Psych midterm - practice MC for History of psych and research

The science of mental processes and behavior is the definition of which field of study? a) psychology b) philosophy c) cognitive neuroscience d) applied research e) basic research

a

Which of the following is most important when conducting survey research? a) choosing a representative sample b) choosing a large sample c) choosing a biased sample d) choosing a sample that includes every member of the population e) choosing a sample whose answers will likely support your hypothesis

a

Which of the following professions is required to have a medical degree? a) psychiatrist b) psychologist c) clinician d) counselor e) psychotherapist

a

Which school of psych focused on the adaptive nature of thinking and how our consciousness evolves to meet our needs? a) functionalism b) structuralism c) behaviorism d) humanistic e) psychodynamic

a

Which statistical measure of central tendency is most affected by extreme scores? a) mean b) median c) mode d) skew e) correlation

a

Why is random assignment of participants to groups an important aspect of a properly designed experiment? a) if the participants are randomly assigned, the researcher can assume that the participants in each group are similar b) random assignment assures the researcher that whatever is learned from the experiment will also be true for the population from which the participants were selected c) random assignment keep expectations from influencing results d) it allows for replication of the experiment e) statistical analysis can't be performed in an experiment if random assignment isn't used

a

a humanistic psychologist working with some poets might ask which of the following? a) how can we get them to reach their highest potential? b) how did their childhood experiences impact their current behavior? c) how have rewards and punishments shaped their behavior? d) how do society's attitudes affect their writing topics? e) how do their brains differ from those of other successful people?

a

a psychologist investigates the methods teachers use to enhance students' learning. Which subfield do they align with? a) educational psych b) experimental psych c) school psych d) social psych e) forensic psych

a

psychiatrists differ from psychologists in that they a) are medical doctors licensed to prescribe medication b) experiment with how people perceive, think, and solve problems c) explore how we view and affect one another d) conduct research e) help people cope with challenges and crises

a

there's a negative correlation between TV watching and grades. We can conclude that... a) a student who watches a lot of TV is likely to have lower grades b) TV watching leads to lower grades c) TV watching leads to higher grades d) the grades students get impact their TV watching habits e) this is an illusory correlation

a

which is a positive correlation? a) as study time decreases, students achieve lower grades b) as levels of self-esteem decline, levels of depression increase c) people who regularly exercise are less likely to be obese d) gas mileage decreases as vehicle weight increases e) repeatedly shooting free throws in basketball is associated with a smaller % of missed free throws

a

which of the following is a measure of variation? a) range b) mean c) mode d) frequency e) median

a

which of the following psychologists most strongly emphasize that human behavior is influenced by interactions between people and their physical, social, political, and economic environments? a) community b) clinical c) counseling d) industrial-organizational e) rehab

a

which perspective would be most useful when explaining how people from different countries express anger? a) social-cultural b) psychodynamic c) behavioral d) functionalist e) biological

a

which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between religious belies of americans and their attitudes towards abortion? a) survey b) naturalistic observation c) case study d) experimentation e) random assignment

a

why is an operational definition necessary when reporting research findings? a) it allows others to replicate the procedure b) it provides more context and includes many examples of the concept described c) it's easier to translate into multiple languages than a dictionary definition d) it uses more scientific language than a dictionary definition e) it's not necessary since a dictionary definition will work as well for replication

a

A researcher wants to conduct an experiment to determine if eating a cookie before class each day improves student grades. He uses 2 psych classes for the experiment, providing daily cookies to one and nothing to the other. At the end of the semester, the researcher compares final grades of the 2 classes. What is the IV? a) the students that received cookies b) the presence or absence of cookies c) the students that didn't get cookies d) the period of the day the 2 classes met e) the final grades

b

What must a researcher do to fulfill the ethical principle of informed consent? a) keep info about participants confidential b) allow participants to choose whether to take part c) protect participants from potential harm d) provide participants with a pre-experimental explanation of the study e) provide participants with a post-experimental explanation of the study

b

Which of the following beliefs would most likely be held by someone in a collective culture? a) Children should be encouraged to focus on personal goals b) children should be encouraged to develop harmonious relationships c) it's important to be assertive and competitive to get ahead in life d) if you want something done well, do it yourself e) it's important to satisfy personal needs before those of the community

b

Which philosopher proposed that nerve pathways allowed for reflexes? a) Socrates b) René Descartes c) John Locke d) Aristotle e) Plato

b

a researcher calculates statistical significance for her study and finds a 5% chance that results are due to chance. Which of the following is an accurate interpretation of this finding? a) this is well beyond the range of statistical significance b) this is the minimum result typically considered statistically significant c) this is not statistically significant d) there's no way to determine statistical sig. without replication of the study e) chance/coincidence is unrelated to statistical significance

b

a testable prediction that drives research is a(n) a) theory b) hypothesis c) operational definition d) guess e) random sample

b

random assignment allows researchers to hold constant factors that differ between control and experimental groups, except for the a) dependent variable b) independent variable c) confounding variable d) magnitude of the correlation e) sample size

b

what do we call the tendency to exaggerate the correctness or accuracy of our beliefs and predictions prior to testing? a) hindsight bias b) oversonfidence c) critical thinking d) skepticism e) reliability

b

which is the best example of a random sample? a) a journalist arrives at school early and interviews the first 5 students who come through the main entrance b) a journalist pulls the names of 5 students out of a hat that contains all the students' names. She interviews the 5 selected students c) she asks her teachers if she can distribute a brief survey to the students in her AP psych class d) she passes out surveys to 50 students in the halls and uses the 18 surveys that were returned to her as the basis of her article e) she asks her principle for the names of 10 students who have had their phones confiscated for violating the policy. She interviews these 10 students

b

which method should a psych researcher use if she's interested in testing whether a specific reward in a classroom situation causes students to behave better? a) case study b) experiment c) survey d) naturalistic observation e) correlation

b

which of the following statements is the best example of applied research? a) investigating personality traits b) using psychological concepts to boost worker productivity c) experimenting with how people perceive dif stimuli d) studying the changing abilities of children ages 2-5 e) exploring the neural changes that occur during adolescence

b

which psychological principle best explains why studying an hour a day for a week is more effective than one 7-hour session? a) testing effect b) distributed practice c) SQ3R d) retrieval practice effect e) psychometrics

b

which psychologies would most likely conduct psychotherapy? a) biological b) clinical c) industrial-organizational d) cognitive e) evolutionary

b

By seeking to measure "atoms of the mind," who established the first psych lab? a) Sigmund Freud b) John B. Watson c) Wilhelm Wundt d) G. Stanley Hall e) William James

c

Which of the following best describes research typical of Wilhelm Wundt's first psych lab? a) examining the unconscious and determinig behavior motivation b) using a brain-scanning device to determine the impact events have on brain function c) measuring the reaction time between hearing a sound and pressing a button d) Studying helping behavior, based on the premise that people are good e) examining how collective life experiences combine to create individuality

c

With which of the following statements would John B. Watson most likely agree with? a) psych should study the growth potential in all people b) psych should study the unconscious c) psych should focus on observable behavior d) psych should study mental thought processes e) psych should study how culture and beliefs impact an individual

c

after the student council election, someone says he had known for weeks who was going to win the presidency. What does this illustrate? a) skepticism b) critical thinking c) hindsight bias d) overconfidence e) perceiving order in random events

c

if the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of children is +0.85, this would indicate that a) there's very little statistical relationship between weight and reading ability among children b) low body weight has a negative effect on the reading abilities of children c) better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among children d) body weight has no casual influence on the reading abilities e) weight is a casual variable dependent on reading ability

c

researchers are interested in finding out if winning congressional candidates display more positive facial expressions that losing candidates. The researchers attend political debates and record how frequently each candidate displays positive facial expressions. Which research method is this? a) random sample b) case study c) naturalistic observation d) survey e) interview

c

researchers have discovered that individuals with lower income levels report having fewer hours of total sleep. Therefore, a) income and sleep levels are not correlated b) lower income levels cause individuals to have fewer hours of sleep c) income and sleep levels are positively correlated d) income and sleep levels are negatively correlated e) income and sleep levels are perversely correlates

c

self-reflected introspection about the elements of experience best describes the technique used by which school of psych? a) Darwinists b) empiricists c) structuralists d) behaviorists e) psychiatrists

c

which demonstrates the need for psychological science? a) psych's methods are unlike those of any other science b) psych experiments are less valuable without psych science c) our intuitions about human behavior and thinking aren't always accurate d) intuition doesn't provide correct answers unless it's applied to the scientific method e) psych science is superior to other sciences like bio and physics

c

which is a potential problem with case studies? a) they provide too much detail, causing the researcher to lose track of important facts b) they're too expensive to be economical c) they may be misleading because they don't fairly represent other cases d) they're technically difficult and most researchers don't have the skills to properly do them e) the dependent variable is difficult to operationally define in a case study

c

which of the following is more likely to be emphasized in individualist cultures than in collective cultures? a) gender differences b) shared goals c) personal achievement d) cooperation with the group e) preservation of tradition

c

which psychologies is most interested in studying the link between mental activity and brain activity? a) humanistic b) gestalt c) cognitive neuroscience d) psychodynamic perspective e) evolutionary perspective

c

while taking a standardized test with randomly scrambled answer, you noticed your last 4 answers have been "c." Which of the following is true considering the probability of the next answer to be "c"? a) it is higher; once a streak begins, it's likely to last for a while b) it is lower; since answers are random, "c" answers become less common c) it is unaffected by previous answers; it's just as likely to be "c" d) you should check your previous answers, 4 "c"s in a row is impossible e) it's higher; test constructors trick students by keeping the same answer many times in a row

c

A psychologist works with kids whose parents are divorcing. She helps them develop skills they need to cope with the situation. What kind of psychologist is she? a) industrial-organizational b) social c) research d) counseling e) community

d

According to the behaviorist perspective, psychological science should be rooted in what? a) basic needs b) Growth potential c) cultural influences d) observation e) introspection

d

The study of the importance of satisfying love and acceptance needs best describes which school of psych? a) behavioral b) functionalism c) structuralism d) humanistic e) psychodynamic

d

Which ethical principle requires that at the end of the study participants are told about the true purpose of the study? a) Institutional Review Board Approval b) informed consent c) confidentiality d) debriefing e) protection from physical harm

d

Which of the following psychologies would most likely explore how we process/remember info? a) developmental b) biological c) social d) cognitive e) personality

d

a researcher interested in providing a causal relationship for 2 variables should choose which research method? a) correlation b) survey c) naturalistic observation d) experiment e) case study

d

a researcher looking for gender differences in 3-year-olds observes a preschool class and records how many minutes children of each gender play with dolls. She then compares the two sets of numbers. What type of descritive research is she conducting? a) case study b) national study c) random sample method d) naturalistic observation e) survey

d

an individual with an exceptional memory is identified. She is capable of recalling major events, the weather, and what she did on any given date. What research method is being used if a psychologist conducts an in-depth investigation, including questionnaires, brain scans, and memory tests? a) naturalistic observation b) survey c) interview d) case study e) correlational method

d

factors, other than an IV, that can have an effect in an experiment are called a) dependent variables b) a theory c) inferential statistics d) confounding variables e) operational definitions

d

in a normal distribution, what percentage of the scores in the distribution falls within one standard deviation on either side of the mean? a) 34% b) 40% c) 50% d) 68% e) 95%

d

researchers are studying the effect of drugs on human fetuses. In this case, why would a correlational study be more appropriate than an experiment? a) because cause and effect can only be determined by a correlational study b) because correlational studies allow you to observe behavior in non-artificial environments c) because researchers using correlational studies may generalize to the population from an atypical case d) because participants couldn't be ethically assigned to an experimental or control condition e) because correlational studied permit researchers to estimate the reported behaviors of a whole population

d

samples lead to more accurate conclusions when they a) consist of volunteers b) omit atypical data c) include 25% of the total population under study d) are representative of the population under study e) are diverse in makeup

d

the debate about the relative contributions of biology and experience to human development is referred to as what? a) evolutionary analysis b) behaviorism c) the cognitive revolution d) the nature-nurture issue e) natural selection

d

the purpose of random assignment is to a) allow participants in both the experimental and control groups to be exposed to the IV b) ensure that every member of the population had an equal chance of being selected to participate in the research c) eliminate the placebo effect d) reduce potential confounding variables e) generate operational definitions for the IV and DV

d

when a distribution of scores is skewed, which of the following is the most representative measure of central tendency? a) inference b) standard deviation c) mean d) median e) correlation coefficient

d

which descriptive statistic would a researcher use to describe how close a student's SAT score is to a school's average SAT score? a) correlation coefficient b) mean c) median d) standard deviation e) range

d

which of the following correlation coefficients describes the strongest relationship between 2 variables? a) +0.30 b) +0.75 c) +1.3 d) -0.85 e) -1.2

d

which of the following is used only in correlational studies? a) double blind b) placebo c) random assignment d) scatterplot e) random sample

d

which of the following perspectives is most likely to address how the encoding, storage, and retrieval of info might alter our thoughts? a) behavioral b) psychodynamic c) humanistic d) cognitive e) biological

d

Descriptive statistics _______ while inferential statistics _________ a) indicate the sig. of the data; summarize the data b) describe data from experiments; describe data from case studies and surveys c) are measures of central tendency; are measures of variance d) determine if data can be generalized to other populations; summarize data e) summarize data; determine if data can be generalized to other populations

e

Dwayne is interested in helping people make good decisions regarding their physical well-being. He should consider being a... a) community psychologist b) social psychologist c) forensic psychologist d) industrial-organizational psychologist e) healthy psychologist

e

What was the main difference between the psychological thinking of Wilhelm Wundt and earlier philosophers also interested in thinking and behavior? a) Wundt was European, earlier philosophers were American b) Wundt was the first professor from a major university interested in psych c) Wundt was the first scholar to call himself a psychologist d) Wundt used psychotherapy techniques established by Freud to examine the thinking/behavior of healthy people e) Wundt and his students gathered data about human thinking and behavior in a lab setting

e

Which psychological perspective is most likely to focus on how our interpretation of a situation affects how we react to it? a) psychodynamic b) biological c) social-cultural d) evolutionary e) cognitive

e

Who coined the term "tabula rasa" (blank slate) to help explain the impact experience has on shaping an individual? a) Francis Bacon b) René Descartes c) John B. Watson d) Sigmund Freud e) John Locke

e

betsy works in a human resources department. She plans training sessions, recruits people to work for the company, and implements techniques to boost morale around the office. Betsy is most likely a... a) developmental psychologist b) personality psychologist c) counseling psychologist d) educational psychologist e) industrial-organizational psychologist

e

if a result is statistically significant, this means that a) the results of the test are positively correlated with another factor b) the participants received scores above the 50 percentile c) results of the research have practical significance d) scores were one standard deviation from the mean e) there's less than a 5% likelihood that the results occurred by chance

e

in an experiment, researchers manipulate one factor to see its effect on a target factor. What is this target called? a) confounding variable b) independent variable c) operational definition d) placebo effect e) dependent variable

e

mrs. Thompson believes that her son has become and excellent student because she consistently uses praise and affection to stimulate his learning efforts. Her belief best illustrates a _______ perspective a) humanistic b) cognitive c) biological d) psychodynamic e) behavioral

e

which of the following is an example of negative correlation? a) students' shoe sizes are not related to their grades b) as hours studying for a test decrease, so do grades on that test c) students who listen to Elvis get better parking spots at the school d) teenage females tend to have fewer speeding tickets than teen males e) people who spend more time excercising tend to weigh less

e

which of the following psychologists would be most likely to investigate biological, psychological, cognitive, and social changes over time? a) educational b) experimental c) social d) cognitive e) developmental

e

which of the following questions is best investigated by means of a survey? a) is IQ related to grades? b) are violent criminals genetically different from nonviolent criminals? c) does extra sleep improve memory? d) what is the best study technique for tests? e) are students more likely to be liberal or conservative?

e

who among the following would most likely study the interaction of people, machines, and physical environments? a) experimental psychologist b) counseling psychologist c) industrial-organizational psychologist d) personality psychologist e) human factors psychologist

e