Psychology: lesson 2 Psychological Research

Sandra strongly believes that attending daycare is detrimental to children's development so she decides to write her psychology term paper on this topic. She does a literature search and finds several sources supporting her opinion, but she finds that the majority of research indicates that children attending daycare experience healthy development. She writes a paper using the sources that find negative associations with daycare attendance. This is an example of ________.

confirmation bias

An extensive survey revealed that children with relatively high self-esteem tend to picture God as kind and loving, whereas those with lower self-esteem tend to perceive God as angry. The researchers concluded that the children's self-esteem had apparently influenced their views of God. This conclusion best illustrates the danger of:

C. assuming that correlation proves causation.

Which of the following is not part of obtaining informed consent?

explaining the hypothesis to the participants

A basic experiment involves a minimum of ________ participant group(s).

Two

Juanita participated in a psychology research project that involved answering a number of arithmetic problems. During the experiment, she was informed that her answers were incorrect. After the experiment was completed, a research assistant explained the purpose of the experiment. He told Juanita that she had actually answered all items correctly, and then explained why the experiment required that she be told that her answers were wrong. This stage of the research represents:

D. debriefing.

Which of the following is a scientific way of determining facts?

empirical studies

According to Professor Zarkov's correlational data, there is a statistically significant relationship between the socioeconomic level of a family and how much time the parents spend talking to their children. To say that the results of this study are "statistically significant" means that:

D. the results are unlikely to have occurred by chance.

A sample that ________ is most likely to yield generalizable results.

is large and randomly selected

Karen erroneously believes that her test grades are negatively correlated with the amount of time she studies for her tests. Research on illusory correlation suggests that she is especially likely to notice instances in which:

B. poor grades follow lengthy study and good grades follow brief study.

In an experiment investigating the hypothesis that aerobic exercise improves concentration and memory, all the participants had an equal chance of being assigned to any of the three conditions in the study. The researchers have used _____ to minimize the possibility of bias when assigning participants to the different groups.

B. random assignment

An intelligence test yields the same results when administered on three separate occasions. However, the test's results are more strongly correlated with hours spent doing homework than they are with other standardized intelligence tests. This test has________ reliability and ________ validity.

high; low

Research shows that people who smoke cigarettes are more likely to get lung cancer than those who do not smoke. This research alone demonstrates that ________.

there is a relationship between smoking and lung cancer

Valentina is engaged in naturalistic observation. In which of the following projects is she most likely engaged?

A. Observing interactions between subordinates and their supervisors in a large corporate office

Dr. Martinez is studying the effects of diet on mental alertness. Each morning for two weeks, subjects in Dr. Martinez's study eat a breakfast that is either high in carbohydrates or high in protein. Dr. Martinez then measures the subjects' abilities at solving geometry problems. What is the dependent variable in this study?

B. the ability to solve geometry problems

In order to study the potential effects of social interaction on problem solving, some research participants were instructed to solve problems working together; other participants were instructed to solve problems working alone. Those who worked alone were assigned to the ________ group.

C. control

Professor Williams is investigating loneliness. Participants in the study complete the UCLA Loneliness Scale to measure their level of loneliness. They also answer questions on a survey about many aspects of their personal life. In analyzing the results of her study, Professor Williams finds that as the number of friends increases, the level of loneliness tends to decrease. This represents a _____ correlation.

C. negative

If the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of elementary school students is +0.85, this would indicate that:

D. better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among elementary school students.

Columbia University researcher Elizabeth Gershoff (2002) conducted a wide-ranging meta-analysis on parental use of corporal punishment. One finding that emerged was a relationship between parental socioeconomic status and use of corporal punishment. Put simply, as socioeconomic status declines, rates of parents' use of corporal punishment rise. This finding represents a:

D. negative correlation.

Researchers interested in how sleep deprivation affected performance, randomly assigned participants to groups that had one, two, or three nights of sleep deprivation. They then tested their reaction times on a standard motor reaction task. The dependent variable in this experiment was:

D. the reaction times of the three groups on the standard motor reaction task.

Ethics need to be considered when ________ scientific research.

designing, conducting, and reviewing