General Psychology MCQs
General Psychology MCQs
Answer these 900+ General Psychology MCQs and assess your grip on the subject of General Psychology. Scroll below and get started!
1: _____ are manipulated; _____ are measured.
A. Independent
B. Variable
C. Dependent
D. IVs; DVs
2: _____ entails sudden episodes involving a loss of muscle tone.
A. Non-REM
B. Cataplexy
C. Selective attention
D. None of these
3: _____ helps individuals to resist persuasion.
A. Inoculation
B. Ethnocentrism
C. Reciprocity
D. None of these
4: _____ is a generalized defense against pathogens.
A. Natural immunity
B. Specific immunity
C. Passive immunity
D. Humoral immunity
5: _________ is considered a secondary reinforcer.
A. Food
B. Water
C. Money
D. Sexual satisfaction
6: _____ is to _____ as bandura is to tolman.
A. Latent learning; observational learning
B. Observational learning; latent learning
C. Observational learning; insight
D. Insight; latent learning
7: _____ is to psychoanalysis as _____ is to humanistic psychology.
A. Nerves; neurons
B. Cross; cultural
C. cultural; Cross-
D. Freud; Rogers
8: _____ receive messages from other neurons and _____ send messages to other neurons.
A. Dendrites and Axon
B. Soma, Myelin
C. Neuron, Axon
D. Nervous System
9: _____ refers to auditory sensory memory, whereas _____ refers to visual sensory memory.
A. Echoic memory / iconic memory
B. Explicit memory
C. Procedural memory
D. Proactive interference
10: _____ refers to rewarding approximations of a desired behavior.
A. Generalization
B. Extinction
C. Contiguity
D. Shaping
11: _______ attention improves encoding whereas ______ attention interferes with encoding.
A. Selective; divided
B. Divided; selective
C. Discrimination; inhibitory
D. Inhibitory; discrimination
12: ________ appears to be especially important for enhanced performance on recently learned tasks.
A. Melatonin
B. Slow-wave sleep
C. Sleep deprivation
D. Growth hormone
13: ________ are a component of the somatosenses.
A. Receptive field
B. Free nerve endings in the skin
C. It takes time to extrude calcium ions out of the fiber
D. The inability to recognize individual faces
14: ________ cycles occur roughly once every 24 hours.
A. Biological
B. Circadian
C. Rotating
D. Conscious
15: ________ is a chemical messenger secreted by fat cells that acts as an appetite suppressant.
A. Orexin
B. Angiotensin
C. Leptin
D. Ghrelin
16: __________ stimuli are typically events that are important to survival.
A. Unconditional
B. Conditional
C. Maintenance
D. Second-order
17: __________ subtheory explains that intelligence is influenced by culture.
A. Contextual
B. Componential
C. Experiential
D. Emotional
18: __________ tests try to eliminate cultural bias.
A. All IQ
B. Dove
C. Culture-fair
D. Stanford-Binet
19: ______________ is caused by degeneration of the neocortex of the anterolateral temporal lobe.
A. Retrograde amnesia
B. Perceptual learning
C. Basal ganglia
D. Semantic dementia
20: _____, such as dexedrine and benzedrine, are popularly known as speed.
A. Circadian rhythms.
B. Consciousness
C. Amphetamines
D. Meditation
21: If you need help in emergency and which statement is most likely to get you the help you need?
A. Will someone please help me?
B. Hey! I'm in trouble here!
C. Help!!! This is an emergency!!
D. You in the red sweater—call 911!
22: A clinical psychologist uses ______ to treat psychological disorders.
A. Sociocultural approach
B. Psychotherapy
C. Cognitive
D. Lobotomies
23: A counselor who takes the humanistic perspective would focus most on _____
A. Behavior
B. Subjective experience
C. Environmental forces
D. Inherited tendencies
24: A genotype is ________, whereas a phenotype is ________.
A. Acetylcholine
B. Insulation around a pipe
C. Sympathetic nervous
D. Underlying; observed
25: A goal of family therapy is to ______.
A. Change the needs of individual family members
B. Improve family communication and interaction
C. Identify and treat the person in the family who is the source of the majority of the family's problems
D. Teach family members to remain neutral on sensitive issues
26: A good control group ________.
A. Some authorities should not be questioned.
B. It may be necessary for the experiment to work
C. Describe, explain, predict, and control behavior
D. Holds constant all variables in the experiment
27: A hitchhiker most likely gets rides on a _____ schedule of reinforcement.
A. Continuous
B. Variable-ratio
C. Fixed-ratio
D. Fixed-interval
28: A hypothesis is ________.
A. A prediction about something that has not yet been observed
B. An instrument that is used to examine environmental conditions
C. The design of an experiment that can be used in scientific inquiry
D. A testable proposition that explains an observed phenomenon or answers a question
E. A proven scientific fact
29: A measure that has a high level of reliability is very ________.
A. Consistent
B. Long-lasting
C. Accurate
D. Predictive
30: A neuron is _____.
A. The part of a nerve cell that receives information.
B. The part of a nerve cell that sends information.
C. The part of a nerve cell that creates energy.
D. A cell of the nervous system responsible for receiving and transmitting electrochemical information.
31: A problem with cross-sectional research is that _____.
A. Older people because the brain can only focus on one thing at a time
B. More likely to be happier and stay together longer
C. People in late adulthood (grandparent age)
D. Because each person has unique life experiences
32: A relative permanent change of behavior is called ________.
A. Lifestyles
B. Personality
C. Learning
D. All of the above
33: A study of immobilized cockroaches showed the importance of ________________ in forgetting.
A. Sleep
B. State dependent learning
C. Proactive interference
D. Retroactive interference
34: A survey is a(n) _____.
A. Research technique for assessing behaviors and attitudes of a sample or population
B. Mental processes, language, and perception
C. Explaining the purpose of the study, anticipated results, and deceptions used when the study is over
D. Both the researcher and participants are unaware of who is in the experimental and control groups
35: A token economy is to operant conditioning as ________ is to classical conditioning.
A. Aversive conditioning
B. Systematic desensitization
C. A token economy
D. Operant conditioning
36: A(n) _____ correlation results when there is no relationship between two variables.
A. Critical
B. Free will
C. Zero
D. Strong
37: According to carol dweck, need for achievement is closely related to ________.
A. Genetics
B. Geography
C. Luck
D. Personality factor
38: According to freud, the ego _____.
A. Unconditional positive regard/conditions of worth
B. Repression
C. Must balance the needs of the id, superego, and reality
D. Phallic
E. Id/ego
39: According to freud, the ego is guided by _____.
A. Rationalization
B. Reality
C. Pleasure
D. Repression
40: According to freud, the moral element of the personality is called the _____.
A. Superego
B. Ego
C. Id
D. None of these
41: According to hermann ebbinghaus, _____.
A. Motor Reproduction
B. Having a close, caring relationship with at least one parent
C. Being alert and mentally present for one's everyday activities
D. Most forgetting occurs soon after we originally learned something.
42: According to lazarus, hassles ________.
A. Do not arise from major life changes
B. Arise from major life changes
C. Nullify the stress that arises from major life changes
D. Are unrelated to stress
43: According to the language theory of noam chomsky, _____.
A. Champion ideas that other dismiss
B. Logical rules or definitions
C. Children are born
D. A phoneme; a morpheme
44: Achievement tests are to aptitude tests as _____ is to _____.
A. Knowledge; potential
B. Decreased reaction time
C. Asperger syndrome
D. Dyslexia
45: Across all cancers, _______ are due to inherited genetic mutations.
A. ​1-2%
B. 5-10%
C. 15-20%
D. 25-30%
46: Adler believed the primary motivation in life is to overcome _____.
A. Basic anxiety
B. Collective unconscious fears of the anima and animus
C. Feelings of superiority
D. Feelings of inferiority
47: After consumption, the concentration of caffeine is __________.
A. Elevated serum cholesterol level
B. After 3 consecutive days of regular use
C. It increases performance in some areas and decreases it in others.
D. Similar throughout the body
E. Cerebral stimulation and diuresis only
48: Aggression is the ____.
A. Proactive aggression
B. Zero-sum aggression
C. Self-defense
D. Reciprocal aggression
49: Alcohol decreases anxiety by ____.
A. Promotes chloride flow at the GABA-A receptor complex
B. Interfering with the production of serotonin
C. Brain areas associated with particular emotions vary considerably
D. None of these
50: All of the following are signs of physical dependence related to cocaine except ________.
A. Obsessing about where to buy it
B. Loss of control
C. Disregard for consequences of use
D. Compulsivity
51: All of the following are sources of stress except________.
A. Aggressio
B. Being under lots of pressure
C. Facing big changes
D. Worrying about something
52: All of the following variables, except for ________, would likely show a negative correlation.
A. Average income and the incidence of dental disease
B. Adult shoe size and IQ scores
C. The value of a car and the age of a car
D. Hours spent watching TV and grade-point average
53: Amphetamines are to ________ as barbiturates are to ________.
A. Hallucinogens; stimulants
B. Hallucinogens; depressants
C. Stimulants; hallucinogens
D. Stimulants; depressants
54: Amyloid is to ____ as tau is to ____.
A. Prefrontal cortex
B. Episodic memory
C. Confabulation
D. Plaques, tangles
55: An action potential involves na+ moving ________ the cell and k+ moving ________ the cell.
A. Substantia nigra
B. Epigenetics
C. Genotype; phenotype
D. Inside; outside
56: An example of a physiological need is _____ .
A. Hunger
B. A push to find food
C. As adults, adopted children tend to resemble their biological parents and to yearn for an affliction with them.
D. A preference for sweet and salty foods
57: An example of reduction ad absurdum is _____ .
A. A Modest Proposal
B. The Rape of the Lock
C. Horatian satire
D. Juvenalian satire
58: Any stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response without previous conditioning is a(n) _____.
A. Unconditioned Stimulus
B. Conditioned Stimulus
C. Grandmother
D. Spontaneous recovery
59: Aptitude tests are to ________ as achievement tests are to ________.
A. Future performance; current competence
B. Mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100
C. Accuracy;consistency
D. The average mathematics achievement test scores of Asian children are notably higher than those of North American children
60: Arthur jensen believed that ________.
A. Genetics was solely responsible for intelligence
B. Environment was solely responsible for intelligence
C. Intelligence level was determined by race
D. IQ tests do not take socioeconomic status into account
61: At higher doses, __________ behaves like pcp, causing feelings of power and invulnerability.
A. Marijuana
B. Morphine
C. Oxycodone
D. None of the above
62: Brain size is _____ correlated with intelligence.
A. Positively
B. Negatively
C. Both
D. None of these
63: Atrial depolarization causes the ________.
A. P wave
B. QRS complex
C. T wave
D. First heart sound
E. Quiescent period
64: Axons are to _____ as dendrites are to _____.
A. Inattention; blindness
B. Brainstem; norephorine
C. Sending, receiving
D. Receiving; sending
65: Axons are to _____ as dendrites are to hearing.
A. Hearing
B. Speaking
C. Receiving
D. Sending
66: Bandura's observational learning studies focused on how ____
A. Do not need to be learned; usually satisfy a biological need; and increase the probability of a response
B. The gambler won't be able to tell when the next pay off is going to occur; it increases the gambler's resistance to quitting; and the gambler will fear that the next player will hit the jackpot if he quits now.
C. Children learn aggressively behaviors by observing aggressive models
D. A decrease in the target behavior; an increase in aggression or passive aggressiveness; and an increase in avoidance behavior
67: Beta brain waves are ______, and alpha brain waves are ______.
A. Fast and high-amplitude; slow and rhythmic
B. Fast and low-amplitude; slow and rhythmic
C. Slow and high-amplitude; fast and rhythmic
D. Slow and low-amplitude; fast and rhythmic
E. Large and rhythmic; slow and rhythmic
68: Biology is to experience as ________ is to ________.
A. Experimentation; nurture
B. Nature; nurture
C. Social-cultural; nature
D. Nurture; unsurprising.
69: Chomsky believes we possess an inborn brain capacity to analyze language known as _____.
A. Telegraphic speech
B. Energy or glucose resources
C. Language acquisition device (LAD)
D. List all the uses of a pot.
70: Cimt is an operant-based treatment for paralysis developed by __________.
A. Taub
B. Extinction
C. ABA
D. Pre-term infants
71: Classical conditioning is to ____ responses as operant conditioning is to ____.
A. Voluntary; involuntary
B. Reflexive; involuntary
C. Involuntary; reflexive
D. Reflexive; voluntary
72: Classical conditioning is to operant conditioning as _____ are to _____.
A. Add; remove
B. Modeling; involuntary responses
C. Conditioned reinforcer; voluntary responses
D. Involuntary responses; voluntary responses
73: Cocaine affects the driver’s_______.
A. View of reality
B. Reaction time
C. Heightens impulsive behavior
D. All of the above
74: Cognitive therapy is to maladaptive _____ as behavioral therapy is to maladaptive _____.
A. Illogical patterns of thinking; maladaptive learning
B. Adaptive and maladaptive behaviors are learned.
C. Mini shocks to the brain that causes a seizure
D. Identify the core irrational beliefs that are causing distress.
75: Complete the analogy: incoming is to outgoing as ________ is to ________.
A. Dendrite; axon
B. Axon; Dendrite
C. Dendrite
D. Axon
76: Consciousness _____.
A. Is a relatively simple phenomenon
B. Exists on a continuum
C. Is an all-or-nothing phenomenon
D. Includes only those states in which someone is fully alert
77: Consciousness is to unconsciousness as ________ is to ________
A. Monism; dualism
B. Serial processing; parallel processing
C. Narcolepsy; sleep apnea
D. Latent content; manifest content
E. Delta wave; alpha wave
78: Continuity is to __________ as discontinuity is to __________.
A. Fluid; rigid
B. Gradual; abrupt
C. Maturation; nurture
D. Adulthood; childhood
79: Continuous reinforcement produces ________ learning and ________ extinction.
A. Variable; interval
B. Fast; fast
C. Intermittent; fast
D. Fast; negative
80: Dallas is a 10-year-old boy who has a mental age of 10 years. his iq would be ________.
A. 80
B. 100
C. 115
D. 130
81: Decreased sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus is known as ________.
A. Transduction
B. Difference threshold
C. Sensory adaptation
D. Inattentional blindness
82: Dendrite is to axon as _____ is to _____.
A. Receiving; sending
B. Electrical; chemical
C. Sending; receiving
D. Action potential; reuptake.
83: Discrimination is a negative _____, whereas prejudice is a negative _____.
A. Behavior; prejudice
B. Behavior; attitude
C. Attitude; Serotonin
D. Serotonin; prejudice
84: Dopamine stimulates the_______.
A. Pleasure center
B. Modulates mood
C. Affects the intellectual process
D. All of the above
85: Double-blind studies control for ________.
A. The experimenter effect
B. The placebo effect
C. The placebo effect & the experimenter effect
D. Extrinsic motivation
86: Drive is to ________ as incentive is to ________.
A. Push; pull
B. Instinct; push
C. Pull; push
D. Motivation; instinct
87: During the embryonic period, _____ is/are formed.
A. The neural tube alone
B. The arms and legs alone
C. The circulatory system alone
D. Every major body structure
88: Effortful processing is to automatic processing as ________ is to ________.
A. Short-term; semantic processing
B. Explicit memory; implicit memory
C. Implicit memory; explicit memory
D. Explicit memory; semantic processing
89: Electrical gradients lead to the ____.
A. General movement of ions into the neuron
B. General movement of ions out of the neuron
C. Movement of ions to areas having the same electrical charges
D. Movement of ions to areas having opposite electrical charges
90: Erikson believed that a crisis of self-identity is ______.
A. The choice and commitment to an occupational or life role
B. A normal part of development and can be a growth experience
C. Both psychological and physical health
D. Identity achievement
91: Experimental group is to control group as _____ is to _____.
A. Participant; no participant;
B. Treatment; no treatment
C. Operational; no operational
D. None of these
92: Experimental research is to correlational research what _____ is to _____.
A. Cause; association
B. Participant; no participant;
C. Treatment; no treatment
D. Operational; no operational
93: Facilitation is _________.
A. An interaction where species have positive effects on the survival and reproduction of other species without necessarily living in the direct and intimate contact of symbiosis
B. The inferior competitor will be eliminated
C. The rate of species immigration will equal the rate of species extinction
D. While dominant species are the most abundant, keystone species exert control through important roles or niches.
E. Transferred to humans from other animals
94: Feature detectors are specialized cells in the brain that _____.
A. Face and fingers
B. Filtering and analyzing incoming sensations before sending a neural message to the cortex
C. Detect and respond only to certain sensory information
D. Her muscles in her iris reduced the size of her pupil
95: Fixed action patterns are examples of _____.
A. Spontaneous behaviors that did not evolve
B. Space-constrained movements
C. Innate behaviors
D. Cost/benefit analyses
96: Fluid intelligence is to _____ as crystallized intelligence is to ________,
A. Speed of problem solving, acquired information
B. Practical intelligence, analytic intelligence
C. Emotional intelligence, practical intelligence
D. Applying knowledge, perceiving relationships among patterns
97: For natural selection to generate evolutionary change in a population ____.
A. There need not be any differences in the traits of individuals in that population
B. The change in gene frequencies must help the species in the long run
C. The differences must have a hereditary basis
D. The change in gene frequencies will probably be harmful to the species
98: Freud claimed that his discovery was ____.
A. Affect-laden events
B. His association with Breuer and a research grant to study with Charcot
C. A morphine overdose
D. A way to scientifically study the unconscious mind
E. Ideas or experiences she found disgusting
99: Freud is to _____ as the psychodynamic perspective is to the social-cognitive perspective.
A. Need for sex
B. Castration anxiety
C. Psychological growth
100: From a psychological perspective, the term cognition means ________.
A. Determining
B. Processing
C. Thinking
D. Understanding
List of General Psychology MCQ...
Available in:
General Psychology MCQs
