Exam 3: Inductive Reasoning in Psychology and Everyday Life

A critical difference between science and nonscience is that science relies on:

In response to Tom Cruise's 2006 remarks criticizing psychiatrists for using harmful techniques, such as shock therapy and overprescribing drugs, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) referred to the many research studies showing the effectiveness of certain drugs in the treatment of mental disorders. It further argued that psychotherapy is used effectively to treat such problems. Who should people believe and why?

Which statement is true about inductive reasoning versus deductive reasoning?

Psychologists who are aware of the limitations of inductive reasoning in drawing conclusions are reluctant to say that any experiment or other study "proved" that a hypothesis is true. These psychologists know that such conclusions are:

Which strategy is MOST likely to help fix or avoid the red herring fallacy?

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on national health insurance reform legislation in 2012, many people thought the conservative court would rule it unconstitutional. A CNN reporter read the first page of the multipage decision, which seemed to suggest that the Court had ruled the health insurance reform plan unconstitutional. The reporter announced that the Court had struck the legislation down as unconstitutional. Later, however, the unread pages of the document made it clear that the Court had ruled it was constitutional. What is the thinking error involved in this example?

Statements of authority provide the strongest evidence in scientific discussions when they are based on statements that are:

Which of the following thinking errors results from going past the data or exaggerating what a study has found to say so that the research implies more than the data support?

Committing the red herring fallacy involves sidetracking an argument away from the issue. This is a problem because well-reasoned conclusions should:

Leah found a picture of a dress on the Internet that looked blue to her, but she had heard some people thought it looked brown. She said to her friend Emma, who also thought it looked blue, "How could anyone think this dress is brown? We can see with our own eyes that it is clearly blue." Leah is MOST likely making the thinking error of _____, but could _____ to help fix or avoid that thinking error.

Greenwald and his colleagues (1991) found that subliminal learning tapes did not help participants improve their memory on objective memory tests, though subjectively the participants believed their memory had improved. This experiment:

In a discussion about the benefits of exercise on health, someone says, "Exercise is not always good for you, because I know a guy from my town who used to run 3 miles a day and then died at age 45 of a heart attack." In this argument, which type of evidence is used and what is its limitation?

Visual illusions, errors in memory, and naive realism are especially problematic for which kind of evidence?

To convince someone of reincarnation (rebirth into a new body), Ravi-a Hindu from India-said: "In India, I heard about a young boy who knew details about a man who had been a soldier and was killed in a war, even though the boy had been born 10 years after the soldier's death. The soldier's wife verified the things that the young boy said about the soldier." Which kind of evidence is Ravi using?

Distinguish between how deductive and inductive reasoning are used in psychology and what each can show.

The point that psychologist William James was making with his example of finding a white crow when a claim states that all crows are black was that:

In a discussion about marital infidelity, Maria said, "I would trust a woman more not to cheat in a relationship than a man, because everyone knows that men are more promiscuous than women." Maria is using a(n) _____ as evidence.

Lauren was talking to a classmate about emergency situations in which a person needs help right away. She said that everyone knows that a person is better off if there are a lot of people around to help because there is strength in numbers. From this, she concluded that if someone is in trouble, that person is much more likely to be helped when there is a crowd around than if there is just one other person available to help. Which kind of evidence is Lauren using?

The problem with making a sweeping generalization is that a person may:

Nasim was conducting a door-to-door survey of people's opinions about a plan developed by the city that would improve public transportation in the area but also likely raise taxes. He began in a more affluent part of the city and found almost unanimous opposition to the plan. When he reached the point at which 97% of respondents opposed the plan, he decided it would be futile to survey less affluent areas. Which strategy is MOST likely to help fix or avoid the thinking error that Nasim seems to be making?