Exam 2: Scientific Methods in Psychology

Investigators are most likely to use the case history method when they study

The preference of scientists for the theory that makes the fewest unfamiliar or untested assumptions is known as the principle of

Which of the following correlation coefficients indicates that two variable have no measurable relationship to each other?

Dr. Rodentz deprives several rats of food for different lengths of time and then places them at the start of a maze. He records how long each rat takes to reach the food at the end of the maze. The time needed to reach the food is the

Which of the following is used in calculating a standard deviation?

According to one report, people with higher levels of stress have a greater probability of suffering a heart attack. Therefore the correlation between stress and probability of a heart attack is

In both our legal system and in science, which side of a dispute bears the "burden of proof"?

Dr. Wizard randomly assigns people to two groups. Those in the experimental group receive a "subliminal audiotape" that they are told will improve their self-esteem. The other group receives no treatment. Three weeks later Dr. Wizard interviews them and reports that people in the experimental group show higher self-esteem. What change would IMPROVE the procedure for this research?

Psychologists have the greatest confidence in their results if the results have been

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

"The Amazing Kreskin" is a professional psychic who demonstrates his powers by finding his paycheck hidden somewhere in the audience. If he doesn't find it, he doesn't get paid, but he is almost always successful. The most parsimonious explanation for this trick is that

Which of the following is a highly desirable feature of a scientific study?

The advantage of the experimental method as opposed to correlational studies is that an experiment

Which of the following do researchers generally regard as desirable?

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

It has been reported that people who trust other people are generally happier than people who do not trust others. This conclusion is probably based on the results of a

Which of the following would NOT be falsifiable?

Under which of the following circumstances is the median a much better indicator of most people's scores than the mean is?

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 result is replicable if