Psychology CH. 1

Exploring how we humans are diverse because of our differing genes and environments is the focus of

behavior genetics.

The empirical approach draws on

both observation and experimentation.

Which psychological perspective is most likely to be concerned with identifying the powers and the limits of human reasoning?

cognitive

Our tendency to believe we know more than we do best illustrates

overconfidence.

The personality theorist Sigmund Freud was an Austrian

physician.

If the correlation between children's intelligence and their creativity is +1.00, this would indicate that

among children, increased creativity is associated with higher intelligence.

The psychology textbook that William James authored was titled

Principles of Psychology.

Which of the following is NOT a suggestion provided in the text for how to be a stronger person and a better student?

Set short-term goals.

What is a common feature of industrial-organizational psychologists?

They are more likely to conduct applied research.

Psychologists' personal values and goals

can bias their observations and interpretations.

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

case study

Which perspective is most concerned with how individuals interpret their experiences?

cognitive

Investigating patterns of brain activity that accompany people's recollections of a stressful experience would be of most direct interest to the specialty area known as

cognitive neuroscience.

Discerning the unstated assumptions and values that underlie conclusions best illustrates ________, which is an important learning tool.

critical thinking

When you question the claim that hypnosis helps people to recall memories more accurately, you are most clearly demonstrating

critical thinking

Dr. Santaniello conducts research on how children's moral thinking changes as they grow older. It is most likely that Dr. Santaniello is a(n) ________ psychologist.

developmental

Which of the following is NOT a descriptive method?

experiment

Random assignment minimizes ________ between experimental and control groups. Random sampling minimizes ________ between a sample and a population.

differences; differences

The testing effect refers to the ________ that accompanies repeated retrieval of learned information.

enhanced memory

Critical thinking most clearly involves

evaluating evidence

Dr. Wilson attributes the delinquent behaviors of many teens to the pressures associated with being a member of a street gang. Her account best illustrates a(n) ________ perspective.

social-cultural

Which perspective in psychology is most likely to focus on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?

social-cultural

To minimize the extent to which outcome differences between experimental and control groups can be attributed to placebo effects, researchers make use of

the double-blind procedure.

Which of the following methods is most helpful for clarifying cause-effect relationships?

the experiment

Dr. Branch would like to study the relationship between room lighting and college students' test performance. He randomly assigns students to one of two groups. The first group takes an exam in a dimly lit room; the second group takes the same exam in a regularly lit room. Which is the experimental group?

the group of students who took the exam in the dimly lit room

Research participants drank either caffeinated or decaffeinated beverages in a study of the effects of caffeine on anxiety levels. Those who received the caffeinated drinks were assigned to the ________ group.

experimental

Participants who are exposed to the treatment being tested in an experiment are said to be assigned to the

experimental group.

One research team randomly assigned hospitalized premature infants either to formula feedings or to breast-milk feedings. Which research method did they use?

experimentation

The ethics codes of the American Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society urge researchers to

explain the research to the participants after the study has been completed.

William James was a prominent American

functionalist.

Today's psychology is best described as increasingly

globalized in its influence.

Steven believes that the Earth is flat and has befriended several people on social media who also hold this view. This is an example of how ________ can feed the acceptance of misinformation.

group identity

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

hindsight bias

Professor Jones is examining the impact of parental divorce on adult children's attitudes regarding romantic relationships. The attitude regarding romantic relationships can be considered a(n)

mental process.

Wilhelm Wundt's laboratory work involved experimental studies of

mental processes.

Claudia is a graduate student who is working on her dissertation. She is statistically synthesizing the findings of previous research on the effects of corporal punishment on children. What research design is she using?

meta-analysis

Psychological research indicates that regular aerobic exercise is an effective way to minimize

mild depression.

SQ3R is a study method incorporating five steps: survey, question, read, ________, and review.

retrieve

Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two variables?

-0.12

The conclusion that "playing violent video games leads to violent crime" has been refuted by the American Psychological Association (APA). Why did the APA refute the statement?

Correlation does not prove causation.

What do the parallel research findings of "Eighty percent of prisoners in the United States were spanked as children" and "Seventy-five percent of college students in the United States were spanked as children" demonstrate?

Correlation does not prove causation.

Which of the following is TRUE regarding the field of psychology?

It is a science, similar to biology and chemistry.

Which woman psychologist was the first to officially earn a doctorate degree?

Margaret Floy Washburn

Who was a student of William James and the first female president of the American Psychological Association?

Mary Whiton Calkins

Who was the American philosopher-psychologist who authored a textbook in 1890 for the emerging discipline of psychology?

William James

Which of the following is a statistical measure of both the direction and the strength of a relationship between two variables?

a correlation coefficient

An inverse relationship in which one factor increases as another factor decreases represents

a negative correlation.

A direct relationship in which two factors increase together or decrease together represents

a positive correlation

To accurately generalize study results, researchers need

a representative sample.

Meta-analysis is

a statistical procedure for analyzing the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion.

A descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a representative sample of a population is known as

a survey.

Functionalism was a school of psychology that focused attention on the

adaptive value of thoughts and behaviors

Contemporary psychology is best defined as the science of

behavior and mental processes.

Professor Brody attempts to measure the relative contributions of inborn traits and social influences on sexual preferences and behavior patterns. Her research efforts best illustrate the interests of the ________ perspective.

behavior genetics

Observing and recording people's behavior as they are conditioned was of most central interest to

behaviorism.

The scientific study of mental activities associated with perceiving, processing, and remembering information is most central to

cognitive psychology.

To discover the extent to which economic status can be used to predict political preferences, researchers are most likely to use

correlational measures.

To determine whether the strength of people's self-esteem is related to their income level, researchers would most likely make use of

correlational research.

Marissa recently attended a lecture on supernatural phenomena, at which the speaker explained how the locations of planets and stars at one's birth determine the person's personality and life course. Marissa is not convinced that this information is accurate and so she is quite skeptical. She has concluded that the assumptions and conclusions of this statement are faulty, that the speaker is biased and lacks credibility, and that there is minimal evidence to support this claim. Marissa has engaged in

critical thinking.

Melinda expressed concerns as to whether the wording of the questions in a life satisfaction survey may have encouraged respondents to convey unusually positive levels of well-being. Melinda's concerns best illustrated

critical thinking.

Questioning whether conclusions are warranted by the existing evidence best illustrates

critical thinking.

Reasoning that does not blindly accept available arguments and conclusions illustrates

critical thinking.

Which of the following is a conditioned behavior that can be observed?

crying

After an experiment, research participants are told its purpose and about any deception they may have experienced. This is called

debriefing.

In a psychological experiment, the factor that may be influenced by the manipulated experimental treatment is called the ________ variable.

dependent

Several weeks after a political election, voters often exaggerate their ability to have predicted the election outcome. This best illustrates

hindsight bias

A sense of humility regarding the accuracy of our intuitions is most likely to be undermined by

hindsight bias.

Giving half the members of a group some purported psychological finding and the other half an opposite finding is an easy way to demonstrate the impact of

hindsight bias.

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow promoted a historically significant approach known as

humanistic psychology.

In a psychological experiment, the experimental factor that is manipulated by the investigator is called the ________ variable.

independent

Which psychologists are MOST likely to be involved in applied research?

industrial-organizational psychologists

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.

A researcher would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between

intelligence and academic success.

Looking inward and reporting your immediate sensations, images, and feelings is called

introspection.

By suggesting that nurture works on what nature provides, psychologists highlight the fact that we are biologically endowed with a capacity for

learning and adaptation

Different accounts of the same behavior that together give us a more complete understanding represent different

levels of analysis.

New technologies such as smart-phone apps and body-worn sensors have enabled the collection of "big data" by means of

naturalistic observation.

Efforts to discover whether the intelligence of children is more heavily influenced by their biology or their home environments are most directly relevant to the debate regarding

nature and nurture.

Professor Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Professor Lopez favors a ________ perspective on depression.

neuroscience

Beginning in the 1920s, American psychologists such as John B. Watson emphasized the study of

observable behavior.

John B. Watson is to Edward Titchener as ________ is to ________.

observable behavior; inner sensations

Dr. Murphy is studying the relationship between alcohol intoxication and risky driving behaviors. Dr. Murphy defines alcohol intoxication as having a blood alcohol level of .08. This definition of alcohol intoxication is a(n)

operational definition.

Replication of a research study is most likely to be facilitated by

operational definitions.

A theory is an explanation using an integrated set of principles that ________ observations and ________ behaviors or events.

organizes; predicts

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.

People often fail to make accurate generalizations because they are unduly influenced by ________ cases.

vivid

To learn about the TV viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge School, Professor DeVries randomly selected and interviewed 50 of the school's students. In this instance, all the children attending the school are considered to be a(n)

population.

Dr. Salvia is studying how happiness in late adulthood relates to a person's social network and social connectedness. Her approach is called

positive psychology.

A "modern culture where people's emotions and personal beliefs often override their acceptance of objective facts" is Oxford English Dictionary's definition of

post-truth.

The study of psychology is potentially dangerous because

psychological knowledge can be used for destructive purposes.

Six of the children in Mr. Myers' class were born on exactly the same day. This strikes him as astonishing and improbable. In this instance, he should be reminded that

random sequences of events often don't look random.

Why might so many people believe the commonly accepted idea that roaches could survive a nuclear bomb?

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

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.

Professor Shalet contends that parents and their children have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as a(n)

theory.

The distinctive feature of the psychodynamic perspective is its emphasis on

unconscious conflicts

In their research on people's perception of the relationship between gun violence and gun control in the United States, Dr. Margo and Dr. Dillman have found that people are more approving of "commonsense gun legislation" than "banning weapons." This finding demonstrates which of the following?

wording effects