Exam 1: The Science of Psychology

The word correlation is often used as a synonym for __________.

Eloise just had her purse stolen while walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City, which is a very busy part of Manhattan. She screamed loudly, and several people looked in her direction, but nobody stopped walking or made an attempt to help. She immediately broke down in tears and trembled for 10 minutes until she could walk to her car. Eloise's experience is an example of __________.

Owen, a college sophomore, is seeing a psychologist because of his intense fear of people. His counselor feels that Owen's fear is a product of unresolved conflicts about his parents and his childhood experiences with them. Owen's therapist is most characteristic of which school of psychology?

In the 1970s, a 13-year-old girl was found locked up in a room, strapped to a potty chair. Since she had grown up in a world without human speech, researchers studied "Genie's" ability to acquire words, grammar, and pronunciation. This type of research is called a __________.

While Margaret F. Washburn was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology in the United States (in 1894), the first African American woman to do so was __________ in 1934 at the University of Minnesota.

Which of these is the most accurate definition of the discipline of psychology?

Political polls taken before major elections are examples of __________ research.

Dr. Acosta wants to know about the alcohol consumption patterns among college juniors in the United States. He should __________.

Zhang Wei records data that indicate that the number of hot chocolates sold at the concession stand increases as temperature outside decreases (for example, more hot chocolates are purchased during late fall than late spring). Which of the following statements is the most accurate depiction of this finding?

Dr. Archer wanted to see if people are more prone to seek the company of others when anxious than when calm. He randomly assigned half of his subjects to an anxiety group and then told them that, as part of the study, they would receive electric shocks. He did not frighten the other group of subjects. Finally, he recorded how many subjects in each group chose to be "tested" in a group setting and how many chose to be "tested" alone. What was the dependent variable in this study?

You are at a basketball game and the arena is packed; the crowd is evenly split between fans of the two teams. At one point, the referee makes a call. Half of the fans yell insults; the other half shout their approval. The event reminds you of the topic of today's lecture in psychology class. What was the likely topic of the lecture?

A common and very dangerous misconception often seen on the Internet is the idea that a childhood immunization, the MMR vaccine, causes autism. This is completely false, but began when a man published a falsified and now discredited paper making that claim. He was later found to have received money from lawyers representing parents of children with autism who wanted to sue the vaccine companies. Which criterion of critical thinking is most clearly being violated by those who accepted the false claim?

Positive correlation shows __________.

Unintended changes in participants' behavior due to cues inadvertently given by the experimenter are called __________.

A correlation coefficient shows that alcohol consumption and driving accidents are indeed related. As a result, a researcher could predict that the number of __________ if the direction of the relationship is known.

Which of the following statements is true about naturalistic observation?

The laboratory observation always involves watching behaviors as they occur without intervening or altering the behaviors in any way.

The work of Freud was built around a __________.

Critical thinking requires making judgments that are well-reasoned and well thought out.

Which perspective offers the best explanation for schizophrenia?