A student practices guitar for hours each day simply because she finds playing enjoyable and satisfying. Her behavior is driven by:
Intrinsic motivation
✓
Extrinsic motivation
A biological drive
An instinct
Correct Answer
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from the satisfaction of the activity itself. Extrinsic motivation would mean she plays for outside rewards such as money or praise. A biological drive arises from a physiological need such as hunger or thirst. An instinct is an unlearned, species-specific behavior pattern, and guitar playing is learned.
Category: Motivation Theories
Question 2
A child who loves drawing is paid a dollar for every picture she makes. After the payments stop, she draws far less than she did before the payments began. This illustrates:
The Yerkes-Dodson law
The overjustification effect
✓
Drive-reduction theory
Self-efficacy
Correct Answer
The overjustification effect
The overjustification effect occurs when an expected, tangible reward for an already enjoyable activity lowers intrinsic motivation, so the activity drops off once the reward ends. The Yerkes-Dodson law describes how arousal level affects performance. Drive-reduction theory explains behavior as reducing physiological needs. Self-efficacy is belief in one's own ability to succeed.
Category: Motivation Theories
Question 3
William James's proposal that much behavior is driven by unlearned, species-specific patterns that help an organism survive is known as:
Drive theory
Arousal theory
Instinct theory
✓
Social learning theory
Correct Answer
Instinct theory
Instinct theory explains behavior through inborn patterns such as reflexes, and critics later showed that learning shapes most human behavior. Drive theory explains behavior as an effort to reduce needs created by imbalance. Arousal theory says people seek an optimal level of stimulation. Social learning theory emphasizes learning by observing others, the opposite of unlearned patterns.
Category: Motivation Theories
Question 4
According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, how does the best level of arousal for a complex task compare with the best level of arousal for a simple task?
It is higher
It is the same
It cannot be predicted
It is lower
✓
Correct Answer
It is lower
Performance is best at a moderate level of arousal, and that best level is lower for complex tasks and higher for simple ones. Higher would describe simple tasks, which can benefit from more arousal. The same is wrong because task difficulty shifts the best level. Cannot be predicted is wrong because the law describes a consistent pattern.
Category: Motivation Theories
Question 5
Albert Bandura's term for a person's belief in their own ability to complete a particular task successfully is:
Self-efficacy
✓
Self-esteem
Self-actualization
Self-concept
Correct Answer
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is confidence in one's capability for a specific task, and people high in it take on challenges and persist after setbacks. Self-esteem is an overall sense of one's own worth. Self-actualization is Maslow's term for reaching one's full potential. Self-concept is a person's overall description of who they are.
Category: Motivation Theories
Question 6
In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which needs must generally be met before a person focuses on love and belonging?
Esteem needs
Physiological and safety needs
✓
Self-actualization needs
Esteem and self-actualization needs
Correct Answer
Physiological and safety needs
Maslow placed physiological needs such as food and water at the base, followed by safety or security needs, and these lower needs come before social needs for love and belonging. Esteem needs sit just above love and belonging. Self-actualization needs sit at the top and are pursued only after lower needs are met. Esteem and self-actualization needs are both higher levels, so neither must come before love and belonging.
Category: Motivation Theories
Question 7
Which hormone, released by fat cells, acts as a satiety signal that helps tell the brain to stop eating?
Melatonin
Cortisol
Leptin
✓
Adrenaline
Correct Answer
Leptin
Leptin is a satiety hormone secreted by fat cells, so it signals the brain about the body's energy stores. Melatonin is released by the pineal gland and helps regulate sleep. Cortisol is a stress hormone from the adrenal glands. Adrenaline, also called epinephrine, prepares the body for fight or flight.
Category: Hunger and Eating
Question 8
Which brain structure plays a central role in integrating the body's hunger and satiety signals to determine whether eating occurs?
Hippocampus
Cerebellum
Occipital lobe
Hypothalamus
✓
Correct Answer
Hypothalamus
The hypothalamus, along with the hindbrain, integrates signals from the stomach, blood glucose and hormones to start or stop feeding. The hippocampus is mainly involved in forming memories. The cerebellum coordinates movement and balance. The occipital lobe processes vision.
Category: Hunger and Eating
Question 9
The idea that each person has a genetically influenced ideal body weight that the body works to maintain is called:
Set-point theory
✓
Drive-reduction theory
Arousal theory
Instinct theory
Correct Answer
Set-point theory
Set-point theory proposes that the body resists moving away from a predetermined weight by adjusting intake or energy use, though it does not account for social and environmental influences. Drive-reduction theory is a general account of motivation, not of a target weight. Arousal theory concerns seeking an optimal level of stimulation. Instinct theory explains behavior through unlearned patterns.
Category: Hunger and Eating
Question 10
A body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher classifies an adult as:
Overweight
Obese
✓
Normal weight
Underweight
Correct Answer
Obese
A BMI of 30 or higher falls in the obese range, and a BMI of 40 or higher is considered severe obesity. Overweight covers a BMI of 25 to 29.9. Normal weight falls below 25. Underweight is the lowest range, below normal weight.
Category: Hunger and Eating
Question 11
A college student of roughly average body weight repeatedly eats large amounts of food in a short time and then vomits or uses laxatives to make up for it. These symptoms best fit:
Anorexia nervosa
Binge eating disorder
Bulimia nervosa
✓
Prader-Willi syndrome
Correct Answer
Bulimia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa involves binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as vomiting, laxative use or excessive exercise. Anorexia nervosa centers on keeping body weight well below normal, which does not fit an average weight. Binge eating disorder involves binges without purging. Prader-Willi syndrome is a genetic disorder of intense hunger and reduced metabolism, not a pattern of purging.
Category: Hunger and Eating
Question 12
In Masters and Johnson's sexual response cycle, which phase comes directly after the excitement phase?
Orgasm
Resolution
Desire
Plateau
✓
Correct Answer
Plateau
Masters and Johnson described four phases in order: excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution, so plateau follows excitement. Orgasm comes after plateau. Resolution is the final phase, a return to an unaroused state. Desire is not one of their four phases.
Category: Sexual Behavior
Question 13
Alfred Kinsey of Indiana University is best known for:
Large-scale surveys of human sexual behavior
✓
Laboratory recordings of sexual responses
Brain lesion studies of sexual motivation
Cross-cultural studies of facial expressions
Correct Answer
Large-scale surveys of human sexual behavior
Kinsey interviewed thousands of people beginning in the late 1930s and published widely read, controversial books on male (1948) and female (1953) sexual behavior. Laboratory recordings of sexual responses describe the work of Masters and Johnson. Brain lesion studies of sexual motivation were done in animals such as rats. Cross-cultural studies of facial expressions are associated with Paul Ekman.
Category: Sexual Behavior
Question 14
A person's internal sense of being male, female, both, neither or another gender is called:
Sexual orientation
Gender identity
✓
A gender role
Sex assigned at birth
Correct Answer
Gender identity
Gender identity is one's inner sense of one's own gender, and it can match or differ from the sex assigned at birth. Sexual orientation is about whom a person is attracted to, which is a separate concept. A gender role is the set of behaviors a culture expects of a gender. Sex assigned at birth is the label given at birth based on physical traits.
Category: Sexual Behavior
Question 15
A hiker sees a bear, notices her heart pounding and her hands shaking, and only then realizes she is afraid. This sequence, with bodily arousal coming before the feeling, matches:
The Cannon-Bard theory
The two-factor theory
The James-Lange theory
✓
The cognitive-mediational theory
Correct Answer
The James-Lange theory
The James-Lange theory holds that physiological arousal comes first and the emotion is the experience of that arousal. The Cannon-Bard theory says arousal and emotion happen at the same time but independently. The two-factor theory requires both arousal and a cognitive label. The cognitive-mediational theory says the appraisal of the situation determines the emotion.
Category: Theories of Emotion
Question 16
Which theory holds that physiological arousal and the conscious experience of an emotion occur at the same time but independently of each other?
The James-Lange theory
The facial feedback hypothesis
The Schachter-Singer theory
The Cannon-Bard theory
✓
Correct Answer
The Cannon-Bard theory
The Cannon-Bard theory proposes that arousal and emotional experience happen simultaneously, with neither causing the other. The James-Lange theory says arousal comes first and produces the feeling. The facial feedback hypothesis says facial expressions can shape the emotion felt. The Schachter-Singer theory says arousal must be cognitively labeled to become an emotion.
Category: Theories of Emotion
Question 17
In Schachter and Singer's classic study, participants given an arousing injection without being told what to expect tended to:
Label their arousal using a confederate's mood
✓
Feel no emotion of any kind
Report the same emotion in every setting
Become calmer than the control group
Correct Answer
Label their arousal using a confederate's mood
Uninformed participants explained their unexpected arousal by looking at the situation, so those near a euphoric or angry confederate reported feeling that emotion, which supports the two-factor theory. Feeling no emotion is wrong because the context produced emotions. Reporting the same emotion in every setting is wrong because the label depended on the setting. Becoming calmer is wrong because the injection increased arousal.
Category: Theories of Emotion
Question 18
Lazarus's cognitive-mediational theory proposes that the emotion a person experiences is determined by:
The pattern of bodily arousal alone
How the person appraises the situation
✓
Feedback from the facial muscles
Inborn reflexes that bypass thought
Correct Answer
How the person appraises the situation
Lazarus argued that an appraisal of a stimulus, often immediate and unconscious, comes between the stimulus and the emotional response and determines which emotion is felt. Bodily arousal alone is the James-Lange view. Feedback from the facial muscles is the facial feedback hypothesis. Inborn reflexes that bypass thought is closer to Zajonc's view that some emotions occur before cognition.
Category: Theories of Emotion
Question 19
Which brain structure is most closely tied to processing fear and anxiety?
Hippocampus
Cerebellum
Amygdala
✓
Medulla
Correct Answer
Amygdala
The amygdala, part of the limbic system, processes emotional information and is central to fear, receiving fast input from the thalamus. The hippocampus integrates emotional experience with memory and cognition. The cerebellum coordinates movement and balance. The medulla controls automatic functions such as breathing and heart rate.
Category: Emotion and the Brain
Question 20
Cultural norms about which emotions are appropriate to show in front of others, and how strongly, are called:
Facial feedback
Emotional appraisals
Social motives
Display rules
✓
Correct Answer
Display rules
Display rules are learned cultural expectations about expressing emotion, which is why people in different cultures may show the same feeling differently in public. Facial feedback is the effect of facial expressions on the emotions felt. Emotional appraisals are a person's interpretations of a situation. Social motives are needs such as achievement and affiliation.
Category: Emotional Expression