Stats midterm chapter 1 study guide

Your friend Gaby loves reading articles about psychology studies in her monthly women's magazine. Which of the following would you tell her?

"Be careful about reading those articles because they may not present findings accurately."

Salma conducts a study and finds that her data do not completely support her theory. Which of the following statements should she avoid saying?

"My data disprove my theory."

Which of the following is an example of translational research

A sports psychologist who uses information on how we emotionally process victory to design an intervention for improving mental stamina during athletic performance

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. This is known as

A theory

Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that three fundamental needs are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier, but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is necessary only when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Deci and Ryan's general statement of how the three needs are related to growth and fulfillment is an example of which of the following?

A theory

Which of the following is an example of being a producer of research

Administering an anxiety questionnaire

Which of the following is an example of applied research

An educational psychologist who looks for a way to increase math skills in 8-year-olds

Which of the following is an example of basic research

An experimental psychologist who examines people's ability to perceive a "sweet" taste

Which of the following is true of the difference between basic and applied research?

Basic and applied research have different goals.

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. Dr. White publishes her findings in a scientific journal. Who is most likely to read her article?

Clinical researchers

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. Another depression researcher reads Dr. White's findings. This new researcher is MOST likely to

Conduct a similar study with improved research design

Which of Robert Merton's scientific norms describes the idea that scientists should always accurately report the findings of their study even if the findings do not support the scientist's hypotheses or theories?

Disinterestedness

Articles that could be considered journalism:

Do not require specialized education to read

If we cannot observe a behavior, we cannot study it. What does this statement refer to?

Empiricism

Which of the following involves using evidence from the senses or from instruments that assist the senses as the basis for conclusions?

Empiricism

____is the approach of collecting data and using it to develop, support, and challenge a theory

Empiricism

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. What should Dr. White do next?

Evaluate the ways in which her study differed from previous studies that supported this theory

How can you ensure that a popular media article accurately reflects the original research of a scientific study?

Find and read the original scientific article

Dr. Smitherman insists that all his research assistants know how to be producers of research. All of the following relate to this requirement EXCEPT

He wants to make sure they have previously been participants in research studies

A professor may agree to an interview with a journalist who expresses an interest in writing a popular article describing findings from the professor's recently published empirical journal article. What is the professor most likely hoping to achieve by working with this journalist?

He wants to make the findings available to a wider audience that might be able to benefit from the findings.

Elliott is double majoring in English and psychology. He plans on being a high school English teacher and is majoring in psychology only because he finds the classes interesting. Which of the following is an important reason for him to be a good consumer of research?

He will probably want to read research related to enhancing his teaching

Dr. Gonzalez is a peer reviewer for a manuscript submitted to a journal. He is likely to provide comments on which of the following?

How well the research was conducted

Which of the following is true of the relationship between hypotheses and theories

Hypotheses are used to determine if a theory is accurate.

Which of the following is the reason that scientific journals use peer review?

It ensures that the studies published are of the highest quality.

Which of the following is a reason why it is important to be an effective producer of research?

It is important to communicate new scientific findings that can advance the field of psychology.

Which of the following is a reason why it is important to be a knowledgeable consumer of research?

It is important to understand whether the information you read is accurate.

Dr. Knepp studies Extrasensory Perception (ESP) which is the ability to perceive things through telepathy or clairvoyance. She theorizes that ESP exists but only in people who believe it exists and who are not skeptical of ESP. She surveys a large number of adults about their beliefs in ESP and, as expected, only adults who believe in ESP report having those abilities. What is true about Dr. Knepp's theory?

It is not translational research

Which of the following is a reason that a journalist may misrepresent a psychology study in a magazine?

Journalists may not personally have the scientific background to understand the study.

Which of these statements would most likely be used by a research psychologist when describing the results of a study?

My data are consistent with my hypothesis.

Scientific journals and magazines are similar in which of the following ways

New editions come out on a regular basisn

Suppose you hypothesize that all children have an imaginary friend at some point during their preschool years. You talk to twenty children, all of whom say that they have or have had an imaginary friend. Does your finding support your hypothesis?

No, because you have not confirmed the presence of an imaginary friend for all children.

Dr. Rodriquez is a health psychologist who is interested in studying the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) oil on perceptions of pain in college student athletes with sports injuries. She became interested in studying this topic after hearing multiple claims by the media that CBD oil was effective in treating pain. However, she could not find any empirical studies that reported findings of the effectiveness for CBD oil for sports injuries. Her decision to conduct a study to test the media claims is an example of which of Merton's scientific norms?

Organized skepticism

Scientists often say that more data are needed to draw conclusions about the accuracy of new theories and are reluctant to accept new claims without empirical support. What scientific norm does this illustrate?

Organized skepticism

Anther word for hypothesis is a

Prediction

Which of the following is a benefit of the peer-review process?

Reviewers' names are kept anonymous so they can be open in their critiques of an article.

Which aspect of the peer-review cycle allows for the greatest amount of honesty in reviews?

The anonymity of the peer reviewers

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. He conducts a study to test his ideas. Assuming that his data match his theory, which of the following statements should he make?

The data provided support for my theory

Nadia submits her article to a scientific journal for publication. Who makes the final decision on whether her article is published in that scientific journal?

The editor of the journal

The quality of journalists' coverage of a science story will be determined by which two factors

The importance and accuracy of the story

RESEARCH STUDY 1.1: Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that three fundamental needs are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier, but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is necessary only when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Susan's prediction that students who have all three needs met will experience greater satisfaction with their psychology class is an example of which of the following?

The theory may need amended

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. In this study, "depressed individuals will have higher estrogen levels" was the

Theory

Which of the following is a reason psychological scientists publish their research in scientific journals?

To have their results reviewed by other psychologists

Vinai learns that people with schizophrenia have a problem labeling their emotions. Using this information, he designs a research study to examine whether teaching patients with schizophrenia to label the emotions of people they see in movie clips helps them to better label their own emotions. Vinai hopes that the findings of this research could then be used to create an intervention to treat schizophrenia. Vinai's study is an example of

Translational research

Translational research is best thought of as ________ basic research and applied research

a bridge between

Students who are interested in being consumers of, but not producers of, research might choose which of the following professions?

an advertising executive

What is the best description of a peer-reviewed journal article?

an article written by experts and reviewed by other professionals in the same field of study

Research that is done specifically to solve a practical problem, like increasing memory ability or decreasing symptoms of depression is known as

applied research

Research that is done specifically to add to our general understanding of psychology, like distinguishing the components of extraversion or predicting the time it takes a person to determine whether an object is a face or another object, is known as

basic research

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. In this study, estrogen levels in participants were the

data

Luis has just finished planning a study to explore personality traits that predict how open adults are to altering their beliefs when presented with findings from scientific studies. Before beginning data collection, Luis preregisters his hypothesis. One of the primary benefits of preregistering his hypothesis is that

he is less likely to be suspected of developing his hypotheses after analyzing his findings.

Dr. Stewart is an editor of a psychology journal. She wants to ensure that reviewers give honest reviews of the papers they are asked to read. Which of the following could she do to increase the likelihood of honest feedback?

make sure the peer reviewers are anonymous

Another word for data is

observation

In the theory data cycle theories first lead to

questions

A research consumer ___ scientific results

reads

A scientist is most likely to accept a theory when

the findings of replicated studies are consistent with the theory.

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. Based on these results, Dr. White should conclude that

there may be factors influencing the results that haven't yet been examined that contributed to the results of studies on this topic.

What is the primary purpose of peer review

to ensure the relevance, accuracy, and integrity of the content

According to the text the bridge between basic and applied research is known as

translational research

Which of the following is an example of being a consumer of research

using a new teaching strategy to increase academic performance in a classroom