Psychology's Big Questions — Module Assessment

Question 1

In the 1953 study by Aserinsky and Kleitman, what did they link rapid eye movements during sleep to?

Accepted Answer

Vivid dreaming

Answer

Sleepwalking episodes

Answer

Snoring and breathing pauses

Answer

The moment of falling asleep

Question 2

Which statement best captures the hard problem of consciousness?

Accepted Answer

Explaining why physical brain processes produce felt, subjective experience at all

Answer

Measuring how quickly the brain switches between attention tasks

Answer

Determining exactly how many hours of sleep a person needs

Answer

Identifying which drugs alter states of awareness

Question 3

Why did the French government commission Alfred Binet's early intelligence test around 1905?

Accepted Answer

To identify schoolchildren who needed extra help

Answer

To select army officers for promotion

Answer

To rank adults by innate racial ability

Answer

To decide who could immigrate to France

Question 4

What did Charles Spearman's general factor, g, describe?

Accepted Answer

The tendency for people who do well on one mental task to do well on others

Answer

A separate intelligence for music and movement

Answer

The exact age at which intelligence stops developing

Answer

A guarantee of career and life success

Question 5

Which statement best reflects the current scientific view of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Accepted Answer

The strong version is largely rejected, but modest effects of language on thought have support.

Answer

The strong deterministic version is confirmed, so language sets hard limits on thought.

Answer

Both the strong and weak versions have been fully disproven.

Answer

Language has no measurable effect on thought whatsoever.

Question 6

In his 1959 review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior, Noam Chomsky argued that:

Accepted Answer

Reinforcement alone cannot explain acquisition, pointing to an innate capacity for grammar.

Answer

Simple reinforcement fully explains how children learn language.

Answer

Language is learned only through cultural imitation with no innate basis.

Answer

Children cannot produce sentences they have not previously heard.

Question 7

What is the main problem with a just-so story in evolutionary psychology?

Accepted Answer

It can be constructed to fit any outcome, so no evidence could prove it wrong.

Answer

It relies on fossils that are too old to date accurately.

Answer

It applies only to physical traits, never to behavior.

Answer

It always contradicts the theory of natural selection.

Question 8

The concept of biological preparedness, applied to fears of snakes and heights, was proposed by Martin Seligman in 1971 and holds that:

Accepted Answer

We are primed to acquire certain ancestral fears more readily than modern ones.

Answer

All fears are learned equally quickly regardless of the object.

Answer

Humans are born with a fully fixed, unchangeable fear of snakes.

Answer

Fear of modern hazards like cars is learned faster than fear of snakes.

Question 9

In the classic underwater-scene studies, what difference in perception is typically reported between Western and East Asian participants?

Accepted Answer

Western participants tend to focus first on the central object, East Asian participants more on context and relationships

Answer

Western participants recall more colours while East Asian participants recall more shapes

Answer

East Asian participants cannot see the background at all

Answer

There is no measurable difference once eyesight is controlled for

Question 10

What did Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan (2010) actually argue about WEIRD samples?

Accepted Answer

That such samples are unusually unrepresentative, so claims of universality must be tested rather than assumed

Answer

That all psychology based on Western samples is false and should be discarded

Answer

That Western students are the ideal baseline for human nature

Answer

That culture has no measurable effect on cognition

Question 11

Which applied field is most directly concerned with hiring, motivation, and team performance in the workplace?

Accepted Answer

Industrial-organizational psychology

Answer

Forensic psychology

Answer

Health psychology

Answer

Sport psychology

Question 12

How should the 'Hawthorne effect' from the Western Electric studies be described today?

Accepted Answer

As a real but contested idea whose size and cause were later questioned by reanalyses

Answer

As a precisely measured law proving observation always raises productivity

Answer

As a debunked hoax with no basis in any real research

Answer

As a proven result showing lighting is the main driver of output

Question 13

The Open Science Collaboration's 2015 project attempted to replicate 100 psychology studies. What did it find, and what was its main legacy?

Accepted Answer

Fewer than half reproduced the original effect, which accelerated reforms like preregistration and open data.

Answer

Nearly all studies replicated, so no reforms were needed.

Answer

It proved psychology is not a real science and should be abandoned.

Answer

It found the studies were fraudulent, leading to mass retractions.

Question 14

A friend shares a small brain-imaging study and says it "proves" what people feel. What is the most thoughtful response?

Accepted Answer

Note it as promising but unproven, and ask about sample size, preregistration, and replication.

Answer

Accept it fully, since brain scans directly reveal thoughts and feelings.

Answer

Dismiss all of psychology because one study cannot be trusted.

Answer

Assume big data and AI have already settled the question.