PSYCH 101 - Chapter 2

The APA Ethical Principles for Human Research indicate that psychologists must take reasonable steps to

avoid harming participants

You are wanting to study how people respond to being frightened. You set up a scenario where people who are just turning the corner of the building are met with a realistic-looking snake toy. You record their behavior from the time they see the snake toy to when they finally calm down. This type of study is known as a(n)

naturalistic observation

The story of how facilitated communication was debunked is a powerful illustration of the triumph of science over

pseudocscience

If subjects' scores on a self-esteem scale are consistent over time, the scale has high __________ reliability.

test-retest

Megan wanted to get a measure of the amount of variability in her set of data, so she subtracted the lowest score from the highest score. Megan computed the

range

A central issue in considering medical and psychological research using nonhuman animals is balancing the advances gained through such experimentation against

the costs in death and suffering they produce for the test subjects

Bruno is asked to estimate which California city occupies a greater area: San Francisco or San Jose. "San Francisco is a big city," he muses, "whereas San Jose is out in the suburbs. San Francisco must be bigger." In actuality, San Francisco occupies about 48 square miles, compared to San Jose's 180 square miles. Bruno was mislead because he relied on

a heuristic

Dr. Rand conducts a study to determine the relationship between the hours of sleep a student gets the night before an exam and their actual performance on the exam. Dr. Rand graphs her data to make it easier to see the relationship between the two variables. She finds that the two variables are positively correlated. Her data is best represented by a graph with

a line that slopes up fro left to right

Which group at every major American research college and university reviews all research carefully to protect participants against abuses?

institutional review board

Which term refers to the type of descriptive statistic that tells us where the scores tend to cluster in a set of measurements?

central tendency

When evaluating a story about psychology research, we should generally place more confidence in a reputable science journal than a popular magazine. Which phrase encapsulates that idea?

consider the source

Prior to participating in a study, Danielle received a form that describes what she is expected to do or encounter during the study. Danielle is participating in

informed consent

Dr. Sardonicus is designing a case study in order to demonstrate that a particular psychological phenomenon actually happens. Case studies can be useful in providing this kind of demonstration, also known as

existence proof

You want to design a study that will be high in internal validity and will allow you to infer causation. Which research design should you use?

experimental design

Because carefully controlled studies generate more trustworthy results, the high internal validity of these studies can lead to

high external validity

When we perceive a reliable association between two events (although none exists), such as the presence of rainy weather and arthritis flare-ups, we are experiencing the phenomenon called

illusory correlation

The two kinds of statistics used by psychologists are descriptive statistics and __________ statistics.

inferential

The type of thinking that allows us to operate on "autopilot" and make snap decisions is called

intuitive

We say that a result has practical significance if it

makes a difference in the real world

When a politician makes the statement that the average tax return will be $5,000 for citizens of her state, we should be suspicious of her statistics. It would be more meaningful to report the __________ as a measure of central tendency.

median or mode

The process of soliciting feedback from qualified experts in a research area prior to publishing the results of a research study is called

peer review

Arno did a study to demonstrate the relationship between age and intellect. To best represent his data, Arno should use a

scatterplot

Questionnaires fall into which category of measurement tools?

self-report measures

To be sure that we are not fooled by popular media reports about psychology research, we should be on the lookout for

sharpening and leveling

In a study to test the effects of a new memory technique, students are given one of two different memory techniques to use for their next exam. Their scores on the next exam are used to determine the effectiveness of the two techniques. In this study, what is the dependent variable ?

the students' scores on the next exam