Psychology 101

All of the following statements are true of large data sets with negatively skewed distributions except

Mode is less than the median.

How is natural selection related to psychology?

Humans behave as they do in part because that behavior promotes survival

The principle of Occam's razor compares ___________ in terms of the ____________

Hypotheses Assumptions they make

would most severely reduce the usefulness of a placebo in a controlled environment?

It is relatively easy for subjects to distinguish the placebo from a potentially effective treatment

The hallmarks of psychology as a science are

careful experimentation and the application of critical thinking.

Psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Platos allegory of the cave indicates that

truths about reality are not always obvious

Which statement reflects a reasonable attitude for a good student of psychology to have toward any claim about human behavior?

Skepticism is advisable until an idea is proven right

Which of the following approaches to psychology did Edward Titchener advocate in the late 1800's

Structuralism

The descriptive method of scientific inquiry includes ________,___________,__________ but not _______________

Surveying Case study Naturalistic observation Not a laboratory experimentation

A psychologist working at a university is interested in designing an experiment to explore the impact of stress n women's sleep cycles. She will use university students as subjects. In this situation, the students as her university represent a __________________, which is part of the ______________.

Study population Theoretical population

These are true of a large data set with negatively skewed distributions

The mean is less than the mode The mean is less than the median The median is less than the mode

A researcher is designing an experiment intended to study the effects of the physical environment on reading comprehension. Which of the following factors would be best characterized as an independent variable in such an experiment?

The level of lighting in settings where test subjects are asked to read

A ___________ is a set of consistent _____________ that have undergone successful testing

Theory Hypothesis

A good scientific hypothesis is

Tied to observable phenomena

Why did early humans have to pay careful attention to the behavior of others?

To remain safely in the group. Researchers say human brains can only handle social relations with about 150 people

According to the social brain hypothesis, each of us can deal effectively with social interactions with roughly 150 people. This means that

We are capable of maintaining social networks of up to 150 people throughout our lives

The year 1879 might be thought of as the beginning of psychology as a science because that is the year

Wilhelm Wundt developed and opened the first psychology laboratory.

Contemporary standards of informed consent require a psychologist using human subjects is an experiment to disclose the ______________ before the experiment commences

Details of any risks the subjects will face

What is a mainstream psychologist most likely to think about Sigmund Freud

Freudian theory is untestable and not grounded in science.

Which of the following perspectives argues that human behavior develops in certain ways because it serves a useful purpose?

Functionalism

An important principle to remember when studying psychology is that

the act of learning changes the physical structure of the brain.

A psychological test designed to measure creativity is considered a reliable tool based on whether

the same subjects would score consistently over time.

Cognitive psychology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest correlation between two variables ?

0.85 -0.10 +0.25

Cases of suspicious correlations are typically explained in terms of ___________ variables that are ____________ two correlated variables

Confounding Affecting

Parents who agree with John Locke's notion of tabula rasa would most likely

expose their children to a rich variety of sensory experiences

A researcher presents his participant with a series of flashing lights at varying intervals. After each presentation of a light, he asks the participant to fully describe her internal experiences, a method known as

introspection

When administered to subjects in an experiment, a placebo is a treatment that

is believed to be free of medical effects.

measure of central tendencies

mean, median, mode

The study of the nervous system

neuroscience

In a typical controlled experiment designed to test the effects of a new drug, ______________ will be administered to the ___________ group

only the placebo; control