PSY 4330 - Thinking Like A Psychologist

Steven says there is likely to be a large amount of inflation in the coming months. When asked how he knows this, he says that he saw the Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell report it during an interview on the news. What way of knowing is Steven using to draw his conclusion? Anecdote Tenacity/Persistence Appeal to Authority Casual Observation

Appeal to Authority

List and define each of the five criteria in the CRAAP test for evaluating a popular media source.

CRAAP is an acronym for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. Currency: the timeliness of the information When was the information published or posted? has it been revised or updated? Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question? Who is the intended audience? Authority: the source of the information Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor? do they have credentials/qualifications? Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content Where does the information come from? Is there an expression of bias? Are there typographical errors? Purpose: the reason the information exists What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade?

Marco smokes. He knows that smoking is bad for him and that he's harming his body. The uncomfortable arousal he feels as a result of behaving in a way that is inconsistent with his beliefs is due to: the negativity bias. cognitive dissonance. the self-serving bias. system justification.

Cognitive dissonance

When planning his study, Jamal referred mainly to previous research that supported his theory. When designing his study, he chose operational definitions likely to support his theory. Then, he chose analyses most likely to support his theory. His approach best represents which obstacle to drawing sound conclusions? Illusory correlation Overconfidence bias Hindsight bias Confirmation bias

Confirmation bias

A psychology class created a new measure of narcissism. They recruited a sample to take the new measure in addition to a question of how many selfies they had taken over the past week. A positive correlation between the scale score and the total number of selfies would provide evidence of: Construct validity Cronbach's alpha Interrater reliability Internal consistency

Construct validity

Which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of a pseudoscience, as described by your textbook? Use of confirmation bias. Falsifiable by nature. Points toward absence of evidence. Acceptance of anecdotes.

Falsifiable by nature.

Which of the following is NOT true of Cronbach's alpha? It is mathematically equivalent to the average of all possible split-half correlations. It is a strong indicator of a measure's validity. It is mathematically equivalent to the average of all possible inter-item correlations. It is the most stable and consistent estimate of internal consistency.

It is a strong indicator of a measure's validity.

Which of the following is true of probability sampling? It is especially important to use when a researcher is emphasizing internal validity over external validity. It results in larger samples than nonprobability sampling. It is the best way to obtain a representative sample. It is the same thing as random assignment.

It is the best way to obtain a representative sample.

All of these beliefs about psychology are false (are myths/misconceptions) EXCEPT that:(In other words, select which of the following statements is true): People who change answers on a multiple-choice test are more likely to gain points (not lose points) by doing so. People tend to use only about 10% of their brain's potential. Most women experience severe and debilitating symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Hypnosis can help people recover memories from the first six months of their lives.

People who change answers on a multiple-choice test are more likely to gain points (not lose points) by doing so.

Which of the following is NOT one of the criteria for making a causal conclusion? Internal Validity Covariance/Correlation Random Sampling Temporal Precedence

Random sampling

Researchers examining the effect of boredom on emotions have participants watch two videos each. Group 1 watches an exciting action film, then watches a boring documentary. Group 2 watches them in the opposite order (boring documentary first, then exciting action film). The researchers find that Group 1 ends up being more bored and upset after watching the videos, as compared to Group 2. This finding demonstrates the fatigue effect. negativity bias. hedonic treadmill. recency effect.

Recency effect

On the first day of class, a student sees a middle-aged man at the front of the room, talking to a younger man. If the student assumes the older man is the professor and the younger man is another student, what heuristic are they relying on? Representativeness Anchoring Matching Availability

Representativeness

If an article reports a p = .002 for a statistical test, which of the following can you conclude? The value of the correlation coefficient was small. There was a large effect size. There was possibly a Type II error. The effect or relationship was likely not due to chance alone.

The effect or relationship was likely not due to chance alone.

Match the description of each type of validity with its label. External Validity Statistical Validity Construct Validity Internal Validity

The extent to which a study's findings generalize to, or represent, other individuals and contexts, is known as The extent to which the data analytic techniques and results derived from a study are accurate and reasonable is known as The extent to which a study's variables are manipulated or measured well, or how well were the constructs are operationally defined, is known as The extent to which a study allows a conclusion to be drawn regarding a cause-and-effect relationship between the predictor and the outcome, or rules out alternative explanations for why the predictor and outcome might be associated, other than cause and effect, is known as

Which of the following would be an example of scientific literacy? Understanding the role and importance of replication in the scientific process. Knowing that Carbon has an atomic weight of approximately 12. Understanding the role of dopamine in Parkinson's Disease. Knowing that Wilhelm Wundt is the "Father of Psychology".

Understanding the role and importance of replication in the scientific process.

If a study reports a statistically significant result, what is the next question that you should ask in order to evaluate the statistical validity and to better understand the conclusions? How did they measure the variables? Was this a correlational study or an experimental study? What was the effect size? Who were the participants?

What was the effect size?

During the third 2016 presidential debate, Donald Trump famously referred to Hillary Clinton as a "nasty woman". This is an example of: psychological reactance. the fundamental attribution bias. an ad hominem attack. the negativity bias.

an ad hominem attack

People tend to overestimate the threat of mass shootings. Psychologists have suggested that this may be due to _______________, specifically due to the salience of recent mass shootings in the news.

availability heuristic

A mental shortcut that helps to make decisions quickly and efficiently is known as the false consensus effect. inattentional blindness. a cognitive heuristic. pareidolia.

cognitive heuristics

Elon Musk recently took over Twitter and fired thousands of workers. Imagine the only workers left were "Yes" people who never challenged him and always agreed with his ideas even if they were terrible because Elon dislikes workers who disagree with him. This situation leaves Elon most susceptible to: a hostile takeover of his company poor interrater reliability hindsight bias confirmation bias

confirmation bias

All of the following are types of measurement reliability techniques EXCEPT: internal consistency interrater convergent test-retest

convergent

People prefer to buy ground meat that is described at 85% lean, rather than as 15% fat, even though these describe the same thing. This preference illustrates the effect of framing. the availability heuristic. the Pollyanna principle. negativity bias.

framing

Match each of the four moves and the habit with its correct definition, as described in the Caulfield ebook. check for previous work go upstream read laterally circle back

has someone else already fact-checked the claim? find the original source what do other people say about the source? start over using different search terms

Julia reads a research study which shows that when children have a parent who talks about emotions with them, the children tend to be more empathetic (e.g., are able to take someone else's perspective). Julia scoffs, "This is obvious--I could have told you that!" Julia's reaction to the study is probably an example of schemas. the fundamental attribution error. hindsight bias. reliability.

hindsight bias

Dr. SpongeBob is happy-go-lucky and he tends to see positive events as internal, global and stable. Dr. SpongeBob's optimism likely represents ____________________________. his explanatory style. a delusional state of mind. a self-serving bias. grandiosity.

his explanatory style

Dr. Montoya is testing the relationship between optimism and college academic success. She predicts that scores on the Personal Optimism Scale will positively correlate to cumulative college GPA. This is best described as a: constant. theory. hypothesis. mediating relationship.

hypothesis

Morgan believes that gay men are more likely to be pedophiles than are straight men. However, there is no statistical relationship between sexual orientation and pedophilia. Morgan's belief is an example of: post hoc, ergo propter hoc thinking. fundamental attribution error. illusory correlation. hindsight bias.

illusory correlation

Danae got fired from her job. She tells her friend that she's worried she'll never get another job, that she's a total professional failure, and that she lacks the ability to succeed. As described here, Danae's explanatory style focuses on attributions that are external, global, and stable internal, global, and unstable internal, global, and stable external, global, and unstable

internal, global, and stable

An independent variable is _______________, whereas a dependent variable is _______________. manipulated; measured measured; manipulated quantitative; qualitative qualitative; quantitative

manipulated; measured

As compared to 1900, which of the following is true of the current most common causes of death in the U.S.? Cardiovascular (heart) disease, stroke, and cancer were not in the top 10 list in 1900, but are now. People are now more likely to die due to preventable causes of death, which have controllable, behavioral contributors. People are more likely to die of infectious diseases now than in 1900. Overall mortality rates have increased from 1900 to today.

not Cardiovascular (heart) disease, stroke, and cancer were not in the top 10 list in 1900, but are now.

All of the following are true about sampling, as compared to taking a census in research, EXCEPT: Taking a sample is more economical. Taking a census results in a larger number of participants. Taking a census results in greater accuracy. Taking a sample is more feasible.

not Taking a sample is more feasible.

A psychology class created a new measure of narcissism. They recruited a sample to take the measure, then correlated every item with every other item, which revealed one overall value of average inter-item correlations (i.e., a Cronbach's alpha). This is a test of: convergent validity. measurement reliability. concurrent validity. discriminant validity.

not concurrent validity

Scientific knowledge is always considered tentative, meaning that a theory can be _______________, but never ______________.

not disproven; supported

Dr. Montoya is using the Personal Optimism Scale in order to try to understand students' GPAs. Therefore, Personal Optimism Scale scores are the construct-level predictor variable. operational definition of the predictor variable. operational definition of the outcome variable. construct-level outcome variable.

not operational definition of the outcome variable.

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to: use external causes to explain our failures. feel less responsibility for helping someone when they need it. overemphasize internal causes for other people's behavior. hold on to strong attitudes that do not change.

overemphasize internal causes for other people's behavior.

All of the following are examples of peripheral cues to persuasion EXCEPT the: visual appeal of the message. quality of the arguments. attractiveness of the communicator. number of arguments in the message.

quality of the arguments.

Which of the following represents the weakest relationship between two variables? r = +.83 r = +.09 r = -.45 r = -.92

r = +.09 the closest number to zero is the weakest and vice versa, regardless of the sign (+/-)

According to the Noba module on the Replication Crisis, all of the following are factors contributing to non-replication of findings, EXCEPT: the original sample size may have been so large that the original, statistically significant, results may have been due to chance. the original results may have been due to falsified data; the original data may have been faked. the original results may have been valid, but the replication study might be flawed and unable to replicate the results due to weak methodology. the original results may have been valid, but may have been specific to that time and context, and may no longer be accurate.

the original sample size may have been so large that the original, statistically significant, results may have been due to chance.