Module 3 Psychology

Which of the following is NOT characteristics of a normal curve?

about 95% of all scores fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean

If height and body weight are positively correlated, which of the following is true?

knowing a person's height, one can predict his or her weight.

The four families on your block all have annual household incomes of $250,000. If a new family with an annual income of $75,000 moved in, which measure of central tendency would be most affected?

mean

Which of the following is the measure of central tendency that would be most affected by a few extreme scores?

mean

Bob scored 43 out of 70 points on his psychology exam. He was worried until he discovered that most of the class earned the same score. Bob's score was equal to the

mode

A psychologist studies the pay behavior of young children by watching groups during recess at school. Which type of research is being used?

naturalistic observation

If eating saturated fat and the likelihood of contracting cancer are positively correlated, which of the following is true?

none of the statements are true

To ensure that other researchers can repeat their work, psychologists use

operational definitions

The strength of the relationship between two vivid events will most likely be

overestimated

Theories are defined as

principles that help to organize observations and predict behaviors or events

The procedure designed to ensure that the experimental and control groups do not differ in any way that might affect the experiment's results is called

random assignment

Well-done surveys measure attitudes in a representative subset, or ____________, of an entire group, or _______________.

random sample; population

What is the mode of the following distribution: 8, 2, 1, 1, 3, 7, 6, 2, 0, 2?

2

What is the median of the following distribution of scores: 1, 3, 7, 7, 2, 8, 4?

4

What is the mode of the following distribution of scores: 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 14?

4

What is the mean of the following distribution of scores: 2, 3, 7, 6, 1, 4, 9, 5, 8, 2?

4.7

What is the mean of the following distribution of scores: 2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 4, 6, 9, 1, 4?

6

What is the median of the following distribution: 10, 7, 5, 11, 8, 6, 9?

8

Which of the following procedures is an example of the use of a placebo?

In a test of the effects of a drug on memory, a participant is led to believe that a harmless pill actually contains an active drug.

Which of the following is the measure of variation that is most affected by extreme scores?

range

Which of the following is NOT a basic research technique used by psychologists?

replication

A lopsided set of scores that includes a number of extreme or unusual values is said to be

skewed

The set of scores that would likely be most representative of the population from which it was drawn would be a sample with a relatively

small standard deviation

The football team's punter wants to determine how consistent his punting distances have been during the past season. He should compute the

standard deviation

After detailed study of a gunshot wound victim, a psychologist concludes that the brain region destroyed is likely to be important for memory functions. Which type of research did the psychologist use to deduce this?

the case study

You decide to test your belief that men drink more soft drinks than women by finding out whether more soft drinks are consumed per day in the men's dorm than in the woman's dorm. Your belief is a(n) ______, and your research prediction is a(n) _________.

theory; hypothesis

The concept of control is important in psychological research because

experimental control allows researchers to study the influence of one or two independent variables on a dependent variable while holding other potential influences constant

Esteban refuses to be persuaded by an advertiser's claim that people using their brand of gasoline average 50 miles per gallon. His decision probably is based on

the possibility that the average is the mean which could be artificially inflated by a few extreme scores, the absence of information about the size of the sample studied and the absence of information about the variation in sample scores

To study the effects of lighting on mood, Dr. Cooper had students fill out questionnaires in brightly lit or dimly lit rooms. In this study, the independent variable consisted of

the room lighting

In generalizing from a sample to the population, it is important that

the sample be representative

Which of the following is important when generalizing from a sample to the population?

the sample be representative of the population, the sample be large, and the scores in the sample have low variability

Your roommate is conducting a survey to learn how many hours the typical student studies each day. She plans to pass out her questionnaire to the members of her sorority. You point out that her findings will be flawed because

the sample will probably not be representative of the population of interest

Which of the following research methods does NOT belong with the others?

experiment

If shoe size and IQ are negatively correlated, which of the following is true?

People with small feet tend to have high IQs.

Rashad, who is participating in a psychology experiment on the effects of alcohol on perception, is truthfully told by the experimenter that he has been assigned to the "high-dose condition." What is wrong with this experiment?

Rashad's expectations concerning the effects of "high doses" of alcohol on perception may influence his performance

Which of the following would be best for determining whether alcohol impairs memory?

experiment

Dr. Salazar recently completed an experiment in which she compared reasoning ability in a sample of females and a sample of males. The means of the female and male samples equaled 21 and 19, respectively, on a 25-point scale. A statistical test revealed that her results were not statistically significant. What can Dr. Salazar conclude?

The difference in the means of the two samples is probably due to the chance of variation

Martina believes that high doses of caffeine slow a person's reaction time. To test this belief, she has five friends each drink three 8-oz cups of coffee and then measures their reaction time on a learning task. What is wrong with Martina's research strategy?

There is no control condition

In a test of the effects of air pollution, groups of students performed a reaction-time task in a polluted or an unpolluted room. To what condition were students in the unpolluted room exposed?

control

To determine the effects of a new drug on memory, one group of people is given a pill that contains the drug. A second group is given a sugar pull that does not contain the drug. This second group constitutes the

control group

Which type of research would allow you to determine whether students grades accurately predict later income?

correlation

A researcher was interested in determining whether her students' test performance could be predicted from their proximity to the front of the classroom. So she matched her students' scores on a math test with their seating position. This is an example of

correlational research

In an experiment to determine the effects of attention on memory, memory is the

dependent variable

A professor constructs a questionnaire to determine how students at the university feel about nuclear disarmament. Which techniques should be used to survey a random sample of the student body?

from an alphabetical listing of all students, every tenth (or fifteenth, e.g.) student should be asked to complete the questionnaire

In an experiment to determine the effects of exercise on motivation, exercise is the

independent varibale

When a difference between two groups is statistically significant, this means that

the difference is not likely to be due to chance variation

If a difference between two samples is NOT statistically significant, which of the following can be concluded?

the difference is probably not a true one, the difference is probably not reliable, and the difference could be due to sampling variation.

To prevent the possibility that a placebo effect or researchers' expectations will influence a study's results, scientists employ

the double-blind procedure