Chapter 1 Psychology
Psychics who perform poorly in laboratory tests and then blame their poor performance on "bad vibes" from skeptical researchers are displaying which sign of pseudoscience?
Ad hoc immunizing hypothesis
The idea of placing a third brake light at the base of a car's back windshield and changing the colour of fire engines from red to yellow are examples of __________.
Applied psychological research
"IQ must predict success in school because schools have been testing it for years" is an example of which type of reasoning error?
Argument from anti-quality fallacy
Twin and adoption studies addressing the nature-nurture debate are typically conducted by __________.
Behaviour genetics
Which type of psychologist is most likely to work with patients who have serious mental disorders such as major depression?
Clinical Psychologists
Which relatively new field of psychology examines the relationships between physiological brain activity on the one hand, and thinking, memory, and other mental functions on the other?
Cognitive Neuroscience
In the 1950s and 1960s, many psychologists were disillusioned with behaviourism's neglect of the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking. Arguing that thinking has a powerful effect on behaviour, psychologists such as Jean Piaget began to develop the field of __________.
Cognitivism
One reason that intuition and common sense are not a good basis for scientific psychology is that we often do not notice __________.
Contradictions between our views
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 __________.
Correlation is not cause
Dr. Moore is doing cross-cultural research on an ethnic group in the Himalayas by attempting to take the perspective of a member of that group, relying on the terms and ideas that are typical of that group. What type of approach is Dr. Moore using?
Emic
One of the great debates that has shaped the field of psychology is the question of whether people choose their behaviours or are obliged to act in certain ways by factors beyond their control. This is known as the __________ debate.
Free-will determinism
Which theoretical framework of psychology was substantially influenced by biologist Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection?
Functionalism
Which statement best explains the concept of reciprocal determinism?
Humans mutually influence each other's behaviour
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 __________.
Imageless thought
What does "thinking scientifically" mean?
Insisting on evidence
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.
Introspection
According to philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, for a scientific claim to be meaningful, it must be falsifiable, which means __________.
It can be tested to determine if it is false
Which statement about free will is the closest to the beliefs of B.F. Skinner?
It does not influence behaviour even though many think it does
Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken conclusions are called __________.
Logical Fallacies
What does a psychological researcher do when developing a scientific hypothesis?
Make a testable prediction
When Dr. Kishimoto told students to try to set aside their biases, they protested that they did not have any biases. Which term best characterizes this type of fallacy?
Not me fallacy
According to John B. Watson, which component is most important when studying human psychology?
Observable behaviour
Josh saw a news report that a plane crash had just happened and immediately thought of the saying "bad things happen in threes." He felt validated when, within the next week, two more plane crashes were reported in the news. Which term best characterizes Josh's experience?
Patternicity
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
The outgoing behaviour of other people can make an extraverted person act even more extraverted. Bandura called this mutual influence on one another's behaviour __________.
Reciprocal determinism
What principle of scientific thinking is ignored by the proponents of Thought Field Therapy , as described in the text?
Ruling out rival hypotheses
What do pseudoscientific claims lack?
Safe-guards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance
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
Who proposed that unconscious drives, such as sexuality and aggression, are the critical forces underlying our behaviour?
Sigmund Freud
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
According to researchers Whitson and Galinsky, which individuals are most likely to see conspiracies and embrace superstitions?
Those who lack personal control in their lives
According to a basic premise of science, how should knowledge initially be acquired?
Through observation
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.
Toward the lower end of the ladder
evolutionary psychology
a field that seeks to explain psychological traits as naturally selected adaptations.
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? a. sequential lineup b. segregated lineup c. subsequent lineup d. simultaneous lineup
a. sequential lineup
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. a. using her critical thinking skills b. being open to metaphysical reasoning c. using her common sense and intuition d. remembering that extraordinary claims require ordinary evidence
a. using her critical thinking skills
variable
anything that can vary
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
The "Third variable problem" is associated with which scientific thinking principle? a. ruling out rival hypotheses b. correlation is not causation c. falsifiability d. replicability
b. correlation is not causation
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) _______ a. school psychologist b. developmental psychologist c. biological psychologist d. experimental psychologist
b. developmental psychologist
One reason people are drawn to believing in pseduoscience is that we use our emotions as guides to evaluate the validity of claims. This is known as the affect heuristic or the ________ a. attribution fallacy b. emotional reasoning fallacy c. pathetic fallacy d. bandwagon fallacy
b. emotional reasoning fallacy
Bud and Sandy are discussing the merits of new automobiles. Bud noted, "This car model has been tested by 4 different consumer agiences 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? a. lack of self-correction b. overrealiance on anecdotes c. the ad hoc immunizing hypothesis d. insisting on evidence rather than proof
b. overrealiance on anecdotes
Dr. Blank is a respected researcher, but when one of his experiments yielded results contrary to his hypothesis, he decided not to include that experiment in a report of his research. In so doing, what did Dr. Blank fail to overcome?
belief perseverance
naive realism
belief that we see the world precisely as it is
If we think of levels of analysis as rungs on a ladder, what would the lower rungs on the psychology ladder represent?
biological influence
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 _______ a. correlation-causation fallacy b. skepticism effect c. decline effect d. reproductivity fallacy
c. decline effect
Ten-year old Candace Newmaker died as a result of a pseudoscientific treatment called "rebirthing therapy". This is an example of pseudoscience causing _______ a. scientific regression b. indirect harm c. direct harm d. cultural indifference
c. direct harm
Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because _________. a. it favors determinism over free will b. evolution is just a theory c. its predictions are difficult to falsify d. researchers prefer newer psychological theories
c. its predictions are difficult to falsify
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 _________ a. replicability b. correlation vs. causation c. occam's razor d. falsifiability
c. occam's razorT
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 mayber the sheer passage of time made your headache go away." Sandi is offering a(n) ___________ in response to Laurie's explanation. a. extraordinary claim b. falsifiable pretext c. rival hypothesis d. causal correlation
c. rival hypothesis
E.B Titchener was a leading figure in which framework of psychology, which advocated the use of introspection to indentify basic elements of experience? a. functionalism b. cognitivism c. structuralism d. psychoanalysis
c. structuralism
Science writer Michael Shermer coined the termed "patternicity" to refer to _____ a. the patterns researchers must use to create falsifiable research studies b. common heritable characteristics that are passed down via the Y chromosome c. the human tendency to see patterns in meaningless data d. the way people use patterns to re-create existing objects in the world
c. the human tendency to see patterns in meaningless data
falsifiable
capable of being disproved
Just as behaviorism was gaining popularity in the US, 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 ________ a. structuralism b. functionalism c. cognitive psychology d. psychoanalysis
d. psychoanalysis
Some main warning signs of pseudoscientific claims include overreliance on anecdotes, exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity to other research, lack of peer review, and ______ a. replication by independent agencies b. the scientific method c. talk of evidence instead of proof d. use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense
d. use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense
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?
emotional reasoning fallacy
Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This premise is called __________.
empiricism
correlation-causation fallacy
error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other
ad hoc immunizing hypothesis
escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification
scientific theory
explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world
decline effect
fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time
Which concept best reflects the principle known as Occam's razor?
logical simplicity
What type of claim is this? There is life after death at some point
metaphysical claim
introspection
method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences
natural selection
principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other organisms
multiply determined
produced/caused by many factors
cognitive neuroscience
relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking
basic research
research examining how the mind works
applied research
research examining how we can use basic research to solve real-world problems
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
structuralism
school of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of psychological experience
functionalism
school of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics
behaviorism
school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behavior
cognitive psychology
school of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behavior
psychoanalysis
school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we're unaware
pseudoscience
set of claims that seems scientific but isn't
critical thinking
set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion
confirmation bias
tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs 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 prediction derived from a scientific theory
bandwagon fallacy
the error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it
not me fallacy
the error of believing that we're immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people
emotional reasoning fallacy
the error of using our emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim (aka the affect heuristic)
reciprocal determinism
the fact that we mutually influence each other's behavior (Albert Bandura)
psychology
the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior
patternicity
the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in their absence
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 worldviews
logical fallacies
traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions
individual differences
variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior
replicability
when a study's findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators