ab psych ch. 2

single-subject experimental design

a research method in which a single participant is observed and measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable

analogue experiment

a research method in which the experimenter produces abnormal-like behavior in laboratory participants and then conducts experiments on the participants

concerns with clinical research

-70% psychology studies use college students -75% of authors refuse requests to share data ->2/3 private researchers funded by pharmaceutical industry -Scientific journals more likely to publish "positive" studies (85%) that support tested hypothesis -Replication studies are few, contradiction is rare

rights ensured to human participants by IRB

1) The participants enlist voluntarily 2) Before enlisting, the participants are adequately informed about what the study entails ("informed consent") 3) The participants can end their participation in the study at any time 4) The benefits of the study outweigh its costs/risks 5) The participants are protected from physical and psychological harm 6) The participants have access to information about the study 7) The participants' privacy is protected by principles such as confidentiality or anonymity

Which would be the BEST design to study the effects of disasters on survivors? A) A natural experiment B) A double-masked design C) An analogue experiment D) A clinical experiment

A) A natural experiment

A researcher is interested in the effects of a new drug for treating anxiety. The researcher decides to study this phenomenon in rats by conditioning in them the fear of a high-pitched noise and then testing the rats' reactions with and without the drug. This is an example of a(n): A) analogue experiment. B) single-subject experiment. C) correlation. D) natural experiment.

A) analogue experiment.

Studies that determine the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a particular population are called: A) epidemiological studies. B) experimental studies. C) analogue studies. D) longitudinal studies.

A) epidemiological studies.

As opposed to clinical practitioners, who search for individualistic understanding of human behavior, clinical researchers search for general truths about abnormality. The approach of clinical researchers is described as: A) nomothetic. B) idiosyncratic. C) nomosynthetic. D) idiographic.

A) nomothetic.

The prevalence of sexual dysfunction in older men seen at a clinic tells you the: A) total number of older men with sexual dysfunction at the clinic. B) rate of sexual dysfunction in the community. C) risk of a man developing sexual dysfunction. D) number of new cases of sexual dysfunction over a period of time.

A) total number of older men with sexual dysfunction at the clinic.

Researchers are examining the effects of listening to background music on the stress levels of truck loaders. Only experienced loaders are included in the study. During the first day, music is played. During the second day, no music is played. What is a potential confound in this experiment? A) The playing of music B) Type of music played C) The loaders' skill level D) The loaders' stress level

B) Type of music played

For people to decide about participating in psychological research, they must be given full knowledge of the nature of the study and their rights. This principle is called: A) privacy. B) informed consent. C) risk disclosure. D) benefit analysis.

B) informed consent.

Which statement describes a limitation of the case study? A) It does not enable the therapist to understand the whole patient. B) It does not allow the therapist to propose a course of treatment for a patient. C) It does not result in high external validity. D) It does not lead to an individualized approach.

C) It does not result in high external validity.

The goal of scientific research is BEST described as seeking to: A) generate hypotheses that seek to answer global questions. B) prove cause and effect. C) explain relationships between variables. D) advance the field of clinical medicine.

C) explain relationships between variables.

Researchers using a longitudinal study design observe: A)multiple groups of participants with the same condition at a single point in time, with each group being from a different age range. B) two groups of demographically similar participants with the same condition over a long period of time. C) a single participant over the course of his or her lifetime. D) the same group of individuals on many occasions over a long period of time.

D) the same group of individuals on many occasions over a long period of time.

case study

a detailed account of a person's life and psychological problems

nomothetic understanding

a general understanding of the nature, causes, and treatments of abnormal functioning, in the form of laws or principles

placebo therapy

a pretend treatment that the participant in an experiment believes to be genuine

quasi-experimental design

a research design that fails to include key elements of a "pure" experiment and/or intermixes elements of both experimental and correlational studies, aka mixed design

matched design

a research design that matches the experimental participants with control participants who are similar on key characteristics

experiment

a research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect of the manipulation on another variable is observed

correlational method

a research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other

random assignment

a selection procedure that ensures that participants are randomly placed either in the control group or in the experimental group

epidemiological study

a study that measures the incidence and prevalence of a problem, such as a disorder, in a given population

longitudinal study

a study that observes the same participants on many occasions over a long period of time

confound

a variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the dependent variable

internal validity

accuracy with which a study can pinpoint one factor as the cause of a phenomenon

natural experiment

an experiment in which nature, rather than an experimenter, manipulates an independent variable

correlation

degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other

external validity

degree to which the results of a study may be generalized beyond that study

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

ethics committee in a research facility that is empowered to protect the rights and safety of human research participants

masked design

experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in the experimental or the control condition, previously called a blind design

incidence

number of new cases of a disorder occurring in a population over a specific period of time

prevalence

total number of cases of a disorder occurring in a population over a specific period of time

dependent variable

variable in an experiment expected to change as the independent variable is manipulated

independent variable

variable in an experiment that is manipulated to determine whether it has an effect on another variable