Psychology 1-2
The first member of a minority group to serve as president of the American Psychological Association was:
Kenneth Clark.
Which statement describes a negative correlation?
Life expectancy increases as body weight decreases.
What does the third-variable problem indicate?
Two of the variables are correlated with each other only because each is causally related to a third variable.
Jon is a psychologist interested in figuring out where learning takes place in the brain. He would probably describe himself as a:
cognitive neuroscientist.
In the early 1940s, the pressing need of the _____ for more research on attention, memory, and decision making was an early impetus behind the movement away from behaviorism.
military
Correlations observed in the world around us are termed:
natural correlations.
A _____ correlation is associated with a less-is-more relationship.
negative
By utilizing brain scanning, cognitive neuroscientists can:
observe and identify brain activity associated with specific tasks.
The theory that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviors is called
psychoanalytic theory
Which statement is NOT falsifiable?
Angels can dance on the head of a pin.
The American Psychological Association was formed in:
1892 on the campus of Clark University
In which year did the first non-White person become president of the American Psychological Association?
1970
In an article entitled "Mapping the Backbone of Science," Kevin Boyack and his colleagues (2005) identified how many hub sciences?
7
_____ stresses the importance of studying observable behaviors and generally ignores the mental processes involved in different tasks.
Behaviorism
_____ is the scientific study of mental processes, including perception, thought, memory, and reasoning.
Cognitive psychology
A spiritual leader believes that the soul and the body are fundamentally different from each other, but are linked via a special structure in the brain. His beliefs are similar to those of:
Descartes
The health department is testing the effectiveness of a recent campaign promoting a healthy lifestyle. Which statement is the BEST operational definition/reification of a healthy lifestyle?
Eat five servings of fruit/vegetables and be physically active for 30 minutes or more each day.
Who was the first African American to receive a PhD in psychology?
Francis Cecil Sumner
When you go to a movie theater that uses film projection, you might see the fast movement of a superhero flying through the air. What you are really seeing is a series of still photographs flashed quickly onto the screen. What area of psychology studied this phenomenon?
Gestalt
What did Donald Broadbent's studies on pilots reveal about attention?
It is limited.
Which early neuropsychologist trained rats to run mazes, surgically removed parts of their brains, and then measured how well they could run the maze again?
Karl Lashley
A teacher praises a student for asking a good question. Which psychologist would state that the effect of praise on subsequent behavior depended on the student's subjective experience of it?
Kurt Lewin
Why was the advent of the computer so important for the development of cognitive psychology?
Psychologists surmised that the brain is roughly analogous to a computer and could be studied in a similar manner.
A psychological approach that stressed a person's potential for positive growth was developed by:
Rogers and Maslow
Fred and Yvonne notice that their ten-year-old daughter is beginning to use sexually explicit profanity. The parents think that their daughter's friends might be rewarding her swearing with attention and laughter. Their thinking reflects a _____ perspective.
Skinnerian
The establishment of the first psychology laboratory by _____ launched the beginning of psychology as an independent field of study.
The establishment of the first psychology laboratory by _____ launched the beginning of psychology as an independent field of study.
Dr. Spelke thinks language is highly involved with spatial ability. She enlists college students to do a verbal task while they navigate around a room, while another group of students does a non-verbal tapping task while also doing the same navigation task. What is the purpose of the tapping group
They serve as a control group
Dr. Spelke thinks language is highly involved with spatial ability. She enlists college students to do a verbal task while they navigate around a room, while another group of students does a non-verbal tapping task while also doing the same navigation task. What is the purpose of the tapping group?
They serve as a control group.
How might an evolutionary psychologist explain the fact that people tend to enjoy high-fat foods?
When food was scarce in our ancestral past, people who ate high-fat food tended to obtain the calories that they needed to survive and, ultimately, reproduce.
A participant seated in an otherwise dark room stares at the flickering of a lit candle and reports on her subjective experiences, such as the visual experience of the candle flickering and the hepatic sensation of warmth. The psychologist conducting this experiment is most likely to be _____, and the method being used is _____.
Wundt; introspection
William James viewed consciousness as similar to:
a flowing stream.
Which phrase BEST defines the word "theory"?
a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon
Today, psychologists believe that mental processes:
arise from electrical and chemical activities of the brain.
An approach that advocates that psychologists restrict themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior is called
behaviorism
You don't know what she thinks, but you know how she acts." This statement characterizes which approach?
behaviorism
Hermann von Helmholtz is most remembered for
being the first to measure the speed of a nervous impulse.
Psychoanalysis focuses on:
bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness
Many researchers use this method when they are given the opportunity to study a person who has unique characteristics.
case method
An experiment allows a scientist to uncover _____ relationships between variables.
causal
Gary, a 16-year-old, is suffering from severe depression. Of these professionals, Gary should receive treatment from a:
clinical psychologist.
Kerrie wants to understand how perceptions, beliefs, and memories activate different regions in the brain. Which field of psychology would you suggest Kerrie explore?
cognitive neuroscience
Researchers have been unable to pinpoint one cause of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children. There are several factors that can contribute to the existence of the disorder. Not only might each of these factors have a direct impact on the disorder, but they may interact with and affect one another in countless different ways. This is a good example of the _____ of people that makes humans difficult to study.
complexity
To better understand the Nazi atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust, social psychologists began to study:
conformity and obedience.
Psychology was initially focused on _____ and analyzing the subjective feelings and thoughts of a person's experiences
consciousness
Psychologist Kurt Lewin believed that stimulus-response psychology was too simplistic to predict human behavior. In his theories, he inserted which terms between stimulus and response?
construal of the stimulus
As the age of a specific male history professor increases, the amount of hair on his head decreases. This is a:
correlation.
The ethical principle of _____ means that participants must be told the true purpose and nature of an experiment after it is over.
debriefing
Groups of women with cancer are given different doses of the drug tamoxifen in order to examine the effects on the progression of the disease. The independent variable is the:
dosage.
The case of Elliot, as documented by Damasio (1994), suggests that:
even negative emotions such as anxiety and sorrow have adaptive functions.
B. F. Skinner's ideas were controversial due to his denial of:
free will.
Emotions are complex in nature. Some philosophers have argued that emotions have evolved to help species adapt to their environment. This view of emotions is BEST illustrated by what approach?
functionalism
Which school of psychology was most concerned with the adaptive importance of mental processes?
functionalism
William James was a noted:
functionalist.
Random sampling is MOST closely associated with:
generalizability.
In an article entitled "Mapping the Backbone of Science," Kevin Boyack and his colleagues (2005) characterized psychology as a(n) _____ science.
hub
Which area of psychology was associated with identifying the full scope of positive human potential?
humanism
The term "patient" is to psychoanalysis as the term "client" is to:
humanism.
Lawrence believes that all people have high aspirations and can reach their full potential. Lawrence's beliefs are MOST closely aligned with _____ psychology.
humanistic
The branch of psychology that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings is called:
humanistic.
The _____ approach to psychotherapy has a much more positive view of human nature than the _____ view.
humanistic; psychoanalytic
The American Psychological Association was formed:
in 1892 on the campus of Clark University.
Jeff thinks it would be beneficial for his employees to attend a seminar on how to become more productive at work. Which type of psychologist would conduct this seminar?
industrial/organizational psychologist
By asking people to pay attention to and record their feelings and perceptions of an event, Wilhelm Wundt used the method of _____ to analyze the basic elements of the mind.
introspection
One consequence of providing an inaccurate operational definition/reification of the properties one intends to measure is that the measurement will be:
invalid
A reliable measure is one that:
is consistent.
Noam Chomsky's rebuttal of B. F. Skinner's ideas on _____ helped to bring cognitive psychology to the forefront.
language
By studying pilots, Donald Broadbent investigated the:
limited capacity of the mind to handle incoming information
In order for a study to be a true experiment, a researcher must _____ one of the variables of interest and _____ the effect on a second variable.
manipulate; measure
If a measure is valid, it:
measures what it was intended to measure.
Psychology is the scientific study of:
mind and behavior.
The functionalist approach was MOST influenced by the theory of:
natural selection
William James's functional approach to psychology was influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of:
natural selection.
According to the ethical principles psychologists follow, when is it acceptable for a psychological researcher to coerce participants?
never
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Behavior refers to:
observable actions of humans and nonhuman animals
Some early philosophers believed that all knowledge was acquired through experience, an idea now known as:
philosophical empiricism
The early roots of psychology are firmly planted in physiology and in:
philosophy
Professor Knice gives his introductory psychology class of 300 students an exam, and everyone earns an A. The exam lacks the _____ to detect which students studied and which did not.
power
In addition to reliability and validity, good measurements should also have:
power.
Response is to stimulus as the:
pressing of the brakes is to a red traffic light.
The French physician Paul Broca discovered a brain region that was associated with the:
production of speech
The principle of _____ says that, if there is no safe method of doing a study, then it must not be performed.
protection from harm
Cliff's therapist prescribes Xanax to treat his anxiety. Cliff's therapist is probably a:
psychiatrist.
Carrie is working with a patient to uncover the patient's early experiences as well as trying to bring unconscious anxieties and conflicts into awareness. Carrie is using which approach to work with her patient?
psychoanalytical
A college recently banned the use of plastic water bottles on campus in an effort to be more eco-friendly. A psychologist at the college is interested in students' attitudes about this ban. She obtains a list of all of the students who are enrolled at the college. She randomly picks 100 students from this list and administers to these students a survey designed to assess their opinions on the plastic water bottle ban. The psychologist is using:
random sampling
Jamie suffered a stroke and damaged her Broca's area. Jamie will have problems:
reading out loud.
In Pavlov's research, dogs' salivation is an example of a:
response
George Miller discovered that we can briefly hold in memory only about _____ (give or take two) pieces of information at any given time.
seven
The study of the causes and consequences of sociality is called:
social psychology.
A _____ is a sensory input from the environment.
stimulus
If you are having trouble finding your cat, you may try shaking the can that contains its treats. The sound of the treats as you shake the can would be a:
stimulus.
In Pavlov's classic experiment, the sound of a tone was the _____ that produced a(n) _____ of salivating in dogs, even in the absence of food.
stimulus; response
Wundt believed that scientific psychology should focus on analyzing the basic elements comprising consciousness, an approach he called
structuralism.
According to the principle of informed consent, the researcher does NOT have to inform potential participants about:
the hypothesis of the study.
Kayla doesn't know it yet, but she has just contracted a stomach virus from her roommate, Beverly. Kayla puts on a new dress and goes on a first date with Jermaine, where they eat oysters. Later that night, Kayla becomes violently ill. Kayla is most likely to associate the sickness with:
the oysters.
In the famous Zimbardo prison study, Stanford students were assigned to either be a prisoner or a guard, so the experimenters could examine prison life behaviors and interactions. What was the independent variable in this study?
the role of prisoner or guard
Freud's study of patients with hysteria was MOST useful for understanding:
the unconscious mind.
Gestalt psychologists believed that:
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Freud termed the _____ as the part of the mind that operates outside of conscious awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions.
unconscious
The _____ was theorized by Sigmund Freud as having the ability to influence people's thoughts, feelings, and actions without their awareness
unconscious
When naturalistic observation is NOT an option, which is the best technique to avoid demand characteristics?
use a double-blind design
When working with laboratory animals, when can painful stimuli be used?
when alternatives are not available
Who was the first non-White president of the American Psychological Association?
Kenneth Clark
To correctly measure a specific property of an object, the property must be _____ and _____.
defined; detected
Dan believes that happiness has little to do with material possessions. He makes a specific prediction that people who win the lottery will not be any happier than they were before winning. This testable prediction is termed a(n):
hypothesis
A testable prediction derived from a theory is termed a(n)
hypothesis.
People are more critical of new evidence that is:
inconsistent with their attitudes or beliefs.
The ethical principle of _____ means that research participants are given enough information about a study to make a reasonable decision about whether or not to participate.
informed consent
A device that can detect the events to which an operational definition refers is a(n):
instrument.
The characteristic of an experiment that establishes the causal relationship between variables is termed
internal validity.
What are the two key features to an experiment?
manipulation and random assignment
In an experiment, researchers exposed half the children to 2 hours of violence on television every day for a month and made sure the other half saw no violence on television at all. At the end of the month, they measured the aggressiveness in the children. The fact that the researchers ensured that some children watched violence on television and others did not is an example of:
manipulation.
The problem of dualism refers to how:
mental activity can be reconciled and coordinated with physical behavior
A set of rules and techniques for observation is termed an empirical:
method.
Historical events such as Nazism and the Holocaust helped to shape which subdiscipline of psychology?
social psychology
A result is said to be statistically significant if the odds that random assignment has failed in an experiment is less than _____ percent
5
What is the third-variable problem in reference to correlational studies?
A causal relationship between two variables cannot be inferred from the correlation between two variables
Which statement regarding deception in psychological research is true?
Deception cannot be used if it puts participants at risk of harm or pain.
Which statement is an attribute of a good theory?
It makes falsifiable predictions.
Which statement accurately summarizes the way psychologists gather research participants?
Psychologists typically use volunteers, often drawn from a college population.
Darley and Gross (1983) showed participants a video of a girl taking a reading test. Some participants were told that the girl was from an affluent family and others were told that she was from a poor family. Then, participants were asked to rank the girl's academic abilities. Which statement regarding the findings of this experiment is true?
Ratings were higher if they thought the girl was affluent relative to poor, and participants could justify these ratings with evidence from the video.
Diana wants to see if heat causes happiness. She asks 100 participants to come to the laboratory, and as they walk in, she asks each person to choose a warm booth or a cool booth. On the basis of their choices, participants spend 20 minutes in one or the other booth before rating their levels of general happiness. What's wrong with Diana's experiment?
She didn't randomly assign participants to the experimental and control groups
If researchers are interested in the average time it takes to press a button when a green light flashes on a screen, and they simply measure the reaction times of volunteers who sign up for the study, what rationale would the researchers give for not using random sampling?
Sometimes generality can be assumed.
If researchers measure how some American children behave after playing Blood Sport for 2 hours, then replicate the experiment with Asian, European, and African children and then with teenagers, the researchers would be using which justification of nonrandom sampling?
Sometimes generality can be determined.
If researchers are interested in whether or not it is possible for a person to have a reaction time less than 0.05 seconds, and they simply measure the reaction times of volunteers who sign up for the study, what rationale would the researchers give for not using random sampling?
Sometimes generality does not matter.
Which statement is NOT one of the three features of ethical scientific research as described by the Belmont Report?
The research has practical value
In a classic experiment, psychology students were assigned to work either with "bright" rats or with "dull" rats, described as such by the experimenter. After a series of tests, the students' results showed that the "bright" rats had outperformed the "dull" rats. However, in fact, all the rats were of the same strain and breed; there were no preexisting differences between the groups. What caused the difference in their performance?
The students' expectations about the rats' performance influenced their observations and behaviors.
How are psychologists required to share credit when conducting research?
They must acknowledge their collaborators and other researchers in the field.
How is the psychological code of ethics as it pertains to respecting people enforced?
by institutional review boards
Drugs of abuse activate the reward pathway in the brain. This pathway consists of multiple brain structures, many neurotransmitters, and millions of interconnected neurons. Determining the brain changes that underlie the transition from casual drug use to addiction is a difficult process due to the _____ of the system.
complexity
Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates. Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music, and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all. The group that did not listen to the music is called the:
control group.
As part of her course requirements, Jill participates in research studies conducted by professors. After she participates, she is fully informed about the nature of the study. This describes:
debriefing.
Mike wants to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of his all-day sucker. He tells his friends that "one full gyration of the tongue around the outer surface of the lollipop" is what constitutes a "lick." Unfortunately, he has not developed a reliable, mechanized way to measure licks. Mike's problem deals with:
detection
The belief that one can obtain accurate knowledge about the causes of human behavior by observing people behaving in different situations exemplifies:
empiricism.
Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates. Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music, and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all. The group that listened to the music is called the:
experimental group.
Random assignment to groups helps ensure that:
groups do not differ on variables not of interest.
Ideally, a measurement should have validity, reliability, and _____ in order to be useful to scientists.
power
The tendency for a measure to produce different results when the quantity measured changes only slightly is known as:
power.
Vanessa and Jenny take a reaction-time test. Vanessa's reaction time is 0.23 seconds, and Jenny's reaction time is 0.25 seconds. Suppose that the stopwatch the psychologist used only measured to a tenth of a second. The psychologist concludes that Vanessa and Jenny have equal reaction times of 0.2 seconds. As a measure of reaction time, the stopwatch lacks:
power.
In the context of an experiment, participants in the experimental group:
receive a particular manipulation.
The term beneficient means that:
researchers should attempt to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of their research.
When the odds are acceptably low that random assignment hasn't failed in an experiment, the results of the experiment are said to be:
statistically significant.
A reliable measure is one that:
tends to produce the same result whenever it is used to measure the same thing.
Externally invalid experiments:
test hypotheses derived from theories.
A researcher wants to assess the effects of varying amounts of alcohol on ratings of perception of friendliness. Three groups of people are given either 1, 2, or 3 beers to drink. Three more groups of people are given either 1, 2, or 3 non-alcoholic beers to drink. Then, all participants are shown a series of pictures of people's faces and are asked to rank the perceived friendliness of each face on a scale from 1 to 10. In this experiment, the independent variable is:
the amount of alcohol consumed.
Dr. Sardonicus learned of a woman whose tongue turned a bright shade of green whenever she felt stressed. Although this is a rare event in the general population, Dr. Sardonicus nonetheless interviewed the woman at great length and made detailed observations about her behavior. Dr. Sardonicus used _____ to gather data.
the case method
Dr. X did a study showing that violent video games increased aggression, while Dr. Y did a study showing that violent video games did not increase aggression. The most likely explanation is that:
the researchers had different operational definitions of aggression
Consistent with psychological research, politicians tend to surround themselves with advisors who:
validate the politicians' beliefs on most policy issues.
Sue becomes tired when it gets really hot outside and Frank becomes angry. Their different reactions to the heat illustrate the challenge of _____ to the study of human behavior.
variability
According to the textbook, what three things make people especially difficult to study?
variability, reactivity, and complexity
A property with a value that can vary or change is called a(n):
variable.