Can You Score a 5 in AP Psychology?

By: Allison Lips
Image: Chris Madden/Moment/Getty Images

About This Quiz

If you've ever taken a psychology courses, odds are you've  become acquainted with Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Ivan Pavolv, Mary Ainsworth, Carl Jung, and Stanley Milgram. You've analyzed their experiments and theories. You also know whose experiments no longer hold up, which were flawed, which are now considered unethical, and whose theories are currently en vogue. 

While those who have taken AP psychology will be familiar with all the topics covered in the following questions, anyone with an interest in psychology should be able to answer most of the questions correctly. Even if you only have a little knowledge about various disorder, theories, drugs used to treat disorders, and the experiments, you will probably find someone questions to be very easy. After all, you probably have a phobia, have suffered a hallucination, or know someone has dealt with some type of mental illness. 

Psychology is also more than just mental illnesses, treatments, and a list of symptoms. It deals with how images are processed in the brain, how memories are stored, and how various hormones and enzymes affect your well-being. 

Do you think you can answer all these questions correctly? If you have a strong interest in psychology or biology, you may get 100 percent. There's only one way to find out! 

What are two examples of anxiety disorders?

People with anxiety disorders excessively worry about everyday situations. Symptoms of anxiety disorders include sweating, trembling, trouble sleeping, and having trouble concentrating on things that aren't related to your current fear.

Which variable in an experiment is measured by the experimenter?

Independent variables are often represented by the letter x. Changes in other variables do not have an effect on them.

When making decisions, which part of the brain is most active?

The cerebral cortex is the surface of the cerebrum. It contains 15 billion neurons.

What are perceptions of nonexistent sensory stimulations called?

Hallucinations can be auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile. That means you can hear, see, smell, taste, or feel things that aren't there.

If someone has clear memories of events that occurred before an accident, but difficulty remembering events after any accident, they are showing signs of what?

People with anterograde amnesia lose the ability to create new memories. Research suggests that anterograde amnesia sufferers process information normally, but immediately forget it.

The information-processing view of memory states that what is the first stage in memory processing?

Encoding takes information received and processes it in a way that can be stored in the brain. It is used to form short-term and long-term memories.

What is a type of autobiographical memory?

Traumatic events are more likely to be recalled as flashbulb memories. Flashbulb memories are vivid and people tend to be confident in their accuracy.

What are Rorschach tests used to test?

In 1921, Hermann Rorschach's original images were published. When taking an inkblot test, there are no wrong answers. However, unusual answers may be a sign of psychological issues.

For which disorder is intense artificial light considered the most successful therapy?

Seasonal affective disorder is considered a type of depression. Suffers experience the symptoms around the same time each year.

When a group of people are present at an incident, the likelihood that someone will intervene to help decreases. What is this called?

The diffusion of responsibility is one of the causes of the bystander effect. Studies have shown that people take into account how much other people know about a situation before deciding to take action.

What is dopamine an example of?

Dopamine regulates attention, learning, movement, and emotional responses. Other neurotransmitters include norepinephrine and acetylocholine.

Which barrier is serotonin unable to cross?

Some materials can cross the blood-brain barrier. However, large molecules and fats do not pass the blood-brain barrier under normal circumstances.

What are Gestalt principles used to explain in psychology?

The Gestalt principles that involve visual perception were first discovered in the 1920. Gestalt psychology believes that the whole is not the same as the sum of its parts.

Which personality disorder is characterized by the following: constant trouble with authority, lack of remorse, and dishonesty?

People with antisocial personality disorder often antagonize or manipulate others. They also disregard what's right and wrong and can wind up in abusive relationships.

What is the painful experience that often occurs when someone stops taking an addictive substance?

The mental withdrawal symptoms are cognitive, trouble sleeping, depression, and anxiety. Physical manifestations of withdrawal are headaches, chest tightness, palpitations, nausea, muscle tension, and sweating.

If a patient has distrust of others, what are they showing signs of?

Paranoid personality disorder, delusional disorder, and paranoid schizophrenia are the three main types of paranoia. The main treatment focuses on reducing the feeling of paranoia.

If someone refuses to accept their diagnosis, which defense mechanism are they using?

Denial is one defense mechanism. Other defense mechanisms include regression, acting out, dissociation, reaction formation, compartmentalization, dissociation, and projection.

What do psychologists call a species-specific complex pattern of organized, unlearned behavior?

Instincts are genetically hardwired behaviors. They are meant to help us cope with environmental changes.

If someone wants to work on their fear of spiders, what behavior-therapy technique would be used?

In the 1950s, Joseph Wolpe developed systematic desensitization as a type of behavioral therapy. It is used to treat anxiety disorders, such as phobias.

What function do endorphins in the brain serve?

Endorphins are released when you exercise. They reduce and improve stress, help with anxiety and depression, and improve your overall well-being.

Which drug category does alcohol fit into based on the effect it has on the central nervous system?

Depressants slow down the central nervous system. Examples include alcohol, sedatives, opiates, and marijuana.

Which symptom is strongly associated with chronic schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia affects approximately one percent of Americans. In men, it is usually diagnosed in the late teens to early 20s. Women tend to be diagnosed in their late 20s to early 30s.

If someone is asked to recall their high school graduation, which type of memory would they be mostly likely to use?

Episodic memory is used for recent and past events. To remember events stored as episodic memories, you rely on encoding, consolidation, and retrieval processes.

What is the primary function of the hypothalamus?

The hypothalamus connects the nervous system to the endocrine system. While its main role is controlling hunger, it also plays a role in body temperature, blood pressure, sleep cycle, and emotions.

Deficiencies in which system is responsible for the most common form of color blindness?

There are three kinds of color blindness: red-green, blue-yellow, and complete absence of color vision. However, the last one is extremely rare.

Ivan Pavlov's experiments involved what type of conditioning?

In 1904, Ivan Pavlov received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Most of his work was done between 1981 and 1900 at the Institute of Experimental Medicine.

An individual with which disorder may find hypnosis to be helpful?

Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention. People who are hypnotized are in complete control of their actions.

Someone with persistent repetitive thoughts that they cannot control is having what?

About two percent of the population experiences the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the United States, approximately 2.2 people have the disorder.

What is an example of a dissociative disorder?

Multiple personality disorder is now called dissociative identity disorder. It is thought to be a result of trauma.

Which condition has electroconvulsive therapy been most successful in treating?

Electroconvulsive therapy uses small electric currents that go through the brain to intentionally cause a brief seizure. Today, it is performed under general anesthesia.

Bipolar disorder can be treated with lithium carbonate and what other type of drug?

Tricyclic antidepressants were some of the first antidepressants created. Some examples are amoxapine, doxepin, protriptyline, and amitriptyline.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross believes that people facing death experiences 5 stages. Which of the following is not one of those stages?

Elasabeth Kubler-Ross wrote a book called "On Death and Dying." In the book she outlined the five stages a dying patient experiences, which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

In what type of therapy does a therapist help their clients by confronting their faulty logic?

Rational emotive behavior therapy is used to deal with self-defeating thoughts. The goal is to replace them with healthier and more productive thoughts.

In the majority of people, speech functions are localized in which part of the brain?

Right-side motor coordination is controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere. Emotion is controlled by the right cerebral hemisphere.

Which area of psychology was the first to be studied as a science?

Psychophysics studies the relationship between physical stimuli and mental responses. German scientist Gustav Theodor Fechner created the field.

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