Review 1

In which one of the following studies would we be concerned that the results might be influenced by experimenter expectation effects?

A researcher theorizes that being the oldest child in a family leads to higher IQ scores compared to being a young child. The researcher conducts a study with 100 people. Each person comes to the lab, is asked by the researcher whether he or she was the oldest child, and then takes a computerized IQ test. The results indicate that the researcher's expectation was correct: People who were the oldest child performed better on the IQ test.

According to data provided by the U.S. government, decreases in margarine consumption are correlated with decreases in the divorce rate between 2000 and 2009 in Maine, and this correlation is statistically significant. Which of the following explanations for this correlation are logically possible (although not necessarily plausible or proven by the data)?

All of the above (Decreasing margarine consumption causes a decreased likelihood of divorce Avoiding divorce causes a decrease in margarine consumption Both decreases in margarine consumption and decreases in the likelihood of divorce are caused by some third factor)

Which of the following statements is true about explanations in psychology?

An explanation of a psychological phenomena can be valid if it appeals to a general principle at any level of analysis

In science, predictions ___________.

Are valued because it is can be relatively easy to develop an incorrect theory that only accounts for findings that were used to develop the theory

In science and other areas of academia, being "critical" usually means _____________.

Carefully and thoughtfully evaluating something

Signals from other neurons are typically collected by receptors on the _______. [Select all that are correct]

Dendrites Cell Body

If your fusiform face area were lesioned, you would likely have which of the following symptoms? [Select all that are correct.]

Difficulty determining which of two famous actors was shown in a picture (e.g., Brad Pitt or George Clooney) Difficulty recognizing your professors when you see them outside of class

The main goal of inferential statistics is to _______.

Draw inferences about some characteristic of a large population on the basis of a sample from that population

Mechanistic explanations in psychology __________.

Explain a psychological phenomenon in terms of how the parts of the system work together to produce the observed result

Practical applications are useful in science because ____________. [Select all that are correct.]

Governments and philanthropists are willing to invest in scientific research mainly because science has a history of leading to significant practical applications Practical applications give scientists more confidence that their theories are correct (or at least approximately correct)

Select the two main reasons why replications are important in science. [Select the two that are correct.]

If a result can be replicated by the same researcher or by different researchers, then it is unlikely to have been an accidental consequence of a non-representative sample If a result can be replicated by a different researcher, then it is unlikely to have been the result of some kind of systematic error in the methods of the original study

A study by Gordon, Zogoory-Sharon, Leckman, & Feldman (2010) found that increased levels of the hormone oxytocin in new fathers were correlated with increases in the amount of certain types of parenting behaviors. Which of the following invalid conclusions would be an example of the "flaw of averages"?

If a specific father has high levels of oxytocin, we can be sure that this father will engage in high levels of these specific types of parenting behaviors

[3] Lecture and Quiz- Science and Evidence Psychology is like astrophysics in which of the following ways? [Select all that are correct.]

In many cases, we can only observe the phenomena of interest and cannot manipulate these phenomena When a phenomenon of interest cannot be experimentally manipulated, researchers may instead use laboratory models that do allow controlled experiments

Introspection is not useful as a source of evidence about the mind because _________. [Select all that are correct.]

Introspections are easily biased by a person's expectations Researchers have a hard time replicating other researchers' introspection results

Cooperation among scientists is good for science because it allows scientists with different expertise to conduct studies together than could not be conducted by a single scientist working alone. Why is competition between scientists good for science? [Select all that are correct.]

It helps to expose flaws and weaknesses in the design and interpretation of studies It motivates scientists to conduct the best possible studies so that competitors cannot find flaws in the research

Evolutionary explanations of psychological phenomena often involve proposing that a given psychological trait occurs because evolution tends to select traits that increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction. Which of the following is a common problem with establishing the validity of such explanations?

It is often difficult to establish that the antecedent condition is true (i.e., that the trait being explained actually increases the likelihood of survival and reproduction)

Why is it so important for scientific progress that researchers publish their results in scientific journals? [Select all that are correct.]

Journal articles are a primary means for scientists to find out about the findings of other researchers and are therefore important for allowing new research to build on prior research Articles that have been published in scientific journals have gone through a peer review process, which tends to reduce methodological flaws and invalid conclusions in published studies

In what way or ways are scientific studies analogous to Lego pieces? [Select all that are correct.]

Just as one layer of Lego pieces provides a base on which other Lego pieces can be placed, a set of scientific studies can provide concepts and methods that form the base for future studies Just as a complex structure can be formed by many interconnected pieces of Lego, a given area of scientific knowledge involves many interconnected studies

Although we cannot directly observe the human mind, it is possible to study the mind in a scientific manner by _____________________.

Observing the effects of mental processes on things we can observe, such as behavior and brain activity

Which of the following is an example of a way in which science works to minimize the shortcomings of human nature? [Select all that are correct.]

People have a confirmation bias which leads them to pay more attention to evidence that confirms their theories than to evidence that disconfirms their theories. In science, competition between scientists with differing views can force researchers to pay attention to disconfirming evidence. People often see patterns in random data, and this may lead a person to believe that a data set shows a consistent pattern that is not really there. In science, inferential statistics and replication give us methods for distinguishing between true effects and random variation People tend to assume causation when they see a correlation, even though such an assumption is not usually warranted. When possible, scientists use controlled experiments to provide stronger evidence about causation. People may be motivated by self interest, which can cause them to cut corners or cheat. Science reduces the negative impact of self interest by emphasizing replication and by subjecting research to peer review in the publication process.

Which of the following are examples of explanations rather than descriptions? [Select all that are correct.]

People who play certain kinds of video games perform better on a wide range of visual tasks because these games train the ability to spread attention broadly

Imagine that Person A gambles a lot, whereas Person B has tried gambling but doesn't gamble much. We might try to explain this by saying that gambling is more rewarding to Person A than to Person B, and people tend to do things that they find rewarding. For this to be a valid explanation, we would need evidence that the antecedent condition is true. This means we would need evidence that ________.

Person A finds gambling to be more rewarding than does Person B

An action potential:

Remains the same size until it reaches the terminals of the axon

Which of the following would be an explanation at the level of "the social/cultural environment"?

Some people spend a lot of money on gambling because their friends and family like to gamble

Which of the following would be an explanation at the scope of "groups of people"?

The average 10-year-old has faster reaction times than the average 5-year-old because processing speed depends in part on myelination of neurons, which increases between 5 and 10 years of age

In his experiments with cats in puzzle boxes, Edward Thorndike found that _________.

The cats slowly learned how to escape the puzzle box by being rewarded for engaging in the appropriate behavior

[5] Lecture and Quiz- Why Biology Matters for Understanding Psychology In psychology and related fields, "materialism" is the idea that:

The mind arises from the physical material of the brain

Which of the following is NOT a true statement?

The parietal lobe contains both the somatosensory cortex and the motor cortex

Recordings of human brain activity indicate that:

The pattern of activity in the human brain changes as the contents of the human mind changes

The story of Clever Hans is important in psychology because it tells us that _________.

The responses of research participants in psychology studies might be influenced by nonverbal cues from the experimenter

[4] Lecture and Quiz-The Process of Science Why do scientists tend not to use the word "fact"?

The word "fact" implies that a theory or finding will never be modified, updated, or reevaluated

In an explanation that involves the principle "X causes Y":

X is the antecedent condition, and it must be known that X is true if the explanation is valid