Chapter 1 review quiz PSY2012

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.

Determining a cause-effect relationship is the main purpose of conducting

an experiment.

Misinformation that is given intentionally can be called

False news

When multi-lab efforts attempted to replicate 100 psychological studies, they produced mixed findings with 35 to 85 percent of results being replicated. Which of the following is NOT a possible explanation for this?

Psychology is a pseudoscience.

Which of the following is true for those assigned to a control group?

The experimental treatment is absent.

The research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process is called a(n)

experiment.

Dr. Dimitrov would like to study marijuana use among young adults. To be able to generalize her findings to all young adults, she needs a representative sample. To obtain such a sample, Dr. Dimitrov should

seek a random sample of participants.

Psychologists study animals because

similar processes often underlie animal and human behavior

Eileen wants to know how consistent her golf scores have been during the past season. Which of the following measures would tell her what she wants to know?

standard deviation

The precision with which a sample average approximates a population average increases as the

standard deviation of the sample decreases

To decide whether observed differences between samples reflect actual differences between populations, you should determine the ________ of the observed differences.

statistical significance

A hypothesis is a(n)

testable prediction that gives direction to research

If psychologists discovered that older parents have smarter children than younger parents, this would demonstrate that

the age of parents and children is positively correlated.

Differences between two sample averages are most likely to be statistically significant if

the difference between the samples is large.

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.

The ethics codes of the APA and Britain's BPS urge researchers to

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

An analysis of 30,000 general election political predictions in 45 countries between 1942 and 2017 concluded that election polls are

generally accurate.

Dr. Tate is an excellent professor. She is curious, humble, and skeptical. These are all characteristics of

having a scientific attitude.

Francis is talking to her husband about their son, Marcus, who is in the tenth grade. Marcus seems to have changed dramatically. He has found a new group of friends, he stays out past curfew, and he has been caught smoking marijuana. Also, his grades have dropped significantly. Francis' husband remarks, "Of course! Bad associations spoil useful habits." This best demonstrates

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

The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it

may not be representative of what is generally true.

Ms. Gui is calculating the arithmetic average, or the ________, of the test scores in her class.

mean

Central tendency is to variation as ________ is to ________.

mean; standard deviation

By combining the results of many studies, researchers who conduct ________ avoid the problem of small samples and arrive at a bottom-line result.

meta-analyses

Research participants are randomly assigned to different groups in an experiment in order to

minimize any differences between groups of participants.

New technologies such as phone apps, social media, and Google searches have enabled the collection of "big data" by means of

naturalistic observation

One research team studied the ups and downs of human moods by counting positive and negative words in 504 million Twitter messages from 84 countries. The researchers' method best illustrates the use of

naturalistic observation

In one study, introductory psychology students were fitted with electronically activated recorders so that researchers could sample their daily activities. The researchers were employing a scientific method known as

naturalistic observation.

To learn about the gaming habits of all the children attending Eastchester High 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

Commonsense thinking has several flaws. Which of the following is NOT one of those flaws?

scientific inquiry

The conclusion that "playing violent video games leads to violent crime" has been refuted by the American Psychological Association. Why was this statement problematic?

Correlation does not prove causation.

By revealing what can happen through an in-depth examination of even an atypical individual, ________ often suggests directions for future research.

a case study

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

a survey.

An extensive survey revealed that children with relatively high self-esteem tend to picture God as kind and loving, whereas those with lower self-esteem tend to perceive God as angry. The researchers concluded that the children's self-esteem had apparently influenced their views of God. This conclusion best illustrates the danger of

assuming that association proves causation.

The average price for different brands of mouthwash could be visually displayed in a(n)

bar graph

Factors other than those of interest that can potentially influence the results of a study are called

confounding variables

Displaying data in a scatterplot can help us see the extent to which two variables are

correlated.

To determine whether the students' intelligence scores are related to their later professional achievements, researchers would most likely make use of

correlational research.

In an effort to prevent participants in an experiment from trying to confirm the researchers' predictions, psychologists sometimes

deceive participants about the true purpose of an experiment.

Observing and recording behavior is the main purpose behind ________ research

descriptive

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

hindsight bias.

Dr. Carlson is studying the relationship between playing nonviolent video games and helpful behavior. Dr. Carlson predicts that those who play more nonviolent games are more likely to perform charitable work. This idea is a(n)

hypothesis.

Which of the following is NOT an example of animal research guidelines, as discussed in the text?

informed consent

In the process of summarizing his data, Professor Stevenson notices that the distribution of scores is lopsided because of a few extreme scores. This means that his distribution

is skewed.

Which of the following is NOT a weakness of the experimental method?

lack of control of variables

If results are statistically significant but have a small effect size, the results may

lack practical significance.

James, a graduate student, is observing parents as they interact with their children on a playground. He is not trying to change or manipulate the situation. Rather, he is recording their interactions without interruption or influence. This is referred to as

naturalistic observation.

Professor Schmidt is a developmental psychologist who examines external influences on the parent-child relationship. She has found that as parental income increases, the level of parental stress decreases, which then increases the level of parent-child interaction. The relationship between parental income and parental stress is a

negative correlation.

The symmetrical bell-shaped figure used to represent the distribution of many physical and psychological characteristics is called a

normal curve

When you read a bar graph, it is most important for you to

note the range and size of the scale values.

Dr. Wertheim is studying the effect of studying at night or during the day on high school students' test performance and has defined time of day as before 5 P.M. or after 5 P.M. This definition is an example of a(n)

operational definition.

Dr. Stott is an expert in cognitive psychology and is currently reading and reviewing a research study that has been submitted for publication consideration in an academic journal. Dr. Stott does not know who wrote the article and is reviewing the study based on incorporation and application of theory, originality, and accuracy in research design, analysis, and results. Dr. Stott is serving as a

peer reviewer

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

The placebo effect best illustrates the impact of ________ on feelings and behaviors.

positive expectations

When researchers publicly communicate planned study design, hypotheses, data collection, and analyses, they are engaged in

preregistration.

Theresa is working on her dissertation and is assigning participants to the experimental and control groups by chance. She is using

random assignment.

When every individual in a large population has a small but equal chance of being included in a survey, researchers are using a procedure known as

random sampling.

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution is the

range

Dwayne is generally a happy person. Two weeks ago, he felt sad and depressed. This week, he feels happy again. What is the best explanation for his fluctuating emotions?

regression toward the mean

After sports magazines give cover-story attention to the recent outstanding performances of an athlete, the individual often suffers a real decline in performance. This may be at least partially explained in terms of

regression toward the mean.

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

repetition

Professor Ambra was skeptical about the accuracy of research on the benefits of running a mile every day. Which process would best enable her to assess the reliability of the findings?

replication

The self-correcting process for asking questions and observing nature's answers is known as

the scientific method

Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the political beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward welfare?

the survey

Professor Valetta believes that identical twins have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as a(n)

theory.

Anything that can vary and is feasible and ethical to measure is called a(n)

variable

Median is to range as central tendency is to

variation

Participants in an experiment are said to be blind if they are uninformed about

which experimental treatment, if any, they are receiving.