Psychology Chapter 2

The ethical principle of________requires that researchers reveal the true nature and purpose of a psychological study to subjects at the conclusion of their participation, and explain any deception that was used during the study.

Debriefing

Which statement is true concerning the use of animals in psychological studies?

Animals are used in only a small percentage of psychological studies.

Which of the following is a reason why psychologists might study animals?

To conduct basic research on a particular species

Tammy believes everything she reads in her sociology textbook. Keiko disagrees with every point her political science professor makes. Peter listens to his astronomy professor but routinely asks "Why is that?" and "Could this also be true?" Which student is skeptical?

Peter

When only the experimenter knows whether a given participant is in the experimental or control group (and the participants themselves do not), the study can be classified as:

A single-blind experiment

An experiment in which neither the participant nor the experimenter knows who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group is called:

Double-blind

___________ is a general term referring to studies that take place in a natural setting

Field research

Dr. Acula conducts a study and finds that worker satisfaction and worker productivity are highly positively correlated. What conclusion should she reach from her research?

Higher levels of satisfaction are systematically related to higher levels of productivity

Calculations that allow a researcher to draw conclusions about how meaningful a result is are collectively called:

Inferential statistics

Bayesian statistics approaches the results of an experiment by:

Taking into account relevant prior knowledge about the topic under study and the likelihood of a result's occurrence

Which of the following is a reason why psychologists might study animals?

To improve human welfare

A negative correlation coefficient indicates that as scores on one variable____________, scores on the other variable_____________.

increase/decrease

Which of the following values for a coefficient of correlation indicated the weakest degree of relationship?

+.04

Connie administers a questionnaire on dating habits to the 35 students in her introductory psychology class. What type of sample do those participants constitute

A convenience sample

One group of research participants is given a new pain medication being tested by a pharmaceutical company. A second group of participants reports to the same study as the first group, goes through the same procedures, meets with the same researchers, but is given a sugar pill that has the same size, shape, and texture as the actual medication. What did the second group receive in this experiment?

A placebo

Janelle wants to learn about the psychological impact of war on combat veterans, so she conducts an in-depth interview with her grandfather who served i the Vietnam War. What type of research approach is Janelle using?

Case study

Zoe reviewed the scientific literature on the effects of gum-chewing on attention among middle schoolers and found that 23 experiments had been conducted on this topic. She performed a series of statistical tests to reach an overall conclusion from these studies as a group. What technique was Zoe using?

Meta-analysis

Under carefully controlled experimental conditions, Also finds that ninth graders who study and additional 2 hours raise their test scores by 5 percent. Before publicizing his results, he repeats the experiment with a different group of ninth graders, another group of ninth graders studying different material, and a group of 10th graders; in all cases the same pattern of results emerges. What important feature of scientific process is Aldo demonstrating?

Replication

Winston wants to publish the results of his scientific study, but before he does so he needs to collect more data using the same variables but with a new sample of research participants and a slightly different procedure. The results of the second study are consistent with those of the first, and Winston publishes both sets of results with greater confidence in his contribution to science. Which good scientific practice is Winston following?

Replication

Guidelines for the ethical treatment of human and animal research participants have been established (and are updated) by:

The American Psychological Association (APA)

Compared to a group of 25,000 other testtakers, Casey discovered she scored within the top 10% on an intelligence test. She was suitably proud and impressed with her achievement. What allowed her to interpret her score so readily?

The intelligence test provided norms based on a large comparison group

"All swan are white" is a poor example of scientific hypothesis. Gathering more and more examples of white swans would never really confirm the conclusion. However, finding a single black swan would be enough to disprove the hypothesis. Which scientific principle does this logic demonstrate?

The principle of falsifiability

An organized system of assumptions and principles that seeks to explain a phenomenon is also known as a(n):

Theory

Britt wants to know whether drug use is widespread on his college campus. He asks the members of his Chemical Dependency class if they'd be willing to respond to a short survey that he's constructed on this topic. Half the class agrees to participate. When Britt analyzes the data he concludes that drug use indeed takes place at a high rate. What's the flaw in this research process?

Volunteer bias is probably at work; those students who agreed to participate might be quite different in their drug taking attitudes or habits than those who choose not to participate

In a study where college student are pampered (given endless amounts of money, satellite TV, and spicy chinese food) to see whether this will improve their scores in their psychology course, what is the independent variable.

Whether students were pampered or not

Which of the following values for a correlation coefficient indicates the strongest degree of relationship?

-.69

"I'm so confused!" sputters Henry. "I collected all this data for my research project, but I don't know which numbers to pay attention to. The highest values? The lowest values? The most common value? Argh!" "Why don't you look at the arithmetic mean of all the values?" suggests Raelynn. "Finding the average score would be a good indicator of what the values look like in general." How would you advise Henry to go about finding the arithmetic mean?

Add up all the individual scores, then divide the result by the number of scores.

Natasha tells her psychology professor that she wants to study why similarity leads to attraction. "That's great," her professor replies. "But what do you mean, exactly, by similarity and attraction?" What is Natasha's professor urging her to do?

Create operational definitions of the variables she wants to study

George and Eva are both interested in developmental psychology. George wants to compare a group of 5 year olds to a group of 8 year olds to see how their reasoning skills differ. Eva wants to study a group of 5 year olds over the next 3 years to see how their reasoning skills change over time. Both designs have merit. The main difference is that George is proposing__________whereas Eva want to conduct____________

Cross-sectional research/longitudinal study

Ingo is conducting a psychological experiment with the help of his professor. As research participants come to the laboratory, Ingo flips a coin. If the coin lands on heads, the participant takes part in the experimental group; if the coin lands on tails, the participant goes into the control group. Which principle of experimental design is Ingo utilizing?

Random assignment

Pedro wants to gauge the nations attitudes toward handguns, so he polls a very large sample of National Rifle Association (NRA) members and asks them what they think. Despite having a lot of data, Pedro's conclusions are likely to be flawed. Why?

The sample he used wasn't representative of the population he's interested in learning about

Hugo collects data on the number of hours college students study each day, and finds that his respondents typically study for 3 hours, give or take 1.5 hours in either direction. "Typically" in this context refers to the____________, whereas "give or take" refers to the__________

Arithmetic mean/ standard deviation

Trixie has been assigned to do a research project on human development for he introductory Psychology course. She decides to conduct a case study for he Uncle Joe, and devises a days-long set of interview questions for him, ranging from his childhood experiences through the ensuing 60 years of his life. Although her intentions are admirable, Trixie might have spent the time more profitably by using a different methodology. Why?

Case studies are of limited usefulness in deriving general conclusions about behavior

"The arithmetic mean of the ratings in the experimental group was 45, although the mean could reasonably be as high as 52 or as low as 37 if the test were repeated with a new group of subjects." Which inferential statistic is being utilized in that statement?

Confidence intervals

Anna reported to the psychology laboratory to participate in an experiment. Before she began, however, she was given a form to read and sign, outlining what her participation would require, detailing her options should she choose not to participate, and requesting her permission to take part in the study. Anna was given a(n):

Consent form

Desmond administers a test of mathematical aptitude to a group of 25 incoming 9th graders, then inspects their final grades in their geometry class at the end of the school year. He finds that those students who were predicted to have high mathematical skills (based on the test) did well on their geometry class (based on their final grades), and that those who were predicted to do poorly did indeed do poorly. Desmond has collected some evidence for the___________of his aptitude test.

Criterion validity

Margo is studying people's moods during a stressful laboratory situation. Wanting to be nice, she smiles at each participant who enters the experimental condition (where they will be stressed) and remains neutral toward people in the control group. Surprisingly, she finds that participants in the stressful condition report being in better moods at the end of the experiment, compared to participants in the control group. Margo's professor is not surprised, however, because she realizes the outcomes are plagued by:

Experimenter effects

The ethical principle of_________means that research participants are given enough information about a study to make a reasonable decision about whether they will participate.

Informed consent

Rocco argues that personality characteristics are fully formed prenatally, while babies are still in their mother's wombs. Upon birth and exposure to the external environment, personality begins to change. Why is Rocco's hypothesis a poor one?

It violates the principle of falsifiability; it can't be disconfirmed

Both Justine and Trish are interested in developmental psychology, specifically the types of play 5 year olds engage in. Justine visits a local park and unobtrusively makes notes about the children she sees. Trish invites parents and their children to a specially designed room in the psychology building and watches the children through a one way mirror. Both approaches are sensible. The difference is that Justine is using____________ whereas Trish is using__________.

Naturalistic observation/laboratory observation

Florence is interested in college students morality, so she administers a survey to 100 classmates asking how many times they've vandalized public property, shoplifted a small item, lied to a loved one, taken office supplies from a workplace, or kept miscounted change from a cashier. Florence was pleased to find that a staggering 92% of her participants reported little to none of these activities, and concluded that today's students are a highly moral bunch. Why might this conclusion not be entirely warrented?

People may not always respond accurately to self-report measures, such as surveys.

Luis tells his friend Meeta, "Since I have been wearing this copper bracelet, my joint pain has decreased. It must really work!" "Hmm..." replies Meeta. "I'm sure you believe that, and I'm glad you're feeling better. But I'd want to know how, when, and why copper would have that affect on pain." Which characteristic of being a good scientist is Meeta demonstrating?

Skepticism

Carmen wants to test whether putting people in a good mood versus a bad mood affects the size of a donation they give to a homeless person. In this experiment, the dependent variable is:

The size of donation

You notice a correlation coefficient of .02 between two variables you're studying. What conclusion should you reach about their relatedness?

The two variable are pretty much unrelated to one another, scores on one variable show no consistent pattern with scores on the other variable

Variable A is strongly associated with Variable B. Therefore, it logically follows that:

Variable A and Variable B are correlated with one another

What threshold do psychological scientists usually adopt when deciding if a result is statistically significant?

Whether the outcome would occur by chance alone less than 5 times out of 100

Roya believes that every time the moon is full, her left knee feels shaky. "It's true," she insists. "My knee is shaky when the moon is full, and not shaky when the moon isn't full." Because there's probably not a reliable association between lunar phases and joint mobility, what does Roya's beliefs illustrate?

an illusory correlation

A researcher wants to study whether people using laptop computers in a public setting are more likely to sit near one another or more likely to sit near someone not using a computer. She sits in a local coffee shop for 2 hours each day for a week and counts the number of patrons with or without a laptop and whether they sit next to someone with or without a laptop. What type of research methodology is being used in this study?

naturalistic observation

A statement that specifies the relationships among events and is derived from a theory is called:

A hypothesis