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EPPP Part 2 Skills study materials
EPPP Part 2 Skills study resources

EPPP Part 2 Skills practice questions

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Question 1Biological Bases of Behavior

A client sustains damage to the left precentral gyrus. Which deficit is most directly predicted by the homunculus organization of the primary motor cortex?

  1. Bilateral loss of vibration sense in the legs
  2. Ipsilateral loss of pain and temperature sensation
  3. Contralateral weakness of the hand and face Correct answer.
  4. Homonymous hemianopia of the right visual field

Explanation

The primary motor cortex is organized somatotopically, with hand and face regions on the lateral convexity near the precentral gyrus, and it controls the contralateral side of the body. A left-sided lesion therefore produces right-sided weakness with the hand and face most affected. Sensory and visual findings reflect damage to postcentral or occipital regions instead.

Question 2Biological Bases of Behavior

Which neurotransmitter is released at the neuromuscular junction to trigger skeletal muscle contraction?

  1. Dopamine
  2. Acetylcholine Correct answer.
  3. Glutamate
  4. GABA

Explanation

Motor neurons release acetylcholine onto nicotinic receptors on the motor end plate, producing depolarization and muscle contraction. Acetylcholinesterase then terminates the signal. The other transmitters listed act elsewhere in the nervous system.

Question 3Biological Bases of Behavior

A patient shows impaired formation of new episodic memories with preserved recall of childhood events and intact procedural learning. This pattern most strongly implicates which structure?

  1. The cerebellar vermis
  2. Bilateral dorsomedial thalamus sparing the mammillary bodies
  3. The right parietal association cortex
  4. Bilateral medial temporal lobe including the hippocampus Correct answer.

Explanation

Bilateral medial temporal damage produces anterograde amnesia for declarative information while remote memories and procedural skill learning are relatively spared. The hippocampus and adjacent cortices are required to consolidate new episodic memories. Procedural learning depends on basal ganglia and cerebellar circuits.

Question 4Biological Bases of Behavior

A drug that blocks reuptake of serotonin would be expected to produce which acute change at the synapse?

  1. Reduced firing of serotonergic neurons through autoreceptor blockade
  2. Prolonged presence of serotonin in the synaptic cleft Correct answer.
  3. Increased degradation of serotonin by monoamine oxidase
  4. Direct antagonism of postsynaptic serotonin receptors

Explanation

Reuptake inhibitors bind the serotonin transporter, so released transmitter stays in the cleft longer and stimulates postsynaptic receptors more. Clinical effects lag because downstream adaptation occurs over weeks. They do not act by degrading transmitter or blocking postsynaptic receptors.

Question 5Biological Bases of Behavior

Which EEG pattern is the hallmark of stage N2 non-REM sleep?

  1. Low-voltage, mixed-frequency activity with rapid eye movements
  2. High-amplitude delta waves occupying most of the epoch
  3. Alpha rhythm with eyes closed and relaxed wakefulness
  4. Sleep spindles and K-complexes Correct answer.

Explanation

Stage N2 sleep is defined by sleep spindles and K-complexes against a mixed-frequency background. Slow-wave sleep (N3) requires delta activity in a substantial portion of the epoch, and REM shows low-voltage mixed-frequency activity with rapid eye movements.

Question 6Biological Bases of Behavior

A client with a lesion to the right parietal lobe is asked to copy a drawing. Which error is most consistent with this lesion?

  1. Failing to recognize familiar faces
  2. Producing fluent but meaningless speech
  3. Omitting the left half of the figure Correct answer.
  4. Substituting words for objects

Explanation

Right posterior parietal damage commonly produces contralateral neglect, so the left side of space and of copied figures is omitted. The right hemisphere attends to the left hemispace, and lesions impair that bias. Language and face recognition depend on other regions.

Question 7Biological Bases of Behavior

Which structure serves as the primary relay for sensory pathways traveling to the cerebral cortex, with the exception of olfaction?

  1. Amygdala
  2. Thalamus Correct answer.
  3. Hypothalamus
  4. Basal ganglia

Explanation

The thalamus relays sensory information from the periphery to corresponding cortical areas; smell reaches cortex without this obligatory thalamic relay. The hypothalamus regulates homeostasis and endocrine function, while the basal ganglia and amygdala serve motor and affective functions.

Question 8Biological Bases of Behavior

After a stroke affecting the left frontal operculum, a client can understand conversation but speaks in effortful, telegraphic utterances. This presentation is most consistent with which aphasia?

  1. Wernicke aphasia
  2. Anomic aphasia
  3. Conduction aphasia
  4. Broca aphasia Correct answer.

Explanation

Broca aphasia follows damage to the left inferior frontal region and produces nonfluent speech with relatively preserved comprehension. Repetition is also impaired but the defining feature is effortful, agrammatic output. Wernicke aphasia is fluent with poor comprehension.

Question 9Biological Bases of Behavior

Which brain imaging method measures metabolic activity by detecting regional cerebral blood flow using a radioactive tracer, and is commonly used in research on cognitive task activation?

  1. Electroencephalography
  2. Magnetoencephalography
  3. Transcranial magnetic stimulation
  4. Positron emission tomography Correct answer.

Explanation

PET uses radiolabeled tracers such as oxygen-15 or fluorodeoxyglucose to quantify regional blood flow or glucose metabolism during cognitive tasks. EEG and MEG record electrical or magnetic signals with excellent temporal but limited spatial resolution, and TMS modulates rather than measures activity.

Question 10Biological Bases of Behavior

A client taking a monoamine oxidase inhibitor eats aged cheese and develops a hypertensive crisis. Which mechanism best explains this reaction?

  1. Reduced serotonin synthesis from dietary amino acid competition
  2. Increased synaptic norepinephrine from blocked degradation of dietary tyramine Correct answer.
  3. Enhanced GABA release producing sympathetic activation
  4. Direct agonist action of tyramine at dopamine autoreceptors

Explanation

Aged cheese contains tyramine, which normally is degraded by monoamine oxidase. When that enzyme is inhibited, tyramine displaces stored catecholamines and synaptic norepinephrine rises, producing a hypertensive crisis. This is the classic cheese effect.

Question 11Biological Bases of Behavior

Which brain region is most critically involved in consolidating fear conditioning and attaching emotional salience to otherwise neutral stimuli?

  1. Cerebellum
  2. Corpus callosum
  3. Amygdala Correct answer.
  4. Medulla

Explanation

The amygdala, especially the basolateral complex, is required for acquiring and expressing conditioned fear and for tagging stimuli with affective significance. The cerebellum contributes to motor conditioning, but emotional learning depends on the amygdala. The medulla and corpus callosum serve autonomic and interhemispheric functions.

Question 12Biological Bases of Behavior

A researcher finds that stimulating a specific hypothalamic nucleus causes an animal to stop eating even when food is available. This nucleus is most likely which of the following?

  1. Ventromedial hypothalamus Correct answer.
  2. Suprachiasmatic nucleus
  3. Paraventricular nucleus
  4. Lateral hypothalamus

Explanation

The ventromedial hypothalamus is classically associated with satiety, so stimulation reduces feeding while lesions produce hyperphagia. The lateral hypothalamus is linked to feeding initiation, and lesions there cause anorexia. The suprachiasmatic nucleus governs circadian rhythms.

Question 13Biological Bases of Behavior

Which statement accurately describes the role of the corpus callosum in split-brain research?

  1. It relays visual information from the retina to the thalamus and its severance causes blindness
  2. It carries motor commands from cortex to the spinal cord and its severance causes paralysis
  3. It connects the two hemispheres and its severance prevents transfer of lateralized information between them Correct answer.
  4. It regulates arousal through the reticular activating system and its severance causes coma

Explanation

The corpus callosum is the major commissural pathway linking homologous cortical areas. When severed, information presented to one hemisphere cannot be shared with the other, producing classic disconnection effects such as a left-hand object being unnamed. It is not a descending motor or sensory relay tract.

Question 14Biological Bases of Behavior

Which of the following best describes the functional role of mirror neurons as originally studied in macaque premotor cortex?

  1. They suppress motor output during observation of others
  2. They fire only when the animal is at rest and never during movement
  3. They fire during both execution and observation of a specific goal-directed action Correct answer.
  4. They encode only the identity of visual objects regardless of action

Explanation

Mirror neurons in area F5 discharge when the monkey performs a particular action and also when it observes the same action performed by another. This dual response suggests a role in action understanding and imitation. They are defined by action-specific matching, not general object coding or rest.

Question 15Biological Bases of Behavior

A client's resting tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia are linked to degeneration of dopaminergic neurons projecting to which structure?

  1. Striatum Correct answer.
  2. Hippocampus
  3. Medial geniculate nucleus
  4. Superior colliculus

Explanation

Parkinson disease results from loss of substantia nigra pars compacta neurons that project to the striatum, disrupting basal ganglia circuitry and producing tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. The hippocampus, colliculus, and medial geniculate serve memory, orienting, and audition.

Question 16Biological Bases of Behavior

Which description correctly characterizes the refractory period of a neuron?

  1. A time when neurotransmitter release is enhanced by calcium influx
  2. A phase in which the resting membrane potential becomes more negative than usual
  3. A period of sustained depolarization that increases the amplitude of subsequent spikes
  4. A brief interval after an action potential during which a second spike is difficult or impossible to elicit Correct answer.

Explanation

After an action potential, sodium channel inactivation and potassium efflux produce absolute and relative refractory periods, limiting firing frequency and enforcing one-way propagation. The refractory period does not amplify spikes or increase transmitter release. It reflects channel state rather than a hyperpolarized resting potential alone.

Question 17Biological Bases of Behavior

A client with damage to the right occipitotemporal region can identify objects by touch but cannot recognize familiar faces by sight. This finding most specifically illustrates which condition?

  1. Prosopagnosia Correct answer.
  2. Visual agnosia for objects generally
  3. Hemineglect
  4. Optic ataxia

Explanation

Prosopagnosia is a selective impairment in recognizing familiar faces despite intact visual acuity and general object recognition, often from right fusiform damage. Preserved tactile identification indicates the deficit is visual and face-specific. Neglect and optic ataxia involve spatial attention and visually guided reaching.

Question 18Biological Bases of Behavior

Which sequence correctly orders the major events of chemical synaptic transmission?

  1. Transmitter binds receptors, vesicles fuse, calcium enters, action potential arrives, transmitter is cleared
  2. Action potential reaches terminal, calcium enters, vesicles fuse, transmitter binds receptors, transmitter is cleared Correct answer.
  3. Vesicles fuse, action potential arrives, calcium enters, transmitter is cleared, receptors bind transmitter
  4. Calcium enters terminal, action potential arrives, receptors bind transmitter, vesicles fuse, transmitter is cleared

Explanation

Depolarization of the terminal opens voltage-gated calcium channels; calcium triggers vesicle fusion and exocytosis; transmitter diffuses across the cleft and binds postsynaptic receptors; then reuptake or enzymatic degradation clears it. The other sequences place calcium entry or receptor binding before the events that must precede them.

Question 19Biological Bases of Behavior

Which method provides the best temporal resolution for tracking the time course of cortical responses to a stimulus?

  1. Electroencephalography Correct answer.
  2. Structural magnetic resonance imaging
  3. Positron emission tomography
  4. Computed tomography

Explanation

EEG records neural activity on a millisecond scale, making it well suited to tracking rapid cortical dynamics such as event-related potentials. Structural MRI and CT provide anatomy with no comparable temporal resolution, and PET integrates metabolic signal over tens of seconds.

Question 20Biological Bases of Behavior

A lesion to the medial septal area reduces hippocampal theta rhythm and produces spatial memory deficits in a rodent. Which interpretation best fits this finding?

  1. The hippocampus generates all of its own theta independent of subcortical input
  2. Cholinergic and GABAergic septohippocampal projections modulate hippocampal function needed for spatial learning Correct answer.
  3. Theta rhythm is unrelated to memory and reflects only motor activity
  4. Spatial memory is localized exclusively to the cerebellum

Explanation

The medial septum supplies cholinergic and GABAergic input that paces hippocampal theta and supports spatial working memory. Disrupting this projection impairs performance on maze tasks, indicating that subcortical modulation is necessary for normal hippocampal function. The cerebellum is not the seat of spatial memory.

Question 21Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client who has just been told she has a terminal illness says, "I feel completely numb, like this isn't really happening to me." Within the Kübler-Ross framework, this response is best described as which stage?

  1. Anger
  2. Denial Correct answer.
  3. Bargaining
  4. Acceptance

Explanation

Kübler-Ross described denial as an early reaction in which the person cannot yet integrate the reality of the loss, often expressed as numbness or a sense that the news is unreal. Anger, bargaining, and acceptance involve different affective and cognitive features.

Question 22Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

In Beck's cognitive model of depression, the term that refers to an organized set of beliefs and assumptions that filters and shapes how information about the self and world is processed is:

  1. Arbitrary inference
  2. Cognitive schema Correct answer.
  3. Cognitive triad
  4. Automatic thought

Explanation

A schema is the underlying cognitive structure that organizes experience and guides interpretation; Beck held that depressed individuals have negatively biased schemas activated by stressors. Automatic thoughts are the surface-level products of schemas, and the cognitive triad is a content pattern rather than the structure itself.

Question 23Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client who has practiced relaxation repeatedly while imagining progressively more anxiety-provoking scenes can now face the actual feared situation with much less distress. This outcome is best explained by which principle?

  1. Reciprocal inhibition Correct answer.
  2. Spontaneous recovery
  3. Stimulus generalization
  4. Higher-order conditioning

Explanation

Wolpe's principle of reciprocal inhibition holds that an anxiety response cannot coexist with an incompatible response such as relaxation, so pairing them weakens the anxiety. Systematic desensitization is built on this mechanism.

Question 24Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

In Baddeley's working memory model, the component responsible for allocating attentional resources and coordinating the other subsystems is the:

  1. Visuospatial sketchpad
  2. Phonological loop
  3. Central executive Correct answer.
  4. Episodic buffer

Explanation

The central executive is the attention-controlling component that directs resources and coordinates the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. The episodic buffer was later added as a limited-capacity interface with long-term memory, not the controller.

Question 25Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A person is first conditioned to blink at a tone paired with an air puff, and later a light is repeatedly paired with the tone alone until the light also elicits blinking. This second phase illustrates:

  1. Higher-order conditioning Correct answer.
  2. Contingency reversal
  3. Blocking
  4. Latent inhibition

Explanation

Higher-order conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response through association with an already established conditioned stimulus rather than with the unconditioned stimulus. The light works through the tone, not through the air puff.

Question 26Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

In signal detection theory, a respondent's tendency to say "yes, I detected the signal" when uncertain is captured by which parameter?

  1. d-prime
  2. Response bias (criterion) Correct answer.
  3. Weber fraction
  4. Just noticeable difference

Explanation

Signal detection theory separates sensitivity, indexed by d-prime, from the decision criterion or response bias, which reflects willingness to report a signal. A liberal criterion raises hits but also false alarms without changing sensitivity.

Question 27Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, performance on a difficult, complex task is typically optimal at:

  1. A moderate-to-high arousal level
  2. A moderate-to-low arousal level Correct answer.
  3. Arousal level has no reliable relationship to performance
  4. The highest possible arousal level

Explanation

The Yerkes-Dodson law describes an inverted-U relationship in which optimal arousal is lower for complex or difficult tasks and higher for simple tasks. Complex tasks therefore suffer when arousal is high.

Question 28Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client reports that after a minor disagreement she immediately thinks, "He is going to leave me," and feels panic. In cognitive therapy terms, this cognition is best classified as:

  1. A core belief about being unlovable
  2. An automatic thought Correct answer.
  3. An intermediate assumption
  4. A compensatory strategy

Explanation

Automatic thoughts are the surface-level, situation-specific cognitions that arise quickly and drive emotional reactions; they are the primary target of thought records. Core beliefs and intermediate assumptions are deeper, more cross-situational levels of cognition.

Question 29Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client with panic disorder is taught to intentionally bring on the physical sensations he fears (for example, by hyperventilating) so that he learns the sensations are not dangerous. This technique is called:

  1. In vivo exposure
  2. Behavioral activation
  3. Response prevention
  4. Interoceptive exposure Correct answer.

Explanation

Interoceptive exposure deliberately induces feared bodily sensations to extinguish catastrophic misinterpretations of them, a core component of panic control treatment. In vivo exposure targets external situations instead.

Question 30Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

Research on the mere exposure effect predicts that a client's liking for a therapist is most likely to increase with:

  1. The therapist disclosing personal problems
  2. Learning that the therapist shares the client's values
  3. Repeated neutral exposure to the therapist Correct answer.
  4. A single highly emotional first session

Explanation

Zajonc's mere exposure effect holds that repeated, affectively neutral exposure to a stimulus increases liking for it. The effect is strongest when initial exposure is not strongly negative and no evaluative pressure is present.

Question 31Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client who is generally anxious shows heightened physiological reactivity to a loud tone that does not habituate as quickly as in non-anxious individuals. This pattern is best described as:

  1. Enhanced prepulse inhibition
  2. Reduced skin conductance lability
  3. Slower habituation of the orienting response Correct answer.
  4. Reduced orienting response

Explanation

Anxiety is associated with a more sustained orienting response and slower habituation to repeated neutral stimuli, reflecting overreactivity to novelty. Prepulse inhibition, by contrast, is typically reduced rather than enhanced in anxiety disorders.

Question 32Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

According to Lazarus's appraisal theory, a client's emotional reaction to a job evaluation depends primarily on:

  1. The order in which the evaluation was scheduled
  2. Cognitive appraisal of the event's relevance and coping resources Correct answer.
  3. Physiological arousal alone
  4. The objective content of the evaluation

Explanation

Lazarus held that emotion arises from primary appraisal of whether an event is relevant and threatening and secondary appraisal of whether one can cope. The same event can therefore produce different emotions across individuals.

Question 33Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client describes feeling "flooded" and cannot recall details of a traumatic event even though she remembers neutral events from the same period well. This pattern is most consistent with:

  1. Proactive interference
  2. Source amnesia
  3. Retroactive interference
  4. State-dependent retrieval Correct answer.

Explanation

State-dependent retrieval refers to better recall when the retrieval context matches the encoding state; memories encoded in intense arousal may be less accessible in a calm state. Interference effects would not selectively spare neutral events from the same period.

Question 34Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

In a client who is learning to manage anger, the therapist points out that noticing the early physical signs of rising anger allows the client to use coping skills before arousal peaks. This rationale reflects which concept from the Yerkes-Dodson framework?

  1. Optimal arousal is identical across task types
  2. Performance declines when arousal exceeds the optimum for the task Correct answer.
  3. Low arousal always impairs performance
  4. Arousal and performance are independent

Explanation

The inverted-U model predicts that once arousal passes the optimal point for a given task, performance deteriorates; intervening early keeps arousal below that threshold. This is why early cue detection is emphasized in anger management.

Question 35Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client reports that he keeps helping his partner despite feeling resentful, and that his partner's affection seems to increase after he gives in. From an operant perspective, the client's helping behavior is being maintained by:

  1. Negative reinforcement
  2. Extinction
  3. Punishment
  4. Positive reinforcement Correct answer.

Explanation

Positive reinforcement is the addition of a desirable consequence, here the partner's affection, that increases the preceding behavior. Negative reinforcement would involve removal of an aversive state rather than the addition of affection.

Question 36Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client insists that because her supervisor praised one report, the supervisor must consider her the best employee in the department. This reasoning error is best labeled:

  1. Overgeneralization Correct answer.
  2. Magnification
  3. Mind reading
  4. Personalization

Explanation

Overgeneralization is drawing a broad, sweeping conclusion from a single piece of evidence. The client moves from one instance of praise to a global judgment about her standing.

Question 37Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

In classical conditioning of a fear response, presenting the conditioned stimulus repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus eventually reduces the conditioned response. This procedure is:

  1. Counterconditioning
  2. Sensitization
  3. Extinction Correct answer.
  4. Blocking

Explanation

Extinction is the decline of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus. Counterconditioning differs because it pairs the cue with a response that competes with fear.

Question 38Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A therapist working with a perfectionistic client helps her notice and revise the rule "If my work is not flawless, I am a failure." In Beck's model, this rule is best described as:

  1. An automatic thought
  2. A core belief about the world
  3. An intermediate belief or assumption Correct answer.
  4. A compensatory behavior

Explanation

Conditional rules and assumptions sit at the intermediate level and link core beliefs to specific situations; they are prime targets because they are more accessible and modifiable than core beliefs. Automatic thoughts are the situation-specific cognitions these rules generate.

Question 39Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client who was recently in a car accident shows a strong startle response to a door slamming and generalizes this fear to many loud sounds. This pattern primarily illustrates:

  1. Stimulus generalization Correct answer.
  2. Latent inhibition
  3. Stimulus discrimination
  4. Habituation

Explanation

Stimulus generalization is the spread of a conditioned response to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus, which explains fear of many loud sounds after one traumatic pairing. Discrimination would involve responding only to the specific original sound.

Question 40Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

On a dichotic listening task, a participant can readily report the content of the attended message but typically notices only physical features of the unattended message. This finding is most consistent with:

  1. Sternberg's serial scanning
  2. Broadbent's filter model Correct answer.
  3. Tulving's encoding specificity
  4. Atkinson-Shiffrin sensory register

Explanation

Broadbent's filter model proposes early selection in which unattended channels are filtered on physical characteristics before semantic analysis. This accounts for the ability to report pitch or voice of the unattended message but not its meaning.

Question 41Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client reports intense shame after making a minor error, saying, "Everyone saw that I am fundamentally defective." From a cognitive-affective perspective, this is best understood as:

  1. A global, stable, internal attribution Correct answer.
  2. A benign reappraisal
  3. A specific, unstable, external attribution
  4. An avoidance-based coping response

Explanation

Attributions that are global, stable, and internal are associated with shame and depression-prone thinking because they frame a single event as reflecting a lasting personal defect. Specific, unstable, external attributions would buffer against shame.

Question 42Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client in exposure therapy for a specific phobia shows a return of fear after a change of context following successful treatment. This phenomenon is best described as:

  1. Reinstatement
  2. Renewal Correct answer.
  3. Spontaneous recovery
  4. Generalization

Explanation

Renewal is the return of a conditioned fear response when testing occurs in a context different from the one in which extinction took place. Reinstatement instead involves the return of fear after an unsignaled presentation of the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 43Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

In a study of memory, participants who learn material in one mood and are tested in the same mood outperform those tested in a different mood, but the effect is smaller for free recall than for mood-congruent encoding. This pattern best supports:

  1. Mood-congruent memory
  2. Context-independent encoding
  3. Mood-dependent retrieval Correct answer.
  4. State-dependent learning being unrelated to affect

Explanation

Mood-dependent retrieval refers to better recall when the mood at retrieval matches the mood at encoding. Mood-congruent memory is a different phenomenon in which material consistent with current mood is preferentially learned and recalled.

Question 44Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A client's therapist notes that the client's belief that "my partner will abandon me" persists despite repeated disconfirming evidence and is resistant to logical challenge. In Beck's terms, this feature is best explained by:

  1. Insufficient homework completion
  2. Schema maintenance through selective processing of confirming information Correct answer.
  3. Poor therapeutic alliance
  4. Lack of motivation to change

Explanation

Once activated, schemas bias attention, interpretation, and memory toward schema-consistent information, which maintains the belief despite disconfirming evidence. This is a cognitive-processing explanation rather than a motivational or alliance issue.

Question 45Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A researcher finds that participants who reappraise an emotional film as a challenge show lower physiological reactivity than those who suppress their expressions. This result is best interpreted as evidence that:

  1. Suppression enhances memory for the film
  2. Reappraisal alters the appraisal stage before emotional response generation Correct answer.
  3. Reappraisal and suppression have identical effects on physiology
  4. Suppression reduces experiential but not physiological responses

Explanation

Reappraisal operates antecedent to the emotional response by changing the meaning assigned to the situation, which reduces physiological arousal. Suppression is a response-focused strategy that often increases physiological effort and impairs memory.

Question 46Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

A therapist notices that a client consistently recalls emotionally charged events from childhood with far more sensory detail than ordinary daily events, and the therapist attributes this to how emotional arousal at encoding influences later retrieval. Which concept from cognitive-affective psychology best accounts for this pattern?

  1. Flashbulb memory, in which surprising and emotionally arousing events are encoded with vivid incidental detail that feels highly accurate Correct answer.
  2. Levels-of-processing effect, in which semantic elaboration at encoding produces stronger retention than shallow processing
  3. State-dependent retrieval, in which memory is facilitated when the person's internal state at recall matches the state at encoding
  4. Retroactive interference, in which newly learned material disrupts retrieval of previously stored information

Explanation

Emotionally arousing, surprising events can be stored with vivid perceptual and contextual detail, a pattern traditionally labeled flashbulb memory; such recollections feel exceptionally clear even though their objective accuracy is often imperfect. The vividness the client reports reflects arousal-enhanced encoding rather than a match between internal states at learning and recall, and it is not explained by depth of semantic processing or by interference from newer learning.

Question 47Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior

A psychologist is asked to evaluate whether a selection test unfairly disadvantages applicants from a particular cultural group. According to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, which concept best captures the judgment that a test score means the same thing across groups?

  1. Face validity as judged by experts
  2. Test-retest reliability coefficients
  3. Construct validity evidence across groups Correct answer.
  4. Internal consistency of the total scale

Explanation

The Standards frame fairness largely as a validity issue: a test is fair when the inferences drawn from scores hold across relevant groups. Evidence that the construct is measured equivalently across groups is therefore central, while reliability estimates and expert impressions of item appearance do not establish cross-group meaning equivalence.

Question 48Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior

A researcher finds that a cognitive test predicts job performance well in the majority group but poorly in a minority group, even though mean scores are similar. This pattern most directly concerns which psychometric property?

  1. Differential item functioning
  2. Predictive bias Correct answer.
  3. Construct underrepresentation
  4. Measurement invariance

Explanation

Predictive bias exists when a test's criterion-related validity differs across groups, meaning the same score predicts outcomes differently. Measurement invariance and differential item functioning concern the internal structure or item-level behavior of the test rather than the score-criterion relationship.

Question 49Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior

In cross-cultural research, which procedure is designed to test whether a scale measures the same construct in the same way across cultural groups before comparing group means?

  1. Random assignment to conditions
  2. Spearman-Brown correction
  3. Counterbalancing of item order
  4. Measurement invariance testing Correct answer.

Explanation

Measurement invariance testing examines whether the factor structure, loadings, and intercepts of a scale are equivalent across groups. Only when invariance is supported can observed mean differences be interpreted as genuine differences on the construct.

Question 50Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior

A clinician interprets a low score on an individually administered intelligence test for a recent immigrant client whose schooling was limited and who is unfamiliar with the testing format. Which interpretation is most defensible?

  1. The score should be discarded entirely because intelligence cannot be measured cross-culturally
  2. The score is a pure estimate of innate ability and should be reported without qualification
  3. The score may underestimate ability because of construct-irrelevant variance from cultural and educational factors Correct answer.
  4. The score is valid because the test was normed on a large national sample

Explanation

Test scores are vulnerable to construct-irrelevant variance when a client's background differs from the normative sample's assumptions about language, schooling, and test-taking familiarity. Interpreting the score cautiously and gathering converging information is more defensible than treating it as a direct index of ability.