Chapter 1 Psychology

Psychics who perform poorly in laboratory tests and then blame their poor performance on "bad vibes" from skeptical researchers are displaying which sign of pseudoscience?

Ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

The idea of placing a third brake light at the base of a car's back windshield and changing the colour of fire engines from red to yellow are examples of __________.

Applied psychological research

"IQ must predict success in school because schools have been testing it for years" is an example of which type of reasoning error?

Argument from anti-quality fallacy

Twin and adoption studies addressing the nature-nurture debate are typically conducted by __________.

Behaviour genetics

Which type of psychologist is most likely to work with patients who have serious mental disorders such as major depression?

Clinical Psychologists

Which relatively new field of psychology examines the relationships between physiological brain activity on the one hand, and thinking, memory, and other mental functions on the other?

Cognitive Neuroscience

In the 1950s and 1960s, many psychologists were disillusioned with behaviourism's neglect of the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking. Arguing that thinking has a powerful effect on behaviour, psychologists such as Jean Piaget began to develop the field of __________.

Cognitivism

One reason that intuition and common sense are not a good basis for scientific psychology is that we often do not notice __________.

Contradictions between our views

Your friend is an emergency room nurse. He tells you the ER is always busier when there is a full moon; he claims it is because unstable people are more affected by the moon's gravitational pull. To evaluate his claim, you should understand that __________.

Correlation is not cause

Dr. Moore is doing cross-cultural research on an ethnic group in the Himalayas by attempting to take the perspective of a member of that group, relying on the terms and ideas that are typical of that group. What type of approach is Dr. Moore using?

Emic

One of the great debates that has shaped the field of psychology is the question of whether people choose their behaviours or are obliged to act in certain ways by factors beyond their control. This is known as the __________ debate.

Free-will determinism

Which theoretical framework of psychology was substantially influenced by biologist Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection?

Functionalism

Which statement best explains the concept of reciprocal determinism?

Humans mutually influence each other's behaviour

The theoretical framework of psychology known as structuralism had two major problems. One was that highly trained introspectionists often disagreed on subjective reports. The other was the discovery of __________.

Imageless thought

What does "thinking scientifically" mean?

Insisting on evidence

Wilhelm Wundt developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. He pioneered the technique of __________, in which trained observers reflected on and reported on their own mental experiences.

Introspection

According to philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, for a scientific claim to be meaningful, it must be falsifiable, which means __________.

It can be tested to determine if it is false

Which statement about free will is the closest to the beliefs of B.F. Skinner?

It does not influence behaviour even though many think it does

Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken conclusions are called __________.

Logical Fallacies

What does a psychological researcher do when developing a scientific hypothesis?

Make a testable prediction

When Dr. Kishimoto told students to try to set aside their biases, they protested that they did not have any biases. Which term best characterizes this type of fallacy?

Not me fallacy

According to John B. Watson, which component is most important when studying human psychology?

Observable behaviour

Josh saw a news report that a plane crash had just happened and immediately thought of the saying "bad things happen in threes." He felt validated when, within the next week, two more plane crashes were reported in the news. Which term best characterizes Josh's experience?

Patternicity

According to David Hume, an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, the more a claim contradicts what we already know, the more __________ must be the evidence for the claim.

Persuasive

The outgoing behaviour of other people can make an extraverted person act even more extraverted. Bandura called this mutual influence on one another's behaviour __________.

Reciprocal determinism

What principle of scientific thinking is ignored by the proponents of Thought Field Therapy , as described in the text?

Ruling out rival hypotheses

What do pseudoscientific claims lack?

Safe-guards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance

An approach to psychology that relied heavily on dream interpretation, symbolism, unconscious motives, and the suppression of sexual and aggressive urges was developed by __________.

Sigmund Freud

Who proposed that unconscious drives, such as sexuality and aggression, are the critical forces underlying our behaviour?

Sigmund Freud

British philosopher John Locke stood on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, comparing the mind of a newborn to a sheet of paper that had yet to be written on. Others later used which term to describe the same idea?

Tabula Rasa

According to researchers Whitson and Galinsky, which individuals are most likely to see conspiracies and embrace superstitions?

Those who lack personal control in their lives

According to a basic premise of science, how should knowledge initially be acquired?

Through observation

In thinking of the multiple levels of analysis in psychology, the neurochemical level is considered to be __________ because this level is more closely tied to biological influences.

Toward the lower end of the ladder

evolutionary psychology

a field that seeks to explain psychological traits as naturally selected adaptations.

The police have arrested a suspect in an assault case and the victim has agreed to look at a lineup to see if he can identify the person who attacked him. Gary, a police psychologist, is advising the detectives on the most accurate way to put together a lineup. What should he recommend that they use? a. sequential lineup b. segregated lineup c. subsequent lineup d. simultaneous lineup

a. sequential lineup

Alice is looking for an effective diet program. She is able to evaluate the claims of competing programs in an open-minded and careful fashion by _______, the hallmark of scientific skepticism. a. using her critical thinking skills b. being open to metaphysical reasoning c. using her common sense and intuition d. remembering that extraordinary claims require ordinary evidence

a. using her critical thinking skills

variable

anything that can vary

scientific skepticism

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

metaphysical claim

assertion about the world that is not testable

The "Third variable problem" is associated with which scientific thinking principle? a. ruling out rival hypotheses b. correlation is not causation c. falsifiability d. replicability

b. correlation is not causation

You meet a psychologist who tells you that she conducts research on children to determine how their cognitive processes differ as the child gets older. You recognize that this person is most likely a(n) _______ a. school psychologist b. developmental psychologist c. biological psychologist d. experimental psychologist

b. developmental psychologist

One reason people are drawn to believing in pseduoscience is that we use our emotions as guides to evaluate the validity of claims. This is known as the affect heuristic or the ________ a. attribution fallacy b. emotional reasoning fallacy c. pathetic fallacy d. bandwagon fallacy

b. emotional reasoning fallacy

Bud and Sandy are discussing the merits of new automobiles. Bud noted, "This car model has been tested by 4 different consumer agiences in hundreds of tests with virtually the same outcomes each time; it is very reliable." Sandy countered, "Yeah, but my neighbor down the street bought that car, and he has had nothing but problems. I would stay away from it." Which hallmark of pseudoscience has Sandy fallen prey to? a. lack of self-correction b. overrealiance on anecdotes c. the ad hoc immunizing hypothesis d. insisting on evidence rather than proof

b. overrealiance on anecdotes

Dr. Blank is a respected researcher, but when one of his experiments yielded results contrary to his hypothesis, he decided not to include that experiment in a report of his research. In so doing, what did Dr. Blank fail to overcome?

belief perseverance

naive realism

belief that we see the world precisely as it is

If we think of levels of analysis as rungs on a ladder, what would the lower rungs on the psychology ladder represent?

biological influence

Psychological researchers have become more aware of the importance of replicating research results. Part of this awareness is driven by the observation that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time. This phenomenon is known as the _______ a. correlation-causation fallacy b. skepticism effect c. decline effect d. reproductivity fallacy

c. decline effect

Ten-year old Candace Newmaker died as a result of a pseudoscientific treatment called "rebirthing therapy". This is an example of pseudoscience causing _______ a. scientific regression b. indirect harm c. direct harm d. cultural indifference

c. direct harm

Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because _________. a. it favors determinism over free will b. evolution is just a theory c. its predictions are difficult to falsify d. researchers prefer newer psychological theories

c. its predictions are difficult to falsify

An important principle of scientific thinking states that if two explanations account equally well for a phenomenon, we should generally select the simpler one. This principle is known as _________ a. replicability b. correlation vs. causation c. occam's razor d. falsifiability

c. occam's razorT

Laurie told her friend Sandi, "I had a headache this morning so I used an old family cure: Three sips of ginger ale, and an hour later my head felt better." Sandi replied, "I am glad you are feeling more comfortable now, but mayber the sheer passage of time made your headache go away." Sandi is offering a(n) ___________ in response to Laurie's explanation. a. extraordinary claim b. falsifiable pretext c. rival hypothesis d. causal correlation

c. rival hypothesis

E.B Titchener was a leading figure in which framework of psychology, which advocated the use of introspection to indentify basic elements of experience? a. functionalism b. cognitivism c. structuralism d. psychoanalysis

c. structuralism

Science writer Michael Shermer coined the termed "patternicity" to refer to _____ a. the patterns researchers must use to create falsifiable research studies b. common heritable characteristics that are passed down via the Y chromosome c. the human tendency to see patterns in meaningless data d. the way people use patterns to re-create existing objects in the world

c. the human tendency to see patterns in meaningless data

falsifiable

capable of being disproved

Just as behaviorism was gaining popularity in the US, Sigmund Freud was founding a new field of psychology, one that focused on internal psychological processes such as unconscious impulses, thoughts, and memories. This approach is called ________ a. structuralism b. functionalism c. cognitive psychology d. psychoanalysis

d. psychoanalysis

Some main warning signs of pseudoscientific claims include overreliance on anecdotes, exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity to other research, lack of peer review, and ______ a. replication by independent agencies b. the scientific method c. talk of evidence instead of proof d. use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense

d. use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense

A friend says he will not have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he is afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that idea. He says he knows that, but he just feels that it is true. What logical fallacy is at work?

emotional reasoning fallacy

Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This premise is called __________.

empiricism

correlation-causation fallacy

error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other

ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification

scientific theory

explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

decline effect

fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time

Which concept best reflects the principle known as Occam's razor?

logical simplicity

What type of claim is this? There is life after death at some point

metaphysical claim

introspection

method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

natural selection

principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other organisms

multiply determined

produced/caused by many factors

cognitive neuroscience

relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking

basic research

research examining how the mind works

applied research

research examining how we can use basic research to solve real-world problems

levels of analysis

rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences

structuralism

school of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of psychological experience

functionalism

school of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics

behaviorism

school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behavior

cognitive psychology

school of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behavior

psychoanalysis

school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we're unaware

pseudoscience

set of claims that seems scientific but isn't

critical thinking

set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion

confirmation bias

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and to deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

belief perseverance

tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

hypothesis

testable prediction derived from a scientific theory

bandwagon fallacy

the error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it

not me fallacy

the error of believing that we're immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people

emotional reasoning fallacy

the error of using our emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim (aka the affect heuristic)

reciprocal determinism

the fact that we mutually influence each other's behavior (Albert Bandura)

psychology

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

patternicity

the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in their absence

terror management theory

theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews

logical fallacies

traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions

individual differences

variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior

replicability

when a study's findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators