Sample Multiple Choice Items

(To give you a feel for the kinds of items that will actually appear on exams in PSYC 358)

 

 

 

1. The logic of evolutionary psychology implies that evolutionary adaptations are

 

A. Inflexible.

B. Good.

C. Helpful to people in modern environments.

D. Incompatible with cross-cultural differences.

E. None of the above.

 

 

2. The algebraic equation "r x b > c" is closely associated with the concept of

 

A. An evolutionarily stable strategy.

B. The environment of evolutionary adaptedness.

C. Kin selection.

D. Inter-group aggression.

E. All of the above.

 

 

3. What hypothesis has been supported by research on "the scent of symmetry" (by Gangestad et al., 2005)?

 

A. The sexually antagonistic adaptations hypothesis.

B. The ovulatory shift hypothesis.

C. The social brain hypothesis.

D. Both (A) and (B)

E. All of the above.

 

 

4. According to Dawkins, a "good gene" is defined as a gene that

 

A. Always leads people to help their closest kin.

B. Is probabilistically associated with higher levels of altruistic behavior.

C. Is probabilistically associated with lower levels of aggressive behavior.

D. Codes for different proteins, depending on the influence of the developmental environment.

E. None of the above.

 

 

5. According to research by Klein et al. (2012), what encoding strategy was most effective in facilitating later recall for words like "knife" and "television"?

 

A. An encoding strategy that encouraged people to think simultaneously about the past and the future.

B. An encoding strategy that encouraged people to think about planning for the future.

C. An encoding strategy that encouraged people to generate self-relevant imagery.

D. An encoding strategy that encouraged people to think about reproduction.

E. None of the above.