AMSCO Questions AP Psychology
Mastering Introductory Psychology Your Essential Study Guide
Welcome to your comprehensive guide for understanding the fundamental concepts of introductory
psychology This guide breaks down key ideas into clear, digestible questions and answers to help you
study efficiently and ace your exams.
Study Tip: Active recall is a powerful study technique. Try answering the questions in this guide
without looking at the answers first, then check your work. This helps solidify your understanding!
1. Schools of Thought in Psychology
1. Which of the following thinkers believed that people were born as blank slates and experiences
formed their personality? Answer: Locke
2. Samantha believes all behavior originates from unconscious forces developed primarily in
childhood and focused primarily on sex and aggression. With which approach to psychology is
Samantha most likely to agree? Answer: Psychoanalytic
3. With which of the following statements would a behaviorist most likely agree? Answer:
Psychology can only study what we observe, because this is all that can be empirically
tested
4. Katelyn is struggling in school and fighting frequently with her parents. She is not sure about her
future and what she wants to study in college. With which of the following statements about
Katelyn would a humanistic psychologist most likely agree? Answer: Katelyn will work to the
best of her ability to get her life back on track
5. How does the humanistic approach to psychology differ from the psychoanalytic approach?
Answer: The humanistic approach focuses on striving to be one's best, while the
, psychoanalytic approach examines unconscious forces and the importance of sex and
aggression
6. Edward Titchener followed the structuralist approach to examine human consciousness. With
which of the following would he agree? Answer: We can use the process of introspection by
asking people about their conscious experience to specific stimuli
7. "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in
and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I
might select...regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his
ancestors" To whom would this be attributed? Answer: John Watson
8. Benjamin helps design cars that are easy to drive and intuitive to use. It is most likely that
Benjamin is engaged in which of the following fields of psychology? Answer: Human Factors
9. Denise just transferred from another school. She is having trouble adjusting to her new
environment because she is very shy and is finding it difficult to make new friends. Which of the
following types of psychologist might best help Denise? Answer: Counseling
10.Which of the following best describes how psychiatrists most often treat patients? Answer:
Through medication management
2. Research Methods in Psychology
11.A researcher wants to determine if studying for a half hour each night for a week for an exam is
better than studying for three and a half hours on Sunday evening for an exam on Monday.
Researchers will randomly select participants into either massed or distributed study groups.
They will also measure the outcome of each unit exam. What is the dependent variable? Answer:
The score on each exam
12.An experimenter wants to determine the impact of caffeine on attention span. Which of the
following best represents random assignment in experiments? Answer: Placing participants
into either the caffeine or non-caffeine group without any set pattern.
, 13.A researcher wants to investigate a unique brain tumor in a twelve-year-old child to see how the
tumor affects the child's behavior. The researcher will conduct a battery of cognitive and physical
tests with the child over the course of six months to account for potential changes in the tumor's
size and impact. Which of the following would be the best research method to study this
situation? Answer: Individual Case Study
14.A researcher determined that the less practice teenagers had driving, the more moving violations
they received during the first year after receiving their driver's license. This finding is an example
of which of the following? Answer: A negative correlation
15.A graduate student wants to conduct a study to investigate people's opinions regarding the death
penalty. Because he has not yet taken his research methods course, he does not know which
technique would be best to gather data on this issue. Based on what you have read about research
techniques, which of the following would work best? Answer: Survey
16.A researcher who has a role in designing a new medication for headaches wants to promote it.
She unconsciously suggests to those who took her medication that they are feeling better than
those who had an alternative medication. This demonstrates which of the following phenomena?
Answer: Experimenter Bias
17.What is the best way for a researcher to avoid unconsciously signaling any point of view to the
participants in a study? Answer: Double-Blind Study
18.Which of the following is the best example of random selection? Answer: Arbitrarily selecting
names from everyone in the population to determine who will be in the study
19.Mary is an undergraduate student who has volunteered for a study her professor is running.
During the study, Mary picks up on cues from her professor about the expectations he has
regarding the outcome of the study. The professor does not realize he is giving these cues, and
she does not realize that she is picking them up, yet she behaves as he expects. Which of the
following phenomena have occurred? Answer: Mary has displayed demand characteristics
20.A researcher has found that the more time athletes spend training in track and field, the lower
their times in the 100-meter run. She determines that this result means that training causes drops
Mastering Introductory Psychology Your Essential Study Guide
Welcome to your comprehensive guide for understanding the fundamental concepts of introductory
psychology This guide breaks down key ideas into clear, digestible questions and answers to help you
study efficiently and ace your exams.
Study Tip: Active recall is a powerful study technique. Try answering the questions in this guide
without looking at the answers first, then check your work. This helps solidify your understanding!
1. Schools of Thought in Psychology
1. Which of the following thinkers believed that people were born as blank slates and experiences
formed their personality? Answer: Locke
2. Samantha believes all behavior originates from unconscious forces developed primarily in
childhood and focused primarily on sex and aggression. With which approach to psychology is
Samantha most likely to agree? Answer: Psychoanalytic
3. With which of the following statements would a behaviorist most likely agree? Answer:
Psychology can only study what we observe, because this is all that can be empirically
tested
4. Katelyn is struggling in school and fighting frequently with her parents. She is not sure about her
future and what she wants to study in college. With which of the following statements about
Katelyn would a humanistic psychologist most likely agree? Answer: Katelyn will work to the
best of her ability to get her life back on track
5. How does the humanistic approach to psychology differ from the psychoanalytic approach?
Answer: The humanistic approach focuses on striving to be one's best, while the
, psychoanalytic approach examines unconscious forces and the importance of sex and
aggression
6. Edward Titchener followed the structuralist approach to examine human consciousness. With
which of the following would he agree? Answer: We can use the process of introspection by
asking people about their conscious experience to specific stimuli
7. "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in
and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I
might select...regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his
ancestors" To whom would this be attributed? Answer: John Watson
8. Benjamin helps design cars that are easy to drive and intuitive to use. It is most likely that
Benjamin is engaged in which of the following fields of psychology? Answer: Human Factors
9. Denise just transferred from another school. She is having trouble adjusting to her new
environment because she is very shy and is finding it difficult to make new friends. Which of the
following types of psychologist might best help Denise? Answer: Counseling
10.Which of the following best describes how psychiatrists most often treat patients? Answer:
Through medication management
2. Research Methods in Psychology
11.A researcher wants to determine if studying for a half hour each night for a week for an exam is
better than studying for three and a half hours on Sunday evening for an exam on Monday.
Researchers will randomly select participants into either massed or distributed study groups.
They will also measure the outcome of each unit exam. What is the dependent variable? Answer:
The score on each exam
12.An experimenter wants to determine the impact of caffeine on attention span. Which of the
following best represents random assignment in experiments? Answer: Placing participants
into either the caffeine or non-caffeine group without any set pattern.
, 13.A researcher wants to investigate a unique brain tumor in a twelve-year-old child to see how the
tumor affects the child's behavior. The researcher will conduct a battery of cognitive and physical
tests with the child over the course of six months to account for potential changes in the tumor's
size and impact. Which of the following would be the best research method to study this
situation? Answer: Individual Case Study
14.A researcher determined that the less practice teenagers had driving, the more moving violations
they received during the first year after receiving their driver's license. This finding is an example
of which of the following? Answer: A negative correlation
15.A graduate student wants to conduct a study to investigate people's opinions regarding the death
penalty. Because he has not yet taken his research methods course, he does not know which
technique would be best to gather data on this issue. Based on what you have read about research
techniques, which of the following would work best? Answer: Survey
16.A researcher who has a role in designing a new medication for headaches wants to promote it.
She unconsciously suggests to those who took her medication that they are feeling better than
those who had an alternative medication. This demonstrates which of the following phenomena?
Answer: Experimenter Bias
17.What is the best way for a researcher to avoid unconsciously signaling any point of view to the
participants in a study? Answer: Double-Blind Study
18.Which of the following is the best example of random selection? Answer: Arbitrarily selecting
names from everyone in the population to determine who will be in the study
19.Mary is an undergraduate student who has volunteered for a study her professor is running.
During the study, Mary picks up on cues from her professor about the expectations he has
regarding the outcome of the study. The professor does not realize he is giving these cues, and
she does not realize that she is picking them up, yet she behaves as he expects. Which of the
following phenomena have occurred? Answer: Mary has displayed demand characteristics
20.A researcher has found that the more time athletes spend training in track and field, the lower
their times in the 100-meter run. She determines that this result means that training causes drops
