psych midterm chapter 3, psych midterm, psych midterm chapter 4, psych midterm chapter 5
33. A meta-analysis most typically focuses on a multitude of A) theories. B) hypotheses. C) phenomena. D) studies.
D
7. Which of the following correlations has the strongest predictive value? A) +0.50 B) +0.30 C) 0.00 D) -0.75
D
28. "Green is the prettiest color" is a _______ hypothesis because it is _______. A) poor; not true B) poor; not testable C) good; testable D) good; true
B
14. Scientists use laboratory experiments primarily to A) create the most naturalistic conditions possible. B) generate initial information about whether two variables are related. C) replicate case studies. D) test cause-and-effect relationships.
C
20. Refer to the graph below. The mean score for this distribution is _______ and the median score is _______. A) 5; 4 B) 4; 5 C) 4; 4 D) 3; 5
C
10. What is a mainstream psychologist most likely to think about Sigmund Freud? A) Freudian theory is untestable and not grounded in science. B) Freud, a great pioneer in psychology, discovered the unconscious. C) Freud was a complete fraud who barely rates a mention in psychology textbooks. D) Rigorous research has proven that most of Freud's theories were correct.
A
12. According to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, A) we cannot necessarily rely on our senses to learn the truth. B) all of reality is simply an illusion. C) objective reality can be perceived only through experience. D) animal behavior has nothing to teach us about human behavior.
A
13. Which of the following is an empirical statement? A) The temperature right now is higher than it was 24 hours ago. B) The 1927 New York Yankees are the greatest baseball team of all time. C) The social construction of gender in modern society imposes penalties on both men and women. D) Women are naturally better parents than men; it is just part of their nature.
A
19. Which of the following samples would produce a nearly normal distribution? A) The number of men and women in the country B) Incomes in a small company with many low-level employees and two high-paid executives C) Heights of all adult men in America D) Scores on a very easy test
A
2. In case study research, A) researchers interview a representative sample of people about a topic of interest. B) one or more individuals are studied in great detail. C) people are carefully observed in real-world situations. D) subjects are polled about their beliefs and opinions.
A
21. In a depression-treatment study, neither the participants nor the researcher know who is taking medication and who is taking a sugar pill. This is an example of a A) double-blind trial. C) research design with low validity. B) confound. D) research design with low reliability
A
32. The key purpose of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to A) determine whether a proposed study is ethical. B) identify the most appropriate statistical analyses for a study. C) punish unethical researchers. D) evaluate whether a researcher's conclusions match the data.
A
4. Which of the following research methods would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between political orientation and belief in climate change? A) Survey research B) Case study research C) Naturalistic observation D) Experimental research
A
6. Correlations are most useful for A) predicting behavior. C) explaining outcomes. B) discovering the cause of behavior. D) testing treatments
A
8. In Plato's cave allegory, a prisoner was temporarily unchained and allowed to see the fire at the mouth of the cave. When he returned to the chains, the other prisoners A) refused to believe him. C) began to reconsider their own views. B) marveled at his great knowledge. D) immediately accepted his insight.
A
9. A hypothesis is A) a testable prediction about the relationship between variables. B) a simple explanation for a psychological finding. C) an observed relationship between independent and dependent variables. D) an unprovable assumption about psychological processes
A
14. In a psychology experiment, subjects listen to a variety of tones presented at different frequencies and then reflect on the experience, describing what they heard as precisely as possible. These individuals would have been using a process called A) behaviorism. B) introspection. C) hypnosis. D) Gestalt therapy
B
15. A research psychologist is most interested in discovering the answers to questions like, "Why is empathy helpful to people?" and "How does education contribute to social stability?" This approach is most consistent with the _______ perspective. A) structuralist B) functionalist C) empiricist D) behaviorist
B
16. In a behaviorist approach to treatment for a patient with a fear of rats, the patient is A) urged to talk about this fear to determine why he feels this way. B) repeatedly exposed to stimuli that are gradually more and more like rats. C) asked to observe other people who are handling rats in a calm, relaxed manner. D) given medication to help reduce his anxiety.
B
17. A behaviorist would assert that an appropriate behavioral objective for a student must be A) understandable and broadly defined. B) observable and measurable. C) recognized as age-appropriate. D) modifiable for the numerous environmental settings in which students participate
B
22. Ethical principles require researchers to A) explain the hypothesis they will be testing before participants begin a study. B) provide information about potential risks to participants before they begin a study. C) refrain from conducting research on animals. D) have their research design approved by a group of people similar to the proposed participants.
B
26. Although very few people would admit to a belief that men make better hires than women, several experiments show that men are more likely to be hired than women with identical résumés. This is an example of A) explicit bias. B) unconscious bias. C) poor validity. D) negative skew.
B
27. To identify the most popular exhibits at a science museum, visitors were asked every day for six weeks to rate how much they enjoyed each exhibit. The data were analyzed to look for age and sex differences in exhibit preferences. This was an example of A) naturalistic observation. B) survey research. C) case study research. D) experimental research
B
3. A _______ is most likely to study the brain activities that underlie human behavior. A) behaviorist B) neuroscientist C) functionalist D) structuralist
B
3. A manager at a science museum wants to identify the most popular exhibits, so once every hour for six weeks she has volunteers count the number of people standing in front of each exhibit. This is an example of A) naturalistic observation. C) case study research. B) correlational research. D) experimental research.
B
6. The foundations of psychology are most closely related to which of the following disciplines? A) Chemistry B) Philosophy C) Political science D) Astrology
B
8. As the number of pirates in the world has decreased, the mean global temperature has increased. This is an example of a A) non-linear relationship. B) spurious correlation. C) strong inference. D) meta-analysis.
B
11. A research team is investigating the impact of stereotypes on performance. In one group, women read an article about why the structure of men's brains makes them better at math. In the second group, women read an article saying there are no biological differences in the mathematical abilities of men and women. Then all women in the study take a challenging math test. Researchers time the test and score the number of items women answered correctly. In this study, which of the following is the independent variable? A) Women's scores on the math test B) Women's beliefs about their math abilities C) Which article the women read D) How long it takes women to complete the math test
C
11. Which of the following would be evidence against the social brain hypothesis? A) Students working in a group are better able to grasp a subject than students working individually. B) A quiet co-worker prefers to eat lunch at his desk every day instead of socializing with others in the company cafeteria. C) Your sister is clearly able to engage in meaningful social interactions with all of her 500 friends on Tumblr. D) You regularly strike up friendly conversations with the cashiers at your local grocery store.
C
12. In a phobia treatment study, the participants spend three hours facing their fears. Post-treatment scores show significant improvement in overall distress levels when handling the feared objects, so the treatment is judged as effective by the researcher. To improve the study's design, the researcher can A) increase the length of time for the treatment component. B) repeat the study with a new set of participants for a more representative sample. C) include a control group, which would receive some supportive counseling but not the actual treatment. D) change to a correlational design since it is unethical to have participants experience fear as part of a study.
C
13. To test the impact of mood on generosity, a researcher has half of his participants watch a depressing movie and half watch a comedy. Then the researcher asks all participants for help moving boxes to another room. In this study, mood is the A) independent variable. B) dependent variable. C) confound. D) covariant
C
16. Treatment-outcome researchers attempt to prevent initial differences between treatment and control groups by using A) statistical inference. B) placebo controls. C) randomization. D) double blinding.
C
17. The presence of adoring groupies at a small local club make a rock band confident they will become world famous. They should probably pay more attention to the importance of A) reliability. B) frequency distributions. C) effect size. D) representative samples.
C
18. You are trying to overcome your fear of snakes. Inspired by the work of Mary Cover Jones, your therapist first shows you some pictures of snakes. Then she tells you that there is a small snake in a cage in the next room. She asks you to observe the live snake from a distance, and continues this process until your fear is conquered. Your therapist is using the technique called A) acceptance therapy. B) extinction. C) desensitization. D) Gestalt therapy.
C
2. Gestalt psychologists such as Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler A) insist that only readily measured, observable behaviors are worthy of study. B) believe that behaviors have an adaptive function that helps humans survive. C) argues that the overall experience of human perception is greater than the sum of its parts. D) claim that emotions and consciousness should be kept outside the realm of psychology as a science.
C
21. Scientific investigation has revealed that the "Mozart Effect" (the notion that children become smarter from listening to the music of Mozart) is A) a question that cannot be answered through science. B) dependent on the gender of the child. C) not substantiated through research. D) supported by findings from numerous studies
C
23. The Tuskegee syphilis study is famous because A) it was the first use of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled research. B) it demonstrated the psychological effects of syphilis infection. C) researchers failed to inform participants that they had a treatable disease. D) measures were so low in reliability and validity that the data had no value
C
5. The goal of psychology is to A) develop ways to treat the mentally ill. B) control human behavior. C) explain human thought and behavior. D) determine the causes of mental illness.
C
7. The idea that children are born with no knowledge or "content" whatsoever and are "filled" by life experiences is called A) rationalism. B) determinism. C) tabula rasa. D) nature vs. nurture.
C
1. Behaviorism examines _______, whereas cognitive psychology examines _______. A) brain function; behavior B) an individual's environment; an individual's actions C) the adaptive function of behavior; the genetic component of behavior D) external behavior; internal mental processes
D
1. Research that involves intentional manipulation of variables is called _______ research. A) correlational B) case study C) descriptive D) experimental
D
10. Results from a recent experiment are consistent with a researcher's expectation that exposing people to unfamiliar groups reduces prejudice. This means that the researcher A) has proven her theory. C) should retain her hypothesis for now. B) has proven her hypothesis. D) needs to follow up with correlational studies.
D
15. . A meta-analysis is A) a combination of results from many related studies. B) an alternative to the strong inference approach. C) the most common analysis in correlational research. D) the most common analysis in experimental research.
D
18. You accept a job selling high-end knives door-to-door on commission because you were informed that company employees, on average, earn $60,000 a year. After three months of making less than $1,000 a month, you learn that most other salespeople are making less than $20,000 a year. If the company has 20 sales people, two managers, and one president, how can the company's claim still be correct? A) The median salary is higher than the mean salary. B) The modal salary is higher than the mean salary. C) The median of all salaries is $60,000 because the managers and the president earn huge salaries. D) The mean of all salaries is $60,000 because the managers and president earn huge salaries.
D
19. Psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark found that doll tests A) demonstrated that observational learning can promote aggressive as well as nurturing behavior in children. B) showed that most people are willing to obey authority figures, even if those orders conflict with their own personal values. C) confirmed that behavior can be modified based on a system of positive or negative reinforcements. D) exposed internalized racism in African-American children, particularly among children attending segregated schools
D
20. Psychologists now believe that subliminal advertising A) is a powerful influence on consumers that should be regulated by government. B) is effective only on young people, whose brains are still developing. C) succeeds because the messages register unconsciously. D) has a weak effect on consumers, if any at all.
D
24. Deception in psychological research A) has never been considered ethical. B) has not been allowed since the Tuskegee study. C) is not possible because it interferes with the legal requirement of informed consent. D) is occasionally allowed but must be followed by a thorough debriefing.
D
25. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee is responsible for all of the following except A) evaluating the rationale for a proposed study. B) ensuring researchers have minimized animal stress and pain. C) inspecting animal care facilities. D) collecting blood and tissue samples from research animals.
D
29. In experimental research, which of the following variables is controlled by the researcher? A) Confounding B) Experimental C) Dependent D) Independent
D
30. Whether depression levels are truly lower in a treatment group than in a control group is assessed by determining the _______ of the difference in scores between groups. A) variance B) validity C) statistical inference D) statistical significance
D
31. A self-report measure of the personality trait of agreeableness produces very similar scores each time the same person completes it. It is also strongly correlated with whether family members describe a person as friendly and cooperative. This measure appears to be A) reliable and valid. B) valid but not reliable. C) reliable but not valid. D) neither reliable nor valid.
D
4. An important principle to remember when studying psychology is that A) we are consciously aware of all the events that affect our behavior. B) genetics has very little influence on our behavior. C) adults rarely alter their behavior according to what those around them are doing. D) the act of learning changes the physical structure of the brain.
D
5. Which of the following is true about the strength of a correlation? A) Positive correlations are stronger than negative correlations. B) Negative correlations are stronger than positive correlations. C) The closer a correlation is to 1.00, the weaker the relationship. D) The closer a correlation is to 0.00, the weaker the relationship.
D
9. The year 1879 might be thought of as the beginning of psychology as a science because that is the year A) Edward Thorndike conducted his first puzzle box experiments. B) Margaret Floy Washburn wrote The Animal Mind. C) Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. D) Wilhelm Wundt developed and opened the first psychology laboratory
D
