Exam 2: Scientific Methods in Psychology

Which of the following correlation coefficients indicates that you could use measurements of one variable to predict measurements of a second variable with perfect accuracy?

A psychologist evaluates 60 people at the start of therapy and again at the end of 8 weeks of therapy.She reports that 55 of the 60 are "improved," and concludes that the therapy was effective.One flaw in this study is that it lacks

Which of the following correlation coefficients indicates the weakest relationship between two variables? That is,which one permits the least accurate predictions of one variable from the other?

A proponent of ESP claims that ESP shows up only when the vibrations are right and that there is no way to know whether the vibrations are right except to see whether ESP shows up.What is wrong with this theory from a scientific standpoint?

Sometimes an inert pill is given to experimental participants,but they are told that the pill is effective.This pill is called a ____________________. placebo

To test the value of the study guide,Professor Lewis gives a free copy to the students sitting in the first two rows of class.Later she finds that these students got better grades than the students in the back of the room (who didn't get study guides).What is wrong with this experiment?

Consider the following set of scores on a quiz: 2,2,3,5,8.The mean for this set of scores is 3.

Psychology experiments have typically shown that

The ____________________ is the item that an experimenter measures to determine how it was affected. dependent variable

If a group has the same percentage of young and old,male and female,and educated and uneducated people as the population as a whole,then this group is a

Which of the following is an operational definition of "grief"?

When "The Amazing Kreskin," the professional psychic,finds his check hidden somewhere in the audience,he uses the same method used by

An experimenter exposed students to one hour of soft,intermediate,or loud noise and then tested their ability to solve puzzles.What was the independent variable in this experiment?

Parents who frequently beat their children tend to have aggressive children.What,if anything,can we conclude?

An operational definition is a definition that

Which of the following would a psychological experimenter try to avoid or minimize?

Which of the following is an operational definition of "confusion"?

Researchers collected information from 500 children on the amount of violent TV they watched.They also collected ratings of how aggressive these children were.The researchers measured TV watching and aggressiveness when these same subjects more than fifteen years later.The highest correlation was observed between

Which of the following would best describe the kind of research a psychologist would use to study whether facial expressions have the same meaning for various people throughout the world?

Which of the following is the BEST conclusion from the research discussed on the effects of watching television violence and aggressive behavior?