Research Unit

The mean of a distribution of scores is

exceeded by 50 percent of all the scores

Jeff mistakenly assumes that everybody around him enjoys listening to country music as much as he does. Jeff best illustrates

false consensus effect

A boy who consistently exhibits traditionally masculine interests and behavior patterns demonstrates

gender-typing

After noting that a majority of professional basketball players are African-American, Ervin concluded that African-Americans are better athletes than members of other racial groups. Ervin's conclusion best illustrates the danger of

generalizing from vivid cases

According to psychoanalytic theory, the part of the personality that strives for immediate gratification of basic drives is the

id

Cause is to effect as ___________ is to ___________.

independent variable is to dependent variable

GABA is to glutamate as ________ is to ________.

inhibitory neurotransmitter; excitatory neurotransmitter

A sample average can be used to estimate a population average with greater precision if the sample is

large

The mean of a skewed distribution of scores is always

larger or smaller than the median

When Mr. Adams calculated his students' algebra test scores, he noticed that two students had extremely low scores. Which measure of central tendency is affected most by the scores of these two students?

mean

Which measure of central tendency is used to calculate your grade-point average

mean

Psychologists who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzee societies in the jungle are using a research method known as

naturalistic observation

In a written repost of their research, psychologists specify exactly how anxiety is assessed, thus providing their readers with an

operational definition

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

survey

The relief of pain following the ingestion of an inert substance that is presumed to have medicinal benefits illustrates

the placebo effect

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

the samples are large

Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two variables

-.12

For which of the following distributions of scores would the median most clearly be a more appropriate measure of central tendency than the mean

10,22,8,9,6

Mr. and Mrs. Klostreich have six children aged 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, and 16. The mean age of the Klostreich children is

8

During the past year, Zara and Ivan each read 2 books, but George read 9, Ali read 12, and Marsha read 25. The median number of books read by these individuals was

9

If the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of children is +0.85, this would indicate that

Better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among elementary school students

Psychologists study animals because

Experiments on people are generally considered to be unethical

Mrs. Sunstedt believes that parents should accept and try to understand their children's feelings and should honestly disclose their own inner feelings to their children. Her approach to parent-child interaction was most explicitly recommended by

Rogers

Median is to range

as mean is to mode

According to Bandura, reciprocal determinism involves multidirectional influences among

behaviors, internal personal factors, and environmental issues

To accurately infer cause and effect, experimenters should use

case studies

In order to study the effects of loud noise on worker productivity, Dr Mcduffee had one group of research participants work in a noisy room and a second group work in a quiet room. Those who worked in the quiet room were exposed to the

control condition

A statistical measure that indicates the extent to which changes in one factor are accompanied by changes in another is called

correlation coefficient

If those who watch a lot of TV violence are also particularly likely to behave aggressively, this would not necessarily indicate that watching TV violence influences aggressive behavior because:

correlation does not prove causation

In order to determine whether the strength of people's self esteem is related to their income levels, researchers would most likely make use of

correlational research

A statistically significant difference between two sample groups is not likely to be

due to chance variation within and between the sample groups

In order 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

Which of the following scientific procedures is most useful for helping researchers avoid false generalizations

random sampling

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

range

Which measure of variation is affected most by a few extreme scores?

range

Which technique involves repeating the essence of an earlier research study with different participants and in different circumstances?

replication

Heritability refers to the extent to which

trait differences among individuals are attributable to genetic variations

The surgical removal of a large tumor fro Dane's occipital lobe resulted in extensive loss of brain tissue. Dane is most likely to suffer some loss of

visual perception

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

which experimental treatment, if any, they are receiving