Chapter 1

what challenges can arise from relying on the media for information about psychological research?

-due to time and space limitations, media reports frequently omit important details about research studies. -journalists frequently lack the knowledge to evaluate psychological research. -the media frequently exaggerate results in order to better capture the public's attention.

the tern experimental _______ is used to describe a situation in which the expectations of the experimenter influence the outcomes of the research being conducted.

bias

a ______ study is a in-depth analysis of an individual or small group of people.

case

which psychological perspective focuses on the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems?

cognitive approach

what is the difference between keeping data confidential versus keeping it anonymous?

confidential data can be linked back to the individual person, but anonymous data cannot.

in an experiment, the group that receives no treatment is referred to as the ______ group

control

laboratory research is conducted in a ______ setting.

controlled

the degree of relationship between two variable is expressed as a numerical value called a ____.

correlational coefficient

your roommate tells you that he spent four hours at starbucks this week and his GPA is a 3.1. You spent six hours at starbucks this week and your GPA is 3.5. What type of research have you started collecting?

correlational research

which of the following are the three basic types of research used in psychology?

correlational, experimental, descriptive

which of the following are mental processes?

daydreaming, worrying, solving a math problem, remembering last weekend

The rules of the American Psychological Association allow participants to -----

deceived

____ makes informed consent difficult, because subjects must not know what the study they are about to participate in is really about.

deception

which of the following statements about how psychologist view the necessity of deception in research is FALSE?

deception in research has really been settled among psychologist and is no longer debated

the term _______ is used to describe any aspects of a study that communicates to the participants how the experimenter wants them to behave.

demand characteristics

In an experiment, the ___ variable is expected to change as a result of the experimental manipulation.

dependent

_______ research serves the purpose of determining the basic dimensions of a phenomenon and defining what it is or how often it occurs, but it cannot provide casual information.

descriptive

which of these are types of psychological research?

descriptive, correlational, experimental

When a male experimenter interacts differently with female participants than he does with male participants, this is an example of ___________ bias in the study.

experimenter

an experimenter provides hints as to the preferred responses. The result is that his study produces results consistent with the hypothesis. However, the results may reflect _______.

experimenter bias

the goals of the science of psychology are which of the following ?

explaining, predicting, and describing behavior

the degree to which an experimental design actually refers the real-world tissues it is supposed to address is called ____ validity.

external

survey research is the preferred method for studying socially undesirable phenomena such as holding racist attitudes.

false

For a theory to be scientific, there must be some way to prove it wrong. In other words, the theory must be _________.

falsifiable

which of the following is an important difficulty of conducting survey research that can affect he quality of the conclusions that can be drawn?

finding a representative sample.

_______ is an approach that concentrates on what the mind does and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environment.

functionalism

the theory of natural selection is explaining adaptations is most consistent with _____

functionalism

which psychological perspective emphasizes a person's positive qualities, capability for positives growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny?

humanistic approach

in an experiment, which variable is manipulated by the experimenter?

independent

an __________ is the manipulated experiment factor in an experiment.

independent variable

_____ minimizes the risk of harm by telling research participants about what to expect before they participate in research.

informed consent

the degree to which changes in the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable is called ____ validity

internal

June decides to consider the structure of her mind by thinking about her experience when sunlight hits her skin. June is practicing ___________.

introspection

which of these is a limitation of the case study method?

it can be difficult to generalize from one person to the larger population.

Who was the major proponent of the functionalist movement?

james

______ design is a method used to confront the problem of causation because we can assume that if variable X causes changes in variable Y, then X ought to, at least, precede Y over time.

longitudinal

Experiments involve ___ one variable and observing the effect on another variable.

manipulating

an operational definition is an objective description of how a research variable is going to be ________ and observed.

measured

Like functionalism, structuralism focuses on _________.

mental processes

darwin's principle of ___________ is an evolutionary process in which organisms best adapted to their surroundings will involve and produce offspring .

natural selection

Biological approach to psychology focuses on the brain and _________ system

nervous

the three key parts of psychology includes all of the following, EXCEPT

physical processes

A random sample is a sample that gives every member of the ________ an equal chance of being selected.

population

The entire group about which the investigator draws conclusions is known as a ____________.

population

the technique that freud developed is called ______.

psychoanalysis

sigmund freud founded the ________ approach to psychology

psychodynamic

which psychologist perspective emphasizes unconscious thought, the conflict between the biological instincts and society's demands, and early family experiences?

psychodynamic approach

Journalists, and television reporters, are not trained in _________ research.

psychological

some psychologist argue that psychology should be value-free and morally neutral. Why do some psychologist think this would be difficult to do ?

psychologist are human and therefore, cannot be value-free, even if they try

The practice of ________ assignment in experimental research is used to make sure that experimental and control groups are equivalent.

random

the subset of the population chosen by the investigator for a study is known as a

sample

psychology is the ______ study of all human behaviors

scientific

which psychological perspective examines the ways in which the social and cultural environments influence behavior?

sociocultural approach

in the social, psychology research, the term confederate refers to ______.

someone who plays a specific role, thus the researcher manipulate the social situation.

__________ of consciousness is the term used by James to describe the natural flow of thought.

stream

_______ is a 19th-century school of psychology that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior.

structuralism

______ is concerned with the components of the mind, whereas _____ is concerned with the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual's adaptation to the environment

structuralism; functionalism

the Behavioral Perspective _________.

suggest that observable, measurable behavior should be the focus of study.

the soundness of conclusions that can drawn from an experiment is known as ______.

validity

correlational research involves studies that are concerned with identifying the relationships between two or more ________ in order describe how they change together

variables

what does it mean if hours spent watching TV and total number of discipline problems in school are correlated 0.0?

watching TV and disciplinary problems are not related

Identify the two key early proponents of the behavioral approach.

watson and skinner

in some experiments, the same people are in the control group and the experimental group. Each participant is exposed to all of the conditions. What is the term for this type of research?

within-participant design

Psychologist study

behavior and mental processes

which of the following statements are considered drawbacks to doing laboratory observation?

-people who are willing to participate in laboratory research may not fairly represent the population -it is almost impossible to do research in the lab without the subject knowing that they are being studied -the laboratory setting is natural and can cause the participants to act unnaturally

which of the following are examples of the areas in which psychological animal research has provided benefits to human population?

-psychotherapy techniques and behavioral medicine -drugs to treat anxiety and severe mental illness -alleviation of the effects of stress and pain -rehabilitation of neuromuscular disorders

what is survey research?

A standard set of questions used to obtain people's self-reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic

deception in psychological research is not acceptable

False

In some research, the researchers are not able to use random assignment to divide participants among groups. Instead, they compare preexisting groups. What type of research is this?

Quasi-experimental design

changes in mental processes can lead to changes in the body as well

True

the scientific method is a continuous process

True

_______ created the first psychology laboratory.

Wundt

what is a theory?

a broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain certain observations

Alice is answering a telephone survey about marital satisfaction in the US. When asked about her own marital satisfaction, she doesn't tell the researcher the truth because she worries that her marriage is worse than many other marriages. Instead she says what she thinks other recipients might say. This behavior is considered.

a drawback to the survey method

researchers studying the long-term effects of an antidepressant have asked participants every six months for the last decade to undergo blood work, a physical, and a short mental status exam. They are now compelling their research. What type of research have they been conducting?

a longitudinal design

Scores on an exam go down as the time spent studying goes down. This is an example of

a positive correlation

which of the following is an example of naturalistic observation?

a study in which researchers go into a neighborhood and tale notes on how people of different ethnic groups interact with each other.

which of the following is an example of a case study?

a study of one person to determine how experience has affected their behavior today toward people of different ethnic groups

what is a hypothesis?

an educated guess that is derived logically from a theory.

What is a variable?

anything that can change.

Unlike early behaviorists, many contemporary behaviorists

are interested in the role of cognitive thought processed in shaping behavior

a ______ is an experiment that is conducted so that neither the experimenter nor the participants are aware of which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group until after the results are calculated.

double-blind experiment.

when researchers gather evidence and examine it logically, they are using the ______ method.

empirical

critical thinking is the practice of evaluating

evidence

what is a psychological perspective that uses concepts such as adaptation, reproduction, and "survival of the fittest" as the basis for explaining specific human behavior?

evolutionary approach

which of these are considered contemporary approaches to psychology?

evolutionary, sociocultural, psychodynamic, and biological

in an experiment, the group that receives the treatment the researchers want to study is known as the ______ group.

experimental

when conducting a naturalistic observation, it is important that the researchers ______.

not change the situation that they are observing

Nancy is doing a research project next week at a shopping center. She's worried about being systematic and whether she should bring someone along to make sure she is being accurate. She's concerned about technology and whether she should record her research in writing, by sound recording, or video. What type of research is she conducting?

observational

random assignment is a procedure in which _____ are assigned to either the treatment or control group on the basis of chance

participants

extroversion and attending parties are positively correlated.

people who go to parties tend to be extroverted

the field of psychology has its roots in _________.

philosophy and the natural science.

research participants bias is ______.

the influence of research participants' expectations on their behavior within an experiment

what does it mean that hours spent watching TV and total number of discipline problems in school are considered +.45?

the more hours a child spends watching tv, the more likely that child will get into trouble at school

A test of intelligence is given to a subject. The subject scores a 110 on the first administration. Six months later, the same subject is given the same test again and receives a score of 75. After another six months has passed, the subject is given the test one last time and receives a score of 138. What conclusions can be drawn from these scores?

the scores are not reliable

some researchers have found increased risk of delinquency among children of single parents. However, this might be due to other issues, such as the fact that single parents may have fewer opportunities to supervise their children. This illustrates ______.

the third variable problem

which statement about the mind and body is most accurate?

they are interconnected-when one changes, so does the other.

when a relationship between two variables is due to an extranreous variables that has not been measured, this is known as the ________ problem

third variable

what is the purpose of debriefing in research?

to give participants an explanation of the study after their participation is complete

psychologist research must be approved by an institutional review board (IRP)

true