barron's psych practice questions pt.2

Karthik and Sue are lab partners assigned to research who is friendlier, girls or boys. after conversing with their first 10 participants, they find that their friendliness ratings often differ. with which of the following should they be most concerned? a) reliability b) confounding variables c) ethics d) validity e) assignment

a) reliability

what is the median of the following distribution: 6, 2, 9, 4, 7, 3? a) 4 b) 5 c) 5.5 d) 6 e) 6.5

b) 5

which of the following is an example of random sampling? I. picking out of a hat to assign each of the three classes to an experimental condition II. having a computer generate a random list of 100 high school students III. approaching any 50 students during sixth-period lunch a) I only b) II only c) III only d) I and II e) I, II, and III

b) II only

Jen collects survey data that indicates that students who spend more time preparing for the AP test tend to score better than other students. Jen can now conclude that... a) studying improves test grades b) a relationship exists between studying and exam grades c) a significant correlation exists between studying and exams d) anyone who does not study will do poorly on the exam e) better students tend to study more

b) a relationship exists between studying and exam grades

one of the principle differences between the ethical guidelines for human and animal research is: a) human subjects can be deceived for experimental purpose and animals cannot b) animal subjects can be placed at much greater physical risk than human subjects can c) human subjects must be chosen much more carefully than animal subjects d) if human might physically suffer because of the study, the suffering must be minimal, in contrast to animal studies where any amount of suffering is ethical if it helps to further a clear scientific purpose e) environmental conditions for human studies must be monitored much more closely than they are in animal study

b) animal subjects can be placed at much greater physical risk than human subjects can

Professor Ma wants to design a project studying emotional response to date rape. He advertises for participants in the school newspaper, informs them about the nature of the study, gets their consent, conducts an interview, and debriefs them about the result when the experiment is over. if you were on the IRB, which ethical consideration would you most concern about Professor Ma's study? a) coercion b) deception c) confounding variables d) anonymity e) clear scientific purpose

b) deception

psychologists generally prefer the experimental method to other research methods because... a) experiments are more likely to support psychologists' hypothesis b) experiments can show cause-effect relationship c) it is easier to obtain a random sample for an experiment d) double-blind designs are unnecessary in an experiment e) experiments are more likely to result in statistically significant findings

b) experiments can show cause-effect relationship

some psychologists consider Stanley Milgram's obedience studies to be unethical because of which ethical consideration? a) improper sampling procedure b) risk of long-term harm c) clear scientific purpose d) debriefing e) anonymity

b) risk of long-term harm

Sandy scores a perfect 100 on a test that everyone else fails. if we were to graph this distribution, it would be... a) symmetrical b) normal c) positively skewed d) negatively skewed e) a straight line

c) positively skewed

Vincenzo conducts an experiment to see whether fear makes mice run through mazes faster. he first selected a sample of 60 mice and then divided them into a control group and an experimental group. which cannot be a confounding variable? a) how fast the mice are at the start b) when the mice run the maze c) the population from which he selected his subjects d) how frightened the mice are before the experiment e) where the mice run the maze

d) how frightened the mice are before the experiment

Jose hypothesizes that a new drug he has just invented will enhance mice's memories. he feeds the drug to the experimental group and gives the control group a placebo. he then times the mice as they learn to run through a maze. in order to know whether his hypothesis has been supported, Jose would need to use... a) scatter plots b) descriptive statistics c) histograms d) inferential statistics e) means-end analysis

d) inferential statistics

theoretically, random assignment should eliminate... a) sampling error b) the need to use statistics c) concerns over validity d) many confounding variables e) the need for a representative sample

d) many confounding variables

Charlotte, a nursery school student, hypothesizes that boys have fights with the finger paints more than girls do. she tests her hypothesis by casually watching the finger-painting table for three days of nursery school. what method is she using? a) field experiment b) informal survey c) case study d) naturalistic observation e) ethnography

d) naturalistic observation

Tamar scored 145 on an IQ test with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. what is her z score? a) -3 b) -1.5 c) +0.67 d) 1.5 e) +3

e) +3

which of the following hypotheses would be most difficult to test experimental? a) people exposed to the color red will be more aggressive than those exposed to the color blue b) exercise improves mood c) exposure to violent television increases aggression d) studying leads to better grades e) divorce make children more independent

e) divorce make children more independent