PSYC2360 Quizzes (Units 1-7)

A difference between empirical and nonempirical research is that:

the empirical method acquires knowledge through systematic observation.

A bias in the scientific community to only publish research that confirms a researcher's hypothesis is termed:

the file drawer problem

Giving a person the option to work alone or in a group as part of a study on group affiliation is an example of which measure?

behavioural choice

Measuring how often people eat at upscale restaurants by analyzing their credit card statements for the last year involves using a:

behavioural trace

The process of actively evaluating, applying, analyzing, and synthesizing information MOST requires _____ skills.

critical thinking

A case study that seeks to outline the potential outcomes of an intervention is known as a(n) _____ case study.

exploratory

Which is the BEST way to minimize observer bias?

extensively train the person(s) recording the behaviour

Which is an essential feature of a true experiment that distinguishes it from nonexperimental approaches?

independent variable manipulation

A clinical psychologist is treating a child with suspected conduct disorder. By interviewing the child, parents, and teachers, as well as obtaining his report cards and disciplinary records, she is able to make a diagnosis using the process of:

***find correct answer - ch5 question 6***

In which decade was the Belmont Report published?

1970s

Measures of simple reaction time tend to be consistent within individuals and differ across individuals. That is, some people tend to respond consistently more quickly than others. If a simple reaction time measure was used to study the personality dimension of conscientiousness, however, it would lack:

***find correct The literature on serial killers necessarily is influenced by _____, because researchers are only able to interview those who want to talk. answer - ch4 question 12***

Which statement is TRUE about the ethics associated with interviewing a serial killer?

***find correct answer - ch5 question 10***

An interviewer is having personal problems at home and, as such, comes across as a bit disorganized in an interview with a serial killer. As a result, the murderer becomes irritated and asks to end the interview. This scenario best reflects the dangers of:

***find correct answer - ch5 question 11***

In quantitative research _____ are the primary way that researchers summarize information and reach conclusions.

***find correct answer - ch5 question 13***

The role of researcher bias can be identified and minimized in qualitative research using the method of:

***find correct answer - ch5 question 14***

In the _____ section of an APA-style paper, the researcher puts the obtained results in context by comparing the findings with those previously published in the literature.

***find correct answer - ch5 question 18***

Which is MOST likely to be presented in the discussion section of an APA-style report involving a qualitative interview?

***find correct answer - ch5 question 3***

A board that reviews the ethical merit of all of the research conducted with vertebrate animals at an institution is known as the:

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

On coming out of her yoga class, Erin is asked by a researcher to report her current level of stress. She states that she has low stress in part because she thinks that is what the researcher hypothesizes. Erin's answer has been influenced largely by:

a demand characteristic

Which statement about the interplay between reliability and validity is TRUE?

a measure cannot be valid unless it is reliable

All of these are characteristics of male serial murderers according to the research conducted by Ressler et al. (2004) EXCEPT:

absent mother during childhood

The ethical perspective of egoism states that one should always:

act in one's own self-interests

A researcher often works many hours on service projects at the expense of her own research program. She never seeks recognition for this work. Although this behavior has decreased her own research productivity, she thinks that helping others is more important than pursuing her own interests. This is an example of which ethical perspective?

altruism

Kurt Lewin once stated that "There is nothing more practical than a good theory." In the context of basic and applied research, Lewin's quote reminds us that:

an understanding of basic research may lead to real-world applications

_____ data have already been collected in a naturally occurring setting, such as newspapers, health records, or social media.

archival

A mental shortcut for making judgments about the likelihood of an event based on how easily we can think of similar or relevant events is termed the:

availability heuristic

Nadia, who lives in coastal South Carolina, will no longer walk near ponds because she read about a woman in Florida who was attacked by an alligator. Because of this horrific and memorable story, Nadia overestimates the frequency of alligator attacks on humans due to the:

availability heuristic

Research designed to expand our existing knowledge on a topic is termed _____ research.

basic

In middle school, April learned about the "flat Earth" theory from Internet videos. Now in high school, she holds to this theory despite overwhelming evidence that the Earth is round. This illustrates which phenomenon?

belief perseverance

Maintaining a belief despite being exposed to contradictory evidence is termed:

belief perseverance

Researchers should utilize the research design that:

best addresses the research question

Variation from a measure's true score that systematically pushes scores in one direction is termed:

bias

After doing poorly on an art appreciation examination, Sarah told her friend that she never should have registered for the course because it was obvious from the course description that she would fail. Sarah is exhibiting the:

bias of hindsight

Unlike correlational designs, experimental designs allow for the determination of:

cause and effect

Because scientists are curious, observant, and skeptical, the textbook suggests that to begin to make scientific observations one should observe life as many _____ do.

comedians

Psychologists disseminate their findings through research journals, demonstrating which characteristic of science?

communication

Defining happiness as a state of well-being that includes positive emotions is an example of a(n) _____ definition of happiness.

conceptual

An accomplice of an experimenter who often pretends to be another participant in research studies is termed a(n):

confederate

According to the _____, we tend to seek evidence that supports our beliefs.

confirmation bias

England et al. (2011) analyzed princesses and princes portrayed in Disney movies, and categorized dialogue and character actions in terms of masculine and feminine qualities. This is an example of a(n) _____ analysis.

content analysis

_____ is an analysis technique that involves the examination of the natural patterns of dialogue and focuses on features such as turn taking, gaze direction, and how speakers sequence speech.

conversational analysis

A cue that potentially makes participants aware of what the experimenter expects is termed a:

demand characteristic

A researcher wants to determine if playing violent video games leads to aggression in children. Children play either a violent or nonviolent video game for 30 minutes and then are observed on a playground. Instances of aggressive behavior, such as pushing, hitting, and kicking are recorded. Measured instances of hitting are examples of the _____ variable.

dependent

In an experimental design, the outcome variable is termed the _____; in a correlational design it is termed the _____ variable.

dependent; criterion

The principle of nonmaleficence states that researchers should:

do no harm

Which is NOT a characteristic of a good scientist?

draws conclusions from an analysis of personal opinions

A researcher seeks only to increase his publication count for the purpose of increasing his professional reputation among his academic colleagues. He actually cares very little if his research will make important contributions to knowledge or lead to any applications. This is an example of which ethical perspective?

egoism

Which characteristic of science distinguishes it from philosophy?

empiricism

In the context of measurement, the extraneous factor that causes the actual score to differ from the true score is termed:

error

After receiving IRB approval to conduct a study, an unscrupulous researcher fakes the entire experiment. He generates completed informed consent forms from fictitious participants and creates a "data set" that produces statistically significant results. This practice would best be described as data:

fabrication

Perhaps the best research technique to determine if consumers are going to like a new product is the:

focus group

Which is a characteristic of qualitative research?

focuses on obtaining in-depth information from fewer participants

The first step of the scientific method is to:

generate an empirical research question

An educated prediction that provides a testable explanation of a phenomenon is termed a scientific:

hypothesis

The ability to find answers and separate fact from fiction is among the most important skills that students learn in college. To do this, students must first:

identify flaws in their current ways of thinking

A commitment to intellectual honesty and adherence to ethical principles in scientific research is termed scientific:

integrity

Which is NOT a basic ethical principle in the Belmont Report?

integrity

_____ bias refers to any way that the interviewer influences the responses of the participant.

interviewer

A graduate student in psychology often generates ideas for research by thinking what she would do if exposed to particular situations. She is using _____ as a tactic for developing research hypotheses.

introspection

Which is TRUE of the peer-review process?

it helps ensure that high-quality research is published

An ethical principle of the Belmont report, which involves fairness to the selection of research participants and what role they will play in the research, is termed:

justice

From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service studied the progression of syphilis in low-income African American men, even after a cure for syphilis became available. Although there are several serious ethical problems associated with this research, the decision to target low-income African American men violates the ethical principle of:

justice

Targeting a relatively weak or vulnerable population for inclusion in a research study violates the ethical principle of:

justice

Introspective analysis about a preferred activity may make that activity _____ enjoyable, a phenomenon termed the _____.

less; pleasure paradox

A researcher is interested in how a drug affects complex reaction time. Participants are randomly assigned to receive a different dose of the drug prior to a test in which numbers flash on a computer screen and they must hit a button as quickly as possible if the number is prime. In this research, a single drug dose is termed a(n):

level of the independent variable

Statistical tests are important data analytic techniques because they allow researchers to:

make probabilistic statements about the relationship between variables

Knight (2006) emphasized the role of which personality variable as characteristic of serial murderers?

narcissism

A social psychologist studies honesty in college students by providing easy opportunities for them to steal money in a game of Monopoly and secretly observing their behavior. Measuring honesty in terms of propensity to cheat in a game is an example of a(n) _____ definition of honesty.

operational

Occam's razor is otherwise known as the principle of:

parsimony

Some fields of psychology, such as personality psychology, use the self-report extensively primarily because:

participants have privileged access to their thoughts and feelings

The process by which other scientific experts in the field evaluate the quality of research before it is published is termed:

peer review

Representing others' work or ideas as your own without giving proper credit is termed:

plagiarism

The entire group of interest in a research study is termed the:

population

When interviewing a serial killer, Campbell and DeNevi (2004) suggest that interviews should attempt to establish motive while discussing which phase of the cycle of murder?

pre-crime phase

An educational psychologist seeks to determine the relationship between hours of sleep and college GPA. She obtains permission to inquire about students' sleeping habits and obtain their GPAs. She finds that students who sleep very few hours have lower GPAs than students who sleep more. In this study, hours of sleep is a(n) _____ variable.

predictor

A sampling approach in which everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected for participation is termed _____ sampling.

probability

Tatiana enrolls in a psychological research methods class because she is curious about the thoughts and behaviors of herself and others. Tatiana has no desire to go to graduate school and become a professional researcher, and her friends wonder why she has enrolled in the course. Tatiana's BEST reply is that learning about the research process will:

provide her with a set of skills to make better decisions in everyday life

A company markets a metallic bracelet as a treatment for arthritis. The company states that ion flow from the bracelet has antioxidant properties. In addition, they market the product by interviewing people whose arthritic symptoms have improved since wearing the bracelet. The company's use of scientific jargon and anecdotal evidence as marketing aids are features of:

pseudoscience

In most cases, the most relevant risk when conducting psychological research is:

psychological harm

An organizational psychologist wants to study the personality characteristics of top-performing CEOs. She assembles a list of the ten most profitable companies from the last year and interviews the CEOs at these companies. The psychologist is using which form of sampling?

purposive sampling

Which is an essential feature of a true experiment that distinguishes it from nonexperimental approaches?

random assignment to groups

Increasing the sample size decreases the problem associated with:

random error

"If you measure the same thing twice you should get the same result" is the essence of measurement:

reliability

Salads are typically healthy, but salads from restaurants with high-calorie dressing often exceed 1000 calories. Misclassifying these salads as healthy is an example of the:

representative heuristic

Which statement about informed consent is FALSE?

researchers must be forthcoming about the purpose of the study

Another term for observer bias is _____ bias.

scorer

Which is a characteristic of quantitative research?

seeks to generalize study's finding to broader populations

A psychologist reads a report of a finding that is contradictory to what previous similar studies have reported. In the absence of additional information, the psychologist is hesitant to accept the new finding. This illustrates which characteristic of science?

skepticism

_____ refers to keeping the experimental situation the same for everyone and as free from variation as possible.

standardization

A social psychologist seeks to mimic real-world prison conditions in college students who provide informed consent to participate in the study. This research would be classified as _____ by the IRB.

subject to full review

For her research project in health psychology, Lauren asks college students about their current patterns of drug and alcohol use. This research would be classified as _____ by the IRB.

subject to full review

All are features of pseudoscience EXCEPT:

testable claims

What differentiates scientific from nonscientific questions?

the ability to empirically test the question

A systematic approach for answering questions that helps the questioner have more confidence in the knowledge discovered is termed:

the scientific method

A psychoanalyst attributes her adult client's anxiety to unresolved childhood conflict. The psychoanalyst is explaining her client's anxiety within the context of a psychological:

theory

A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world supported by repeated observation and experimentation is termed a scientific:

theory

In a(n) _____ interview, the researcher anticipates potential topics but does not plan actual questions or the order of topics to be addressed.

unstructured

A common strategy to exaggerate the size of an experimental effect on a figure or graph is to:

use colour opposites (ex. black vs white) to portray the different groups or conditions

_____ are factors or elements that might change or have several different values.

variables

The literature on serial killers necessarily is influenced by _____, because researchers are only able to interview those who want to talk.

volunteer bias