Chapter 2

Which of the following are explanations for why psychologists emphasize methods more than those working in other scientific fields (for example, physics or chemistry)?

An understanding of research methods is needed to evaluate previous psychological research. , There is more room for skepticism about "facts" in psychology than there is in other scientific fields., NOT Research methods are not important to physics and chemistry., Most psychologists study methods more than content., Methods are not often taught as part of the introductory curriculum in other scientific fields.

Which of the following help to explain the "causal force" that is sometimes thought of as an advantage of I data?

Behavioral Confirmation and the expectancy effect, NOT the fish-and-water effect

When analyzing her data, Julia discovered that the average score of participants in her experiment was 34 on Monday, 54 on Tuesday, and 30 on Thursday. She calls her research assistant in for a meeting to explain that variations in the -_____ may be causing poor -_____. The research assistant explains that he wasn't feeling well on Tuesday, and Julia begins to suspect that variations in the -_______ may also have caused the problem.

Environment, reliability, state of the experimenter

Though many variables can be studied at once using the _____ method, this method is typically used to examine the effect of one variable on one other variable. The variable that is thought to be causal is manipulated in this method, whereas the same variable is measured without being manipulated in the ______ method, which is typically used when researchers seek to study the associations among many variables as they realistically occur outside of a lab.

Experimental, Correlational

Funder's First Law

Great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well

Of the four types of data, which one calls for individuals to directly answer questions about themselves or other people?

Informants' report and self-reports

What is an example of a construct?

Intelligence

Identify whether or not the following are examples of psychological constructs.

Intelligence, sociability, identity NOT a laboratory, a personality psychologist, the brain

What is not an advantage of the case study method?

It is not controlled. ; IS and ADVANTAGE Sometimes the method is absolutely necessary, it describes the whole phenomenon, It can be a source for new ideas

I data

Letters of recommendation, gossip about your roommate, asking somebody who knows the person to describe them

According to the text, what is the central principle behind the use of S data?

People are the best experts on their own opinions and behaviors

Technical Training

The process of learning to use known information; computer operator, gardener, computer operator, physician

Experimental and correlational methods both assess the relationship between variables. How are the two methods different?

The variable that is thought to be causal is manipulated in the experimental method, whereas it is measured without being manipulated in the correlational method

I data (informants' reports) can best be defined as what?

judgement by knowledgable human informants of general attributes of the individual's personality made through observation

Disadvantages of I Data

lack of access to private experiences, error, bias, limited behavioral information; The accuracy of I data is limited because individuals often behave differently in different contexts

Advantages of I Data

large amount of information, common sense, real-world basis, true by definition

Funder's Third Law

something beats nothing, two times out of three

Funder's Second Law

There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous

A hybrid of B data and S data, __________ consist(s) of participant reports of what they think they would do under various circumstances.

the degree to which a measurement actually reflects what it is supposed to be measuring

What is the definition of validity?

the degree to which a measurement actually reflects what it is supposed to be measuring

Which of the following are possible factors researchers evaluate when considering reliability?

the extent to which environmental differences influence data collection, the extent to which environmental differences influence data collection, the extent to which environmental differences influence data collection NOT the extent to which a trait can be measured through many different behaviors, the extent to which the results of the researcher's work apply to other kinds of people

Scientific training

the process of learning how to extend what is known; pharmacological, biologist, computer scientist, botanist

Experimental

This design evaluates the extent to which participants will continue to cooperate in a team setting after reading faked biographical information about teammates who are assigned to them in a lab.

Correlational

This design uses a long-running questionnaire of hospital nurses to determine whether informant ratings of sociability can predict the number of hospital visitors.

Case method

This design will be used by a psychologist writing a book about the personalities of each American president based on available biographical data.

Improves reliability

aggregation, care with research procedure, standardized research protocol, measure something important

S data measured by

asking people to describe themselves

Disadvantages of B data

difficult and expensive, uncertain interpretation

Generalizability

diverse representativeness, Gender bias

Validity

evidence that different constructs in real life also differ experimentally, low agreement between the measurement technique and the outcome of relevance

B data

experience-sampling data, heart rate and skin conductance, observing what the person does,

Though many variables can be studied at once using the _____ method, this method is typically used to examine the effect of one variable on one other variable. The variable that is thought to be causal is manipulated in this method, whereas the same variable is measured without being manipulated in the _______ method, which is typically used when researchers seek to study the associations among many variables as they realistically occur outside of a lab.

experimental, correlational

Scientific research

exploration aimed at acquiring new knowledge

The distinction between reliability and validity is not always easy. To better distinguish between the two notions, we now tend to view them as aspects of a single broader concept called what?

generalizability

The fact that women are more likely than men to sign up for a study affects the __________ of the study.

generalizability

A hybrid of B data and S data, __________ consist(s) of participant reports of what they think they would do under various circumstances.

a behavioroid

Which term applies to how individuals affect the world around them?

"residue" of personality

Generalizability allows us to do what?

Apply our results to populations or situations outside of an experiment

What type of data do experiments and personality tests such as the Rorschach test collect?

B data

Each of the four sources of personality data provides distinct benefits and disadvantages to personality research. -_____ data is useful because it is intrinsically important and easily verified, though it can often be argued that these data are determined by factors unrelated to personality. -_____ data have the appearance of objectivity and can be gathered across highly-diverse ranges of context but are not always easily interpreted. Although it is easy to collect large amounts of -______ data, especially when studying topics that are known only by the individuals being assessed, this type of data notoriously suffers from bias and error. Finally, -_____ data uniquely benefits from "common sense" contextualization, definitional truth, and "real-world" relevance. That said, it also suffers from limited behavioral information and a lack of access to private experience.

Life outcome, behavioral, self-report, informant report

Reliability is important to successful research, but every measurement involves a certain amount of error. What list describes some factors that commonly undermine reliability?

Low precision, variation in the participant, and environment, state of experimenter

L data

Medical Records, Police Blotters, seeing how the person is doing in life

A personality researcher is interested in studying whether personality characteristics relate to success among actors. To do so, she plans to ask members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to fill out questionnaires about their own personalities and the personalities of their colleagues. In addition, they will also be asked to report on the amount of time they spend acting each week, the number of roles they have played, and the number of awards they have won. The questionnaires will constitute -_____ and -_____, respectively. The hours spent acting would be -_____ and the number of roles and awards would be -______.

S data, I data, B data, L data

The goal of -___training is to help future -____contribute new knowledge to the field. This differs from the goal of training for -_____ which is to help future doctors apply what is already known.

Scientific, researchers, physicians

S Data

Self-judgements , questionnaires about how you're feeling, asking the person directly about him or herself

Correlational methods do all except what?

Showed which variable caused the other, DOES allow constructs to be studied in a variety of settings, allow researchers to find a relationship between two variables, require reliable measures of both variables

To address concerns about poor reliability in her data, Maritza decides to write a -______ that will ensure more consistent data collection. Then she asks her research assistant to be more careful when collecting data and to watch out for -______ among participants' mood.

Standardized research protocol, variation

What is the main difference between state and trait reliability?

States lack consistency across time and situations, whereas traits produce reliable across times and situations

Which of the following are disadvantages of informants' report data?

The data are prone to Bias, The data are prone to error; NOT Some I data are true by definition, The data expose a person's private inner life without his or her consent.

Which of the following methods would be useful for studying the effects of caffeine consumption on poker playing performance?

Which of the following methods would be useful for studying the effects of caffeine consumption on poker playing performance?; a lab-based study that measures the relationship between various doses of caffeine and performance at various intervals after the caffeine was consumed; a lab-based study that measures the relationship between various doses of caffeine and performance at various intervals after the caffeine was consumed; NOT gathering behavioral measurements of the caffeine consumed by dealers; asking informants whether they have noticed that poker performance seems to improve when the players are drinking coffee

behavioral confirmation

becoming what others expect you to be

the expectancy effect

becoming what others expect you to be

self-verification

behaving in a way that encourages others to treat you as you see yourself

To build a complete picture of an individual's personality, researchers must rely on the observable aspects, which are best characterized as -_____ one source. Because personality is difficult to observe, researchers must also rely upon data and gather information from -_____ one source without placing too much emphasis on data from -_____ one source.

clues, multiple sources, any one source

The principle behind the Spearman-Brown formula in psychometrics states that because random errors tend to cancel one another out, the __________ errors your measurements have, the __________ of them you need.

more; more

Because any piece of L data can have many different causes, it is extremely difficult to directly connect life outcomes with specific personality traits. This key disadvantage to L data is referred to as what?

multi-determinism

B data measured with

observations of what a person does or how they respond to common situations

I data measured with

other people's descriptions

undermines reliability

variation in the environment, low precision, state of the participant, state of the experimenter

Reliability

variation in the state of the experimenter, variation in the environment of data collection, consistency across two measurements of the same construct

L data measured with

verifiable outcomes

advantages of B data

wide range of contexts, appearance of objectivity