AP psych; unit 2
When we see certain outcomes as obvious based on what has occurred, we may be experiencing
hindsight bias
both the researchers and the participants in a memory study are ignorant about which participants have actually received a potentially memory- enhancing drug and which have received a placebo, this investigation involves the use of
the double-blind procedure
Alexandra is told that research supports the value of cosmetic surgery for boosting self-esteem. Belinda is told that the esteem-enhancing value of cosmetic surgery has been refused by research. Both women would consider the findings to be common sense. This best illustrates the power of
the hindsight bias
why would the median, rather than the mean, be the appropriate measure of central tendency in determining housing values in a particular community
the median is minimally affected by extreme scores
An experiment was designed to study the potential impact of alcohol consumption on emotional stability. A specification of the procedures used to measure emotional stability illustrates
the operational definition
The relief of pain following the ingestion of an inert substance that is presumed to have medicinal benefits illustrates
the placebo effect
professor Shalet contends that parents and children have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as an
theory
why are researchers so careful about drawing conclusions regarding statistical significance
they want to make sure an observed difference isn't due to chance
In the hypothesis "students who study a list of terms in the morning just after waking up, will recall more terms than students who study the list before falling asleep," what is the independent variable
time of day
A majority of respondents in a national survey agreed that "classroom prayer should not be allowed in public schools."Only 33 percent of respondents in a similar survey agreed that "classroom prayer in public schools should be banned." These divergent findings best illustrate the importance of
wording effects
if psychologists discovered that wealthy people are less satisfied with their marriages than poor people are, this would indicate that wealth and martial satisfaction are
negatively correlated
in the hypothesis "students who study a list of terms in the morning, just after waking up, will recall more terms than students who study the list just before falling asleep," what is the dependent variable
number of terms remembered
Political officials who have no doubt that their own economic and military predictions will come true most clearly demonstrate
overconfidence
in a drug treatment study, participants given a pill containing no actual drug are receiving an
placebo
In order to learn about the political attitudes of all students enrolled at Arizona State University, Professor Marlow randomly selected 800 of these students to complete a questionnaire. In this instance, all these students enrolled at Arizona State University are considered to be an
population
if college graduates typically earn more money than high school graduates, this would indicate that level of education and income are
positively correlated
what technique do researchers use to reduce the impact of confounding variables
random assignment
which technique most clearly minimizes the likelihood that any outcome differences between the experimental and control conditions can be attributed to age or personality differences in research participants
random assignment
Which procedure helps to ensure that the participants in a survey are representative of a larger population
random sampling
Which technique involves repeating the essence of an earlier research study with different participants and in different circumstances
replication
To graphically represent the correlation between two variables , researchers often construct a
scatterplot
which of the following is a measure of the degree of variation among a set of events
standard deviation
when the observed difference between the means of an experimental group and control group are not likely due to chance, researchers conclude that this difference is
statistically significant
professor woo noticed that the distribution of students scores on her last biology test had a extremely small standard deviation. this indicates that he
students scores tended to be very similar to one another
A researcher interested in investigating the attitudes or opinions of a large sample of people is most likely to use which research method
survey
random sampling is to ___ as random assignment is to ___
surveys; experiments
a hypothesis is a
testable prediction that gives direction to research
To understand the unusual behavior of an adult client, a clinical psychologists carefully investigates the clients current life situation and his physical, social-cultural, and educational history. Which research method has the psychologist used
the case study
the range is
the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
which of the following is the best definition of illusory correlation
a perceived but nonexistent correlation
a researcher who publishes the results of a case study might be most worried about violating which ethical principle of human experimentation
confidentiality
following the scientific discovery that a specific brain structure is significantly larger in violent individuals than in those who are nonviolent, a news headline announced: "Enlarged brain structure triggers violent acts." The headline writer should most clearly be warned about the dangers of
confusing correlation with causation
In an experiment designed to study the effectiveness of a new drug, research participants who receive a placebo are participating in the ___ condition.
control
to determine whether the strength of people's self-esteem is related to their income levels, researchers would most likely make use of it
correlation research
the enduring traditions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a large group of people constitutes their
culture
American males shake hands in greeting; japanese men bow. However, people can communicate with a smile. what does this tell us about the role of culture in understanding our psychology
culture shapes our behavior, but certain underlying processes guide people everywhere
Historians of science describe which three attitudes as the basis of the scientific viewpoint
curiosity, skepticism, humility
The news media reported that a new pesticide was not harmful to humans. which of the following statements best exemplifies critical thinking in response to this report
"i wonder who funded this study?"
in 1963, stanley milgram reported that 65% of research participants at the request of the experimenter, would administer phony shocks that they considered real, to a stranger. He demonstrated how obedient humans can be to authority figures. Some critics contend that milgram's findings cannot be used to predict behavior in real life. How might Milgram respond to this criticism
"laboratory research allows you to identify general principles that do generalize to to other 'real world' contexts"
which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two variables
-0.12
based on the information provided in the chart above, which scatterplot best represents the relationship
chart going up in a line
in a test of the effects of sleep deprivation on problem-solving skills, research participants are allowed to sleep either 4 or 8 hours on each of three consecutive nights. this research is an example of
an experiment
Psychologists personal values and goals
can bias their observations and interpretations
A researcher who deceives participants about the goals of the research needs to fully inform them of the true nature of the study later, according to which ethical principle of human experimentation
debriefing
Dr. devries is interested in measuring how practice in problem solving affects this ability. The population of interest in high school seniors, and the sample consists of students who attend an exclusive college preparatory school. Half of the sample receives practice in solving particular types of problems, while the other half does not. Both groups take the same problem- solving test. Which of the following might best explain why Dr. DeVries may not be able to generalize his findings
his sample is not representative of the population
in 1920, behaviorist John B. Watson conditioned an 8 month-old infant, Albert. He was turned over to Dr. Watson without permission. This violates which ethical principle developed by the American Psychological Association.
informed consent
which of the following are considered to be limitations of psychological experiments conducted in laboratory environments
laboratories are artificial environments, so behavior might not apply to the real world
the biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it
may be unrepresentative of what is generally true
The arithmetic average of a distribution of scores is the
mean
To study the development of relationship, Dr. Rajiv carefully observed and recorded patterns of verbal and nonverbal behaviors among boys and girls in the school yard. Which research method did Dr. Rajiv employ
naturalistic observation