Question 1

While sitting in a quiet waiting room, Ronnie at first is quite distracted by the clicking sound made by an old clock ticking away the seconds. However, after a few minutes, he no longer notices the ticking. This example best highlights the concept involved in:
A) concordance
B) classical conditioning
C) habituation
D) social learning

Accepted Answer

In habituation, a person ceases to attend or respond to repetitive stimulation.

Question 2

The key to understanding how classical conditioning works is to recognize that it involves the _________ of what will come.
A) reinforcement
B) punishment
C) prediction
D) repression

Accepted Answer

In classical conditioning, learning occurs when, through repeated trials, we learn to associate one stimulus with another naturally occurring stimulus-response sequence. In other words, we learn that a stimulus predict that a sequence of events will occur.

Question 3

According to research presented in the text, you should conclude that, under normal circumstances, about what percent of a person's intelligence is the result of environmental, rather than genetic, factors?
A) nearly 100%
B) about half
C) a small but measurable percent
D) virtually zero percent

Accepted Answer

According to the text, looking across a variety of studies, a consistent estimate is that genetics contributes about 50% to intelligence.

Question 4

Three-year-old Kayla has been seeing her pediatrician for checkups every six months and fears the shots she receives each time. Now, even though he does not administer the shots, Kayla cries when the pediatrician enters the room because she associates him with receiving shots. The pediatrician has become a(n):
A) conditioned stimulus
B) conditioned response
C) unconditioned stimulus
D) unconditioned response

Accepted Answer

In classical conditioning, a naturally occurring reflex becomes associated with an environmental cue. In this case, the fear that accompanies an impending shot has become associated with the pediatrician who has administered these shots in the past. The pediatrician is the environmental cue.

Question 5

An unreasonable fear of an object or a situation is referred to as a:
A) phobia
B) conditioning
C) habituation
D) reinforcer

Accepted Answer

A phobia is defined as an unreasonable fear of an object or situation, which is often accompanied by avoidance behaviors. Conditioning, habituation, and reinforcers are all related to learning and behavior but do not specifically refer to the irrational fear component of a phobia.

Question 6

If the heritability of a trait was .50, we would expect to see the highest concordance rates among:
A) identical twins raised together in the same home
B) identical twins raised in different homes
C) fraternal twins raised in different homes
D) unrelated individuals

Accepted Answer

Concordance refers to the extent to which biologically related people show similar characteristics. A heritability of .50 suggests that genetics and environment contribute relatively equally to the expression of the trait. Thus, the individuals who share both the highest genetic makeup and share an environment would be expected to show the most similar characteristics.

Question 7

The technique that allows researchers to consider the results of several similar studies while weighing the quality of each is called:
A) analysis of variance
B) meta-analysis
C) epigenetic analysis
D) multiple regression analysis

Accepted Answer

Only meta-analysis involves considering the results of several studies while weighing the quality of each. Analysis of variance, epigenetic analysis, and multiple regression analysis do not involve multiple studies.

Question 8

A researcher records the number of "sucks" a baby takes on her pacifier as she is shown pictures of adult faces. The researcher notes that when her mother's face is shown, the baby stops sucking entirely. This experimental method relies most directly on an understanding of which of the following learning processes?
A) habituation
B) operant conditioning
C) reinforcement
D) self-efficacy

Accepted Answer

In habituation, a person ceases to attend or respond to repetitive stimulation. In this case, the researcher knows that the baby demonstrates habituation to the mother's face because the face is familiar (in other words, it is an example of repetitive stimulation).

Question 9

Classical conditioning is most likely to be involved in which of the involving situations?
A) Brian won't work unless he gets paid.
B) Alex trains his dog to "roll over" by offering food rewards.
C) Rick feels nervous and sick to his stomach when he sees a black cat, but doesn't know why.
D) John loses weight by buying tickets to see his favorite team play whenever he drops five more pounds.

Accepted Answer

As noted in the textbook, emotional responses, in particular, are often established through classical conditioning. The other examples are directly tied to operant conditioning procedures.

Question 10

While taking a test, suppose you are distracted by the student next to you who is smacking her gum as she chews it. However, after a few minutes, you no longer attend to the smacking, even though your neighbor keeps doing this. Your response in this situation is best considered to be the result of:
A) reinforcement
B) punishment
C) classical conditioning
D) habituation

Accepted Answer

In habituation, a person ceases to attend or respond to repetitive stimulation.

Question 11

For as long as Brian can remember, he has been fearful of being in high places. Just the idea of climbing stairs or riding in an elevator causes him to be overcome with uncontrollable fear. Brian likely suffers from:
A) a phobia
B) negative conditioning
C) habituation
D) reinforcement failure

Accepted Answer

As noted in the textbook, unreasonable fears of objects or situations are called phobias.

Question 12

Which of the following results is consistent with a trait that has a high heritability?
A) identical twins are less alike than fraternal twins
B) adopted children resemble their biological parents more than their adoptive parents
C) unrelated children are as much alike as are brothers and sisters
D) brothers are more alike than are sisters

Accepted Answer

Heritability refers to the proportion of a trait, such as intelligence, that is thought to result from inherited, genetic factors. If a trait is highly heritable, we would expect persons who are more genetically similar to one another to show more similarity on a trait than persons who are less genetically similar to one another. In this example, adopted children share more genes with their biological parents than with their adoptive parents, so should resemble the biological parents more.

Question 13

According to research presented in the text, you should conclude that, under normal circumstances, about what percent of a person's personality is the result of genetic factors?
A) nearly 100%
B) about a third to a half
C) about 2 to 5%
D) virtually zero percent

Accepted Answer

Studies estimate a genetic contribution to personality of about 40% (Bouchard, 1999), perhaps ranging from 20 to 50% depending on the situation (Rushton, Bons, & Hur, 2008; Segal, 2000).

Question 14

If Wesley is afraid to enter tall buildings because he worries that they will be attacked by terrorists
A) habituation
B) a phobia
C) heritability
D) poor self-efficacy

Accepted Answer

As noted in the textbook, unreasonable fears of objects or situations are called phobias; phobias-such as fear of the dark, fear of being in a closely confined space, and so forth-often are established through classical conditioning.

Question 15

Research suggests that a portion of intelligence is inherited. What percentage of an individual's intelligence is generally believed to be due to inherited factors?
A) 10% or less
B) around 50%
C) around 75%
D) over 90%

Accepted Answer

While there is no exact percentage, research suggests that around 50% of an individual's intelligence is due to inherited factors, with the other 50% being influenced by environmental factors such as education and upbringing.

Question 16

When a person repeatedly experiences the same stimulus, he or she typically will tend to respond to it less and less with each repetition. This process is referred to as:
A) classical conditioning
B) punishment
C) operant conditioning
D) habituation

Accepted Answer

In habituation, a person ceases to attend or respond to repetitive stimulation.

Question 17

If the heritability of a trait is greater than 0 but less than 100%, this would mean that:
A) heredity was a larger influence on the trait than environment
B) environment was a larger influence on the trait than heredity
C) both heredity and environment influence the trait
D) heredity and environment do not interact in their influence on this trait

Accepted Answer

Heritability refers to the proportion of a trait, such as intelligence, that is thought to result from inherited, genetic factors. A proportion less than 100% but more than zero would indicate that there is some genetic basis to the trait, the remainder of which is explained by environmental factors.

Question 18

The extent to which a trait is inherited versus acquired through interactions with the environment defines the concept of:
A) heritability
B) genetic predisposition
C) genetic engineering
D) concordance

Accepted Answer

The concept described in the question is heritability, which refers to the proportion of variation in a trait that is attributable to genetic factors versus environmental factors. Heritability is typically expressed as a number between 0 and 1, where 0 indicates that the trait is completely determined by environmental factors, and 1 indicates that the trait is completely determined by genetic factors. Genetic predisposition (B) refers to an increased likelihood of developing a trait or condition due to genetic factors, but does not specifically address the relative contributions of genetics versus environment. Genetic engineering (C) refers to the manipulation of an organism's genetic material to produce specific traits or characteristics, which is not necessarily related to the concept described in the question. Concordance (D) refers to the similarity of a trait or condition between two individuals, and is often used in studies of twins to investigate the relative contributions of genetics and environment to the trait or condition. However, it does not specifically address the concept of inheritance versus acquisition of the trait.

Question 19

If a particular trait is highly heritable, we would expect to see the highest concordance rates among:
A) identical twins
B) fraternal twins
C) parents and children
D) unrelated individuals of the same age

Accepted Answer

Heritability refers to the extent to which a trait is inherited versus acquired, thus presuming a genetic basis. In this example, the trait is highly heritable, so we presume a strong genetic basis. Because identical twins are genetically identical (share 100% of their genetic makeup) we would expect them to show the most similar characteristics.

Question 20

Based on the heritability studies cited in the text, the appropriate conclusion to draw is that:
A) genes are important in physical development, but not in cognitive and personality development
B) genes are important in physical and cognitive development but not in personality development
C) genes play only a minor role in human development, regardless of the domain in question
D) genes play a significant role in human development of a wide range of human traits and behaviors

Accepted Answer

The answer of Based on the heritability studies cited in...

Quiz 2: Heredity and Environment

While sitting in a quiet waiting room, Ronnie at first is quite distracted by the clicking sound made by an old clock ticking away the seconds. However, after a few minutes, he no longer notices the ticking. This example best highlights the concept involved in:

The key to understanding how classical conditioning works is to recognize that it involves the _________ of what will come.

According to research presented in the text, you should conclude that, under normal circumstances, about what percent of a person's intelligence is the result of environmental, rather than genetic, factors?

An unreasonable fear of an object or a situation is referred to as a:

If the heritability of a trait was .50, we would expect to see the highest concordance rates among:

The technique that allows researchers to consider the results of several similar studies while weighing the quality of each is called:

Classical conditioning is most likely to be involved in which of the involving situations?

While taking a test, suppose you are distracted by the student next to you who is smacking her gum as she chews it. However, after a few minutes, you no longer attend to the smacking, even though your neighbor keeps doing this. Your response in this situation is best considered to be the result of:

For as long as Brian can remember, he has been fearful of being in high places. Just the idea of climbing stairs or riding in an elevator causes him to be overcome with uncontrollable fear. Brian likely suffers from:

Which of the following results is consistent with a trait that has a high heritability?

According to research presented in the text, you should conclude that, under normal circumstances, about what percent of a person's personality is the result of genetic factors?

If Wesley is afraid to enter tall buildings because he worries that they will be attacked by terrorists

Research suggests that a portion of intelligence is inherited. What percentage of an individual's intelligence is generally believed to be due to inherited factors?

When a person repeatedly experiences the same stimulus, he or she typically will tend to respond to it less and less with each repetition. This process is referred to as:

If the heritability of a trait is greater than 0 but less than 100%, this would mean that:

The extent to which a trait is inherited versus acquired through interactions with the environment defines the concept of:

If a particular trait is highly heritable, we would expect to see the highest concordance rates among:

Based on the heritability studies cited in the text, the appropriate conclusion to draw is that: