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 98 of 176

  • A. Inhibit action potentials from reaching the terminal buttons
  • B. Cause action potentials that were took weak to reach the terminal buttons
  • C. Fall below William's absolute threshold for sound
  • D. Cause more inhibitory than excitatory synapses

Explanation: A sound below a person's absolute threshold cannot be detected reliably, even though it is physically present.

Correct answer: Fall below William's absolute threshold for sound
  • A. warmth and pressure
  • B. warmth and pain
  • C. pressure and pain
  • D. cold and warmth

Explanation: The sensation of heat can result from stimulating adjacent cold and warmth receptors together, an effect known as the thermal grill…

Correct answer: cold and warmth
  • A. accommodation
  • B. subliminal stimulation
  • C. distraction
  • D. acupuncture

Explanation: Lamaze training commonly uses breathing, relaxation and focused attention to distract the mother from childbirth pain.

Correct answer: distraction
  • A. loudness
  • B. amplitude
  • C. wavelength
  • D. location

Explanation: The owl's asymmetric ears receive a sound at slightly different times and intensities, allowing the brain to determine where the sound…

Correct answer: location
  • A. a threshold
  • B. perceptual defense
  • C. a sensation
  • D. subliminal messages

Explanation: Limen means a sensory threshold, the point at which a stimulus becomes detectable or distinguishable.

Correct answer: a threshold
  • A. compression, rarefaction
  • B. rarefaction; compression
  • C. pitch; loudness
  • D. loudness; pitch

Explanation: Frequency determines perceived pitch, so higher frequency produces a higher pitch.

Correct answer: pitch; loudness
  • A. ciliary muscles
  • B. the cochlea
  • C. the olfactory bulb
  • D. the semicircular canals

Explanation: The semicircular canals are part of the vestibular system, which detects head movement and helps maintain balance.

Correct answer: the semicircular canals
  • A. Cochlea
  • B. Iris
  • C. Pupil
  • D. Cornea

Explanation: The cochlea belongs to the inner ear and is involved in hearing, not vision. The iris, pupil, and cornea are all structures of the eye.

Correct answer: Cochlea
  • A. Difference
  • B. Theoretical
  • C. Obtained
  • D. Absolute

Explanation: The absolute threshold is the weakest stimulus that can be detected reliably, usually defined as detectable on about half of the trials.

Correct answer: Absolute
  • A. Pressure of one had pushing on your head for 30 seconds
  • B. A puff of air blown in your face from 2 feet away
  • C. Water from a shower landing on your back with a velocity of one foot per second
  • D. The wing of a bee falling on your cheek from a distance of 1 centimeter

Explanation: A bee wing barely landing on the cheek is a classic example of a stimulus near the absolute threshold for touch.

Correct answer: The wing of a bee falling on your cheek from a distance of 1 centimeter
  • A. Only found in hearing
  • B. Non-shared perceptual distortions
  • C. Shared by most people
  • D. Only found in vision

Explanation: A hallucination is a perceptual experience without an external stimulus, whereas an illusion misinterprets a stimulus that is actually…

Correct answer: Non-shared perceptual distortions
  • A. Unknown
  • B. Threshold
  • C. Puzzle
  • D. Constant

Explanation: Weber's law states that the just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus, not a fixed absolute amount.

Correct answer: Constant
  • A. radioactive sugar
  • B. iodine
  • C. metal particles
  • D. xenon gas

Explanation: PET uses a radioactive tracer, commonly a glucose-like sugar such as fluorodeoxyglucose, to show areas of metabolic activity in the brain.

Correct answer: radioactive sugar
  • A. Behaviorism
  • B. Cognitive school of thought
  • C. Progressivism
  • D. Existaetialism

Explanation: Koffka and Köhler were major Gestalt psychologists, and Gestalt psychology explains perception and thinking as organized cognitive…

Correct answer: Cognitive school of thought
  • A. Psychologist
  • B. Physiologist
  • C. Physicist
  • D. Psychiatrist

Explanation: Pavlov was trained as a physiologist and studied digestion before his conditioning experiments made him famous in psychology.

Correct answer: Physiologist
  • A. Invention of bow and arrow
  • B. Invention of striking fire
  • C. Invention of phonetic alphabet
  • D. Invention of wheel

Explanation: In Morgan’s evolutionary scheme, the phonetic alphabet marked the transition from barbarism to civilization.

Correct answer: Invention of phonetic alphabet
  • A. A culture with in a culture
  • B. Something which breaks the rules
  • C. A way of life
  • D. None of the above

Explanation: A subculture is a smaller culture within a wider society, with its own values, norms, or lifestyle.

Correct answer: A culture with in a culture
  • A. Max Weber
  • B. W. E. B. DuBois
  • C. Herbert Spencer
  • D. Harriet Martineau

Explanation: Jane Addams and W. E. B. Du Bois were important early American sociologists who studied social reform, race, and inequality.

Correct answer: W. E. B. DuBois
  • A. organic solidarity
  • B. mechanical solidarity
  • C. verstehen
  • D. rationalization

Explanation: Durkheim called the interdependence created by specialized occupations organic solidarity.

Correct answer: organic solidarity
  • A. Social dynamics
  • B. Social statics
  • C. Positivism
  • D. Rationalization

Explanation: Social statics examines the structures and conditions that maintain social stability and order.

Correct answer: Social statics