Exam 2: Studying Behaviour Scientifically

Stephanie conducts an experiment to learn if brunettes have more fun.She has three brunette female friends and three blonde female friends go to the same party and record how many times they are asked to dance.When Stephanie discovers that two of the three brunette friends in her experiment are terrible dancers,she realizes that her results may be invalid due to a

If scientific research shows that there is a positive correlation between the number of bars in a city and the number of churches in a city,we know that

For her experimental psychology class,Kristen has developed the hypothesis that intelligent people are more stressed out.Kristen's teacher tells her she needs to use operational definitions for her variables.This means that she needs to decide

Hailie is writing a psychology research paper.She has collected research from the past three decades,which her professor says is fine.What is confusing for Hailie is that her articles say different things.She finally asks you why all of the research has been published if some of it is obviously wrong.You tell her that

Zhuang is trying to decide which major he should choose in college.His older brother notes that Zhuang is always asking questions,so maybe he should become a scientist.If Zhuang asks the same kinds of questions that successful scientists ask,he is probably asking things like

Gary's son Sam is learning to drive.Each night,Gary takes Sam out in the family car for driving lessons.Gary notices that Sam improves more in lessons in which Gary is extremely critical.In fact,the more critical Gary is,the more Sam improves.After Sam gets his driver's license,Gary's wife Chrissy tells him that every time Gary was critical of Sam,she took him out so he could improve before his next lesson with his father.What was the problem with Gary's initial interpretation of Sam's improvement?

Survey research uncovers a strong positive correlation between family size and parental patience.Which of the following conclusions can accurately be made?

The psychologist Ann Rule spent a great deal of time with serial killer Ted Bundy after he was captured.She then wrote a best-selling book called The Stranger Beside Me,in which she described Bundy's life,experiences,and motivations.She also wrote about her own reactions to him;for example,"He certainly seemed to have made the most of his considerable assets.He was brilliant.handsome.[and his] treatment of me was the kind of old-world gallantry that he invariably showed toward any woman I ever saw him with,and I found it appealing." Though some say Rule's book is an important part of any posthumous research involving Bundy,case studies often have several drawbacks.What type of bias does the excerpt above suggest about Rule's approach to gathering and interpreting data?

Matthew is conducting research to learn whether chewing peppermint gum during learning will improve recall if the participants are also chewing peppermint gum when they take a test.Matthew assigns the first 10 people who arrive to his experimental group.He assigns the last 10 people to his control group.What mistake has Matthew already made?

Fred does a correlational study on shoe size and intelligence.He learns that the two variables are not related.Therefore,his correlation coefficient will be close to

Priscilla wants to design a study that will let her look at whether people with high self-esteem are more likely to leave an unsatisfying relationship than those with low self-esteem.The only problem is that she can't look inside people's heads to see their degree of self-esteem.What should be her first step?

Dr.Howard really wants her newly developed antianxiety medication to help people,but by smiling at the people who are getting the new drug and not at those who are getting the placebo,she is influencing her experimental subjects to respond differently than her control group subjects.In other words,she is unintentionally creating

Madison does a study to find out if talking on a cell phone while driving increases drivers' ability to react quickly to unexpected events.In her study,the dependent variable is

One day,after their psychology class,Olivia and Hannah are talking about dreaming.Most mornings Olivia doesn't remember any of her dreams,but occasionally she has vivid recollections when she wakes.Hannah says she has the same experience and wonders why.When they talk to friends about the phenomenon,they notice a pattern related to the stress of the previous day.They verbalize this pattern as,"When people feel stressed out over something one day,they are more likely to remember their dreams the following day." Olivia and Hannah have just formed a

After the serial killer Ted Bundy was captured,he participated in a number of interviews and took various psychological tests.The interviews with him were particularly valuable to researchers,because his level of sociopathy is rare and perpetrators are often unwilling to assist researchers.Therefore,his case was ideal for a/an

As Werner and his classmates begin to observe bullying among children for a class paper,he realizes that the children have many different reactions and his group needs to find a way to measure those responses.What would be the best approach?

Nathaniel is designing an experiment: He wants to learn how much time other students at his university spend studying for their art history exams.He decides to use a self-report survey,but he knows that people might over- or under-report their study time,due to

Sarah has just moved to a new city,where she works the night shift at the local hospital.On her way home from work,she walks through a park having a high crime rate.Sarah reasons that she is safe,because there are always a lot of people around.According to the research conducted by Darley and Latané,Sarah is

Thea is taking a social psychology class and is asked to come up with a hypothesis.She decides to see if opposites do in fact attract.On campus the next day,she notices how many people in couples seem to be opposites.When Thea arrives in class with her hypothesis,she mentions it to Melaina,who sits next to her.Melaina is surprised.She says,"My roommate suggested I see if 'birds of a feather' really 'flock together,' and they sure seemed to!" Both Melaina and Thea have found evidence for their hypotheses.What principle is affecting the reasoning of each?

Madison does a study to learn if drinking warm milk before one goes to bed shortens the time it takes one to get to sleep.In her study,the independent variable is