Psychology Chapter 1 Questions
What kind of sample gives each person an equal chance of participating in a survey?
A random sample.
Dr. Petrie is interested in learning about the immigration experiences of Somalian migrants in Minnesota. Which method would be BEST for this research interest?
A survey.
In an experiment, a researcher can make claims about causation if:
Changing the independent variable resulted in changes in the dependent variable.
Dr. Infield assesses and treats people with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. She is MOST likely a:
Clinical psychologist.
Cognitive neuroscientists link brain activity and:
Cognitive processes.
Kari admires her neighbor, who is well known for taking in numerous stray animals. Kari is also interested in studying how to get more people to adopt pets from the animal shelter. Which scenario is the BEST approach for studying this type of altruistic behavior?
Conduct a case study by intensely interviewing the neighbor over the course of a year, but remember that anything one learns about her altruistic behaviors might not be relevant to the rest of the population.
Which of the following is NOT a tool that can be used in empirical research?
Content analysis.
Predictions can be made if you have ___ data.
Correlational.
Dr. Jenkins is a psychologist who places a high value on humility. Which question is she MOST likely to ask herself?
Could I be wrong?
Dr. Hernandez helps people cope with challenges and crises and to improve their personal and social functioning. She is MOST likely a:
Counseling psychologist.
A local news program reports that, "Sixty-eight percent of our viewers think a property tax hike is a good idea." Because only 3000 people out of the thousands who watch the program sent texts in response to their survey, Sarah wonders whether the evidence justified this conclusion. Sarah is demonstrating:
Critical thinking.
"He wanted to do for psychology what the Periodic Table of the Elements did for chemistry," lectures a psychology professor. To whom is the professor MOST likely referring?
Edward Bradford Titchener.
The ___ approach involves directly observing the topic of interest.
Empirical.
The only research method that can be used to explain what caused a change in a variable is ____ research.
Experimental.
Researchers conduct ___ when they want to establish causation.
Experiments.
Samar is having trouble coping with stressful life events, so he begins seeing a therapist. The therapist emphasizes the importance of the need for love and acceptance. Her approach is best described as _____.
Humanism.
Javier has designed a survey to measure the attitudes of the students at his university about the bus service on campus. He hopes to survey 1000 of the 21,000 students on campus. All the students at Javier's university form the _____from which he will draw his sample
Population.
To control for experimenter bias as well as extraneous variables such as severity of condition, attitudes, and age, researchers use ___ in establishing their experimental and control groups.
Random assignment.
Dr. Miller conducted an exercise in his class in which two students each flipped a coin and recorded how many times they received heads or tails. One student had five heads in a row, while the other student's coin toss had no pattern. Dr. Miller explained that while the five-head pattern is interesting, it is BEST explained by:
Random events.
Market researchers sent an opinion survey to every twenty-fifth person who ordered a subscription to a weekly news magazine. The researchers were MOST clearly employing a technique known as:
Random sampling.
John is convinced that his potato chip is in the shape of Elvis's face. John is demonstrating:
The perception of order in random events.
Psychology is defined as:
The scientific study of mind and behavior.
Andrea is reading an introduction to a research report in psychology in which there is a general, comprehensive account of human aggression. Andrea is reading a(n):
Theory.
The first psychology laboratory was established by:
Wilhelm Wundt.
In his research, Dr. Gilly focuses on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures. Dr. Gilly favors the _____perspective in psychology.
Social-cultural psychologist.
Dr. Pujols wants to find the most reliable way of assessing whether caffeine consumption improves athletic performance. Which method should she choose?
The experiment.
According to the ethical principles of the American Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society, is it ever acceptable to stress or deceive research participants?
Yes, both temporary stress and deception can be used when needed.
William James
- Disagreed that consciousness could be broken down into separate elements. - Argued that consciousness was like a flowing stream, serving to adapt people to their environments. - Studied mental function. ---> ALL OF THESE CHOICES ARE CORRECT
A variable that is measured in an experiment is called:
A dependent variable.
College courses in psychology encourage students to question assumptions, weigh evidence, and evaluate claims. Psychology courses may therefore contribute to the development of students' _____thinking skills.
Critical.
Curiosity, skepticism, and humility, which are essential when considering researchers' claims prepare us to examine any assumptions behind the claims discern hidden bias, and evaluate the evidence. This demonstrates how the scientific attitude is related to ___ thinking.
Critical.
Approximately ___ percent of Americans ___ believe that crime has increased during the past year.
70; incorrectly.
An experimenter had groups of one to four people look up at the sky on a street corner and measured what proportion of people who walked by also looked up. This is an example of:
An experiment.
If a research study has an independent variable it must be:
An experiment.
In his research, Dr. Edwards focuses on how people learn observable responses. Dr. Edwards favors the _____perspective in psychology.
Behavioral.
Dr. Lyons helps people cope with challenges and crises and to improve their personal and social functioning. She is MOST likely a(n) _____psychologist.
Counseling.
William and Joy want to strengthen their marital relationship, so they are seeing Dr. Royce. Neither William nor Joy has a psychological disorder. Dr. Royce is most likely a(n) _____psychologist.
Counseling.
Dr. Levy's research showed that a dose of 200 mg of experimental Drug R had a minimal effect in reducing the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). He then revised the study's hypothesis by increasing the dosage to 300 mg. In this context, reduction of GAD symptoms is the:
Dependent variable.
Dr. Rowan attempts to help his patients uncover unconscious motives and conflicts. Dr. Rowan appears to reflect the _____approach in psychology.
Freudian.
Noreen asserts that our behavior often reflects unconscious motives and conflicts. This viewpoint is most consistent with the ____ perspective in psychology.
Freudian.
Dr. Petrovic's goal is to help his clients channel their motivation for positive growth and to realize their potential. He is MOST likely a _____therapist.
Humanistic.
In the 1990s, the U.S. Army used the recruiting slogan, "Be all that you can be." This catchphrase BEST reflects the ___ perspective in psychology.
Humanistic.
Dr. Clark's research indicates that teen parents tend to develop healthier relationships with female infants than with male infants. Three subsequent studies by other psychologists fail to confirm her results. After reading those studies, Dr. Clark suspects that her own studies were flawed in some way. Dr. Clark is demonstrating the scientific attitude of:
Humility.
Roger believes that he has extrasensory perception. He predicts that he will be able to correctly guess heads or tails at least 85 times out of 100 coin flips. This prediction is a(n):
Hypothesis.
Which research method involves assessing behavior in various environments without trying to control the situation?
Naturalistic observation.
Reckless behavior and self-control are opposite traits. Surveys are MOST likely to indicate that reckless behavior and self-control are:
Negative correlated.
A focus on how the body and the brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences is MOST relevant to the ___ perspective in psychology.
Neuroscience.
Professor Ahmed brings 2 year olds into the lab and has them interact with toys. Professor Ahmed records which toys the children play with for the longest. This is an example of a _____ study.
Observational.
Professor Tan found a strong correlation between SAT scores and introductory psychology grades for students at his college. His data will allow him to:
Predict a student's introductory psychology score based on their SAT scores.
Dr. Nichols is licensed to prescribe drugs and otherwise treat the physical causes of psychological disorders. He is MOST likely a(n) _____.
Psychiatrist.
Sam, who experiences auditory hallucinations and other symptoms of schizophrenia, has not been taking his medication. Dr. Kohn is evaluating Sam and may admit him to the hospital so that she can restart his medications and monitor his response. Dr. Kohn is MOST likely a(n) _____.
Psychiatrist.
The question of how someone's personality traits can be explained by unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas would be of MOST interest to a psychologist working from a(n) ___ perspective.
Psychodynamic.
Iyesha reads a journal article reporting a study in which a small sample of women undertook tests of spatial ability at two points during their menstrual cycle. She decides to conduct a similar study using a larger sample of women. Iyesha is performing a(n):
Replication.
Because Josh accepts everything his teacher tells him as absolute truth, people say that he lacks the scientific attitude of:
Skepticism.
Aaron decided to invest his money in several technology start-ups. He was quite excited and told his wife about his new financial venture. She was very supportive. Eighteen months later, all but one of the companies had declared bankruptcy. Aaron's wife was furious and told him that anyone could have seen that these companies were going to fail. This illustrates:
The hindsight bias.
After the events of 9/11, a friend suggests that the CIA and FBI should have foreseen the likelihood of this act of terrorism. According to this friend, all the clues were there. This perception MOST clearly illustrates:
The hindsight bias.
Which is NOT mentioned in the textbook as an area in which case studies have contributed substantially to psychologists' knowledge?
Voter behavior.
A correlation allows a researcher to:
Describe the relationship between variables.
Dr. Loyola administers surveys to 15 refugees of the roughly 5000 refugees from Somalia who reside in Minneapolis because she is interested in their immigration experiences. After examining the survey answers, Dr. Petrie concludes that all refugees in Minnesota, roughly 12,000 in total, have experienced racism and discrimination since coming to the United States. What are some problems with this study?
Sample size and sample bias.
Which scenario would be considered a naturalistic observation?
Watching children play together at a fast-food restaurant.
Observational studies can only produce:
Descriptive data.
Dr. Ruth decided to assess whether violent imagery affected people's sense of humor. She showed married couples either violent or nonviolent movie scenes. Then the couples watched a comedy skit, and Dr. Ruth's assistants measured how often the couples laughed. In this research, the dependent variable consisted of: Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button.
Sense of humor.
Dr. Hernandez is interested in parent-child interaction during a play environment. Dr. Hernandez will more than likely use _______ to collect data.
Naturalistic observation.
Professor Partridge has 9 seven-year-olds and 9 nine-year-olds study a set of pictures. He then asks the participants to verbally describe as many different pictures as possible. In this experiment, the independent variable is:
Age.
An experiment can be conducted:
Anywhere.
Researchers continue to debate the origin of knowledge. Some believe that people are born with certain types of knowledge, while others believe that knowledge is gained through experience. Dr. Lock believes that children learn language through experience, is MOST similar to the ideas of the Classical Greek philosopher ___.
Aristotle.
Wood and colleagues examined the value of self-affirmation. In a typical study, participants either engaged or did not engage in self-affirmations. Later, their current self-esteem was assessed. Which answer correctly names and identifies the variables in this study?
Independent variable—self-affirmations; dependent variable—self-esteem scores.
Penny is recovering from drug addiction. Her treatment program emphasizes the influence of her environment—"people, places, and things"—on her use of her drug of choice. Her program reflects the _____ perspective in psychology.
Behaviorist.
Dr. Aba is conducting a study to determine whether there is a relationship between birth order and shyness. Before conducting this study, Dr. Aba needs to develop an operational definition of:
Both shyness and birth order.
A professor directs a child and adolescent clinic that focuses on helping patients change their actions, not on helping them understand themselves or satisfy their inner needs. Which perspective in psychology is represented in the professor's views?
Behaviorism.
A psychologist asks research participants to report their immediate sensations, images, and feelings as they taste a new soda. This is a research method called _____.
Introspection.
Person-who reasoning (for example, "But I know a person who . . .") is often used to counter conclusions drawn from statistical analyses of human behavior more generally. Although vivid personal anecdotes are easily remembered, they may reflect atypical examples, illustrating an important limitation of research using:
Case studies.
An in-depth study of a healthy 89-year-old man who has smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for more than 60 years is intended to reveal universal principles related to the effects of smoking on health. However, the man is atypical. This illustrates a weakness of which method of descriptive research?
Case study.
Dr. Han is examining the impact of parents separating from their children on the children's academic performance. He defines parental separation as no contact between the child and parent for a period of six months or more. Academic performance is being measured using students' grade point average and end-of-year grades. Dr. Han believes that if the children have experienced parental separation that they will perform poorly in school. Which of these is Dr. Han's hypothesis?
Children who experience parental separation will perform poorly in school.
Dr. Fellows conducts research that focuses on how people encode, process, store, and retrieve information. Dr. Fellows favors the _____perspective in psychology.
Cognitive.
Dr. Keely works to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all. He is MOST likely a:
Community psychologist.
If a researcher wants to know the relationship between two variables that they cannot manipulate in laboratory, such as the average temperature and the amount of carbon emitted in a given year, the researcher can:
Compute a correlation.
Professor Mendez wants to know how people develop stereotypes. In order to understand how, Professor Mendez will have to:
Conduct an experiment.
In a study of whether alcohol consumption might affect memory, research participants were assigned to drink either or a nonalcoholic beverage to completing a memory test. Those who drank the nonalcoholic beverage participated in the ___ group.
Control.
Discerning the unstated assumptions and values that underlie conclusions BEST illustrates ___, which is an important learning tool.
Critical thinking.
People who demonstrate ___ ask questions such as these: How do they know that? What is this person's agenda? Is the conclusion? What alternative explanations are possible?
Critical thinking.
An advertisement touts the muscle-building benefits of a new herbal supplement. Before she purchases the supplement, Jana investigates the credentials of the individuals testifying to its benefits and does research on the company that manufactures the supplement. She also searches the scientific literature for any controlled research that might attest to the action of the supplement. Jana is engaging in _____thinking.
Critical.
Dr. DiLorenzo is performing statistical computations to combine the results of a number of studies investigating the relationship between day-care quality and developmental outcomes among children ages 2 to 4. Dr. DiLorenzo is conducting a(n):
Meta-analysis.
Dr. Vockler conducted an experimental study to determine if different dieting programs had any impact on weight loss. In this context, weight loss would be the study's:
Dependent variable.
In an industrial research laboratory, Drs. French and Heinz are conducting an experiment on the effects of sugar on consumers' perception of condiment flavor. Participants are randomly assigned to a sugar-sweetened, reduced-sugar, or sugar-free group. Participants then rate condiment flavor on a variety of scales. In this experiment, flavor perception is the _____variable.
Dependent.
Professor Patel is conducting observational research on children in kindergarten. Her data will make it possible for her to:
Describe the children.
Dr. Wright is a therapist who believes that unconscious thought processes impact behavior, which is a core belief of:
Freudian psychology.
After physicians are given case information and an autopsy report, they are very likely to presume that they could have figured out the cause of death with the case information alone. This tendency reflects an error in thinking called the _____bias.
Hindsight.
Sheree is having trouble coping with stressful life events, so she begins seeing a therapist. The therapist emphasizes the importance of the need for love and acceptance. To which school of thought does she subscribe?
Humanistic psychology.
The leader of a self-help group has asked a psychologist to recommend an approach to psychology that emphasizes personal growth and people's need for love and acceptance. Which perspective is psychology would one recommend for this group?
Humanistic psychology.
In psychology class, Alexi claims that women are more empathic than men, but then immediately questions his own conclusion, saying, "Hmm, could I be wrong about that?" He is demonstrating the scientific attitude of _____.
Humility.
Which statement represents a hypothesis implied by the theory that hunger improves intellectual performance?
Hungry adults will score higher on a math test than adults who are not hungry.
The head of an advertising agency predicts that the client's sales will double within six months after the new advertising campaign begins. This prediction is a(n):
Hypothesis.
Because ___ have the same genes, they are ideal participants in research that examines the relative influence of environment and heredity on human traits.
Identical Twins.
To assess whether sense of humor is affected by violent imagery, researchers exposed married couples to either violent or nonviolent movie scenes prior to watching a comedy skit. In this research, the independent variable consisted of:
Level of violence shown.
In her research, Dr. Ahura focuses on how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. Dr. Ahura favors the _____perspective in psychology.
Neuroscientist.
A pharmaceutical company has developed a new medication to treat depression. The results of the company's studies indicate that the medication significantly reduces symptoms of depression in 90 percent of people diagnosed with depression. However, numerous well-constructed replications of these studies fail to obtain the same results; rather, the replication studies indicate that the new medication is no more effective than a placebo in reducing the symptoms of depression. Researchers can conclude it is likely that the:
New medication is not an effective treatment for depression.
The results of Dr. Zimmerman's study on parenting styles were controversial, so other researchers were eager to replicate the study to see if they would obtain the same results. What information about Dr. Zimmerman's study would these researchers typically need to replicate it?
Operational definitions.
A good theory:
Organizes observations.
Caroline is excited about her wedding this Sunday. She strongly believes that she and Ray will be happy for the rest of their lives. But she also realizes that marriages end in divorce and that she really cannot predict what will happen. She is trying to avoid over thinking?
Overconfidence.
Many of the students in Dr. Smith's criminology class are taking the course as part of a requirement. However, nine students are criminal justice majors. Although they are all tempted to believe they will become future professionals in the field, they this belief in order to avoid a flaw in thinking known as:
Overconfidence.
Sylvie and Ray were sure that they had correctly answered most of the questions on a psychology test. However, they each scored less than 55 percent on the exam. The BEST illustrates.
Overconfidence.
Because food intake and weight tended to rise and fall together, Sabrina notes that there is a _____correlation between them.
Positive.
The term ___ is used to describe a culture where people's emotions and personal beliefs often override their acceptance of objective facts.
Post-truth.
A professor surveys her class about whether the number of breaks is adequate for the three-hour course. For her survey, she assigns a number to each student's name so that 20 students can be randomly chosen by her computer program. Her survey will be both a representative and a(n) _____sample.
Random.
Professor Enfield has 8 ten-year-olds and 8 fifteen-year-olds study a book about beekeeping for either 5 minutes or 10 minutes and then recall as much information as possible. In this experiment, the dependent variable is:
Recall of beekeeping information.
In psychology class, when Matt claims that woman are more empathetic than men, Shari asks, "How do you know?" She is demonstrating the scientific attitude of ___.
Skepticism.
In psychology class, Paul claims that women are more empathic than men. If Anna asks, "How do you know?" she is demonstrating the scientific attitude of _____. If Paul immediately questioned his own statement, he would be demonstrating the scientific attitude of _____.
Skepticism; humility.
A political rally erupts in violence, seriously injuring a number of attendees. An editorial columnist writes that city officials should have realized the violence would occur. "All the signs were there," the columnist notes. This belief MOST clearly illustrates hindsight bias, otherwise known as:
The I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.
Professor West has 30 participants drink either 0 mg, 2 mg or 4 mg of caffeine mixed in juice before completing two tasks; a response time task and a memory task. In this experiment, the independent variable is:
The amount of caffeine consumed.
Javier has a problem controlling his temper and violent behavioral outbursts. Considering the complexity of his problem, _____is the BEST way to understanding his problems.
The biopsychosocial approach.
Professor Ravalli is seeking the possible causes of depression among college students. She plans to use multiple levels of analysis to examine the problem. Which approach will Professor Ravalli MOST likely use to study this problem?
The biopsychosocial approach.
Cordell just found out that the homecoming queen and captain of his high school football team are splitting up. Cordell recalls the last time he saw them together and has the feeling that he could have predicted their break up. Cordell's feeling reflects an error in thinking known as:
The hindsight bias.
In her introductory psychology course, Dr. Campbell requires each student and a partner to design and conduct a research study. Lisa and her partner have selected the survey method. What should they keep in mind as they design their study?
The order and wording of questions is critically important, as is choosing a random, representative sample of the population under study.
In a social psychology experiment, one group of participants is reminded of a social stereotype they are likely to hold; another is not reminded. All participants then interact with a member of the stereotyped group, and the nature of their interactions is recorded. Which statement is true?
The reminded group receives the treatment and is the experimental group.
Jeff and Susan were participants in a research study examining the influence of stimulants on memorization abilities. Jeff was given coffee that had caffeine in it while Susan was given decaffeinated coffee. They each had to memorize a list of words. Jeff:
Was in the experimental group.
A researcher is LEAST likely to find a positive correlation between freshman grade point average (GPA) and:
Weekly alcohol consumption.
Which scenario BEST illustrates critical thinking?
When reading a magazine article claiming that orange juice consumption triggers hyperactivity in children, Kris wondered whether it was based on anecdotes or on evidence and whether alternative explanations were possible.
In an experiment conducted by Professor Costa, participants press one button if they see a red light and another button if they see a green light. Professor Costa is studying the amount of time it takes to press the buttons. This is similar to experiments conducted by which early psychologist?
Wilhelm Wundt.
