Exam 1: Behavioral Science

Professor O'Malley is examining ways to help autistic children remain calm during class. He gives one group of autistic children a spinner that they can play with during class; the other group is given a small stuffed animal. He then measures attention during class. What is the dependent variable in this study?

Which of the following statements about hypothetical constructs is TRUE?

Explain why behavioral scientists question whether control should be a goal of science.

Joel recently had knee surgery. He is reviewing the health psychology literature to determine whether the post-treatment plan his physician proposed is better than the alternatives. Joel's actions best represent the ________ use of behavioral science theory and research.

Your text notes that theories incorporate the four goals of science. Explain how they do so.

Distinguish between internal and external validity.

Briefly describe a study with a manipulated independent variable and one dependent variable. Be sure to label which is which.

Define parsimony and explain why it is a desirable characteristic of a good theory.

List four errors you could make that would lead to inaccurate conclusions about the validity of your research study.

The theoretical goal of guiding action is related to the behavioral science goal of ________ behavior.

A theory that is clear is also

The scientific value of empiricism means that scientists should always

Distinguish between mediating and moderating variables.

Professor Rodriguez develops a theory of introversion-extroversion that holds that introversion and extroversion are opposites ends of a continuum, so that a person who is high on one must be low on the other. Professor Rodriguez views introversion-extroversion as a ________ construct.

The first step in the research process is

Defining a phenomenon is one aspect of the scientific goal of

Professor Shim wants to test the hypothesis that heterosexual men have more negative attitudes toward homosexuality than do heterosexual women. In this study, attitudes toward lesbians and gay men is a(n) ________ variable.

________ deals with the degree to which the design of a research study ensures that the effect of the independent variable is the only possible explanation for the study's results.

Theories are based on assumptions. Domain assumptions

Operational definitions