EXAM PSYC

Critical thinking involves all of the following EXCEPT A) appraising the source of information. B) automatic acceptance of information. C) evaluating provided evidence. D) assessing conclusions.

B

The self-correcting process for asking questions and observing nature's answers is known as A) a theory. B) a prediction. C) the scientific method. D) an operational definition.

C

The standard deviation is the square root of the average squared deviation of scores from the A) normal curve. B) median. C) mean. D) range.

C

Using scientific procedures to test whether watching violent movies increases the frequency of emotionally upsetting dreams best illustrates A) functionalism. B) Freudian psychology. C) an empirical approach. D) positive psychology

C

Dr. Tate is an excellent researcher. She is curious, humble, and skeptical. These are all characteristics of A) having a scientific attitude. B) using the scientific method. C) forming a theory. D) testing a hypothesis.

A

Early psychologists such as Wilhelm Wundt and William James focused on the study of A) mental processes. B) clinical psychology. C) unconscious motives. D) conditioned responses.

A

For which of the following distributions of scores would the median most clearly be a more appropriate measure of central tendency than the mean? A) 10, 22, 8, 9, 6 B) 12, 6, 8, 5, 4 C) 12, 15, 12, 9, 12 D) 23, 7, 3, 27, 16

A

Functionalism was a school of psychology that focused attention on the A) adaptive value of thoughts and behaviors. B) component elements of sensory experience. C) disruptive effects of unconscious motives. D) treatment of psychological disorders.

A

In a group of five individuals, two report annual incomes of $10,000, and the other three report incomes of $14,000, $15,000, and $31,000, respectively. The mode of this group's distribution of annual incomes is A) $10,000. B) $15,000. C) $16,000. D) $31,000.

A

In the 1960s, the cognitive revolution in psychology involved a renewal of interest in the scientific study of A) mental processes. B) hereditary influences. C) unconscious motives. D) learned behaviors.

A

Marissa recently attended a lecture on supernatural phenomena, which explained how the locations of planets and stars at one's birth determines the person's personality and life course. Marissa is not convinced that this information is accurate and so she is quite skeptical. She has concluded that the assumptions and conclusions of this statement are faulty, that the speaker is biased and lacks credibility, and that there is minimal evidence to support this claim. Marissa has engaged in A) critical thinking. B) introspection C) speculation. D) emergent thinking.

A

Mike Crampton's stockbroker has informed him that he has suffered substantial investment losses. When Mike tells his wife, she angrily responds, "I could have told you that your investment plan would fail!" Her comment best illustrates A) hindsight bias. B) debriefing. C) the placebo effect. D) replication.

A

One of psychology's early mottos was "the rat is always right." Which aspect of the scientific attitude did this represent? A) humility B) respect for animals C) curiosity D) skepticism

A

Questioning whether conclusions are warranted by the existing evidence best illustrates A) critical thinking. B) functionalism. C) a biopsychosocial approach. D) introspection.

A

The mean of a distribution of scores is the A) most frequently occurring score. B) arithmetic average of all the scores. C) least frequently occurring score. D) score exceeded by 50 percent of all the scores.

B

The perception that psychological research findings merely verify our commonsense understanding is most clearly facilitated by A) random assignment. B) hindsight bias. C) operational definitions. D) the placebo effect.

B

The symmetrical bell‑shaped figure used to represent the distribution of many physical and psychological characteristics is called a A) bar graph. B) normal curve. C) range. D) standard deviation.

B

When an arithmetic average is reported in the news, it is most important for readers to A) determine whether it is statistically significant. B) consider whether it is distorted by a few extreme cases. C) be sure that it represents a standard deviation. D) assume that it is the midpoint of a normal curve.

B

Which early psychologist aimed to study the evolved functions of our thoughts and feelings? A) Edward Bradford Titchener B) William James C) John Locke D) Wilhelm Wundt

B

Which major force in psychology emphasized unconscious thought processes? A) evolutionary psychology B) Freudian psychology C) behavior genetics D) behaviorism

B

Which of the following is most likely to inhibit critical thinking? A) hindsight bias B) overconfidence C) discerning hidden values D) creativity

B

Wilhelm Wundt's laboratory work involved experimental studies of A) animal intelligence. B) personality development. C) social influence. D) mental processes.

D

John B. Watson is to Edward Titchener as ________ is to ________. A) biology; environment B) observable behavior; inner sensations C) mental illness; psychiatry D) cognitive perspective; psychodynamic perspective

B

Looking inward and reporting your immediate sensations, images, and feelings is called A) cognitive neuroscience. B) introspection. C) behaviorism. D) humanistic psychology.

B

Professor Smith told one class that drinking alcohol has been found to increase sexual desire. He informed another class that drinking alcohol has been found to reduce sexual appetite. The fact that neither class was surprised by the information they received best illustrates the power of A) cause-effect conclusions. B) hindsight bias. C) replication. D) the placebo effect.

B

Reasoning that does not blindly accept available arguments and conclusions illustrates A) introspection. B) critical thinking. C) the psychyodynamic perspective. D) an empirical approach.

B

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution is the A) mean. B) range. C) median. D) standard deviation.

B

Rebecca is talking to her friend about her daughter, Amy, who is in the ninth grade. Amy seems to have changed dramatically. She has changed her group of friends, she stays out past curfew, and she has been caught drinking alcohol. Also, her grades have dropped significantly. Rebecca's friend remarks, "Of course! Bad associations spoil useful habits." This best demonstrates A) hindsight bias. B) overconfidence. C) scientific inquiry. D) perceiving patterns in random events.

A

Six of the children in Mr. Myer's class were born on exactly the same day. This strikes him as astonishing and improbable. In this instance, he should be reminded that A) random sequences of events often don't look random. B) events often seem more probable in hindsight. C) sampling extreme cases leads to false generalizations. D) correlation does not prove causation.

A

Steven sees a group of teenagers walking down the street toward him. They are all wearing jeans with holes in them, black t-shirts with band logos on the front, and spiked, colorful hair. He thinks, "Birds of a feather flock together." This demonstrates A) hindsight bias. B) overconfidence. C) scientific inquiry. D) perceiving patterns in random events.

A

The most frequently occurring score in a distribution of scores is the A) mode. B) median. C) standard deviation. D) mean.

A

The scientific attitude of humility is most likely to be undermined by A) hindsight bias. B) curious skepticism. C) ethical standards. D) critical thinking.

A

The unreliability of ________ led to the waning popularity of structuralism. A) introspection B) spaced practice C) behaviorism D) humanistic psychology

A

The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies observable human activity without reference to mental processes is known as A) behaviorism. B) cognitive neuroscience. C) humanistic psychology. D) positive psychology.

A

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? A) mean B) standard deviation C) mode D) median

A

Which early psychologist aimed to discover the mind's structure? A) Edward Bradford Titchener B) William James C) John Locke D) Wilhelm Wundt

A

Which woman psychologist was the first to officially earn a doctorate degree? A) Margaret Floy Washburn B) Mary Whiton Calkins C) Anna Freud D) Marla Wundt

A

Who developed the first psychological laboratory? A) Wundt B) Plato C) Freud D) James

A

Who speculated that a meal makes us sleepy by causing gas and heat to collect around our heart? A) Aristotle B) Plato C) Descartes D) Locke

A

. Behaviorists dismissed the value of A) science. B) introspection. C) spaced practice. D) applied research.

B

. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow promoted a historically significant approach known as A) behaviorism. B) humanistic psychology. C) cognitive neuroscience. D) behavior genetics.

B

. Formulating testable predictions before conducting research is most directly useful for restraining a thinking error known as A) random sampling. B) hindsight bias. C) the placebo effect. D) random assignment.

B

. Rodesia insists that Dr. Phillips' theory of aggression be checked against observable evidence. She is demonstrating the scientific attitude of A) pride. B) skepticism. C) practicality. D) enthusiasm.

B

A questioning attitude regarding psychologists' assumptions and hidden values best illustrates A) behaviorism. B) critical thinking. C) introspection. D) Freudian psychology.

B

Approximately 95 percent of the cases represented by the normal curve fall within ________ standard deviation(s) from the mean. A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 5

B

. Evelyn wants to know how consistent her bowling scores have been during the past season. Which of the following measures would tell her what she wants to know? A) mean B) median C) standard deviation D) range

C

A normal curve would approximate the distribution of A) males and females in the total American population. B) American children enrolled in each of the first through sixth grades. C) the physical heights of all American women. D) all of these data.

C

A theory is an explanation using an integrated set of principles that ________ observations and ________ behaviors or events. A) questions; surveys B) replicates; controls C) organizes; predicts D) randomly samples; randomly assigns

C

Approximately what percentage of the cases represented by the normal curve fall between -1 and +1 standard deviations from the mean? A) 16 B) 34 C) 68 D) 95

C

Aristotle suggested that the source of our personality is the A) brain. B) throat. C) heart. D) stomach.

C

Beginning in the 1960s, psychological science returned to its earlier interest in mental processes. This movement was inspired by the A) emergence of community psychology. B) push for a positive psychology. C) cognitive revolution. D) free love movement.

C

Central tendency is to variation as ________ is to ________. A) bar graph; normal curve B) range; skewed distribution C) mean; standard deviation D) median; mode

C

Critical thinking most clearly involves A) a biopsychosocial approach. B) introspection. C) evaluating evidence. D) the psychodynamic perspective.

C

During the last Central High School basketball game, the starting five players scored 11, 7, 21, 14, and 7 points, respectively. For this distribution of scores, the range is A) 7. B) 11. C) 14. D) 21.

C

Early behaviorists such as John B. Watson would have considered the introspective study of self-esteem to be A) applied research. B) a positive psychology. C) an unscientific method. D) a biopsychosocial approach.

C

Giving half the members of a group some purported psychological finding and the other half an opposite finding is an easy way to demonstrate the impact of A) the placebo effect. B) confounding variables. C) hindsight bias. D) the double-blind procedure

C

If a set of standardized test scores is normally distributed, having a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, approximately 68 percent of the group members receive scores somewhere between A) 50 and 60. B) 45 and 55. C) 40 and 60. D) 35 and 65.

C

Introspection was the basic research tool used by ________ in order to study people's inner sensations and mental images. A) John B. Watson B) Charles Darwin C) Edward Titchener D) B. F. Skinner

C

Melinda was concerned that the wording of the questions in a life satisfaction survey may have encouraged respondents to convey unusually positive levels of well-being. Melinda's concerns best illustrate A) introspection. B) an empirical approach. C) critical thinking. D) the neuroscience perspective

C

Observing and recording people's behavior as they are conditioned was of most central interest to A) Freudian psychology. B) humanistic psychology. C) behaviorism. D) structuralism.

C

Our tendency to believe we know more than we do best illustrates A) naturalistic observation. B) the placebo effect. C) overconfidence. D) random assignment.

C

Professor Jones is examining the impact of parental divorce on adult children's attitudes regarding romantic relationships. The attitude regarding romantic relationships can be considered a(n) A) behavior. B) action. C) mental process. D) conclusion.

C

Seven members of a boys' club reported the following individual earnings from their sale of cookies: $2, $9, $8, $10, $4, $9, and $7. In this distribution of individual earnings A) the median is greater than the mean and greater than the mode. B) the median is less than the mean and less than the mode. C) the median is greater than the mean and less than the mode. D) the median is less than the mean and greater than the mode

C

The early school of thought that used introspection to reveal the mind's makeup was called A) cognitive neuroscience. B) behaviorism. C) structuralism. D) evolutionary psychology.

C

The hindsight bias refers to people's tendency to A) dismiss the value of skepticism. B) reject any ideas that can't be scientifically tested. C) exaggerate their ability to have foreseen an outcome. D) overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions.

C

The psychology textbook that William James took 12 years to author was titled A) The New Science. B) Psychology. C) Principles of Psychology. D) The Abstract Mind

C

The scientific attitude requires an open-minded humility because it involves a willingness to A) perceive order in random events. B) reject any ideas that can't be scientifically tested. C) recognize the errors in our own ideas. D) respect political beliefs that contradict our own.

C

When you read a bar graph, it is most important for you to A) mentally transform the data into a normal curve. B) identify the value of the standard deviation. C) note the range and size of the scale values. D) identify the correct measure of central tendency.

C

Which measure of central tendency is used to calculate the average of your school grades? A) standard deviation B) median C) mean D) mode

C

Which of the following is a measure of the degree of variation among a set of scores? A) mean B) mode C) standard deviation D) range

C

Which of the following is an evidence-based method that draws on observation and experimentation? A) critical thinking B) structuralism C) empirical approach D) humanistic psychology

C

William James was a prominent American A) psychoanalyst. B) behaviorist. C) functionalist. D) psychiatrist.

C

. Although Dominick's psychology class is sometimes longer or shorter than usual, on average each class is 50 minutes. If the lengths of these classes form a normal curve, which statistic would enable Dominick to estimate the probability that any single class will last somewhere between 47 and 53 minutes? A) mean B) median C) range D) standard deviation

D

. Mark is reviewing recent applications for an opening at his company. The first few he reviews do not meet the minimum qualifications for the position, and Mark thinks to himself, "There is not one qualified applicant this time." Mark has demonstrated A) operational definitions. B) hypothesizing. C) hindsight bias. D) sampling bias.

D

. Which measure of variation is affected most by a few extreme scores? A) standard deviation B) mean C) median D) range

D

A lopsided distribution of scores in which the mean is much larger than both the mode and median is said to be A) statistically significant. B) extrapolated. C) a standard deviation. D) skewed.

D

Approximately what percentage of the cases represented by the normal curve fall between ‒3 and +3 standard deviations from the mean? A) 34 B) 68 C) 95 D) 100

D

Beginning in the 1920s, American psychologists such as John B. Watson emphasized the study of A) genetic influences. B) self-esteem. C) conscious thoughts and feelings. D) observable behavior.

D

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 A) 2. B) 10. C) 12. D) 9.

D

Edward Titchener is to structuralism as William James is to A) behaviorism. B) humanistic psychology. C) cognitive neuroscience. D) functionalism

D

Humanistic psychologists focused attention on the importance of people's A) childhood memories. B) genetic predispositions. C) unconscious thought processes. D) potential for healthy growth.

D

Median is to range as central tendency is to ________. A) skewed distribution B) mode C) correlation D) variation

D

Megan was certain that she would never live far away from her family. However, when offered a job in another state, she decided to move. Megan's experience best illustrates A) hindsight bias. B) random assignment. C) the placebo effect. D) overconfidence.

D

Mr. and Mrs. Klostreich have six children ages 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, and 16. The mean age of the Klostreich children is A) 5. B) 6. C) 7. D) 8

D

On a series of coin tosses, Oleg has correctly predicted heads or tails seven times in a row. In this instance, we can reasonably conclude that Oleg's predictive accuracy A) defies the laws of statistical probability. B) illustrates hindsight bias. C) is inconsistent with the placebo effect. D) is a random and coincidental occurrence.

D

Research participants are asked to monitor and report their own immediate sensory reactions to differently colored objects. This research involves a technique known as A) behavior genetics. B) psychoanalysis. C) massed practice. D) introspection.

D

Seven members of a Girl Scout troop report the following individual earnings from their sale of candy: $4, $1, $7, $6, $8, $2, and $7. In this distribution of individual earnings A) the mean is less than the mode and equal to the median. B) the mean is equal to the mode and greater than the median. C) the mean is greater than the mode and greater than the median. D) the mean is less than the mode and less than the median.

D

Several weeks after a political election, voters often exaggerate their ability to have predicted the election outcome. This best illustrates A) the placebo effect. B) random assignment. C) wording effects. D) hindsight bias.

D

Sherry is often overly generous in sacrificing her time to help others. Her friend suggests that by keeping busy in this way Sherry avoids confronting her own unconscious conflicts. Her friend's suggestion illustrates the type of explanation that is most typical of A) evolutionary psychology. B) cognitive neuroscience. C) structuralism. D) Freudian psychology.

D

Statisticians Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller commented, "But with a large enough sample, any outrageous thing is likely to happen." What were they referring to? A) hindsight bias B) overconfidence C) scientific inquiry D) perceiving patterns in random events

D

The average price for different brands of toothpaste could be visually displayed in a(n)

D

The birth of psychology is often attributed to Wilhelm Wundt because he pioneered the investigation of mental processes using A) a biopsychosocial perspective. B) an evolutionary perspective. C) positive psychology. D) scientific methods.

D

The branch of psychology that can be considered a marriage between the science of the mind and the science of the brain is called A) behaviorism. B) Freudian psychology. C) neuroscience. D) cognitive neuroscience.

D

The median of a distribution of scores is the A) most frequently occurring score. B) difference between the highest and lowest scores. C) arithmetic average of all the scores. D) middle score in a distribution of scores.

D

The scientific study of mental activities associated with perceiving, processing, and remembering information is most central to A) clinical psychology. B) humanistic psychology. C) evolutionary psychology. D) cognitive psychology

D

Three key attitudes of scientific inquiry are A) pride, enthusiasm, and ingenuity. B) ingenuity, practicality, and certainty. C) certainty, creativity, and curiosity. D) curiosity, skepticism, and humility.

D

When you question whether anecdotal evidence can be generalized to all people, you are most clearly demonstrating A) functionalism. B) behaviorism. C) an empirical approach. D) critical thinking

D

Which theorist most clearly influenced William James' efforts to understand the adaptive functions of thinking and consciousness? A) John B. Watson B) Sigmund Freud C) Carl Rogers D) Charles Darwin

D

Who was a student of William James and the first female president of the American Psychological Association? A) Jean Piaget B) Margaret Floy Washburn C) Rosalie Rayner D) Mary Whiton Calkins

D

Who was the American philosopher-psychologist who authored a textbook in 1890 for the emerging discipline of psychology? A) Wilhelm Wundt B) John B. Watson C) Sigmund Freud D) William James

D