AP Psychology Review

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.

Professor Ober carefully monitors and records the behaviors of children in their classrooms in order to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Professor Ober is most clearly engaged in:

naturalistic observation.

Psychologists who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzee societies in the jungle are using a research method known as:

naturalistic observation.

In order 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.

Professor Delano suggests that because people are especially attracted to those who are good-looking, handsome men will be more successful than average-looking men in securing employment. The professor's prediction regarding employment success exemplifies:

a hypothesis.

Stacey suggests that because children are more impulsive than adults, they will have more difficulty controlling their anger. Stacey's prediction regarding anger management exemplifies:

a hypothesis.

In order to test the potential effect of hunger on taste sensitivity, groups of research participants are deprived of food for differing lengths of time before they engage in a taste-sensitivity test. This research is an example of:

an experiment.

The mean of a distribution of scores is the:

arithmetic average of all the scores.

Psychology is defined as the "scientific study of behavior and mental processes." Wilhelm Wundt would have omitted which of the following words from this definition?

behavior and

Contemporary psychology is best defined as the scientific study of:

behavior and mental processes.

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

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

Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to distinguish between:

causes and effects.

A researcher would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between:

intelligence and academic success.

The self-examination of one's own emotional and mental processes is called:

introspection

In order to focus on inner sensations, images, and feelings, Wilhelm Wundt used a research tool known as:

introspection.

On a series of coin tosses, Oleg has correctly predicted heads or tails seven times in a row. In this instance, it is reasonable to conclude that Oleg's predictive accuracy:

is a random and coincidental occurrence.

A correlation between physical attractiveness and dating frequency of +0.60 would indicate that:

less frequent dating is associated with lower levels of physical attractiveness.

Complementary accounts of the same behavior that can supplement one another represent different:

levels of analysis.

The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it:

may be unrepresentative of what is generally true.

Professor Carter observes and records the behavior of grocery shoppers as they select items to purchase. Which type of research is Professor Carter employing?

naturalistic observation

If psychologists discovered that wealthy people are less satisfied with their marriages than poor people are, this would indicate that wealth and marital satisfaction are:

negatively correlated.

If the points on a scatterplot are clustered in a pattern that extends from the upper left to the lower right, this would suggest that the two variables depicted are:

negatively correlated.

Surveys are most likely to indicate that reckless behavior and self-control are:

negatively correlated.

Professor Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Professor Lopez favors a ________ perspective on depression.

neuroscience

Which perspective is most relevant to understanding the impact of strokes and brain diseases on memory?

neuroscience

Which perspective is most relevant to understanding the linkages between hormone levels and sexual motivation?

neuroscience

The symmetrical bellshaped figure used to represent the distribution of many physical and psychological characteristics is called a:

normal curve.

John Watson is to Wilhelm Wundt as ________ is to ________.

observable behavior; inner sensations

A specification of how a researcher measures a research variable is known as a(n):

operational definition.

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

overestimated.

In drug-treatment studies, double-blind procedures minimize outcome differences between experimental and control conditions that could be attributed to:

placebo effects.

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:

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

Humanistic psychologists focused attention on the importance of people's:

potential for healthy growth.

Correlational research is most useful for purposes of:

prediction.

Theories are defined as:

principles that help to organize, predict, and explain facts.

Which of the following scientific procedures is most useful for helping survey researchers avoid false generalizations?

random sampling

Every twenty-fifth person who ordered a subscription to a weekly news magazine was contacted by market researchers to complete a survey of opinions regarding the magazine's contents. The researchers were most clearly employing a technique known as:

random sampling.

In order to assess reactions to a proposed tuition hike at her college, Ariana sent a questionnaire to every fifteenth person in the college registrar's alphabetical listing of all currently enrolled students. Ariana employed the technique of:

random sampling.

In a group of five individuals, two report annual incomes of $10,000, and the other three report incomes of $14,000, $15,000, and $31,000, respectively. The mode of this group's distribution of annual incomes is:

$10,000.

Which of the following correlation coefficients indicates the strongest relationship between two variables?

-.73

Approximately 95 percent of the cases represented by the normal curve fall within ________ standard deviation(s) from the mean.

2

Who was the American philosopher who authored a textbook in 1890 for the emerging discipline of psychology?

James

Who would be most likely to agree with the statement, "Psychology should investigate only behaviors that can be observed"?

John B. Watson

Which of the following is true, according to the text?

No psychological theory can be considered a good one until it produces testable predictions.

The sight of large, enthusiastic crowds at all of his political rallies led Governor Donovan to become overconfident about his chances of winning the upcoming election. In this instance, the governor needs to be alerted to the value of:

random sampling.

Six of the children in Mr. Myer's second-grade classroom were born on exactly the same day. This strikes him as astonishing and improbable. In this instance, he should be reminded that:

random sequences of events often don't look random.

Which measure of variation is affected most by a few extreme scores?

range

Wilhelm Wundt's laboratory work involved experimental studies of:

reactions to sensory stimulation.

Research participants are randomly assigned to different groups in an experiment in order to:

reduce the likelihood of any preexisting differences between groups of participants.

Professor Saxton was skeptical about the accuracy of recently reported research on sleep deprivation. Which process would best enable her to assess the reliability of these findings?

replication

Which technique involves repeating the essence of an earlier research study with different participants and in different circumstances?

replication

Today, psychology is defined as the:

scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Two basic characteristics of the scientific attitude are:

skepticism and humility.

Alicia insists that Dr. Phillip's theory of aggression be checked against observable evidence. She is demonstrating the scientific attitude of:

skepticism.

Regression toward the mean is the:

tendency for unusual scores to fall back toward a distribution's average.

A hypothesis is a(n):

testable prediction that gives direction to research.

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 women's dorm. Your belief is a(n) ________, and your research prediction is a(n) ________.

theory; hypothesis

Compared with Wilhelm Wundt, early behaviorists were much less likely to focus on the study of:

thinking.

Cognitive neuroscience studies relationships between:

thought processes and brain functions.

Correlation refers to the extent to which two variables:

vary together.

People often fail to make accurate generalizations because they are unduly influenced by ________ cases.

vivid

Participants in an experiment are said to be blind if they are uninformed about:

which experimental treatment, if any, they are receiving.

Surveys indicate that people are much less likely to support "welfare" than "aid to the needy." These somewhat paradoxical survey results best illustrate the importance of:

wording effects.

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

2

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.

The most foolproof way of testing the true effectiveness of a newly introduced method of psychological therapy is by means of:

experimental research.

The most accurate way of assessing the impact of breast-milk feedings on the intellectual development of children is by means of:

experiments

If a positive correlation between two sets of scores is displayed as a scatterplot, the points are clustered in a pattern that:

extends from the lower left to the upper right of the graph.

Illusory correlation refers to:

the perception of a relationship between two variables that does not exist.

Your roommate is conducting a survey to learn how many hours the typical college 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.

In which type of research is a representative random sample of people asked to answer questions about their behaviors or attitudes?

the survey

How would you describe a scatterplot depicting a perfect correlation between two sets of scores?

All the points fall on a straight line.

Which of the following is true for those assigned to a control group?

The experimental treatment is absent.

Martina believes that high doses of caffeine slow a person's reaction time. In order to test this belief, she has five friends each drink three 8-ounce 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.

Introspection was the basic research tool used by ________ in order to study people's inner sensations and mental images.

Wilhelm Wundt

Who would be most likely to agree with the statement, "Psychology is the science of mental life"?

Wilhelm Wundt

An integrated understanding of the explanations provided by the neuroscience, cognitive, social-cultural, and other perspectives in psychology is most clearly provided by:

a biopsychosocial approach.

In order 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 pill that does not contain the drug. This second group constitutes the:

control group.

Which type of research would allow you to determine whether students' college 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 study is an example of:

correlational research.

Assessing whether conclusions are warranted by the existing evidence best illustrates:

critical thinking.

When you question whether anecdotal evidence can be generalized to all people, you are applying:

critical thinking.

The biopsychosocial approach emphasizes the importance of:

different levels of analysis in exploring behavior and mental processes.

Psychological theories:

do all of the alternatives.

Understanding why the fear of darkness may have contributed to the survival of our human ancestors is most relevant to the ________ perspective.

evolutionary

Which perspective would suggest that the facial expressions associated with the emotions of lust and rage are inherited?

evolutionary

After noting that a majority of professional basketball players are African-American, Ervin concluded that African-Americans are better athletes than members of other racial groups. Ervin's conclusion best illustrates the danger of:

generalizing from vivid cases.

A negative correlation between people's physical health and their marital happiness would indicate that:

higher levels of marital happiness are associated with lower levels of physical health.

Joe believes that his basketball game is always best when he wears his old gray athletic socks. Joe is a victim of the phenomenon called:

illusory correlation.

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

independent variable.

In an experimental study of the effects of dieting on weight loss, dieting would be the:

independent variable.

In order to understand the unusual behavior of an adult client, a clinical psychologist has carefully investigated the client's current life situation and his physical, social-cultural, and educational history. Which research method has the psychologist employed?

the case study

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

the double-blind procedure.

Which method offers the most reliable way of assessing whether athletic performance is boosted by caffeine consumption?

the experiment

Gamblers who blow on their dice "for luck" are victims of:

the illusion of control.

If psychologists discovered that intelligent parents have smarter children than unintelligent parents, this would demonstrate that:

the intelligence of parents and children is positively correlated.

In a survey, psychologists select a random sample of research participants in order to ensure that:

the participants are representative of the population they are interested in studying.

Illusory correlation refers to:

the perception of a relationship between two unrelated variables.