Chapter 2: Methodology- How Social Psychologists Do Research

The observational method is best at answering which of these questions? a. How polite are people in public places? b. Are people from the southern United States more polite in public places than people from the northern United States? c. What makes people act politely or rudely in public places? d. Does music played in department stores influence how polite people are in those stores?

a. How polite are people in public places?

Which of the following is one of the ethical principles of the American Psychological Association? a. Psychologists respect the dignity and worthy of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination. b. Psychologists may not use minors (those under age 18) as participants in research. c. If a study is conducted over the Internet, psychologists need not obtain informed consent from participants. d. Psychologists are not responsible for protecting the confidentiality of information they obtain from participants.

a. Psychologists respect the dignity and worthy of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination.

Which of the following is true about social neuroscience? a. This field is concerned exclusively with how different kinds of brain activity correlate with social information processing b. This field is concerned primarily with how hormones influence social behavior. c. Social psychologists are increasingly interested in the connection between biological processes and social behavior. d. When it comes right down to it, the brain is not related to behavior, and there is not much to be learned by measuring its electrical activity or blood flow.

a. This field is concerned exclusively with how different kinds of brain activity correlate with social information processing

A researcher conducts a study with participants are college students. The researcher then repeats the study using the same procedures but with members of the general population (i.e., adults) as participants. The results are similar fro both samples. The research has established __________________ through _____________________. a. external validity, replication b. internal validity, replication c. external validity, psychological realism d. internal validity, psychological realism

a. external validity, replication

Social psychologists often do experiments in the laboratory, instead of the field, to: a. increase internal validity b. increase external validity c. conduct a meta-analysis d. decrease psychological realism.

a. increase internal validity

Which of the following is true about social psychological findings? a. they sometimes seem obvious after we learn about them, because of hindsight bias. b. most people could easily predict them in advance of knowing how the studies turned out. c. wise people such as our grandparents could easily predict them in advance of knowing how the studies turned out. d. most people who live in the culture in which the studies were conducted could predict the findings in advance of knowing how the studies turned out.

a. they sometimes seem obvious after we learn about them, because of hindsight bias.

The correlational method is best at answering which of these questiosn? a. How polite are people in public places? b. Are people from the southern United States more polite in public places than people from the northern United States? c. What makes people act politely or rudely in public places? d. Does music played in department stores influence how polite people are in those stores?

b. Are people from the southern United States more polite in public places than people from the northern United States?

A researcher wants to see whether people are more likely to donate money to a charity when they receive a small gift from that charity. She sends an appeal for money from the charity to 1,000 people. For half of the people (randomly chosen) the letter includes free address labels and for half it does not. The researcher then sees whether those who got the address labels donate more money. Which of the following is true about this study? a. It uses correlational method. b. The independent variable is whether people got address labels and the dependent variable is how much money they donate. c. The independent variable is how much money people donate and the dependent variable is whether they got address labels. d. The study is low in internal validity because the people who got the address labels may differ in other ways from the people who did not.

b. The independent variable is whether people got address labels and the dependent variable is how much money they donate.

Which of the following is true about cross-cultural research? a. most social psychological findings have been found to be universal; that is, true in virtually all cultures that have been studied. b. The purpose of cross-cultural research is to see which social psychological findings are universal and which are culture-bound. c. To conduct a cross-cultural study a researcher travels to another country, translates the materials into the local language, and replicates the study there. d. It is relatively easy to conduct a study that is interpreted and perceived similarly in different cultures.

b. The purpose of cross-cultural research is to see which social psychological findings are universal and which are culture-bound.

Which of the following is true about the ethical conduct of psychological research? a. it is good scientific procedure to tell participants about the research hypotheses before they participate. b. if research participants are misled about a study they must be fully debriefed at the end of the study c. Darley and Latane could have easily tested their hypotheses about helping behavior by telling participants in advance that they would hear someone pretending to have a seizure. d. It is never permissible to use deception.

b. if research participants are misled about a study they must be fully debriefed at the end of the study

A team of researchers wants to test the hypothesis that drinking wine makes people like jazz more. They randomly assign college students who are 21 or over to one room in which they will drink wine and listen to jazz or to another room in which they will drink water and listen to jazz. It happens that the "wine room" has a big window with nice scenery outside, whereas the "water room" is windowless, dark, and dingy. The most serious flaw in this experiment is that it is: a. is low in external validity. b. is low in internal validity c. did not randomly select the participants from all college students in the country d. is low in psychological realism

b. is low in internal validity

Megan reads a research study which shows that children who see a lot of violence on television are more likely to be aggressive on the playground. Megan thinks, "This is obvious; I could have predicted that!" Megan's reaction to the study is probably an example of: a. internal validity b. the hindsight bias c. external validity d. psychological realism

b. the hindsight bias

The basic dilemma of the social psychologist is that a. it is hard to teach social psychology to students because most people believe strongly in personality. b. there is a trade-off between internal and external validity in most experiments. c. it is nearly impossible to use a random selection of the population in laboratory experiments. d. almost all social behavior is influenced by the culture in which people grew up.

b. there is a trade-off between internal and external validity in most experiments.

Suppose a researcher found a strong positive correlation between the number of tweets people send each day and their reported happiness. Which of the following is the best conclusion he or she can draw from this finding? a. Sending tweets makes people happy. b. Feeling happy makes people want to tweet more. c. Happy people are more likely to send a lot of tweets than sad people. d. There is a third variable that makes people happy and send a lot of tweets.

c. Happy people are more likely to send a lot of tweets than sad people.

Which of the following is true about Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)? a. Universities can decide whether to have an IRB to approve psychological research. b. The purpose of IRBs is to review research after it is conducted and review any complaints. c. IRBs review psychological studies before they are conducted to make sure they meet ethical guidelines. d. IRBs must be made up entirely of non scientists.

c. IRBs review psychological studies before they are conducted to make sure they meet ethical guidelines.

Suppose a research found a strong negative correlation between college students; grade point average (GPA) and the amount of alcohol they drink. Which of the following is the best conclusion from this study? a. Students with a high GPA study more and thus have less time to drink. b. Drinking a lot interferes with studying. c. If you know how much alcohol a student drinks, you can predict his or her GPA fairly well. d. People who are intelligent get higher grades and drink less.

c. If you know how much alcohol a student drinks, you can predict his or her GPA fairly well.

Which of the following is the best way to increase the external validity of a study? a. Make sure it is low in psychological realism. b. Conduct the study in the laboratory instead of the field c. Replicate the study with a different population of people in a different setting. d. Make sure you have at least two dependent variables.

c. Replicate the study with a different population of people in a different setting.

Which of the following is a basic assumption that social psychologists make? a. social problems have complex causes and we will never know why they occur. b. it is hard to study what effect looking at pornography has on people, because everyone is different. c. many social problems can be studied scientifically. d. many people fail to help others in emergencies because they don't care about other people.

c. many social problems can be studied scientifically.

Which of the following is true about new frontiers in social psychological research? a. Social psychologists are interested in the role of culture but not in evolutionary processes. b. Social psychologists are interested in evolutionary processes but not the role of culture c. social psychologists use functional resonance imaging (fMRI) to correlate different kinds of brain activity with social information processing d. The purpose of cross-cultural research is to show that all social psychological findings are universal with no cultural variations.

c. social psychologists use functional resonance imaging (fMRI) to correlate different kinds of brain activity with social information processing

Mary wants to rind out whether eating sugary snacks before an exam leads to better performance on the exam. Which of the following strategies would answer her question more conclusively? a.Identify a large number of students who perform exceptionally low and exceptionally high in exams, ask them whether they eat sugary snacks before exams, and see whether high performers eat more sugary snacks before exams than do low performers. b. wait for exam time in a big class, ask everyone whether they ate sugary snacks before the exam, and see whether those who ate sugary snacks before the exam do better compared to those who didn't c. wait for exam time in a big class, give a random half of the students M&Ms before the exam, and see whether the students who ate M&Ms perform better. d. pick a big class, give all students sugary snacks before one exam and salty snacks before the next exam; then see whether students score lower on average in the second exam.

c. wait for exam time in a big class, give a random half of the students M&Ms before the exam, and see whether the students who ate M&Ms perform better.

The experimental method is best at answering which of these questions? a. How aggressively do people drive during rush hours in major U.S. cities? b. Are people who play violent video games more likely to drive aggressively? c. Are people who play violent video games more likely to be rude to someone who cuts in line in front of them? d. Does playing violent video games cause people to be more rude to someone who cuts in line in front of them?

d. Does playing violent video games cause people to be more rude to someone who cuts in line in front of them?

Which of the following is true about evolutionary psychology? a. Natural selection works differently in humans that other animals. b. It is easy to test evolutionary hypotheses by doing experiments. c. Most social behaviors are genetically determined with little influence by the social environment. d. Evolutionary approaches can generate novel hypotheses about social behavior that can then be tested with experiments.

d. Evolutionary approaches can generate novel hypotheses about social behavior that can then be tested with experiments.

All of the following except one are part of the guidelines for ethical research. Which is not? a. All research is reviewed by an IRB that consists of at least one scientist, one nonscientist, and one person unaffiliated with the institution. b. A researcher receives informed consent from a participant unless deception is deemed a participant unless deception is deemed necessary and the experiment meets ethical guidelines c. When deception is used in a study, participants must be fully debriefed. d. There must be a cover story for every study, because all studies involve some type of deception.

d. There must be a cover story for every study, because all studies involve some type of deception.

How do social psychologists formulate hypotheses and theories? a. they are inspired by previous theories and research. b. they disagree with a previous researchers' interpretations of his or her study. c. they construct hypothesis and theories based on personal observations in everyday life. d. all of the above.

d. all of the above.

A researcher is interested in whether moods vary by the day of the week. She codes the postings on thousands of Facebook pages to see whether people express more positive comments on some days than others. Which research method has she used? a. ethnography b. survey c. experimental method d. archival analysis

d. archival analysis

Suppose a psychologist decides to join a local commune to understand and observe its members' social relationship. This is a. cross-cultural research b. applied research c. an experiment d. ethnography

d. ethnography

Professor X wants to make sure his study of gifted youngsters will get published, but he's worried that his findings could have been caused by something other than the independent variable, which was a new teaching method he introduced. He is concerned with the _______________ of his experiment. a. probability level b. external validity c. replication d. internal validity

d. internal validity