Psych chapter 1: psycology and scientific thinking

anecdote

a short and amusing story about a real incident or person

The idea of placing a third brake light at the base of a car's back windshield and changing the color of fire engines from red to yellow are examples of __________. applied psychological research critical multiplism psychoanalysis basic psychological research

applied psychological research

Individual differences make psychology challenging because they make it difficult to come up with explanations of behavior that __________________

apply to everyone

People have a tendency to continue holding on to their beliefs even when those beliefs have been shown to be wrong. This phenomenon is known as __________. metaphysical certitude bias protection belief perseverance confirmation bias

belief perserverance

The phrase "don't confuse me with the facts" would best describe which self-deception trap? confirmation bias belief perseverance naive realism individualism

belief perseverance

naive realism

belief that we see the world precisely as it is

Social psychologists have uncovered a fascinating phenomenon called _______________________, which means that most people are unaware of their biases but keenly aware of them in others

bias blind spot

For traditional behaviorists, the human mind is a __________: We know what goes in it and what comes out of it, but we needn't worry about what happens between the inputs and the outputs

black box

Which type of psychologist is most likely to work with patients who have serious mental disorders such as major depression? forensic psychologist clinical psychologist counseling psychologist developmental psychologist

clinical psychologist

A classmate tells you the following: "It's not how a teacher answers your question that matters but how you interpret his or her attempt at answering your question that leaves you satisfied or unsatisfied with his or her answer." This statement fits most closely with ideas from the school of thought known as __________. behaviorism cognitivism psychoanalysis structuralism

cognitivism

scientific methods are tools for overcoming __________________ , the tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

confirmation bias

One reason that intuition and common sense are not a good basis for scientific psychology is that we often do not notice __________. when we are in a dangerous situation empirical findings in non-standard forms universal traits across individuals contradictions between our views

contradictions between our views

In everyday language, belief perseverance is the "______________________________________________" effect

don't confuse me with the facts

"The idea that day care might have negative emotional effects on children gets me really upset, so I refuse to believe it." is an example of what fallacy

emotional reasoning

One reason people are drawn to believing in pseudoscience is that we use our emotions as guides to evaluate the validity of claims. This is known as the affect heuristic or the __________. pathetic fallacy attribution fallacy emotional reasoning fallacy bandwagon fallacy

emotional reasoning fallacy

scientific theory

explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

The extent to which the findings of a given research study can generalize to a population of people beyond that study and the laboratory is called __________. external validity test-retest reliability internal validity interrater reliability

external validity

Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim, we should ask ourselves whether this claim runs counter to many things we know already and, if it does, whether the evidence is as extraordinary as the claim. this is an example of what scientific thinking principle?

extraordinary claims

decline effect

fact that certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time

William James founded

functionalism

why do we need to be worried about direct harm when it comes to pseduoscience?

if the pseudoscience promotes something harmful, people that engage in the pseudoscience may be harmed

Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because __________. researchers prefer newer psychology theories it favors determinism over free will its predictions are difficult to falsify evolution is just a theory

its predictions are difficult to falsify

Most of Wundt's investigations and those of his students focused on basic questions concerning our

mental experiences

We trust our common sense in part because we're prone to ______________

naive realism

According to David Hume, an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, the more a claim contradicts what we already know, the more __________ must be the evidence for the claim. persuasive unusual interesting recent

persuasive

The scientific skeptic evaluates all claims with an open mind but insists on ____________________________ before accepting them.

persuasive evidence

For many centuries, the field of psychology was difficult to distinguish from _____________

philosophy

natural selection

principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other organisms

anorexia nervosa

psychiatric condition marked by extreme weight loss and perception that one is overweight even when one is massively underweight

Just as behaviorism was gaining popularity in the United States, Sigmund Freud was founding a new field of psychology, one that focused on internal psychological processes such as unconscious impulses, thoughts, and memories. This approach is called __________. structuralism psychoanalysis functionalism cognitive psychology

psychoanalysis

_________________, was founded by Viennese neurologist Sigmund Freud

psychoanalysis

An approach to psychology that relied heavily on dream interpretation, symbolism, unconscious motives, and the suppression of sexual and aggressive urges was developed by __________. sigmund freud Jean Piaget William James Rene Descartes

sigmund freud

Freudian slips

slips of the tongue

E.B. Titchener was a leading figure in which framework of psychology, which advocated the use of introspection to identify basic elements of experience? cognitivism structuralism functionalism psychoanalysis

structuralism

Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927), a British student of Wundt who emmigrated to the United States, founded the field of

structuralism

what are the five major theoretical perspectives?

structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, cognitivism, and psychoanalysis

Lisa, a college student, had a great time at the party last night. She danced, sang karaoke, and even played the "rock band" video game-all behaviors that she had never exhibited in public before. She had been drinking the "punch" all night long, which she was told contained high levels of alcohol. Lisa was quite surprised to find out the next morning that the punch did NOT contain any alcohol. What concept may explain Lisa's behavior? the Rosenthal effect illusory correlations the nocebo effect the placebo effect

the placebo effect

psychology

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

patternicity

the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in their absence

__________ are general explanations, whereas _____________ are specific predictions derived from those explanations

theories hypotheses

terror management theory

theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural world views

imageless thought

thinking unaccompanied by conscious experience

logical fallacies

traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions

what are two reasons pseudoscience is so popular?

we tend to want to make sense of our disorderly world, and often pseudoscience offers easy explanations for things we believe in it because we want to believe (such as in the case of astrology as it gives us a sense of control over our lives)

replicability

when a study's findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators

Whereas structuralists asked "what" questions, such as "What is conscious thought like?," functionalists asked "_____" questions

why, such as "Why do we sometimes forget things?"

Some self help books are effective for treating depression, anxiety disorders, and other psychological problems, but about __ percent of all self-help books have never been examined in research studies

95

clinical psychologists

Perform assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders Conduct research on people with mental disorders Work in colleges and universities, mental health centers, and private practice

opportunity costs

Pseudoscientific treatments for mental disorders can lead people to forgo opportunities to seek effective treatments

variable

anything that can vary

Georgio does not want to take the SAT or ACT exams because he thinks they will not accurately reflect his ability to succeed in college and are no more useful than flipping a coin. His guidance counselor explains that psychologists have determined that, although not perfect, these tests are significantly better than chance at predicting college success. These psychologists are sharing some __________ with Georgio. applied research fallacies hasty generalizations clinical psychology

applied research

scientific skepticism

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

metaphysical claim

assertion about the world that is not testable

falsifiable

capable of being disproven

Wilhelm Wundt developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. He pioneered the technique of __________, in which trained observers reflected on and reported on their own mental experiences. heuristics introspection insight analysis behaviorism

introspection

the __________ is a phenomenon in which researchers' hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study. durability bias experimenter expectancy effect availability heuristic confounding error

experimenter expectancy effect

The free will-determinism debate poses the following question: To what extent are our behaviors freely selected rather than caused by____________________

factors outside our control?

When discussing the upcoming Super Bowl, John and Kamran were talking about the strengths and weaknesses of each team. While Kamran anticipated that one team was going to win and then backed up his prediction, John made no such statement. Instead, John commented on each team and what they would have to do in order to win. After the game, John noted that he had correctly analyzed the game, noting why the winning team had triumphed. Because none of his statements could be disproven, which concept of a science was John violating? falsifiability replicability correlation vs. causation overreliance on anecdotal evidence

falsifiability

The Austrian philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper (1965) observed that for a claim to be meaningful, it must be___________, that is, capable of being disproved.

falsifiable

As the phenomenon of naive realism reminds us, observation isn't sufficient by itself, because our senses can ________

fool us

As a consequence of opportunity costs, even treatments that are themselves harmless can cause harm indirectly by causing people to

forfeit the chance to obtain a treatment that works

One of the great debates that has shaped the field of psychology is the question of whether people choose their behaviors or are obliged to act in certain ways by factors beyond their control. This is known as the __________ debate. good vs. evil nature-nurture free will determinism evolutionary psychology

free will determinism

research conducted by behavior geneticists, who use sophisticated designs such as twin and adoption studies, shows that most important psychological traits, including intelligence, interests, personality, and many mental illnesses, are influenced substantially by _______

genes

A mental shortcut that helps us to streamline our thinking and make sense of our world is called a __________. theory heuristic schema mental reference

heuristic

The theoretical framework of psychology known as structuralism had two major problems. One was that highly trained introspectionists often disagreed on subjective reports. The other was the discovery of __________. systematic observation psychoanalysis imageless thought natural selection

imageless thought

In examining the research of Stanley Milgram, who explored factors related to obedience in research participants, which of the following areas of ethics seems to be the most salient issue in determining if his research was or was not a violation of reasonable ethical standards? the right to withdraw from research pain and suffering in non-human participants debriefing informed consent

informed consent

Wundt used a combination of experimental methods, including reaction time procedures, and a technique called ________, which required trained observers to carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

introspection

Reciprocal determinism can make it enormously challenging to ____________________________________________________

isolate the causes of human behavior

According to philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, for a scientific claim to be meaningful, it must be falsifiable, which means __________. it has been proven to be false it predicts every possible outcome it can be tested to determine if it is false it is inconsistent with any conceivable body of evidence

it can be tested to determine if it is false

"My psychology professor keeps talking about how scientific methods are important for overcoming biases. But these biases don't apply to me, because I'm objective." is an example of what fallacy

not me

cognitive neuroscience

relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking

_________ is consistency of measurement. Random assignment Validity Reliability Confounding variable

reliability

"I know a person who says his self-esteem skyrocketed after receiving hypnosis" "I felt less depressed after taking this herbal remedy" "I lost 85 pounds in three weeks on the Matzo Ball Soup Weight-Loss Program." are all examples of

relying too heavily on anecdotes

Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim, we should ask ourselves whether independent investigators have replicated the findings that support this claim; otherwise, the findings might be a one-time-only fluke. this is an example of what scientific thinking principle?

replicability

Due to its reliance on proper research methods to help verify its claims, modern psychology is best considered to be a __________. collection of pieces of folk wisdom series of contradictions science therapeutic process

science

reciprocal determinism

the fact that we mutually influence each other's behavior

about ________ self-help books are published every year

3500

As Carl Sagan (1995) noted, to be a scientific skeptic, we must adopt two attitudes that may seem contradictory but aren't:

(1) a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims and (2) a willingness to accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests

Which correlation coefficient is most likely to describe the relationship between brushing one's teeth and the number of cavities one gets? -.72 .93 .08 .45

-0.72

what are five common challenges for psychologists

1. human behavior is exceedingly difficult to predict, in part because almost all actions are multiply determined, that is, produced by many factors 2. psychological influences are rarely independent of each other, making it difficult to pin down which cause or causes are operating 3. people differ from each other in thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior 4. people often influence each other, often making it difficult to pin down precisely what causes what 5. people's behavior is often shaped in powerful ways by culture

what were the two major problems that made structuralism loose its steam?

1.) many introspectionists would disagree on their subjective reports suggesting that they weren't truly arriving at an objective set of basic elements of consciousness 2.) Oswald Kulpe discovered imageless thought

The "third variable problem" is associated with which scientific thinking principle? ruling out rival hypotheses replicability falsifiability Correlation is not causation

Correlation is not causation

biological psychologist

Examine the physiological bases of behavior in animals and humans Most work in research settings

_________________ claims include assertions about the existence of God, the soul, and the afterlife

Metaphysical

An important principle of scientific thinking states that if two explanations account equally well for a phenomenon, we should generally select the simpler one. This principle is known as __________. correlation vs. causation falsifiability replicability Occam's Razor

Occam's Razor

developmental psychologist

Study how and why people change over time Conduct research on infants', children's, and sometimes adults' and elderly people's emotional, physiological, and cognitive processes and how these change with age

T/F Although psychologists disagree about many things, they agree on one thing: Psychology is remarkably challenging to define

True

T/F psychological influences are rarely independent of each other, making it difficult to pin down which cause or causes are operating

True

experimental psychologist

Use research methods to study memory, language, thinking, and social behaviors of humans Work primarily in research settings

Almost since its inception, psychological science has confronted a thorny question:

What unifying theoretical perspective, if any, best explains behavior?

In 1879, _______________ (1832-1920) developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany

Wilhelm Wundt

industrial-organizational psychologist

Work in companies and businesses to help select productive employees, evaluate performance, examine the effects of different working and living conditions on people's behavior (called environmental psychologists) Design equipment to maximize employee performance and minimize accidents (called human factors or engineering psychologists)

forensic psychologist

Work in prisons, jails, and other settings to assess and diagnose inmates and assist with their rehabilitation and treatment Others conduct research on eyewitness testimony or jury decision making Typically hold degrees in clinical or counseling psychology

counseling psychologist

Work with people experiencing temporary or relatively self-contained life problems, like marital conflict, sexual difficulties, occupational stressors, or career uncertainty Work in counseling centers, hospitals, and private practice (although some work in academic and research settings)

school psychologist

Work with teachers, parents, and children to remedy students' behavioral, emotional, and learning difficulties

evolutionary psychology

a field that seeks to explain psychological traits as naturally selected adoptions

The idea that we can dismiss scientific theories (such as Darwinian evolution) from serious consideration because a theory "is just an educated guess" is __________. partly true a misconception empirically obvious an important observation

a misconception

what are two common misconceptions about what a theory is?

a theory explains one specific event A theory is just an educated guess

Of the 3,500 or so self-help books published every year, what percentage are scientifically tested? 25 percent about 5 percent up to 95 percent 40 percent

about 5 percent

According to astronomer Carl Sagan, scientific skepticism includes (1) a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims, and (2) a willingness to __________. accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests change our minds when we encounter persuasive people believe in the possibility of life existing throughout the universe read and learn more about scientific subjects

accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests

a psychic comes into a laboratory for testing and performs badly. they blame it on the skeptical vibes of the experimenters, saying that these vibes are interfering with their powers. what is this an example of?

ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

"A lot of people I know believe in astrology, so there's got to be something to it." is an example of what fallacy

bandwagon

Twin and adoption studies addressing the nature-nurture debate are typically conducted by __________. developmental psychologists forensic psychologists cognitive behaviorists behavior geneticists

behavior geneticists

John B. Watson was the founder of the still-influential school of

behaviorism

If a person were to say that a scientific finding was replicated, he or she would be saying that the finding was __________. accurate and truthful capable of being consistently duplicated not the result of correlation parsimonious and straightforward

capable of being duplicated

This research design involves an extremely deep and detailed information gathering from a single individual or a small number of people, often over an extended period of time. case study design correlational design experimental design naturalistic observation design

case study design

correlation isn't _________

causation

multiply determined

caused by many factors

In the 1950s and 1960s, many psychologists were disillusioned with behaviorism's neglect of the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking. Arguing that thinking has a powerful effect on behavior, psychologists such as Jean Piaget began to develop the field of __________. structuralism functionalism psychotherapy cognitivism

cognitivism

Your friend is an emergency room nurse. He tells you the ER is always busier when there is a full moon; he claims it is because unstable people are more affected by the moon's gravitational pull. To evaluate his claim, you should understand that __________. the moon has more gravity when it is full it is the quality of moonlight that affects unstable people, not the increased gravity correlation is not causation his direct experience of the phenomenon is important evidence

correlation is not causation

If research finds that those who drive taxicabs have enlarged areas of their hippocampi, one may be tempted to infer that driving a cab and engaging in such visuospatial activities each day causes the hippocampus areas to grow. This may or may not be the case, and this riddle demonstrates the principle of __________. extraordinary claims Occam's Razor correlation vs. causation ruling out rival hypotheses

correlation vs causation

Psychological researchers have become more aware of the importance of replicating research results. Part of this awareness is driven by the observation that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time. This phenomenon is known as the __________. reproducibility fallacy correlation-causation fallacy decline effect skepticism effect

decline effect

You meet a psychologist who tells you that she conducts research on children to determine how their cognitive processes differ as the child gets older. You recognize that this person is most likely a(n) __________. experimental psychologist school psychologist biological psychologist developmental psychologist

developmental psychologist

Ten-year-old Candace Newmaker died as a result of a pseudoscientific treatment called "rebirthing therapy." This is an example of pseudoscience causing __________. scientific regression cultural indifference direct harm indirect harm

direct harm

Research has shown that people are especially prone to find patterns of meaning in meaningless stimuli when they __________. do not feel a sense of control are psychic have a lot of life experience are under 18

do not feel a sense of control

A researcher wants to see whether she can make the typical administrative assistant job more motivating at Acme, Inc. To experimentally investigate this possibility, she randomly assigns administrative assistants to one of the following conditions: doing the job as it has always been done, having a computer performance monitoring device installed, receiving feedback about their performance on a weekly basis, or being given a say in how one's workload is structured and done. Which of the preceding conditions is an example of a control group? being given a say in how one's workload is structured and done doing the job as it has always been done having a computer performance monitoring device installed receiving feedback on a weekly basis

doing the job as it has always been done

what are the three especially important logical fallacies

emotional reasoning bandwagon not me

A friend says he will not have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he is afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that idea. He says he knows that, but he just feels that it is true. What logical fallacy is at work? appeal to authority fallacy emotional reasoning fallacy bandwagon fallacy argument from adverse consequences fallacy

emotional reasoning fallacy

Science begins with ________________, the premise that knowledge should initially be acquired through observation

empiricism

Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This premise is called __________. empiricism rationalism structuralism intuition

empiricism

correlation-causation fallacy

error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other

emotional reasoning fallacy

error of using our emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim (some psychologists also refer to this error as the affect heuristic)

ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification

Most forms of astrology have remained almost identical for about 4,000 years (Hines, 2003) despite the discovery of outer planets in the solar system (Uranus and Neptune) that were unknown in ancient times. what is this an example of

lack of self correction

According to the authors, one reason we must sometimes look to authorities is because we have difficulty evaluating claims of human behavior due to __________. lack of time or expertise biases susceptibility to pseudoscience an inability to think hypothetically

lack of time or expertise biases

psychological research actually shows that the more people present at an emergency, the _________ likely at least one of them will help

less

Psychology is a discipline that spans multiple________________

levels of analysis.

Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken conclusions are called __________. logical fallacies confirmation biases patternicity ad hoc immunizing hypotheses

logical fallacies

The _____________ rungs are more closely tied to what we traditionally call "the brain"; the ___________ rungs to what we traditionally call "the mind

lower,higher

introspection

method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

On Friday Dr. Utts's history class took their first exam. On Monday, the students asked, "What was the most common grade on the exam, A, B, C, D, or F?" The students in Dr. Utts's class were asking about the __________ of the set of scores on the exam. mean mode median range

mode

human behavior is exceedingly difficult to predict, in part because almost all actions are ______________________, that is, produced by many factors

multiply determined

Which term describes the common sense belief that we see the world as it really is? free will-determinism healthy skepticism naive realism intuition

naive realism

The functionalists of the late 1800s were influenced substantially by biologist Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) still-young theory of ____________________, which emphasized that physical and behavioral characteristics evolved because they increased the chances of their survival and reproduction.

natural selection

Dr. Watson wanted to know which gender was better at sharing at the sixth-grade level, so he went to the local middle school to observe groups of children during lunch periods. He did this while making sure that the children were not aware that they were being watched, but the school principal gave him permission for this activity. This is a form of __________. case study naturalistic observation experimental design confirmation bias

naturalistic observation

The levels of analysis examined in psychology stretch all the way from what psychologists call "___________________________________."

neurons to neighborhoods

The general public is often misled by discussions of research in the media, because most reporters are ___________. not fair and balanced in their reporting of the facts actively working to bias the public against scientific research not trained in understanding research or how to accurately communicate about it lazy and attempting to do as little as possible in their jobs

not trained in understanding research or how to accurately communicate about it

Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim, we should ask ourselves whether the explanation offered is the simplest explanation that accounts for the data or whether simpler explanations can account for the data equally well. this is an example of what principle of scientific thinking?

occams razor

A(n) __________ definition in an experiment refers to a working description of what the researcher is measuring or observing in the study. control dependent operational independent

operational

what are three major reasons why we should be concerned about pseudoscience?

opportunity costs direct harm inability to scientifically think as citizens

Bud and Sandy are discussing the merits of new automobiles. Bud noted, "This car model has been tested by four different consumer agencies in hundreds of tests with virtually the same outcomes each time; it is very reliable." Sandy countered, "Yeah, but my neighbor down the street bought that car, and he has had nothing but problems. I would stay away from it." Which hallmark of pseudoscience has Sandy fallen prey to? lack of self-correction overreliance on anecdotes insisting on evidence rather than proof ad hoc immunizing theory

overreliance on anecdotes

Which sin of pseudoscience is synonymous with stating an unfalsifiable hypothesis or theory? evasion of peer review lack of self-correction overreliance on anecdotal evidence overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypotheses

overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypotheses

what are three most crucial warning signs of pseudoscience

overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypothesis lack of self correction over reliance on anecdotes

we eat a specific food, say a bacon cheeseburger, for lunch tomorrow and become violently ill soon afterward, we'll tend to avoid bacon cheeseburgers for a while. this is an example of

patternicity

This simplest measure of variability is the __________. mean mode range standard deviation

range

A major limitation in reading about the results of psychological research in the newspaper is that __________. reporters provide too much detailed information about the research study that the general public cannot comprehend in their articles reporters are so well-trained to discuss research that they cannot easily communicate about it with the average lay person reporters create controversy where none exists by treating scientific evidence and dissenter's biased opinions as equally compelling reporters do not know how to identify experts to interview for many of their stories and end up unintentionally misleading the public

reporters create controversy where none exists by treating scientific evidence and dissenter's biased opinions as equally compelling

basic research

research examining how the mind works

applied research

research examining how we can use basic research to solve real world problems

A key disadvantage to self-report measures is that __________. demand characteristics can bias participants answers observing behavior leads to changes in behavior respondents are not always honest in their answers they are less effective than experiments in accurately predicting people's behavior

respondents are not always honest in their answers

our snap (five-second) judgments about whether someone we've just watched on video is trustworthy or untrustworthy tend to be ________ more often than we'd expect by chance

right

Laurie told her friend Sandi, "I had a headache this morning so I used an old family cure: Three sips of ginger ale, and an hour later my head felt better." Sandi replied, "I am glad you are feeling more comfortable now, but maybe the sheer passage of time made your headache go away." Sandi is offering a(n) __________ in response to Laurie's explanation. falsifiable pretext extraordinary claim rival hypothesis causal correlation

rival hypothesis

Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim, we should ask ourselves whether we've excluded other plausible explanations for it. this is an example of what principle of scientific thinking?

ruling out rival hypotheses

what are the 6 principles of scientific thinking?

ruling out rival hypotheses correlation vs. causation falsifiability replicability extraordinary claims occam's razor

Your textbook discusses the issue of facilitated communication and its applicability to assisting children with autism spectrum disorder. One possibility for the early research results was that the children were communicating through the adults who were assisting them. As the text notes, another explanation for the miraculous findings was that the "facilitators" were simply guiding the hands of the children to communicate things that their parents would want to hear. This alternate explanation is consistent with the concept of __________. replicability ruling out rival hypotheses falsifiability correlation vs. causation

ruling out rival hypothesis

levels of analysis

rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences

pseudoscience lacks the ________________________ and ____________________ that characterize science

safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance

functionalism

school of philosophy that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics

structuralism

school of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of psychological experience

behaviorism

school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behavior

psychoanalysis

school of psychology, founded by sigmund freud that focuses on internal psychological process of which we're unaware

cognitive psychology

school pf psychology that proposes that thinking is central to behavior

not me fallacy

the error of believing that we're immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people

Because religious concepts cannot be tested scientifically, we should consider that __________. religion is a pseudoscience moral values are unimportant because there is no data about them science and religion are nonoverlapping realms of understanding the world science is inadequate to explain the physical world

science and religion are nonoverlapping realms of understanding the world

We can also think of critical thinking in psychology as _____________ thinking because it's the form of thinking that allows us to evaluate scientific claims not only in the laboratory, but also in everyday life

scientific

The police have arrested a suspect in an assault case and the victim has agreed to look at a lineup to see if he can identify the person who attacked him. Gary, a police psychologist, is advising the detectives on the most accurate way to put together a lineup. What should he recommend that they use? segregated lineup subsequent lineup simultaneous lineup sequential lineup

sequential lineup

pseudoscience

set of claims that seems scientific but isn't

critical thinking

set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open minded fashion

James argued that careful introspection doesn't yield a fixed number of static elements of consciousness but instead an ever-changing "_________________________," a famous phrase he coined

stream of consciousness

fitness

the extent to which a trait increases the chances that organisms that possess this trait will survive and reproduce at a higher rate than competitors who lack it

evolutionary psychology begins with the assumption, shared by William James and other functionalists, that many human psychological systems, like memory, emotion, and personality, serve key adaptive functions: They help organisms ______________

survive and reproduce

in reality, science isn't a body of knowledge. It's a _____________________

systematic approach to evidence

Structuralism correctly emphasized the importance of ____________________ to the study of conscious experience.

systematic observation

British philosopher John Locke stood on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, comparing the mind of a newborn to a sheet of paper that had yet to be written on. Others later used which term to describe the same idea? tabula rasa genetic inheritance determinism free will

tabula rasa

confirmation bias

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our belief and to deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

belief perseverance

tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

hypothesis

testable predictions derived from a scientific theory

bandwagon fallacy

the error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it

Science writer Michael Shermer coined the termed "patternicity" to refer to __________. the patterns researchers must use to create falsifiable research studies the human tendency to see patterns in meaningless data the way people use patterns to re-create existing objects in the world common heritable characteristics that are passed down via the Y chromosome

the human tendency to see patterns in meaningless data

cognition

the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking

Dr. Shaver is conducting an experimental research study to determine the effect of a specific medication on stomach pain. Despite the fact that he should use a "double blind" approach to avoid the influence of any bias, he tells himself, "I won't fall for any experimenter bias. I am more objective than most researchers." Which fallacy is Dr. Shaver committing? the not-me fallacy the bandwagon fallacy the circular reasoning fallacy the quasi-experiment fallacy

the not me fallacy

Using eye-tracking technology, which allows researchers to determine where people are moving their eyes, they found that when shown a picture of a tiger, European Americans tend to look mostly at the _______, whereas Chinese tend to look mostly at the ___________________________

tiger plants and rocks surrounding it

In thinking of the multiple levels of analysis in psychology, the neurochemical level is considered to be __________ because this level is more closely tied to biological influences. near the top of the ladder on the same rung of the ladder as personal relationships at the top of the ladder toward the lower end of the ladder

toward the lower end of the ladder

According to Freud (1900) and other psychoanalysts, the primary influences on behavior aren't forces outside the organism, like rewards and punishments, but rather ___________________________

unconscious drives, especially sexuality and aggression.

Some main warning signs of pseudoscientific claims include overreliance on anecdotes, exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity to other research, lack of peer review, and __________. the scientific method talk of evidence instead of proof replication by independent agencies use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense

use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense

Alice is looking for an effective diet program. She is able to evaluate the claims of competing programs in an open-minded and careful fashion by __________, the hallmark of scientific skepticism. being open to metaphysical reasoning using her common sense and intuition using her critical thinking skills remembering that extraordinary claims require ordinary evidence

using her critical thinking skills

The central question used to assess the truth of a psychological measure's results is its __________. objectivity readability reliability validity

validity

When conducting psychological research, a __________ is any situation that can change or fluctuate over time. constant variable confound dependent

variable

individual differences

variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior

metaphysical claims differ from scientific claims in that

we could never test them using scientific methods