Ch. 1 Quizzes

The idea that we can dismiss scientific theories (such as Darwinian evolution) from serious consideration because a theory "is just an educated guess" is

a misconception

The police have arrested a suspect in an assault case and the victim has agreed to look at a lineup to see if he can identify the person who attacked him. Gary, a police psychologist, is advising the detectives on the most accurate way to put together a lineup. What should he recommend that they use?

sequential lineup

Alice is looking for an effective diet program. She is able to evaluate the claims of competing programs in an open-minded and careful fashion by __________, the hallmark of scientific skepticism.

using her critical thinking skills

Besse believes that food supplements are very dangerous and should be avoided because they do not pass the tests of the Food and Drug Administration. For Besse to be convinced to take a food supplement, which of the following will need to occur?

The evidence for the food supplement's effectiveness and safety would have to be very persuasive.

Dr. Nadica believes that the new medication he is testing helps treat anxiety. As he runs his experiment testing the medication, every time he sees a participant stutter or show nervousness, he attributes it to their newness to the experiment and does not record it as an anxious behavior. Dr. Nadica is showing

confirmation bias

The "third variable problem" is associated with which scientific thinking principle?

correlation is not causation

Psychological researchers have become more aware of the importance of replicating research results. Part of this awareness is driven by the observation that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time. This phenomenon is known as the

decline effect

You meet a psychologist who tells you that she conducts research on children to determine how their cognitive processes differ as the child gets older. You recognize that this person is most likely a(n)

developmental psychologist.

Ten-year-old Candace Newmaker died as a result of a pseudoscientific treatment called "rebirthing therapy." This is an example of pseudoscience causing

direct harm

Lada was feeling overwhelmed and hopeless and concluded that the problems she was facing could not be solved. Lada is subject to the

emotional reasoning fallacy

Dr. Frohardt is a psychology professor who has been asked to explain what all people will look at first when they view photographs of dangerous animals. Dr. Frohardt will find this task difficult because

eye-tracking studies show differences between cultures when inspecting visual materials.

Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because

its predictions are difficult to falsify.

From "neurons to neighborhoods" represents the multiple __________ found in the discipline of psychology.

levels of analysis

Which term describes the commonsense belief that we see the world as it really is?

naive realism

Bud and Sandy are discussing the merits of new automobiles. Bud noted, "This car model has been tested by four different consumer agencies in hundreds of tests with virtually the same outcomes each time; it is very reliable." Sandy countered, "Yeah, but my neighbor down the street bought that car, and he has had nothing but problems. I would stay away from it." Which hallmark of pseudoscience has Sandy fallen prey to?

over reliance on anecdotes

Zhanna was lying in the grass looking at the sky when a cloud floated by that Zhanna thought looked like a dinosaur. This tendency to perceive patterns in meaningless things in our environment is called

patternicity

After studying her psychology text, Gwen was asked which of the early perspectives in psychology she was most attracted to. Gwen replies, "The perspective that focused on internal psychological processes of the unconscious." Gwen likes

psychoanalysis

Laurie told her friend Sandi, "I had a headache this morning, so I used an old family cure: Three sips of ginger ale, and an hour later my head felt better." Sandi replied, "I am glad you are feeling more comfortable now, but maybe the sheer passage of time made your headache go away." Sandi is offering a(n) __________ in response to Laurie's explanation.

rival hypothesis

Frida believes that psychological experience can be understood by breaking it down into its basic elements. Frida believes in

structuralism

Some main warning signs of pseudoscientific claims include overreliance on anecdotes, exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity to other research, lack of peer review, and

use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense