Unit 0 Warm Ups

In a recent report, a developmental psychologist who studied peer pressure in middle schools obtained data from a large, representative sample of adolescents across the United States. This research most likely involved a Responses A survey B case study C laboratory experiment D naturalistic observation

A survey

Dr. Lee is interested in the effect of lighting on people's ability to concentrate. Dr. Lee studies this by manipulating the amount of lighting while participants read and then measuring their scores on a reading comprehension test. Group 1 receives dim light, and group 2 receives bright light. Which of the following research methods is Dr. Lee using? Responses A A case study B A correlational study C An experiment D A simulation

C An experiment

Dr. Carvalho performed a study to examine the relationships among measures of general intelligence and specific types of intelligence. They recruited 80 college students to complete a set of intelligence tests. Participants gave their informed consent to participate. After the data were collected, the researchers examined the test scores for correlations among the different measures of intelligence. In terms of ethical procedures, after the data are collected, it will be important for Dr. Carvalho to do which of the following? Responses A Ensure confidentiality of the data B Make sure the results are part of the students' records C Inform the students' professors about the results D Destroy the data after the study, since intelligence test scores can be used to discriminate against individuals

A Ensure confidentiality of the data

Dr. Amie conducts an experiment in which participants are asked to observe a recorded lecture and either take notes as they watch in real time or take notes when they pause the lecture every minute. She then gives them a test to evaluate their knowledge about the information presented. To reduce the likelihood of confounding variables influencing the experiment, Dr. Amie should do which of the following? Responses A Ensure that all participants watch the same recorded lecture B Be sure that participants are placed into the group they believe will be most beneficial based on their approach to learning C Receive informed consent from each participant prior to starting the study D Ensure that participants are drawn randomly from the population

A Ensure that all participants watch the same recorded lecture

Dr. Adeyemi obtains IRB approval for a study examining the effects of growth mindset versus fixed mindset on people's motivation for learning new information. They recruit 80 participants and receive informed consent from them. Participants then complete a questionnaire about learning strategies. Next, the participants are told that, based on their results, they are either able to readily learn new information or that they will struggle to learn new information. In reality, this questionnaire is meaningless, and participants are randomly told fake results. A Fully debrief the participants on the deception involved in the study. B Report each participant's results to the IRB. C Destroy all informed consent forms. D File the results with IRB.

A Fully debrief the participants on the deception involved in the study.

Amirah attended a concert for her favorite band. As the band played her favorite song, Amirah sang along and repeated one of the lyrics incorrectly. Another person nearby heard the mistake and told her she had made a mistake, Amirah was confident she heard and sang the lyric correctly. What term best describes Amirah's belief? Responses A Overconfidence B Bottom-up processing C Inattention blindness D Hindsight bias

A Overconfidence

A researcher wants to examine how gender identity relates to how happy people are. Which of the following best describes the reasons why operational definitions are used for research? Responses A They enable researchers to replicate studies by precisely describing the variables and how they are used. B They exclude mental processes from being studied, as they are no longer considered part of the scientific study of psychology. C They determine which test of statistical significance will be used to analyze the results of the experiment. D They keep the participants in the control group from knowing they have received the placebo.

A They enable researchers to replicate studies by precisely describing the variables and how they are used.

A client whose improvement during therapy is the result of his or her expectation of improvement rather than the result of the therapy itself is showing Responses A a placebo effect B a disorder in remission C negative transference D catharsis

A a placebo effect

Drawing a random sample of people from a town for an interview study of social attitudes ensures that Responses A each person in the town has the same probability of being chosen for the study B the study includes at least some respondents from every social class in town C the study will uncover widely differing social attitudes among the respondents D the sample will be large enough even though some people may refuse to be interviewed

A each person in the town has the same probability of being chosen for the study

3 4 5 5 7 7 7 8 8 10 Ten participants in a treatment group were asked to rate their feelings of self worth on a scale of one to ten, with a value of ten indicating a very positive feeling of self-worth. The data for the participants are above. What is the mean for these data? Responses A 6 B 6.4 C 7 D 7.33

B 6.4

A test examining the level of sensation-seeking has a mean of 80 with a standard deviation of 4. Which of the following scores is within one standard deviation of the mean? Responses A 75 B 77 C 86 D 90

B 77

Clinical researchers are interested in gaining insight into the causes of abnormal behavior. One way that they do this is to delve deeply into the histories of patients with a common diagnosis, interviewing family, friends, teachers, therapists, physicians, babysitters, and others who can provide rich details about the patients' lives. Then, researchers try to see if there are any common themes in the information gathered. What research method does this strategy represent? Responses A Quantitative analysis B Case study C Quasi-experiment D Naturalistic observation

B Case study

Which of the following statements best explains why using an experimental research design is inappropriate in studying human development? Responses A Experiments cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships over time. B Direct, long-term manipulation of a child's environment during an experiment is unethical. C Experiments with young children are always unethical. D Identifying which genetic traits are interacting with the environment is impossible using an experiment.

B Direct, long-term manipulation of a child's environment during an experiment is unethical.

Bailey and Marcus packed everything they thought they would need for a weekend camping trip. When it rained and they realized they had not brought rain gear, Bailey said, "I knew we should have packed raincoats!" Bailey's thinking illustrates which of the following concepts? Responses A Functional fixedness B Hindsight bias C The representativeness heuristic D Prospective memory

B Hindsight bias

Dr. Keith conducted a study to investigate whether caffeine improves focus and attention. He selected a random sample of students from his college class and then randomly assigned each of them to drink a cup of coffee or a cup of water before class. At the end of class, he administered a test on their knowledge of class material presented that day. Dr. Keith found that students who drink coffee demonstrate less focus and attention, as evidenced by lower test scores, and then claimed that he expected that result all along. Based on this description, which of the following is Dr. Keith displaying? Responses A Availability heuristic B Hindsight bias C Actor/observer bias D Fundamental attribution error

B Hindsight bias

A study was conducted with first-year students in a high-stress honors program at a university. At the beginning of the semester, two hundred students in the program were selected at random and asked to complete two surveys. The first survey measured their stress levels related to school, and the second was a health questionnaire measuring recent illnesses. Participants again completed both surveys during exam week at the end of the semester. Responses A Studies involving students can interfere with academic performance and should only be done at specific universities. B It is unethical to intentionally cause stress to people that might result in illness, and thus surveys and questionnaires are more ethical. C Asking health questions on a survey would invade people's privacy to the point where it is unethical. D the researchers must not interact with participants so they do not influence their behaviors.

B It is unethical to intentionally cause stress to people that might result in illness, and thus surveys and questionnaires are more ethical.

There is a strong positive correlation between the number of libraries in a city and higher performance on aptitude tests for students. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for this correlation? Responses A Students with higher performance on aptitude tests causes them to visit libraries in a city. B The presence of libraries in a city leads to students reading more books, which can potentially lead to higher aptitude test scores. C Cities with high revenue is related to both the presence of libraries and higher aptitude test scores for students. D Increased reading due to more libraries causes students to study more.

B The presence of libraries in a city leads to students reading more books, which can potentially lead to higher aptitude test scores.

A researcher wants to examine how much information from waking life ends up in dreams. The researcher recruits 40 volunteers from a local community college to record the details of their daily activities. The participants will be given a sleep monitor that gently wakes them each time they end an REM cycle, after which they will complete a detailed dream diary. The study is planned to last for two weeks. Why would an institutional review board be hesitant to approve this study? Responses A This type of research should be done with animal subjects. B The researchers are disrupting sleep for an extended period, which may cause harm. C The researchers would not be able to hide the identities of the participants. D The researchers would be using deception without debriefing.

B The researchers are disrupting sleep for an extended period, which may cause harm.

A person displays behaviors of a psychological disorder that psychologists in the United States have not seen before. The best strategy to investigate the nature of those behaviors is to conduct which of the following? Responses A an experiment B a case study C cross-sectional research D correlational research

B a case study

Dr. Larson was interested in whether classical music helps students perform better on a test. Dr. Larson randomly assigned half of the study's participants to a group that listened to classical music while taking a test. The other half of the participants did not listen to music while taking a test. The research design Dr. Larson used is Responses A a case study B an experiment C naturalistic observation D a correlational study

B an experiment

Dr. Charap is interested in testing whether people who use gender-neutral pronouns are more likely to help others in an emergency. Dr. Charap plans to go to a crowded music festival and have a confederate act as though they are having a medical emergency. As Dr. Charap plans the study, getting informed consent from the participants is a priority. In a research study, informed consent is a concern of which of the following? Responses A replicability B ethics C statistical significance D practical applicability

B ethics

Dr. Patel conducts a survey of his local community and finds that people who regularly attend a religious service are happier than those who do not. Dr. Patel concludes that attending religious services regularly causes happiness. Which of the following factors makes his conclusion faulty? Responses A Dr. Patel did not debrief his survey participants after the study was completed. B Dr. Patel used a case study method instead of an experiment to investigate the relationship. C Dr. Patel assumed a causal relationship using data from a nonexperimental method. D Dr. Patel did not use naturalistic observation to verify the survey results.

C Dr. Patel assumed a causal relationship using data from a nonexperimental method.

A group of 25 American college students who were taking introductory psychology during the spring semester participated in a study about cognition. Participants were first asked to read a story about a Russian battle from the 19th century. Later, participants were asked to write down as many details as they could remember from the story. Twenty-two out of 25 of the students changed some of the details of the story, such as referring to a "house" instead of using the Russian word "dacha" that was used in the story. Which of the following best describes the type of sample used in this study? Responses A It was a study that involved a sample from a case study. B It was a study that involved random assignment. C It was a study that involved convenience sampling. D It was a study that involved random sampling.

C It was a study that involved convenience sampling.

A researcher interested in cooperative play in young children unobtrusively places several video cameras at a public playground and counts how many children engage in cooperative play behaviors. Which type of research method is the researcher using? Responses A Experiment B Case study C Naturalistic observation D Longitudinal study

C Naturalistic observation

Margaret is beginning to plan a research project for her psychology class. She wants to examine whether there is a difference between boys and girls in terms of the frequency with which they throw away their trash in the school cafeteria after they have finished eating lunch. Which of the following methodologies would most accurately measure the behavior of interest in Margaret's study? Responses A Case study B Experimentation C Naturalistic observation D Survey

C Naturalistic observation

Jeremy recorded his school's level of well-being and the mean outside temperature each day for a month. His analysis showed that as the temperature decreased his school well being increased. Which of the following terms best characterizes the association between these two variables? Responses A Significant difference B Regression toward the mean C Negative correlation D Positive correlation

C Negative correlation

A research team wanted to measure how smart Chris was. The researchers measured how many math questions Chris got correct on his final exam. This measurement constituted which of the following? Responses A Correlational variable B Independent variable C Operational definition D Measure of central tendency

C Operational definition

Dr. Wundt gave his students an exam on the functions of different parts of the brain, and the average score was an 85. However, when Dr. Wundt calculated the standard deviation, it was a value of 35.2. This concerns Dr. Wundt because he knows that standard deviation is a measure of how much Responses A two sets of scores vary together B difference there is between the highest and the lowest score in a sample C scores in a group differ from the mean of that group D scores from a sample differ from that of the population

C scores in a group differ from the mean of that group

Reginald is conducting a case study on a group of self-identified extroverts. Reginald is a trait theorist who believes that people act the same regardless of the situation. He lists all the situations in which the group is more talkative and outgoing. However, he ignores the instances in which the group acts more reserved or interacts with only a few people. Which of the following may Reginald be experiencing? Responses A Hindsight bias B Self-serving bias C Spotlight effect D Confirmation bias

D Confirmation bias

In a normal distribution of scores on assessments like those for intelligence, which of the following statements is true about the area that falls between one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the mean? Responses A It contains the bottom 50% of the distribution. B It contains the middle 50% of the distribution. C It contains the bottom 68% of the distribution. D It contains the middle 68% of the distribution.

D It contains the middle 68% of the distribution.

A survey shows that children who have encyclopedias in their home environment earn better grades in school than children whose homes lack encyclopedias. The researcher concludes that having encyclopedias in the home environment improves grades. Which of the following explains why the researcher has reached an erroneous conclusion? Responses A She failed to allow for experimenter bias. B She did not identify the independent variable. C She inferred correlation from causation. D She inferred causation from correlation

D She inferred causation from correlation

While reviewing scores from a test on contralateral hemispheric lateralization, a teacher discovered that the mean score was higher than the median. Which of the following statements is most likely correct? Responses A The range of the set of scores is the difference between the mean and the median. B The standard deviation is equal to the mean. C The distribution of scores for the test is normal. D The distribution of scores for the test is positively skewed.

D The distribution of scores for the test is positively skewed.

A group of 25 American college students who were taking introductory psychology during the spring semester participated in a study about cognition. Participants were first asked to read a story about a Russian battle from the 19th century. Later, participants were asked to write down as many details as they could remember from the story. Twenty-two out of 25 of the students changed some of the details of the story, such as referring to a "house" instead of using the Russian word "dacha" that was used in the story. If this study were to run as an experiment, which of the following would be necessary? Responses A The study must examine at least 200 participants to be valid. B There must be a predictable relationship between the variables examined in the study. C The results of the study must be significant. D The participants must be randomly assigned to a control or experimental condition.

D The participants must be randomly assigned to a control or experimental condition.

Some studies conducted in the mid-20th century in social psychology on obedience and social roles have been criticized for not treating participants well. Which of the following best describes the response of members of the American Psychological Association to these types of ethical issues in research? Responses A They disclaim ethical concerns regarding research. B They have developed codes of ethics for research with human participants only. C They have developed codes of ethics for research with animal subjects only. D They have developed codes of ethics for research with both human participants and animal subjects.

D They have developed codes of ethics for research with both human participants and animal subjects.

A researcher is studying the effect of caffeinated drinks on the activity level of ten-year-old children. Half of the children in the study drank caffeinated soda, and half drank noncaffeinated soda. Neither the research team nor the children knew which drinks had caffeine and which drinks did not. The researchers were using Responses A the placebo effect B random selection C a single-blind design D a double-blind design

D a double-blind design

Dr. Walsh gathers data on the number of teratogens pregnant women were exposed to in a large city and the number of weeks at which their babies were delivered. The correlation between the two measures obtained in this study would be graphically represented as which of the following? Responses A bar graph B normal distribution C histogram D scatterplot

D scatterplot