All Free Psychology MCQs with Answers

Every Psychology question in the bank, across all chapters, each with the correct answer and a written explanation. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

3,519 questions · page 104 of 176

  • A. It is impossible to reach either of the two goals.
  • B. The two goals are equally desirable
  • C. One goal is more desirable than the other.
  • D. Neither goal is particularly desirable.

Explanation: An approach-approach conflict involves choosing between two desirable goals, so deciding is difficult because both have similar positive…

Correct answer: The two goals are equally desirable
  • A. The experience of emotion depends on autonomic arousal and on one's cognitive interpretation of that arousal.
  • B. Different patterns of autonomic activation lead to the experience of different emotions.
  • C. Emotion occurs when the thalamus sends signals simulitaneously to the cortex and to the autonomic nervous system.
  • D. Emotions develop because of their adaptive value.

Explanation: James-Lange theory links distinct emotions to distinct patterns of bodily or autonomic activation, such as changes in heart rate or muscle…

Correct answer: Different patterns of autonomic activation lead to the experience of different emotions.
  • A. 90
  • B. 75
  • C. 125
  • D. 100

Explanation: The traditional IQ formula is mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100.

Correct answer: 100
  • A. is a powerful influence and should be legally controlled.
  • B. is effective only when used in wide-screen movies.
  • C. is successful because the stimuli used register unconsciously.
  • D. has a weak effect, if any at all

Explanation: Research generally finds that subliminal messages produce weak, short-lived effects rather than powerful control over behaviour.

Correct answer: has a weak effect, if any at all
  • A. occur when we can first detect some stimulus
  • B. occur when we can detect the change in the intensity of a stimulus
  • C. depend on the energy necessary to stimulate a sensory receptor
  • D. are measured in judgmental Normal Differences

Explanation: A difference threshold, or just-noticeable difference, is the smallest change in stimulus intensity that a person can detect.

Correct answer: occur when we can detect the change in the intensity of a stimulus
  • A. mouth
  • B. hands & fingers
  • C. feet and toes
  • D. legs

Explanation: The motor cortex allocates disproportionately large areas to body parts requiring precise control, especially the hands and fingers, as…

Correct answer: hands & fingers
  • A. medulla
  • B. cerebellum
  • C. frontal cortex
  • D. limbic system

Explanation: Many addictive drugs activate the brain’s reward circuitry, which is closely associated with limbic structures such as the nucleus…

Correct answer: limbic system
  • A. accommodation
  • B. conduction hearing loss
  • C. loss of movement
  • D. nerve deafnessTake Psychology Courses

Explanation: The basilar membrane contains the cochlea’s sensory hair cells, so damage there disrupts neural transmission of sound and causes…

Correct answer: nerve deafnessTake Psychology Courses
  • A. neurotransmitters
  • B. agonists
  • C. genes
  • D. hormones

Explanation: Endocrine glands release hormones into the bloodstream, allowing chemical signals to act on distant target organs.

Correct answer: hormones
  • A. somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system
  • B. brain and the spinal cord
  • C. sympathetic division and the parasympathetic division
  • D. central nervous system and the peripheral nervous systemExplore Anatomy Models

Explanation: The nervous system is broadly divided into the central nervous system, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous…

Correct answer: central nervous system and the peripheral nervous systemExplore Anatomy Models
  • A. blinking in response to a light
  • B. imitating a friend's gesture
  • C. remembering a pleasant experience
  • D. rapid eye movements while sleepingExplore Anatomy Models

Explanation: Covert behavior is an internal activity that cannot be directly observed, such as remembering a pleasant experience.

Correct answer: remembering a pleasant experience
  • A. Ivan Pavlov
  • B. B.F. Skinner
  • C. Max wertheimer
  • D. John Watson

Explanation: Max Wertheimer was a founder of Gestalt psychology, which studies how the mind organizes experiences into meaningful wholes.

Correct answer: Max wertheimer
  • A. ossicle
  • B. nerve
  • C. conduction
  • D. auditoryTry Prep Courses

Explanation: Hearing aids amplify sound entering the ear, so they can help when conduction through the outer or middle ear is impaired.

Correct answer: nerve
  • A. sensory adaptation
  • B. stabilization of physiological nystagmus
  • C. the triggering of perceptual defense systems
  • D. release of endorphins

Explanation: Acupuncture may reduce pain by stimulating the release of endorphins, the body's natural opioid-like pain-relieving chemicals.

Correct answer: release of endorphins
  • A. mouth
  • B. shoulder
  • C. feet
  • D. legs

Explanation: The somatosensory cortex gives disproportionately large representation to highly sensitive areas, especially the lips, tongue, and other…

Correct answer: mouth
  • A. watching a TV game show
  • B. thinking about the answer to a contestant's
  • C. being sad that the contestant answered ly
  • D. wondering if there are any frozen waffles left in the freezer

Explanation: Overt behavior is directly observable, so watching a television game show qualifies.

Correct answer: watching a TV game show
  • A. the gestalt psychologists
  • B. the behaviorists
  • C. the structuralists
  • D. the functionalists

Explanation: Gestalt psychology explains perception by emphasizing organized patterns, so the whole is experienced as more than merely the sum of…

Correct answer: the gestalt psychologists
  • A. Each of them worked independently
  • B. Each of them were pioneers in the fields of psychology
  • C. Each of them founded a formal psychology laboratory
  • D. Each of them developed novel observational methods to study how the mind works
  • E. a, b, and dAccess Research Databases

Explanation: Ebbinghaus, Galton, and Freud worked independently, became pioneers in psychology, and introduced distinctive ways of investigating mental…

Correct answer: a, b, and dAccess Research Databases
  • A. Wundt
  • B. Fechner
  • C. Weber
  • D. Helmholtz

Explanation: Wilhelm Wundt is commonly called the founder of modern psychology because he established the first psychology laboratory at Leipzig in…

Correct answer: Wundt
  • A. Similarity
  • B. Gravity
  • C. Contiguity
  • D. Causality

Explanation: Hume identified resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect as fundamental principles of association.

Correct answer: Gravity