Psychology Exam 1

random assignment

Betty decided to conduct an experiment on the effectiveness of a new anti-anxiety pill. She decided that participants who had been diagnosed with anxiety would be in the treatment group and participants who had never been treated for anxiety would be the control group. Which aspect of proper research design did Betty ignore?

a confounding variable

An article headline claimed that "Drugs Cause Homelessness" due to a positive relationship found between homeless populations and drug use. Educated psychologists thought this might be flawed, because they thought unemployment was influencing both drug use and homelessness. This is an example of:

a measure of the strength of the relationship between individual differences in a given trait and individual genetic differences

A heritability coefficient is:

The placebo effect

A researcher would like to determine the effect of caffeine on memory. Participants are randomly assigned to receive a caffeine pill or a sugar pill. Both groups complete a recall task that assesses their memory. However, even those who received the sugar pill had a small increase in memory. This is likely due to:

Vision, motion tracking

what does the occipital lobe have control over?

Integration of sensory information; touch

what does the parietal lobe have control over?

sounds, smell

what does the temporal lobe have control over?

Somatic Nervous system, Autonomic Nervous System

what makes up the Peripheral Nervous System?

exam performance

Students who study for 7 hours over the course of a week will perform better than students who cram for 7 hours the night before the exam. The dependent variable in this hypothesis is:

method of studying (spaced or crammed)

Students who study for 7 hours over the course of a week will perform better than students who cram for 7 hours the night before the exam. The independent variable in this hypothesis is:

made up of the brain and spinal cord

The Central Nervous System is

Neurotransmitters

The chemical signals that travel from one neuron to another, enabling them to communicate with one another, are called:

External Validity

The degree to which a study ensures that potential findings apply to settings and samples other than the ones being studied refers to:

to conduct electrical signals that help cells communicate

The primary function of an axon is:

Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI)

To generate a structural image of the human brain, researchers typically use:

electroencephalogram (EEG)

To image electrical activity of neurons firing in the brain researchers use _________ which attaches electrodes to the outside of a person's head.

Longitudinal Fissure

What divides the cortex into the left and right cerebral hemispheres?

Process sensory info and controls voluntary movements

What does the Somatic Nervous System do

Problem solving, planning, coordination of speech

What does the frontal lobe have control over?

Corpus Callusum

What is the bundle of nerve fibers that connect left and right hemispheres?

a number that indicates the strength and direction of an association between variables

What is the correlation coefficient?

Fight or flight, mobilizing, control over involuntary actions

What is the sympathetic nervous system?

the laboratory experiment

What kind of research is traditionally considered to be the "gold standard" in psychology research?

Cranial Nerves, Spinal Nerves

What makes up the Somatic Nervous System:

must be determined by a review board established by the sponsoring institution

Whether or not a given study has the possibility of causing harm to participants:

Privacy

Which ethical guideline would a scientist be breaking if they videotaped children, without asking their guardians, while the children were taking a test in class?

A study should only be conducted if the study's benefits outweigh the risks

Which of the following is an example of an empirical question that could be tested using systematic observation?

Most psychological traits have a genetic component but nature also has the ability to change even supposedly "fixed" traits such as height

Which of the following sentences best describes current thinking on the nature-nurture debate?

Observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally, or otherwise organize information about the natural world.

Why is it beneficial for scientists to use systematic observation in order to acquire knowledge?

Informed Consent

____________ is important to obtain before starting a research study to ensure people know they are involved in the study, what will happen in the study, and understand they can choose to stop participating at any time.

It divides traits' determinants into two portions: genes and environments.

issue with the heritability coefficient?

Deception; Debriefed

Betty took part in a study where she was told the purpose was to further examine perceptual cognitive processes. Once the study was over, however, the researcher explained to her that the study's real purpose was to assess automaticity of stereotypes. This study is an example of research that used _________ in their methods to hide the true nature of the study. And we see that as a result, the researchers fully _________ participants afterwards.

Participant Demand

Blake is selected for a study on music preference and happiness. He thinks the experimenter's hypothesis is that people who listen to classical music are happier. As a result, Blake reports listening to classical music more often than he really does, as well as inflated scores on self-reported happiness. This is an example of

Correlational Design

Children's behavior on a playground is observed and later parents complete a questionnaire regarding home behavior of these same children. The researcher is interested in the relationship between aggressive displays with peers and aggressive behavior at home. This method would best be described as a:

Occipital Lobe

If you see a bird flying toward you this information is most likely processed in the:

confounding variables

In order for researchers to be able to say that Variable A causes Variable B, they must eliminate the possible influence of ________.

the purpose of the study that the subject may end participation at any time the probable risks involved

Informed consent to serve as a subject in research requires signing a document that states:

Frontal Lobes

Jared received a head injury at work and later had trouble speaking and planning ahead. Which are of his brain was most likely damage:

Identical Twins

One of the best ways to answer questions associated with the nature-nurture debate is to complete twin studies, especially with __________ twins.

Confidentiality

One of the ethical guidelines researchers abide by is ensuring __________, or agreeing that an individual's data should not be made public without consent from the individual.

Limbic system

People's basic survival instincts such as fear, aggression, hunger and sex are associated with the:

longitudinal

Researchers studied language development in the same group of children every year over a five year period. This research design is called:

There is more cortical space dedicated to fingers than legs.

have better motor control over and better sensory input from my fingers than my leg. Which of the following best explains why?

score on an anxiety questionnaire

the best operational definition for anxiety is: