PSY 200 Critical Thinking Activity

Article 1: Ryan, M. E., & Gates, A. S. (2014). The effects of mood on memory for neutral information. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 1-2. What is the dependent variable?

# of equations recalled

Article 2: Gibson, J., Copper, M. V., & Carrasco, J. H. (2014). How religious beliefs affect attitudes toward the poor. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 3-4. If you closely examine the results of the study (e.g., the graph), you will see that one part of the statement below is MISLEADING / INACCURATE. Which part is misleading / inaccurate? "...Christians were likely to help people in need, but Atheists and Buddhists would not help others, and these latter two groups did not differ from each other in their willingness to help others."

...Atheists and Buddhists would not help others...

Use PsycINFO to determine which of the following articles was written by Jefferson W. Kinney and published in Neurobiology of Aging (hint: using advanced search, search for the author and publication name).

Animal systems in the development of treatments for Alzheimer's disease

Article 3: Voss, T. (2014). Binge viewing of television shows. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 5-7. What is the independent variable?

How the episodes were viewed

Article 1: Ryan, M. E., & Gates, A. S. (2014). The effects of mood on memory for neutral information. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 1-2. What is the independent variable?

Mood

Article 2: Gibson, J., Copper, M. V., & Carrasco, J. H. (2014). How religious beliefs affect attitudes toward the poor. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 3-4. What is/are the dependent variable(s)?

The "helping" ratings

Article 3: Voss, T. (2014). Binge viewing of television shows. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 5-7. What are the dependent variables?

The memory test and the enjoyment ratings

Article 2: Gibson, J., Copper, M. V., & Carrasco, J. H. (2014). How religious beliefs affect attitudes toward the poor. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 3-4. What is/are the independent variable(s)?

The participants' religion

Article 1: Ryan, M. E., & Gates, A. S. (2014). The effects of mood on memory for neutral information. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 1-2. Based on BOTH the statistical results and the figure, is there a significant difference between the conditions?

Unclear - the p value and the error bars contradict each other

Use PsycINFO to determine which of the following articles was written by David E. Copeland in 2006 (hint: using advanced search, search for the author and date of publication).

Walking through doorways causes forgetting

Article 3: Voss, T. (2014). Binge viewing of television shows. Journal of Fake Psychology, 1, 5-7. Based on the statistical results and the figures, was there a significant difference for enjoyment ratings?

Yes - the p value and the error bars both convey a significant difference