered correctly: 57%

9. Lisa is a graduate student who believes that the best approach to the study of psychology is to focus exclusively on the unconscious determinants of behavior. Lisa’s view’s toward the study of psychology match those of
  1. the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective
  2. the cognitive perspective
  3. the humanistic perspective
  4. the structuralist perspective

% of students who answered correctly: 75%

10. Dr. Nenning is a psychotherapist who is extremely supportive of all his clients. He encourages his clients to talk about their concerns, and he often acts as a sounding board, restating and clarifying the themes that come to the surface as his clients speak freely about their concerns and problems. Dr. Nenning appears to be:
  1. a therapist who uses a modern psychodynamic approach
  2. a therapist who uses Beck’s cognitive approach to therapy
  3. a therapist who uses existential therapy methods
  4. a client-centered therapist

% of students who answered correctly: 67%

 

Proficiency 3

Fact or Falsehood?.

1. Psychology is best defined as "the study of the mind."

% of students who answered correctly: 34%

2. The human brain produces its own natural opiates that ease pain and elevate mood.

% of students who answered correctly: 94%

3. Most mothers are depressed for a time after their children grow up, leave home, and marry.

% of students who answered correctly: 60%

4. Psychological research indicates that some people do have ESP.

% of students who answered correctly: 76%

5. Some people dream every night; others seldom dream.

% of students who answered correctly: 58%

6. Psychologists have always agreed that thoughts, feelings, and motives are important in understanding behavior.

% of students who answered correctly: 47%

7. The amount of information that can be stored in human memory is limited.

% of students who answered correctly: 76%

8. In general, people underestimate how much they really know.

% of students who answered correctly: 22%

9. Homosexuality often involves a fear of the other sex that leads people to direct their sexual desires towards members of their own sex.

% of students who answered correctly: 67%

10. If your are truly innocent of committing a crime, you have nothing to fear from taking a lie-detector test.

% of students who answered correctly: 74%

11. Most of us suffer from unrealistically low self-esteem.

% of students who answered correctly: 67%

12. The most common form of schizophrenia is the split personality, in which a person possesses two or more separate identities.

% of students who answered correctly: 69%

13. Without professional help, people who suffer psychological disorders inevitably get worse.

% of students who answered correctly: 72%

14. Most people would refuse to obey an authority who told them to hurt an innocent person.

% of students who answered correctly: 66%

15. Unless we are in an altered state of consciousness, our perception always gives us an accurate picture of the world.

% of students who answered correctly: 90%