psy2012 chapter 1

Who is(are) most likely to hold biased views?

Both Stephanie, who is a Republican, and Derek, who is a Democrat

During the past year, Gordon and Gus each read 4 books, but Alfred read 10, Ivy read 14, and Meredith read 24. The median number of books read by these individuals was

10

Mr. and Mrs. Pollak have six children ages 6, 8, 8, 10, 12, and 16. The mean age of the Pollak children is

10

During the last Mudville High School basketball game, the five starting players scored 10, 6, 24, 12, and 6 points, respectively. For this distribution of scores, the range is

18

Approximately what percentage of the cases represented by the normal curve fall between -1 and +1 standard deviations from the mean?

68

If IQ scores are normally distributed, having a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, approximately what percentage of people have IQ scores somewhere between 70 and 130?

95

Dr. Dundon has researched the effects of video watching for the past four years and has repeatedly found that teenagers who report exposure to increased sexual content in the videos are also more likely to report engaging in unprotected sex, having sex with several partners, and consuming alcohol or drugs prior to having sex. What does this mean?

Exposure to sexual content in the media is correlated with risky sexual behaviors.

Which statement is true regarding representative samples?

Generalizations based on a few unrepresentative cases are unreliable.

Jerome scored 100 on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. What does this mean?

He is of average intelligence.

________ samples are better than ________ samples.

Representative; unrepresentative

Although Danielle's history class is sometimes longer or shorter than usual, on average each class is 55 minutes. If the lengths of these classes form a normal curve, which statistic would enable Danielle to estimate the probability that any single class will last somewhere between 52 and 58 minutes?

Standard deviation

________ is a statement of how likely it is that a result (such as a difference between samples) occurred by chance.

Statistical significance

Which of the following is true for those assigned to a control group?

The experimental treatment is absent.

Dr. Cast has found that children who watch more television are more likely to be overweight. Which conclusion can he reach?

Watching increased amounts of television is correlated with obesity.

By revealing what can happen through an in-depth examination of even an atypical individual, ________ often suggests directions for future research.

a case study

Professor Terrance has conducted a study that examined the relationship between level of physical activity and academic performance among children. He is most likely to use ________ to determine if a relationship exists.

a correlation coefficient

A positive correlation indicates

a direct relationship in which two sets of scores increase together or decrease together.

Professor Martinez believes that because attractive people are more sensitive, more successful, and more socially skilled, handsome men will be more successful in getting a job. The professor's prediction regarding employment success is an example of

a hypothesis.

Suppose you want to find out which candidate women will vote for in an upcoming national election. To be sure the sample you survey is representative of the population of women, you should survey

a large representative sample of the population of women.

A direct relationship in which two sets of scores increase together or decrease together represents

a positive correlation

The case study is a research method in which

a single individual or group is studied in great depth.

similar processes often underlie animal and human behavior.

an experiment

For an experiment designed to study how drinking alcohol might affect romantic attraction, Dr. Washburn clearly identified the procedures used to measure romantic attraction. This illustrates

an operational definition.

An extensive survey revealed that children with relatively high self-esteem tend to picture God as kind and loving, whereas those with lower self-esteem tend to perceive God as angry. The researchers concluded that the children's self-esteem had apparently influenced their views of God. This conclusion best illustrates the danger of

assuming that association proves causation

The average price for different brands of mouthwash could be visually displayed in a(n)

bar graph

Experiments enable researchers to isolate the effects of one or more factors by

both manipulating the factors of interest and controlling for factors that are not of interest.

The research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process is called a(n)

experiment

Little Hans' extreme fear of horses was observed as part of a(n)

case study

Studying one individual or group in depth is to ________ as observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations is to ________.

case study; naturalistic observation

Unconscious gut feelings, or ________, provide(s) a sharp contrast to explicit, conscious reasoning.

common sense

When a mean is reported on a TV news broadcast, it is most important for readers to

consider whether it is distorted by a few extreme cases.

Professor Stevens wants to examine the relationship between false news and negative attitudes about refugees. Professor Stevens' research would be an example of

correlational research.

Research has shown that about two percent of people are able to accurately predict social behavior. Psychologist Philip Tetlock (with Dan Gardner) has referred to these successful predictors as

superforecasters

Who reported that partisan bias exists in both liberals and conservatives at identical levels?

ditto

A statistically significant difference between two sample groups is NOT likely to be

due to chance variation within and between the sample groups.

Professor Stone wants to determine how stereotype threat can affect test performance. Specifically, he wants to prove that stereotype threat causes poor test performance. Professor Stone must use which research design?

experiment

Dr. Psychology is conducting a study on the effects of caffeine on anxiety levels. In her study, research participants drank either caffeinated or decaffeinated beverages prior to having their anxiety levels assessed. Those who received the caffeinated drinks were assigned to the ________ group.

experimental

The group of people who are exposed to the treatment being tested in an experiment is called the ________ group.

experimental

When investigators gather data and then seek to identify patterns in the data that can be used to guide theories in the field, they are engaging in ________ research.

exploratory

Professor O'Malley displays on a scatterplot the relationship between students' exam scores and their success at obtaining gainful employment. The points on the scatterplot are most likely clustered in a pattern that

extends from the lower left to the upper right.

An analysis of 30,000 general election political predictions in 45 countries between 1942 and 2017 concluded that election polls are

generally accurate

Irwin Moore's banker has informed him that his bank account is overdrawn. When Irwin tells his wife, she angrily responds, "I could have told you that you shouldn't have put a down payment on a new car!" Her comment best illustrates

hindsight bias

Steven sees a group of teenagers walking down the street toward him. They are all wearing jeans with holes in them, black T-shirts with band logos on the front, and have spiked, colorful hair. He thinks, "Birds of a feather flock together." This demonstrates

hindsight bias

The perception that psychological research findings merely verify our commonsense understanding is most clearly facilitated by

hindsight bias

Formulating testable predictions before conducting research is most directly useful for restraining a thinking error known as

hindsight bias.

Because of a study suggesting that the MMR vaccination caused autism, U.S. measles rates in 2019

increased to their highest levels in 25 years

In an experimental study, men with erectile disorder received either Viagra or a placebo. In this study, the drug dosage (none versus peak dose) was the

independent variable.

Potential research participants are told enough about an upcoming study to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate. This illustrates the practice of seeking

informed consent

Which of the following is NOT an example of animal research guidelines, as discussed in the text?

informed consent

Potential research participants are told enough about an upcoming study to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate. This illustrates the practice of seeking

informed consent.

Professor Madigan would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between

intelligence and income.

By combining the results of many studies, researchers who conduct ________ avoid the problem of small samples and arrive at a bottom-line result.

meta-analyses

Research participants are randomly assigned to different groups in an experiment in order to

minimize any differences between groups of participants.

James, a graduate student, is observing parents as they interact with their children on a playground. He is not trying to change or manipulate the situation. Rather, he is recording their interactions without interruption or influence. This is referred to as

naturalistic observation.

Professor Sampson carefully observes and records the behaviors of high school students as they gather at a local hangout to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Professor Sampson is most clearly engaged in

naturalistic observation.

If the points on a scatterplot are clustered in a pattern that extends from the upper left to the lower right, this would suggest that the two variables depicted are

negatively correlated.

The symmetrical bell-shaped figure used to represent the distribution of many physical and psychological characteristics is called a

normal curve.

When you read a bar graph, it is most important for you to

note the range and size of the scale values

American Shelly was certain that she would never marry someone from another country. However, when she met Frenchman Pierre, she fell in love and decided to marry him. Shelly's experience best illustrates

overconfidence

Dr. Stott is an expert in cognitive psychology and is currently reading and reviewing a research study that has been submitted for publication consideration in an academic journal. Dr. Stott does not know who wrote the article and is reviewing the study based on incorporation and application of theory, originality, and accuracy in research design, analysis, and results. Dr. Stott is serving as a

peer reviewer

Statisticians Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller commented, "But with a large enough sample, any outrageous thing is likely to happen." What were they referring to?

perceiving patterns in random events

An inert substance that may be administered instead of a drug to see if it produces any of the same effects as the drug is called a

placebo

In a study of the effects of drinking coffee, some participants drank a decaf coffee that actually smelled and tasted like regular coffee. This decaf coffee was a

placebo

What was the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year in 2017?

post-truth

To accurately isolate cause and effect, experimenters should use

random assignment

To assess the impact of test difficulty on persistence of effort, Professor Terry plans to give one group of children relatively easy tests and another group more difficult tests. To reduce the chance that the children in one group are more intelligent than those in the other group, Professor Terry should make use of

random assignment

To help control for possible confounding variables, researchers use

random assignment.

To assess reactions to a proposed tuition hike at her school, Ariana sent a questionnaire to every fifteenth person in the registrar's alphabetical listing of all currently enrolled students. Ariana is ensuring that her survey results are accurate by using

random sampling

When every individual in a large population has a small but equal chance of being included in a survey, researchers are using a procedure known as

random sampling.

Which measure of variation is affected most by a few extreme scores?

range

Dwayne is generally a happy person. Two weeks ago, he felt sad and depressed. This week, he feels happy again. What is the best explanation for his fluctuating emotions?

regression toward the mean

Mimi received an A on her first chemistry test and a B+ on the second, even though she spent the same amount of time studying for both tests. Which of the following best explains Mimi's deteriorating pattern of performance?

regression toward the mean

After sports magazines give cover-story attention to the recent outstanding performances of an athlete, the individual often suffers a real decline in performance. This may be at least partially explained in terms of

regression toward the mean.

The illusion that uncontrollable events are correlated with our actions is facilitated by a phenomenon known as

regression toward the mean.

Norman is especially prone to ulcers and has been told by friends and parents that spicy foods can lead to or aggravate ulcers. When dining with friends at a Mexican restaurant, he opts for a light salad. When asked why he was not indulging, he replies that he cannot eat spicy foods because he is prone to ulcers. Why might Norman believe this myth?

repetition

Dr. Smith just reviewed an article that found a relationship between playing violent video games and childhood aggression. Dr. Smith would like to conduct a similar study to see if he obtains the same results. Dr. Smith is planning on ________ this study.

replicating

Professor Ambra was skeptical about the accuracy of research on the benefits of running a mile every day. Which process would best enable her to assess the reliability of the findings?

replication

Professor Heinz wants to examine the impact of parental divorce on childhood outcomes. To do so, he collects data from adult participants who experienced the divorce of their parents when they were children. His participants make up a(n)

representative sample.

Statistical reasoning can help us to generalize correctly from a

sample to a population

When people generalize from a few vivid but unrepresentative cases, they are falling prey to

sampling bias

Commonsense thinking has several flaws. Which of the following is NOT one of those flaws?

scientific inquiry

Psychologists study animals because

similar processes often underlie animal and human behavior.

In one analysis of 126,000 stories tweeted by 3 million people false information was ________ as compared with true information.

spread farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly

The precision with which a sample average approximates a population average increases as the

standard deviation of the sample decreases.

To decide whether observed differences between samples reflect actual differences between populations, you should determine the ________ of the observed differences.

statistical significance

Dr. McClusky conducted a study in which he compared academic achievement among middle school students who either played video games at least one hour each day or did not play video games for at least one hour each day. The average scores used for academic achievement were reliable for both groups and the difference between the two groups was relatively large. This means that the results he found can be considered

statistically significant.

A hypothesis is a(n)

testable prediction that gives direction to research.

To better understand how patients recover from brain damage after an automobile accident, Dr. Thomas carefully observes and questions Michael, who was in an automobile accident over a year ago and suffered brain damage as a result of the accident. Which research method is Dr. Thomas implementing?

the case study

Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether aerobic exercise boosts mental alertness?

the experiment

Seven members of a boys' club reported the following individual earnings from their sale of cookies: $2, $9, $8, $10, $4, $9, and $7. In this distribution of individual earnings

the median is greater than the mean and less than the mode.

In a survey, psychologists select a random sample of research participants in order to ensure that

the participants are representative of the population they are interested in studying.

Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the political beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward welfare?

the survey

Professor Valetta believes that identical twins have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as a(n)

theory

Ian believes that humans use only 10 percent of their brain. He can't remember where he learned this information but is convinced that it is accurate. What would you suggest Ian do to confirm or disconfirm this information?

use critical thinking when presented with such round, undocumented numbers

Anything that can vary and is feasible and ethical to measure is called a(n)

variable

When we ask, for example, how closely related are the intelligence scores of fraternal twins, we are asking how strongly two ________ are related.

variables

In their research on people's perception of how prisoners accused of terrorism are questioned, Dr. Pedersen and Dr. MacDonald have found that people are more approving of "enhanced interrogation" than "torture." This finding demonstrates which of the following?

wording effects

Surveys indicate that people are less likely to support "affirmative action" than "preferential treatment." These survey results best illustrate the importance of

wording effects