Psych Ch. 2 Practice

In an analysis testing differences between an experimental and a control group on the dependent variable, a p-value of 0.07 means there is a

The correct answer was: c. 7 percent chance that differences between the two samples are due to chance alone.. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

Which is the correct order of measures of central tendency, from lowest to highest, for a positively skewed distribution?

The correct answer was: c. Mode, median, mean. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

Which approach would be most appropriate for testing the hypothesis that taking practice tests improves learning more than studying alone does?

The correct answer was: a. Experimental research. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

The key purpose of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to

The correct answer was: a. determine whether a proposed study is ethical.. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

You feel sick after eating leftovers you found in the back of the refrigerator. Occam's razor would favor the hypothesis that you have

The correct answer was: a. food poisoning.. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

A self-report measure of the personality trait of agreeableness produces very similar scores each time the same person completes it. It is also strongly correlated with whether family members describe a person as friendly and cooperative. This measure appears to be

The correct answer was: a. reliable and valid.. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

A researcher would be most likely to find a negative correlation between _______ and _______.

The correct answer was: a. shyness; party attendance. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

The median is a better measure of central tendency than the mean for which of the following distributions?

The correct answer was: b. 10, 12, 13, 14, 106. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

On an empathy questionnaire, Group 1 had a mean score of 117 with a standard deviation of 14. Group 2 had a mean score of 96 with a standard deviation of 23. Therefore, _______ scored higher on average and their scores were _______ spread out than scores from _______.

The correct answer was: b. Group 1; less; Group 2 References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

. You take a job selling magazine subscriptions from home because the recruitment video says the average earnings per employee are $90,000 a year. You work 60 hours a week for a year and earn $30,000. An Internet search reveals that hundreds of people have had the same experience with this and other work-at-home schemes. How can companies legitimately claim that the average salary is $90,000 if most employees make less than $30,000?

The correct answer was: b. The mean salary reflects the presence of outliers.. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

Students _______ would be the most representative sample for a study of competitiveness in high school.

The correct answer was: b. in a required health class. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

Refer to the figure. This scatterplot reveals a _______ correlation.

The correct answer was: b. negative. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

"Green is the prettiest color" is a _______ hypothesis because it is _______.

The correct answer was: b. poor; not testable. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

To identify the most popular exhibits at a science museum, visitors were asked every day for six weeks to rate how much they enjoyed each exhibit. The data were analyzed to look for age and sex differences in exhibit preferences. This was an example of

The correct answer was: b. survey research.. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

Which of these correlations has the least predictive value?

The correct answer was: c. +0.10. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

A news organization wanted to predict who would win the next U.S. presidential election. They sent an opinion poll to every fiftieth person on a list of students enrolled at a nearby college. Which of the following is the study population?

The correct answer was: c. Students at this particular college. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

A professor wanted to learn more about the body image concerns of young teenage girls. She randomly selected 200 girls from local middle schools to complete her questionnaire. These girls were

The correct answer was: c. a representative sample.. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

An unethical experimenter wants to test the relationship between discomfort and aggression. On a hot day, she turns off the air conditioning in one dorm and leaves it on in another, then has her research assistants count occurrences of verbal aggression in common areas of the buildings. Students in the air-conditioned dorm would be the _______, and students in the overheated dorm would be the _______.

The correct answer was: c. control group; experimental group. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

A depressed teenager treated with medication begins feeling better immediately, even though the medication typically takes weeks to work. This is an example of a _______ effect.

The correct answer was: c. placebo . References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

What is the primary difference between a hypothesis and a theory?

The correct answer was: d. A theory is a collection of data-based hypotheses.. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

In experimental research, which of the following variables is controlled by the researcher?

The correct answer was: d. Independent. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

A research team was investigating the impact of stereotypes on performance. In one group, women read a magazine article about why the structure of men's brains makes them better at math. In the second group, women read a magazine article saying there are no biological differences in the mathematical abilities of men and women. All women in the study then took a challenging math test. Researchers scored the number of items women answered correctly. In this study, which of the following was the dependent variable?

The correct answer was: d. Women's scores on the math test. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

A correlation of −0.80 between meditation and anxiety symptoms would indicate

The correct answer was: d. meditation predicts lower levels of anxiety.. References: 2.1 What Constitutes a Science?

A researcher testing a new medication for attention deficit disorder randomly assigns half of the participants to get the actual medication and half to get a sugar pill. Neither the researcher nor the participants know who is getting what. This study design will

The correct answer was: d. reduce unconscious bias.. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?

Whether depression levels are truly lower in a treatment group than in a control group is assessed by determining the _______ of the difference in scores between groups.

The correct answer was: d. statistical significance. References: 2.2 How Do We Scientifically Study Behavior?