Module 6, 7, 8 - Psych

which ethical principle requires that at the end of the study participants be told about the true purpose of the research?

debriefing

"Monday morning quarterbacks" rarely act surprised about the outcome of weekend football games. This tendency to believe they knew how the game would turn out is best explained by which psychological principle?

Hindsight bias

A scientist's willingness to admit that she is wrong is an example of...

Humility

Which method should a psychology researcher use if she is interested in testing whether a specific reward in a classroom situation causes students to behave better?

Experiment

How do we describe data using three measures of central tendency, and what is the relative usefulness of the two measures of variation?

- A measure of central tendency is a single score that represents a whole set of scores. Three such measures that we use to describe data are the mode (the most frequently occurring score), the mean (the arithmetic average), and the median (the middle score in a group of data). - Measures of variation tell us how diverse data are. Two measures of variation are the range (which describes the gap between the highest and lowest scores) and the standard deviation (which states how much scores vary around the mean, or average, score). - Scores often form a normal (or bell-shaped) curve.

The following data set includes information from survey research in a psychology course regarding how many hours each individual in the class spent preparing for the exam. Student Amount of hours reported studying 1 2 2 3 3 6 4 8 5 9 6 9 7 21 Examine the data and responded to the following: What is the middle score in this distribution? What term is used to describe the middle score? What would be the most useful statistic for measuring the variation of the hours spent studying? Why is this statistic a better measure of the variation than the range?

- the middle score is eight, and it is called the median. - the most useful statistic for measuring variation is the standard deviation. - the standard deviation is a better measure of variation than the range because it considers all scores rather than just the two most extreme scores

Which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest relationships between two variables?

-.85

What are positive and negative correlations, and why do they enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation?

-In a positive correlation, two factors rise or fall together. In a negative correlation, one item rises as the other falls. -Scatterplots can help us to see correlations. -A correlation coefficient can describe the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables, from +1.00 (a perfect positive correlation) through zero (no correlation at all) to −1.00 (a perfect negative correlation). --A correlation can indicate the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but it does not prove the direction of the influence, or whether an underlying third factor may explain the correlation.

What are the characteristics of experimentation that make it possible to isolate cause and effect?

-To discover cause-effect relationships, psychologists conduct experiments, manipulating one or more factors of interest and controlling other factors. -Using random assignment, they can minimize confounding variables, such as preexisting differences between the experimental group (exposed to the treatment) and the control group (given a placebo or different version of the treatment). -The independent variable is the factor the experimenter manipulates to study its effect; the dependent variable is the factor the experimenter measures to discover any changes occurring in response to the manipulations. Studies may use a double-blind procedure to avoid the placebo effect and researcher's bias.

In a normal distribution, what percentage of the score in the distribution falls within one standard deviation of either side of the mean?

68 percent

Which of the following is a positive correlation?

As study time decreases, students achieve lower grades

Does behavior depend on one's culture and gender?

Attitudes and behaviors vary across cultures, but the underlying principles vary much less because of our human kinship. Although gender differences tend to capture attention, it is important to remember our greater gender similarities.

Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?

By intentionally creating a controlled, artificial environment in the lab, researchers aim to test theoretical principles. These general principles help explain everyday behaviors.

Why is random assignment of participants to groups an important aspect of a properly designed experiment?

If the participants are randomly assigned, the researcher can assume that the people in each of the groups are pretty similar

Researchers have discovered that individuals with lower income levels report fewer hours of total sleep. Therefore,

Income and sleep levels are positively correlated

When a distribution of scores is skewed, which of the following is the most representative measure of central tendency?

Median

Which of the following demonstrates the need for psychological science?

Our intuitions about human thinking and behavior are not always accurate

Which of the following is not an ethical principle regarding research on humans?

Participants should always be informed of the hypothesis of the study before they agree to participate

Which of the following is an example of negative correlation?

People who spend more time exercising tend to weigh less

Is psychology free of value judgments?

Psychologists' values influence their choice of research topics, their theories and observations, their labels for behavior, and their professional advice. Applications of psychology's principles have been used mainly in the service of humanity.

Which of the following is a measure of variation?

Range

The purpose of random assignment is to

Reduce potential confounding variables.

Which of the following represents naturalistic observation?

Researchers watch and record how elementary school children interact on the playground

Which of the following is only used in correlation studies?

Scatter plot

Why do psychologists study animals, and is it ethical to experiment on animals?

Some psychologists are primarily interested in animal behavior. Others study animals to better understand the physiological and psychological processes shared by humans. - Government agencies have establish standards for

Which descriptive statistic would a researcher use to describe how close a student's SAT score is to a school's average SAT score?

Standard deviation

Descriptive statistics ______ while, inferential statistics_____.

Summarize data; determine if data can be generalized to other populations.

Why do psychologists study animals, and what ethical guidelines safeguard human and animal research participants?

The APA ethics code outlines standards for safeguarding human participants' well-being, including obtaining their informed consent and debriefing them later.

What statistical measure of central tendency is most affected by extreme scores?

The Mean is most effected

Ms. Ledbetter wants to determine if the new review activity she developed will improve student performance on unit exams. She randomly separates 160 students into two groups. Group A reviews for the unit exam in the traditional manner they have always used. Group B participates in the new review activity. After reviewing, both groups are given the same unit exam and their scores are compared. Identify the independent and dependent variables for this experiment.

The independent variage is the form of review and the dependent variable is their scores.

A researcher wants to conduct an experiment to determine if eating a cookie before class each day improves student grades. He uses two psych classes for the experiment, providing daily cookies to one and nothing to the other. At the end of the semester, the researcher compares the final grades of students in the two classes. What is the independent variable for this experiment?

The presence or absence of cookies

A journalism student is writing an article about her school's new cell-phone policy, and she'd like to interview a random sample of students. Which of the following is the best example of a random sample?

The writer pulls the names of five students from a hat that contains all students' names. She interviews the five selected students

Researchers studying gender have found that...

There are more similarities than differences between the genders

A researcher calculates statistical significance for her study and finds a 5 percent chance that results are due to chance. Which of the following is an accurate interpretation of this finding?

This is the minimum result typically considered statistically significant

Students with higher scores on anxiety scales were found to have lower scores on standardized tests. What research method would show this relationship? Why can no cause-effect conclusion be drawn from the results?

This research method is a correlation study. There are three possibilities for causation: Anxiety could cause low test scores, low test scores could cause anxiety, or a third factor could cause both anxiety and low test scores. No conclusions can be drawn about causation because this is not an experiment.

How do we know whether an observed difference can be generalized to other populations?

To feel confident about generalizing an observed difference to other populations, we would want to know that the sample studied was representative of the larger population being studied; that the observations, on average, had low variability; that the sample consisted of more than a few cases; and that the observed difference was statistically significant.

There is a negative correlation between TV watching and grades. What can we conclude from this research finding?

We can conclude that a student who watches a lot of TV is likely to have lower grades

what must a researcher do to fulfill the ethical principal of informed consent?

allow participants to chose whether to take part

Which of the following is more likely to be emphasized in individualist cultures than in collectivist cultures? a. gender differences b. shared goals c. personal achievement d. cooperation of the group e. preservation of tradition

c. personal achievement

which of the following beliefs would most likely be held by an individualist in a collectivist culture?

children should be encouraged to be developed harmonious relationships.