Psychology test 1

What is an advantage of survey research?

Access to lots of data

Cause and effect conclusions can be drawn from _____ studies.

Experimental

The group exposed to a newly created drug that is being tested in an experiment is called the ________ group.

Experimental

In an experiment studying whether eating sugar influences children's ability to focus their attention on a problem-solving task, the group of children given sugar is referred to as the______________.

Experimental group

Why can experiments determine causal relationships when no other research method can?

Experiments isolate the effects of independent variables on dependent variables

_____ are factors that are not being directly manipulated or measured, which could affect research results if they are not held constant

Extraneous variables

If height and body weight are positively correlated, which of the following is true?

Knowing a person's height, one can predict his or her weight

To compare the pace of life in different countries, investigators measured the speed with which postal clerks completed a simple request. Which research method did this illustrate?

Naturalistic

A negative correlation between people's work-related stress and their marital happiness would indicate that

higher levels of marital happiness are associated with lower levels or work-related stress

A correlation of +0.70 between children's physical height and their popularity among their peers indicates that

higher levels of popularity among your peers is associated with greater physical height in children

Unlike correlational studies, experiments involve

manipulating the factors of interest

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

may be unrepresentative of what is generally true

Professor Brody attempts to measure the relative contributions of inborn traits and social influences on homosexual behavior. Her research efforts best illustrate the interests of the ________ perspective.

behavior genetics

Which perspective is most relevant to understanding the impact of strokes and brain diseases on memory?

neuroscience

In a naturalistic observation, a researcher would be most likely to do which of the following?

observe and systematically record behavior in a participant's natural state or habitat

Which perspective most clearly focuses on how we learn observable responses?

behavioral

If you wanted to study someone with a rare disorder such as photophobia (the fear of light), your BEST research option would be a/an ____

case study

Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to distinguish between

cause and effects

Which perspective is most concerned with how individuals interpret their experiences?

cognitive

In a case study, a researcher is most likely to _____.

conduct an in-depth study of a single research project

In a psychological experiment, the factor that may be influenced by the manipulated experimental treatment is called the ________ variable.

dependent

Random assignment minimizes ________ between experimental and control groups. Random sampling minimizes ________ between a sample and a population

differences; differences

An example of a(n) ___________ research study would be where an experiment was conducted on caffeine-induced stress in which neither the class researchers nor the participants in the experiment knew who did and did not receive caffeine until after the study was completed.

double-blind study

The cognitive perspective in psychology focuses on how:

people encode, process, store, and retrieve information

In a study on student conformity, researchers selected a group of college students who appeared to represent the characteristics of students from the entire college campus. The selected group served as the _____ of the college _____.

sample; population

Which psychological perspective is most likely to examine how group membership influences individual attitudes and behaviors?

social-cultural

Dr. Matias has concluded that very few people in a small African country suffer from alcohol dependence because of the strong influence of their religion. This belief best illustrates a(n) ________ perspective.

socio-cultural

Any factor such as infant nutrition which can vary in its quality or quantity is called a

variable

Correlation is a measure of the extent to which two variables

vary together

According to the humanistic perspective, human behavior is determined by ________ causes.

voluntary

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

which experimental treatment, if any, they are receiving.

Which of the following is a statistical measure of the relationship between two variables?

a correlation coefficient

A sample is BEST defined as _____.

a selected group of participants that is representative of a larger population

Which scientific method of research would be used if a college student running for student body president was trying to determine whether to emphasize campus security, improved parking facilities, or increased health services in their campaign?

a survey

The main advantage of naturalistic observation is that it _____.

allows researchers to obtain data about naturalistic behavior

An experiment was designed to study the potential impact of alcohol consumption on emotional stability. A specification of the procedures used to measure emotional stability illustrates

an operational definition.

Which research method would most likely be used to test the following hypothesis? People who conserve energy by buying hybrid cars are more likely to spend more money on organic foods.

Correlation

_____ research observes and records behaviors without manipulating variables or producing causal explanations.

Descriptive

_____ are manipulated; _____ are measured.

IVs; DVs

In a psychological experiment, the experimental factor that is manipulated by the investigator is called the ________ variable.

Independent

To assess the impact of test difficulty on persistence of effort, researchers plan to give one group of children relatively easy tests and another group more difficult tests. To reduce the chance that the children in one group are more intelligent than those in the other group, the researchers should make use of

Random assignment

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

The experimental treatment is absent.

During a dinner conversation, a friend says that the cognitive and behavioral perspectives are quite similar. You disagree and point out that the cognitive perspective emphasizes ________, whereas the behavioral perspective emphasizes ________.

conscious processes; observable responses

To study the potential effects of social interaction on problem solving, some research participants were instructed to solve problems working together; other participants were told to solve problems working alone. Those who worked alone were assigned to the ________ group.

control

Mr. Brown has gathered evidence that the self-esteem of students is negatively correlated with their typical levels of anxiety. Before he uses this evidence to conclude that self-esteem reduces anxiety, Mr. Brown should first be reminded that

correlation does not prove causation

To discover the extent to which economic status can be used to predict political preferences, researchers are most likely to use

correlational measures

A researcher was interested in determining whether her students' test performance could be predicted from their proximity to the front of the classroom. So she matched her students' scores on a math test with their seating position. This study is an example of

correlational research

Professor Crisman believes that most women prefer tall and physically strong partners because this preference promoted the survival of our ancestors' genes. This viewpoint best illustrates the ________ perspective.

evolutionary

Which perspective would suggest that the facial expressions associated with the emotions of lust and rage are inherited?

evolutionary

The concept of control is important in psychological research because

experimental control allows researchers to study the influence of one or two independent variables on a dependent variable while holding other potential influences constant.

In which type of research would an investigator manipulate one factor in order to observe its effect on some behavior or mental process?

experimentation

While conducting research, you unintentionally provide subtle cues to the study's participants about the purpose of the research, which influences your results in the direction you expected) This is a demonstration of _____.

experimenter bias

Experimenter bias refers to _____.

experimenters that unintentionally let their beliefs and expectations influence the results of a study

If researchers gave participants varying amounts of a new "memory" drug and then gave them a story to read and measured their scores on a quiz, the _____ would be the independent variable (IV), and the _____ would be the dependent variable (DV).

exposure to the drug; quiz scores

The psychological perspective that emerged in the 1950s that stressed free will and self-actualization was the __________ perspective.

humanistic

The growth potential of healthy people was emphasized by

humanistic psychology

In an experimental study, men with erectile dysfunction received either Viagra or a placebo. In this study, the drug dosage (none versus peak dose) was the

independent variable.

To assess the influence of self-esteem on interpersonal attraction, researchers either insulted or complimented students about their physical appearance just before they went on a blind date. In this research, the dependent variable was

interpersonal attraction

Professor Ober carefully observes and records the behaviors of children in their classrooms in order to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Professor Ober is most clearly engaged in

naturalistic observation

The behavior genetics perspective would be most directly concerned with assessing the relative influences of

nature and nurture

Professor Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Professor Lopez favors a ________ perspective on depression.

neuroscience

To learn about the TV-viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge 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

Correlational research is most useful for purposes of:

prediction

The high school counselor has suggested that Skylar's romantic feelings for her physics teacher reflect her unconscious longings for attention from her own father. The counselor's assessment most clearly reflects a(n) ________ perspective.

psychodynamic

Which of the following is most useful for helping survey researchers avoid false generalizations?

random sampling

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

reduce the likelihood of any preexisting differences between groups of participants.

One way to ensure less sample bias is to select a(n) _____ sample.

representative/random

Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether cigarette smoking boosts mental alertness?

the experiment

In a survey, psychologists select a random sample of research participants in order to ensure that

the participants are representative of the population they are interested in studying.

Sample bias occurs when _____.

the sample of participants in a research study are not representative of the larger population

In which type of research is a representative, random sample of people asked to answer questions about their behaviors or attitudes?

the survey

Being randomly assigned to the experimental group in a research project involves being assigned

to the group by chance