Levels of Understanding Assessed by

Multiple Choice Questions

During the 1948 convention of the American Psychological Association, a group of
educational psychologists decided it would be useful to classify different levels of
understanding that students can achieve in a course. In 1956, after extensive research on
educational goals, the group published their findings in a book edited by Harvard professor
Benjamin S. Bloom. Bloom's book lists six levels of intellectual understanding, summarized
in the chart below.
Label for Level of
Understanding
Nature of Understanding in the Level
Knowledge Recognizing and recalling information, including
dates, events, persons, places
terms, definitions
basic facts, principles, theories
methods and procedures.
Comprehension Understanding the meaning of information, including
restating in your own words
translating from one form to another (e.g., numbers into
words)
interpreting, explaining, summarizing
Application Applying general rules, methods, or principles to a new, specific
situation, including
classifying something as a specific example of a general
principle
using an appropriate formula to solve a problem
Analysis Identifying the organization and patterns within a system by
identifying its component parts and the relationships among the
components.
Synthesis Discovering or creating new connections, generalizations, patterns,
or perspectives.
Evaluation Using evidence and reasoned argument to judge how well a
proposal would accomplish a particular purpose.
(Adapted from: Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The
classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York ; Toronto:
Longmans, Green.)
Because PSY 002 is Penn State's basic, introductory course in psychology, I expect students
to achieve primarily the first three levels of understanding in the course. Consequently,
almost all of the multiple choice questions in our exams aim to assess those first three levels
of understanding. I expect more of the three higher levels--analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation--in my advanced 200- and 400-level courses. In those courses I usually assess
understanding with projects, essay questions, or papers rather than with multiple-choice
questions. You will probably find that your other instructors tend to grade introductory and
upper-level courses differently.
Examples of Knowledge, Comprehension, and Application
Questions
(These are the same sample questions that appear on the review of the first
exam.)
Examples of Multiple-Choice Questions for Basic Knowledge
1. Which of the following is one of the major approaches to psychology?
a. psychoanalysis
b. structuralism
c. psychiatry
d. New Age Movement

Correct answer: A
The textbook describes six major approaches to psychology on
pages WIP5-WIP10: behavioral, psychoanalytic, humanistic,
cognitive, neurobiological, and sociocultural. This was also
covered in the class lecture on Modern perspectives in
psychology. Structuralism is an older approach that died out
completely. I did not cover it in class; it is described on pages
WIP4-WIP5. Psychiatry is a specific branch of medicine, not a
major approach to psychology. The New Age Movement, which
I did not cover, is described on page WIP12 as a
pseudopsychology.
2. Sensation, perception, and memory are of particular
interest to which group of contemporary psychologists?
a. psychoanalysts
b. behaviorists
c. humanistic psychologists
d. cognitive psychologists

Correct answer: D
Areas of specialization in psychology are
described on pages WIP15-WIP17 of the
textbook. Sensation, perception and memory are
described in the textbook as topics that involve
pure (that is, basic) experimental research (page
WIP16). I talked about these areas in our class
on Psychology's careers and areas of
specialization. I was more specific than the
textbook in my lecture, describing these three
areas as part of the field of cognition.

Examples of Multiple-Choice Questions for Comprehension
2. Using operational definitions answers which question?
a. who
b. why
c. what
d. how


Correct answer: C
To answer this question correctly, you have to
understand two concepts: (1) the What-How-
Why questions posed by scientists (Who is not
one of the questions, so answer (a) can be
eliminated); and
(2) what we mean by an operational definition.
An operational definitions (Lecture on the
Experimental method is psychology) include
objective descriptions of the independent
variable (What happened to the subjects) and
dependent variable (What the subjects did) in an
experiment, so (c) "what" is the correct answers.
The question of how things came about concerns
explaining what was observed by identifying the
immediate causes. Identifying immediate causes
is the goal of experiments. Why questions
concern a deeper level of explanation through
theories of how the distant past has affected the
present. The What, How, and Why of
psychology were covered in the first lecture of
the course.
2. Why did John B. Watson reject the structuralist study of mental events?
a. He believed that structuralism relied too heavily on scientific methods.
b. He rejected the concept that psychologists should study observable behavior.
c. He believed that scientists should focus on what is objectively observable.
d. He actually embraced both structuralism and functionalism.


Correct answer: C
Both the textbook (page WIP5-6) and Lecture 2
(History of basic and applied psychology),
emphasize that Watson thought he could make
psychology more scientific by restricting itself to
what was objectively observable by several
persons, that is, observable stimuli in the
environment and the observable behaviors that
are triggered by the stimuli. Comprehending an
issue means understanding the main points. For
this question, you would hopefully not be
distracted by the technical terms "structuralism"
and "functionalism" (which I did not even talk
about in class) but target right in on Watson's
main point--that in his opinion a scientific
psychology must restrict itself to observables.

Examples of Multiple-Choice Questions for Application
1. Explaining a student's poor performance on an exam to the unfair
difficulty level of the questions refers to what kind of cause?
a. immediate, external cause
b. immediate, internal cause
c. developmental cause
d. necessary and sufficient cause
e. weak cause



Correct answer: A
I talked about different types of causes of
behavior on the first day of class. There really is
such a concept as a necessary and sufficient
cause, but I didn't talk about this in class and it
doesn't apply to this example. Any cause outside
of a person is an external cause, and the
difficulty level of the test is a property of the test.
Possible internal causes for poor performance
might have been lack of motivation to study, low
intelligence, or sleepiness. Developmental causes
refer to history, which is not mentioned here. I
never mentioned weak causes.
2. A researcher shows erotic films to one group of subjects and violent films to another group
of subjects. The researcher then assesses the cooperativeness of each group of subjects. The
independent variable in this study is
a. the level of cooperativeness.
b. the type of film seen.
c. the level of sexual arousal in subjects.
d. the level of aggressiveness in subjects.



Correct answer: B
The independent variable describes how the
groups of subjects in an experiment are treated
differently by the experimenter (see textbook,
page MET-16 or your notes for the lecture on the
Experimental method in psychology). In this
example, the difference is in the type of film they
were shown. The films might result in
differences in (c) sexual arousal or (d)
aggressiveness, but these were not even studied
by the researcher. Option
(a) cooperativeness represents the dependent
variable in the study.

General Hints for Approaching Multiple Choice Tests
1. Understand that there is always one clearly best answer. My goal is not to trick
students or require you to make difficult judgments about two options that are nearly
equally correct. My goal is to design questions that students who understand will
answer correctly and students who do not understand will answer incorrectly.
2. I never provide two options that are nearly equally correct unless I provide a choice
such as (e) a and b above, if both (a) and (b) are correct. I don't like to use options
such as "a and b above," "all of the above," or "none of the above" very often, but I
will once in a while. So make sure you read all of the choices before answering.
3. You are wise to go back over your answers to verify that you have answered the
questions correctly. However, you should NOT change an answer unless you are
almost absolutely certain that you either misread the question or options or
overlooked one of the options. Research has shown that if you are just plain unsure
about a question, your first instinct is most often correct so that changing your answer
is not a good strategy.
4. Don't read unnecessary complications into the questions. There are no hidden
meanings in the wordings of my questions. I use college-level vocabulary words, but
the meanings of the questions are meant to be plain and straightforward.
5. If a question really stumps you, skip it and go back to it when you have gone through
all of the questions. But don't forget to go back and put down something for every
question. A blank answer is always wrong, and there is no penalty for guessing. The
last thing you should do before turning in your answer sheet is to check that you have
answered every single question.
6. If the correct answer does not jump out at you right away, see if you can eliminate
some of the options as definitely wrong. It's okay to write on the test booklet, so you
can cross out options you think are incorrect.
7. Most questions will have four options, lettered (a), (b), (c), and (d); sometimes I add a
fifth option, (e). I do not have a favorite option letter that I use more often. I do not try
to make sure to use an equal number of (a)s, (b)s, etc. The pattern of marks on your
answer sheet will not spell out a satanic message. So concentrate on the content of the
questions and response options, and pay no attention to how many times you are
marking a particular letter.
8. DO make sure you choose the letter corresponding to the answer of your choice. I feel
almost as bad as the student who knew the answer was (d) but accidentally marked
(c), but there's nothing I can do about that.
9. DO follow the advice in the textbook (pages xiii-xiv) about spreading out your review
rather than cramming and about being in good physical shape through plentiful sleep,
proper diet, and exercise. Staying up all night studying is more likely to hurt than help
your performance.