Question 1

Describe three ways that scientific journals/journal articles are different from popular magazines/magazine articles.

Accepted Answer

Students must mention three of the following: journal articles are peer reviewed,journal articles are written for psychology researchers and students,scientific journals do not tend to have advertisements in them,scientific journals are available from libraries and online databases (rather than in regular bookstores).

Question 2

The problem with the pop-up principle is which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  We do not examine all of the evidence, only what we can quickly think of. 
B)  We rely on the opinions of others rather than on our own opinions. 
C)  It keeps us from examining our own experience. 
D)  We will never be right in our conclusions. 
E)  None of the above is the problem with the pop-up principle. 
A)  We do not examine all of the evidence, only what we can quickly think of. 
B)  We rely on the opinions of others rather than on our own opinions. 
C)  It keeps us from examining our own experience. 
D)  We will never be right in our conclusions. 
E)  None of the above is the problem with the pop-up principle. A

Question 3

Patrick is confident that his short-term memory is better than most people's.He knows this because compared with his friends,he can remember more names than they do.Which of the following should we do?

Accepted Answer

A)  Believe that his short-term memory is better that most people's because confident people are more often accurate 
B)  Believe that his short-term memory is better than most people's because he has a comparison group 
C)  Not believe that his short-term memory is better than most people's because confidence does not ensure accuracy 
D)  Not believe that his short-term memory is better than most people's because there are few individual differences in short-term memory 
E)  There is not enough information to answer this question. 
A)  Believe that his short-term memory is better that most people's because confident people are more often accurate 
B)  Believe that his short-term memory is better than most people's because he has a comparison group 
C)  Not believe that his short-term memory is better than most people's because confidence does not ensure accuracy 
D)  Not believe that his short-term memory is better than most people's because there are few individual differences in short-term memory 
E)  There is not enough information to answer this question. C

Question 4

Sasha believes that she is a nice person.To confirm this,she asks all her friends whether she is a nice person and they all agree that she is.Sasha concludes that she is a nice person and says she has evidence of it.However,she does not ask any of her enemies whether they think she is a nice person.Sasha would likely draw a different conclusion if she did which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  Asked her friends to answer her question in anonymous multiple-choice format 
B)  Asked her enemies if she was a nice person 
C)  Counted up all the times she was nice in the past 
D)  Asked all her friends the same question again in another 6 months 
E)  Considered all the times she was nice to her enemies 
A)  Asked her friends to answer her question in anonymous multiple-choice format 
B)  Asked her enemies if she was a nice person 
C)  Counted up all the times she was nice in the past 
D)  Asked all her friends the same question again in another 6 months 
E)  Considered all the times she was nice to her enemies

Question 5

Angela reads about a study in which cell phone use is associated with migraine headaches.She says,"Well,that study is not valid because I use a cell phone more than anyone I know and I never get migraines." Based on her comment,Angela may be forgetting which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  The study is in a prestigious magazine. 
B)  The study has been replicated. 
C)  The study did not properly define cell phone use. 
D)  Science is probabilistic. 
E)  Science is based on empiricism. 
A)  The study is in a prestigious magazine. 
B)  The study has been replicated. 
C)  The study did not properly define cell phone use. 
D)  Science is probabilistic. 
E)  Science is based on empiricism.

Question 6

Ellie is looking for a summary of research on the effects of childhood abuse on adult functioning.Which of the following scientific sources would NOT be an ideal source?

Accepted Answer

A)  A meta-analysis 
B)  A review journal article 
C)  An empirical journal article 
D)  A chapter in an edited book 
E)  All of the above are ideal sources 
A)  A meta-analysis 
B)  A review journal article 
C)  An empirical journal article 
D)  A chapter in an edited book 
E)  All of the above are ideal sources

Question 7

Which of the following can be said of most authorities?

Accepted Answer

A)  They do not cherry-pick evidence. 
B)  They do not base their opinions on their own experience. 
C)  They do not base their opinions on their intuition. 
D)  They base their conclusions only on well-conducted research. 
E)  None of the above can be said. 
A)  They do not cherry-pick evidence. 
B)  They do not base their opinions on their own experience. 
C)  They do not base their opinions on their intuition. 
D)  They base their conclusions only on well-conducted research. 
E)  None of the above can be said.

Question 8

Sasha believes that she is a nice person.To confirm this,she asks all her friends whether she is a nice person and they all agree that she is.Sasha concludes that she is a nice person and says she has evidence of it.However,she does not ask any of her enemies whether they think she is a nice person.This is an example of which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  Cherry-picking of evidence 
B)  Availability heuristic 
C)  Fourth cell reasoning 
D)  Overconfidence 
E)  All of the above are examples of "thinking what we want" 
A)  Cherry-picking of evidence 
B)  Availability heuristic 
C)  Fourth cell reasoning 
D)  Overconfidence 
E)  All of the above are examples of "thinking what we want"

Question 9

You are having lunch with several friends and discussing the link between homework and exam grades.Oliver says,"I know that doing homework improves exam grades because I always do my homework and I have a 4.0." Julia says,"I know that doing homework improves exam grades because a blog I read on an education website says so." Richard says,"I know that doing homework improves exam grades because that makes sense.Teachers would not assign it if it did not." Provide a response to each friend for why his or her reasoning is unsound.

Accepted Answer

Students should mention to Oliver that h

Question 10

Imagine that Dr.Jones publishes a study that claims that drinking while pregnant is dangerous for the health of the unborn baby.He finds that of the 100 women in his study who drank when pregnant,78 had children who experienced problems with attention.Of the 100 women in his study who did not drink when pregnant,only 29 children experienced problems with attention.Your neighbor says that Dr.Jones is wrong because she drank when pregnant and her child is perfectly healthy.Explain why Dr.Jones is not wrong.

Accepted Answer

Students should explain that behavioral

Question 11

Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?

Accepted Answer

A)  Its cost 
B)  The number of pages 
C)  The number of references 
D)  The number of authors 
E)  Its year of publication 
A)  Its cost 
B)  The number of pages 
C)  The number of references 
D)  The number of authors 
E)  Its year of publication

Question 12

RESEARCH STUDY 2.1
Charlotte is studying subliminal messages and weight loss. She is curious whether people who hear in the music on their iPods subliminal messages that encourage weight loss ("don't eat that food," "you want to be thin") lose more weight than people who do not have subliminal messages in their music. She studies 40 people and finds the following results:
  
-Refer to Research Study 2.1 above to answer the following question. A change to which of the following cells will result in a different interpretation of the results of subliminal messages?

Accepted Answer

A)  Cell A 
B)  Cell B 
C)  Cell C 
D)  Cell D 
E)  A change in any of the cells will affect the interpretation 
A)  Cell A 
B)  Cell B 
C)  Cell C 
D)  Cell D 
E)  A change in any of the cells will affect the interpretation

Question 13

RESEARCH STUDY 2.2
Charlotte is studying subliminal messages and weight loss. She is curious whether people who hear in the music on their iPods subliminal messages that encourage weight loss ("don't eat that food," "you want to be thin") lose more weight than people who do not have subliminal messages in their music. She studies 40 people and finds the following results:
  
-Refer to Research Study 2.2 above to answer the following question.
Explain why the results of Cell B and Cell D are important.

Accepted Answer

The results of Cell B and D are importan

Question 14

Karla is starting her study for her research methods and needs to begin finding some research articles.She tells you that she plans on searching for her sources on GoogleScholar.Provide three reasons that you would recommend that she use PsycINFO instead to search for sources.

Accepted Answer

Students must mention three of the follo

Question 15

Provide at least three reasons that explain why using a wiki is a less-than-ideal source for psychological research.

Accepted Answer

Students should state three of the follo

Question 16

Lana is writing her first empirical journal article.Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did,she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings.In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?

Accepted Answer

A)  Introduction 
B)  Method 
C)  Results 
D)  Discussion 
E)  References 
A)  Introduction 
B)  Method 
C)  Results 
D)  Discussion 
E)  References

Question 17

Vanessa claims that she sleeps better when she falls asleep to music.She has a comparison group,because she has noticed that she does not listen to music every night,only when she remembers to plug in her iPod.She typically remembers her iPod on nights when she is able to finish studying earlier.What problem do you see in Vanessa's reasoning about sleeping better to music?

Accepted Answer

A)  Vanessa may be sleeping better because she is less distracted by studying/going to bed sooner. 
B)  Vanessa's belief that she sleeps better with music is not falsifiable. 
C)  Vanessa is biased because she sleeps in the same bed every night. 
D)  Vanessa cannot make the claim about sleeping better to music because she has not asked a psychologist. 
E)  There is no problem with Vanessa's reasoning. 
A)  Vanessa may be sleeping better because she is less distracted by studying/going to bed sooner. 
B)  Vanessa's belief that she sleeps better with music is not falsifiable. 
C)  Vanessa is biased because she sleeps in the same bed every night. 
D)  Vanessa cannot make the claim about sleeping better to music because she has not asked a psychologist. 
E)  There is no problem with Vanessa's reasoning.

Question 18

Compared with doing a generic Internet search,why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?

Accepted Answer

A)  It is free. 
B)  It provides you with research abstracts. 
C)  It can be done on any computer. 
D)  It searches research scientists' websites. 
E)  PsycINFO is not a superior way to find scientific sources. 
A)  It is free. 
B)  It provides you with research abstracts. 
C)  It can be done on any computer. 
D)  It searches research scientists' websites. 
E)  PsycINFO is not a superior way to find scientific sources.

Question 19

The two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

Accepted Answer

A)  Thinking the easy way and thinking what we want to think 
B)  The present-present bias and the confederate bias 
C)  Probabilistic thinking and nonintuitive thinking 
D)  Overconfidence bias and oversimplification bias 
E)  None of the above 
A)  Thinking the easy way and thinking what we want to think 
B)  The present-present bias and the confederate bias 
C)  Probabilistic thinking and nonintuitive thinking 
D)  Overconfidence bias and oversimplification bias 
E)  None of the above

Question 20

Yasmine believes that attractive people make more money because among her four friends who work at a local restaurant,the most attractive of the four makes the most in tips.A study by Judge,Hurst,and Simon (2009)found that attractive people make more money.Provide two reasons why Yasmine should be more convinced about the relationship between attractiveness and income by the Judge,Hurst,and Simon paper than by her personal experience.

Accepted Answer

Students should say

Describe three ways that scientific journals/journal articles are different from popular magazines/magazine articles.

The problem with the pop-up principle is which of the following?

Patrick is confident that his short-term memory is better than most people's.He knows this because compared with his friends,he can remember more names than they do.Which of the following should we do?

Angela reads about a study in which cell phone use is associated with migraine headaches.She says,"Well,that study is not valid because I use a cell phone more than anyone I know and I never get migraines." Based on her comment,Angela may be forgetting which of the following?

Ellie is looking for a summary of research on the effects of childhood abuse on adult functioning.Which of the following scientific sources would NOT be an ideal source?

Which of the following can be said of most authorities?

Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?

Karla is starting her study for her research methods and needs to begin finding some research articles.She tells you that she plans on searching for her sources on GoogleScholar.Provide three reasons that you would recommend that she use PsycINFO instead to search for sources.

Provide at least three reasons that explain why using a wiki is a less-than-ideal source for psychological research.

Lana is writing her first empirical journal article.Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did,she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings.In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?

Compared with doing a generic Internet search,why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?

The two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

Psychology Is a Way of Thinking

Three Claims,Four Validities: Interrogation Tools for Consumers of Research

Ethical Guidelines for Psychology Research

Identifying Good Measurement

Describing What People Do: Surveys,Observations,and Sampling

Bivariate Correlational Research

Multivariate Correlational Research

Introduction to Simple Experiments

More on Experiments: Confounding and Obscuring Variables

Experiments With More Than One Independent Variable

Quasi-Experiments and Small-N Designs

Replicability,Generalization,and the Real World

Filters

Exam 2: Sources of Information: Evaluating,Finding,and Reading Information

Describe three ways that scientific journals/journal articles are different from popular magazines/magazine articles.

The problem with the pop-up principle is which of the following?

Patrick is confident that his short-term memory is better than most people's.He knows this because compared with his friends,he can remember more names than they do.Which of the following should we do?

Angela reads about a study in which cell phone use is associated with migraine headaches.She says,"Well,that study is not valid because I use a cell phone more than anyone I know and I never get migraines." Based on her comment,Angela may be forgetting which of the following?

Ellie is looking for a summary of research on the effects of childhood abuse on adult functioning.Which of the following scientific sources would NOT be an ideal source?

Which of the following can be said of most authorities?

Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?

Karla is starting her study for her research methods and needs to begin finding some research articles.She tells you that she plans on searching for her sources on GoogleScholar.Provide three reasons that you would recommend that she use PsycINFO instead to search for sources.

Provide at least three reasons that explain why using a wiki is a less-than-ideal source for psychological research.

Lana is writing her first empirical journal article.Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did,she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings.In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?

Compared with doing a generic Internet search,why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?

The two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

Psychology Is a Way of Thinking

Three Claims,Four Validities: Interrogation Tools for Consumers of Research

Ethical Guidelines for Psychology Research

Identifying Good Measurement

Describing What People Do: Surveys,Observations,and Sampling

Bivariate Correlational Research

Multivariate Correlational Research

Introduction to Simple Experiments

More on Experiments: Confounding and Obscuring Variables

Experiments With More Than One Independent Variable

Quasi-Experiments and Small-N Designs

Replicability,Generalization,and the Real World

Filters