exam 1 study guide
Which of the following is the strongest correlation coefficient?
-0.92
Which of the following is NOT an example of nurture (versus nature) influence?
A child of divorced parents shows the same tendency toward extroversion as her twin sister living across the country with her father.
Which noted psychologist developed the first modern intelligence test?
Alfred Binet
Researchers manipulate or control variables in order to conduct:
true experiment
Hermann von Helmholtz studied the physiology of vision & hearing. Given the physical nature of his work, why is he considered important to the development of psychology as a discipline?
He noted that the mind could be measured using scientific methods.
Hermann von Helmholtz studied the physiology of vision and hearing. Given the physical nature of his work, why is he considered important to the development of psychology as a discipline?
He noted that the mind could be measured using scientific methods.
Why is Wilhelm Wundt often credited as being responsible for the initial development of modern psychology?
He promoted the idea that psychology could be studied scientifically and provided classes, textbooks, and a laboratory for training students.
Who was the German physiologist whose early work involved measuring the speed of neural impulses and exploring the physiology of hearing?
Hermann von Helmholtz
What kind of research is traditionally considered to be the "gold standard" in psychology research?
Laboratory experiment
Which of the following best describes the difference between structuralism & functionalism?
Structuralists are interested in what the mind is and functionalists are interested in what the mind does.
Why are you limited to how much visual information you are able to process at any one given moment?
The neurons in your visual cortex are wired in an inhibitory way.
Which cliché most fully encompasser beliefs of early Gestalt psychologists?
The whole is more than the sum of its parts
_____ was an 18th century philosopher who in the early years of psychology argued that human observers acquired knowledge through their senses?
Thomas Reid
Wendell is writing a biography of James McKeen Cattell. He wants to include a criticism of Cattell's thought and work. Which objection be the most valid?
Wendell does not believe in eugenics, or the idea that society would be aided by selective breeding of the most intelligent citizens.
The electrical current that travels down the axon of a neuron is known as what?
action potential
In order for researchers to be able to say that Variable A causes Variable B, they must eliminate the possible influence of
confounding variables
When a study uses the __________ method of data collection, participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior at the end of each day.
diary
The famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed and charted the movement of the stars across the night sky. His approach to astronomy was different than many earlier astronomers whose theories were informed by religion, philosophy and politics. Brahe was clearly a proponent of which emphasizes observation and personal experience
empiricism
The most accurate research method of determining whether caffeine supplements improve memory performance is:
experimental study
Maritza saw that the softball was coming toward her, so she moved her hand to catch it. What neuron helped process the ball's visual image and plan the appropriate hand movement to catch it?
interneuron
You want to study the effects of gender on math achievement. However, you know that you cannot randomly assign some people to male and others to be female, so you cannot have a true experiment. in this scenario, what type or research design would you use?
quasi-experiment
Betty decided to conduct an experiment on the effectiveness of a new anti-anxiety pill. She decided that participants who had been diagnosed with anxiety would be in the treatment group and participants who had never been treated for anxiety would be the control group. Which aspect of proper research design did Betty ignore?
random assignment
Dr. Sharma wants to study the extent to which stress is related to suicidal ideation in people who suffer from depression. She gathers information about the level of stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal thoughts a set of participants experience the day after they attend the funeral of a loved one. Because this study is assessing people under conditions that are not typical of everyday life, it is lacking in _____
ecological
Hodgkin and Huxley studled action potentials in the neurons of what animal?
giant squids
What cell provides nutritional and structural support to the neuron?
glia
Some of Stefan's neurons died as they aged. What type of cell helped digest their remains?
glial cells
Research results do not prove hypotheses because
inductive reasoning is based on probabilities, not proof
Emily's brain released the neurotransmitter GABA, which reduced her nerve's chance of reaching its threshold of excitation. What type of molecule is GABA?
inhibitory postsynaptic potential
What does it mean that scientific claims can be falsified?
Claims can be demonstrated to be untrue
One of the ethical guidelines researchers abide by is ensuring __________, or agreeing that an individual's data should not be made public without consent from the individual.
Confidentiality
Which of the following is an example of an empirical question that could be tested using systematic observaton:
Do native English speaking Canadians take longer to learn Chinese or to learn Spanish?
The belief that knowledge is best acquired as a direct result of experience is called
Empiricism
____ refers to a policy of selective breeding founded on the belief that society can be improved by prompting reproduction among the most highly intelligent of its citizens
Eugenics
Of the following, which was NOT among the early psychologists who were functionalists & who were influenced by Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory?
Joseph Horne
What are the gaps in the myelin sheath on an axon known as?
Nodes of Ranvier
Dr. Jiminez conducts tests the hypothesis that people will eat more chips in a room with red walls than in a room with blue walls. Her results support her hypothesis; participants in the red room ate, on average, 1.3 times more chips than those in the blue room. Which of the following statements is most accurate regarding her findings:
She has provided some evidence for her hypothesis, but the probability that her evidence is consistent with reality depends on the nature of her sample and method
Identify one of the subcortical structures of the cerebral hemispheres
basal ganglia
Gestalt psychology, with its emphasis on topics such as learning and perception, was an important early precursor to the rise of _______ psychology in America.
cognitive
Researchers studied language development in the same group of children every year over a five year period. This research design is called:
longitudinal
Dr. Fikshunal is interested in how our bodies respond to being excluded from a group. Therefore, she decides to monitor the heart rate and cortisol levels of participants as they engage in their environment and indicate experences when they felt ostracized. In this scenario, Dr. Fikshunal is:
studying daily physiology
Given the current debates about health care and gun control, you are interested to know about people's political views. You decide to go to the mall and ask people their political affiliation as they walk by. This is an example of what type or research approach.
survey
Which of the following are contained in the diencephalon?
thalamus and hypothalamus
The chlorine ions in the runner's nerves are moving from areas of high concentration to low concentration in a process known as
diffusion
With which research question would psychologist James McKeen Cattell be most likely to write an article or conduct a study?
"Is society better when the unintelligent among us are prohibited from having children?"
Although Janay's brain makes up only about ____ percent of her total body weight, it uses about _____ percent of the total oxygen and calories she consumes. Janay's brain size and resource usage is similar to that of most human beings.
2:20
G. Stanley Hall is, perhaps, one of the most prolific of the early American psychologists. Which would NOT be accurately included in a list of his accomplishments?
He published the first American textbook of psychology, The Principles of Psychology, in 1890.
Dr. Hart is interested in the role of relationships in preventing heart disease. As her patients come into her office in Bluebell, Alabama, she asks them two questions: Are you a in a relationship? Have you experienced any heart problems in the last 8 years? Based on her findings, she concludes that relationships cause cardiovascular (heart) problems. One issue with her methodology is that the results are not generalizable. What does this mean?
Her results may not be true for the entire population
In what way did the behavioral perspective in psychology differ with almost every other perspective to come before it?
It rejected any reference to "the mind" and focused on observable behavior as the only legitimate topic of the field.
This noted woman was an accomplished student of William James. She studied at Harvard University but was denied her doctoral degree simply because she was a woman. She later went on to be the first woman elected to be president of the American Psychological Association.
Mary Whiton Calkins
Hamet's parents divorced when he was twelve. Since that time, his father has been re-married and appears happy but his mother is still single and is unhappy. Based on this, Hamet suspects that divorce leads to unhappiness, unless a person gets re-married. Hamet is using _____ to arrive at this conlusion.
anecdotal evidence
If researchers found that someone with damage to a certain part of the brain lost their ability to speak and then, in a separate study with different individuals, found that the same part of was active during speech this ____would help them to locate the speech center of the brain.
cognitive evidence
If researchers found that someone with damage to a certain part of the brain lost their ability to speak and then, in a separate study with different individuals, found that the same part of was active during speech this ____ would help them to locate the speech center of the brain.
converging evidence
The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life is called
ecological validity
The degree to which a study ensures that potential findings apply to settings and samples other than the ones being studied refers to:
external validity
Emilio has taught himself to savor each bite of his meals. He closes his eyes, focuses intensely on the flavors of his food, and maximizes his enjoyment of every bite. His ability to focus intently on the sensation and perception of taste is similar to Wilhelm Wundt's procedure of ________.
introspection
Emilio has taught himself to savor each bite of his meals. He closes his eyes, focuses intensely on the flavors of his food. and maximizes his enjoyment of every bite. His ability to focus intently on the sensation and perception of taste is similar to Wilhelm Wundt's procedure of
introspection
The representation of body parts in primary sensory cortex is:
larger for body areas requiring greater sensitivity
That the same questions can be answered differently, by appealing to biological, cognitive, behavioral, or cultural mechanisms, is the essence of the idea of
level of analysis
Operational definitions are encouraged in research in order to:
make terms used in a study as explicit as possible
Halaina is a participant in research being conducted by Wilhelm Wundt. in the study, she is asked to push a button as quickly as she can after she hears an audible tone. This study examines reaction time, or what Wundt mignt have called
mental chronometry
Students who study for 7 hours over the course of a week will perform better than students who cram for 7 hours the night before the exam. The independent variable in this hypothesis is:
method of studying (spaced or cramming)
What type of neuron initiates physical movement and allows people to move through the world?
motor neuron
Dr. Nguyen conducts a study to examine the hypothesis that exercising in the morning increases subjective well-being. In this study, the null hypothesis is that there is/are
no relationship between the time of day individuals exercise and subjective well-being
Which of the following terms refers to a naming system; in this case, a common naming system that divides the brain into different recognized parts?
nomenclature
Darla is a student studying the relationship between physical stimuli and peoples' perceptions of those stimuli. In which academic area is Darla earning her degree?
psychophysics
The action potential in the chef's neuron was able to quickly travel from one node of Ranvier to the next so that she could move her arm away from the hot stove. What is this type of rapid transmission known as?
salutatory conduction
The action potential in the chef's neuron was able to quickly travel from one node of Ranvier to the next so that she could move her arm away from the not stove. What is this tvoe or rapid transmission known as
salutatory conduction
Which model of training in psychology, first established in Boulder, Colorado in 1949, emphasizes the development of both clinical and research skills during one's education?
scientist-practitioner model
In scientific theories, when there are competing explanations for empirical observations, the ______ explanation should be selected
simplest
As a researcher, you decide that you are very interested in peoples' everyday behavior (i.e., daily social interactions and activities). Therefore, you decide to use an electronically activated recorder, or EAR device, to capture the acoustic diary of participants' days as they naturally unfold. in this scenario, you are:
studying daily behavior
Which doctoral degree in psychology was first introduced in 1973, and places a greater emphasis on clinical training and practice as opposed to the development of scientific research skills?
the scholar-practitioner model
Quantitative genetics looks at similarities among individuals, analyzing how biologically related they are. These studies are often done on all of the following EXCEPT which?
unrelated strangers