Deck 2: Studying Behaviour Scientifically

Question 1

If John Darley and Bibb Latané were to make the statement,"If an emergency occurs,then,the greater the number of bystanders,the less likely any one bystander will be to intervene," it would be considered an example of a(n):

A) hypothesis.
B) theory.
C) correlation.
D) initial research question.

Answer 1

hypothesis.

Question 2

One common characteristic of a good theory is that:

A) all things being equal,a good theory is simple.
B) all things being equal,a good theory is complex.
C) it tends NOT to generate new hypotheses.
D) it focuses exclusively on independent variables.

Answer 2

all things being equal,a good theory is simple.

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an attitude associated with scientific thinking?

A) curiosity
B) skepticism
C) open-mindedness
D) intolerance

Answer 3

intolerance

Question 4

Which of the following refers to any characteristic that can vary?

A) operational definition
B) hypothesis
C) variable
D) theory

Question 5

The statement,"If patients are given Drug X,then they will be less depressed," is an example of a(n)

A) hypothesis.
B) theory.
C) variable.
D) operational definition.

Question 6

When presented with the findings of psychological research,it is not uncommon for people to comment that the results are trivial,obvious,and that they "knew that all along." This tendency is referred to as:

A) the law of parsimony.
B) hindsight bias.
C) the bystander effect.
D) an unobtrusive measure.

Question 7

Which of the following is a major problem of after-the-fact or "hindsight" explanations?

A) There are many ways of explaining past events and there is usually no way to know which of these explanations is correct.
B) Hindsight explanations fail to provide a foundation on which further scientific study can occur.
C) Science requires that theories be testable and hindsight explanations are usually too theoretically complex and sophisticated to be testable.
D) Hindsight explanations overemphasize the importance of external validity.

Question 8

Which of the following defines a variable in terms of the specific procedures used to measure it?

A) dependent variable
B) independent variable
C) operational definition
D) archival measure

Question 9

You develop a new theory that resolves several seemingly conflicting findings and theories,and explains the research results within a single broad framework.This best demonstrates which characteristic of a good theory? Your theory:

A) conforms to the law of parsimony.
B) predictions are supported by new research.
C) is testable.
D) organizes information in a meaningful way.

Question 10

If a research study found that career motivation was higher among recent immigrants to America than among Americans,most people could readily offer several reasonable explanations for this finding.However,if the study found that career motivation was higher among Americans than recent immigrants to America,most people could generate an equally convincing set of explanations.This example demonstrates the problems associated with:

A) operational definitions.
B) hypotheses.
C) after-the-fact explanations.
D) theoretical predictions.

Question 11

One of the main differences between theories and hypotheses is that:

A) theories tend to be broader than hypotheses.
B) hypotheses tend to be broader than theories.
C) theories tend to be externally valid,whereas hypotheses tend to be internally valid.
D) theories use operational definitions,whereas hypotheses do not.

Question 12

Which of the following is the first step in the scientific process?

A) Hypothesis
B) Theory
C) Data analysis
D) A curious observer asks "why?" an event occurred.

Question 13

Which of the following is a characteristic of a good theory?

A) Testability.
B) Different than existing research.
C) Complexity and intricacy.
D) Does not require future research.

Question 14

Which of the following best represents a good scientific attitude? Science:

A) is a collection of facts.
B) can solve world problems.
C) is more valuable when people have a healthy skepticism.
D) always provides firm conclusions.

Question 15

Freud developed a psychodynamic perspective to explain human behaviour.This perspective is an example of a(n)

A) Hypothesis.
B) Theory.
C) Independent variable.
D) Dependent variable.

Question 16

Which of the following statements regarding theories and hypotheses is TRUE? Hypotheses:

A) use independent variables,whereas theories use dependent variables.
B) specify lawful relations between behaviours and their causes,whereas theories do not.
C) are derived from theories.
D) do not use operational theories but theories do.

Question 17

A hypothesis is best considered as a(n):

A) tentative explanation or prediction about some phenomenon.
B) attempt to explain something after it has already occurred.
C) set of formal statements that explain how certain events are related to one another.
D) particular type of experimenter expectancy.

Question 18

Which of the following is a formal set of statements that explains why and how certain events are related to one another?

A) hypothesis
B) specific prediction
C) theory
D) operational definition

Question 19

The first step in the scientific process is to:

A) create a hypothesis.
B) form a question about something interesting.
C) create a prediction.
D) test a hypothesis.

Question 20

A friend of yours is telling you about the results of a multimillion-dollar government-funded study she heard about on the news last night.She complains that she could have predicted the results of the study before it was done and that here is yet another instance of the government wasting the taxpayers' hard-earned money.Which of the following issues would have the most relevance to the potential accuracy of your friend's complaints? It is the ______________________.

A) limitations of hindsight explanations
B) problem of demand characteristics
C) limitations of correlational research
D) problem of experimenter expectancy effects

Question 21

The essential function of an operational definition is that it translates something:

A) measurable into something observable.
B) measurable into something abstract.
C) observable into something abstract.
D) abstract into something observable and measurable.

Question 22

Researchers sometimes gather information about people's overt behaviours by using pre-existing records or documents which are called _________________.

A) archival measures
B) physiological responses
C) self-report measures
D) random samples

Question 23

In order to assess the effectiveness of a new statewide seatbelt law,researchers collected data from the Department of Transportation regarding the number of traffic fatalities in the last year.This type of measurement of behaviour is called a(n):

A) case study.
B) archival measures.
C) sample.
D) meta-analysis.

Question 24

The case study is an example of which kind of research method?

A) descriptive
B) correlational
C) experimental
D) hypothetical

Question 25

A college advisor wants to know how much TV students in her dorm are watching,but she has noticed that students tend to leave the TV room when she comes in to see who is watching.To get around this problem,she decides to measure wear-and-tear on the TV remote control as a measure of how much TV is being watched.Like many psychologists,this advisor is using a(n):

A) unobtrusive measure.
B) hypothesis.
C) double-blind procedure.
D) placebo control group.

Question 26

A museum is interested in determining which particular pieces of art are the most popular but does not want to directly ask its patrons.Instead,the head of the museum decides to keep track of the wear on the carpet in front of each of the pieces,assuming that the more popular pieces will have more worn carpet in front of them.This particular way of measuring art popularity is making use of a(n):

A) confounding variable.
B) placebo.
C) representative sample.
D) unobtrusive measure.

Question 27

If a researcher conducting an observational study of people at a shopping mall is making use of an unobtrusive measure,which of the following will he NOT have to worry about?

A) Potential experimenter expectancy effects contaminating his observations.
B) Using operational definitions to define the variables in which he is interested.
C) The generalizability of the findings from his study.
D) The people in the mall changing their behaviour because they know they are being watched.

Question 28

In a study looking at which factors influence interpersonal attraction,the researcher uses a very attractive person for an assistant.Interpersonal attraction is then assessed by whether subjects call up the attractive assistant to ask the person on a date.The method used to assess interpersonal attraction would be considered a(n):

A) correlational study
B) hypothesis
C) case study
D) operational definition

Question 29

A series of questions that asks about how a person typically feels or behaves is called a(n)

A) neuropsychological test.
B) physiological test.
C) personality test.
D) intelligence test.

Question 30

When the researcher observes behaviour as it occurs in a normal or typical setting,she is using _______________.

A) survey research
B) a case study
C) correlational research
D) naturalistic observation

Question 31

Specialized tests that evaluate normal or abnormal brain functioning are called ___________ tests.

A) neuropsychological
B) physiological
C) personality
D) reaction time

Question 32

Which of the following would specifically be an advantage of the case study method of research? Case Studies:

A) generally are not susceptible to experimenter expectancy effects.
B) are a good method for studying rare events.
C) are very useful for determining cause-effect relationships.
D) generally are not vulnerable to experimental confounds.

Question 33

Researchers decide to measure depression by evaluating the participants' levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin.The operational definition for depression is the ____________.

A) depression
B) level of serotonin
C) researcher
D) participant

Question 34

The tendency to respond in what is believed to be a socially appropriate manner rather than according to how a person actually thinks,feels,or behaves is called ______________.

A) reactivity
B) the social desirability bias
C) confounding
D) the placebo effect

Question 35

A psychologist decides that she will assess stress by measuring subjects' blood pressure.This is an example of a(n):

A) control group.
B) operational definition.
C) population.
D) case study.

Question 36

The social desirability bias was discussed as a limitation of which of the major ways of measuring behaviour?

A) physiological measures
B) behavioural observations
C) reports by others
D) self-report measures

Question 37

If you are conducting research that involves making observations of people's behaviour,one major issue that you would need to be concerned about is:

A) that people may behave differently when they know they are being watched.
B) that if you do not have a representative sample,then your observations will be confounded.
C) that people's behaviours often do not have good internal validity.
D) that you must consider at least two different variables in order to draw cause-and-effect conclusions.

Question 38

Imagine you have created a new personality questionnaire and you are worried about social desirability influencing people's responses.Which of the following would minimize the impact of this potential problem?

A) make sure that the sample of people completing the questionnaire is representative
B) use random assignment
C) use the double-blind procedure
D) have the people complete the questionnaire anonymously

Question 39

One problem with physiological measures is

A) social desirability.
B) objectivity.
C) ambiguity about their meaning.
D) all of these.

Question 40

A young man is interested in making a good impression on the parents of the person he is currently dating.Because of this,when he meets them he overemphasizes his good qualities and ignores many of his shortcomings.This man's behaviour is most relevant to which of the following concepts?

A) experimenter expectancy effects
B) the social desirability bias
C) confounding variables
D) demand characteristics

Question 41

A procedure in which every member of a population has an equal probability of being selected to participate in the study is called

A) population assignment.
B) snowball sampling.
C) random assignment.
D) random sampling.

Question 42

With regard to survey research it can be said that it is:

A) better to have a smaller sample than a larger sample.
B) better to have a larger unrepresentative sample than a smaller representative sample.
C) better to have a smaller representative sample than a larger unrepresentative sample.
D) better to have an internally valid sample than an externally valid sample.

Question 43

In a negative correlation,higher scores on one variable are associated with ____________ scores on a second variable.

A) the same
B) lower
C) random
D) higher

Question 44

An important advantage of naturalistic observation is that it can:

A) provide important information on cause-effect relationships.
B) more easily be incorporated into meta-analyses.
C) provide detailed information on naturally occurring behaviour.
D) tend to have low external validity.

Question 45

A sample that accurately reflects the population from which it was taken is called a _______________ sample.

A) representative
B) concentrated
C) developed
D) theory-generated

Question 46

A researcher wants to study the effect of child abuse on intellectual development.Which type of methodology would be ethically acceptable?

A) Correlational
B) Experimental
C) Both correlational and experimental
D) This research could not be conducted ethically.

Question 47

Assume that you are a researcher conducting a survey.Which of the following steps would be most important if you wanted to ensure that the sample in your survey is representative?

A) Random assignment to create your sample.
B) Unobtrusive measures of behaviour.
C) Random sampling to create your sample.
D) A placebo control group in your survey.

Question 48

A researcher is examining the relation between two variables: variable X and variable Y.If she is conducting a correlational study,the researcher ____________ variable X and ____________ variable Y.

A) manipulates;manipulates
B) manipulates;measures
C) measures;manipulates
D) measures;measures

Question 49

A psychologist suggests that,as there is a positive correlation between people who take more vacations and better physical health,people should take more vacations to improve their physical health.After thinking about this result,you realize that this association may be a result of a third factor: income.People with more income can afford more vacations and can afford better health care.This explanation best illustrates which limitation of correlational research?

A) bidirectional causality problem
B) third variable problem
C) placebo effect
D) experimenter expectancy effects

Question 50

While conducting a survey interview,a participant becomes slightly embarrassed and decides to answer the questions in such a way as to make himself look more friendly and acceptable to the interviewer.The participant does this on his own and is NOT responding to any cues the interviewer is providing.This example most clearly demonstrates which limitation of survey research?

A) experimenter effects
B) demand characteristics
C) the social desirability bias
D) random sampling

Question 51

In order to learn about the social behaviour of children,a developmental psychologist goes to a school and watches the children playing on the playground outside during recess.This psychologist is engaged in which method of research?

A) naturalistic observation
B) correlational research
C) a case study
D) experiment research

Question 52

Which of the following would be a potential limitation of naturalistic observation?

A) The observer's presence may disrupt or influence the behaviour of the person or animal they are watching.
B) Naturalistic observation makes improper use of random assignment.
C) The settings in which naturalistic observations typically occur tend to be unrealistic laboratory settings.
D) Naturalistic observation relies too heavily on the use of archival measures.

Question 53

If a sample in a survey accurately reflects the important characteristics of the population from which it is drawn (e.g. ,the sample has 53% women and the population has 53% women),the sample is said to be:

A) a random sample.
B) a representative sample.
C) randomly assigned.
D) internally valid.

Question 54

A statistic that indicates the strength and direction of a relation between two variables is called a(n)_____________________ coefficient.

A) relation
B) association
C) correlation
D) causality

Question 55

You study 100 children for a month,measuring how much TV they watch and how many aggressive acts they perform.You find that TV watching and aggression are highly and positively correlated.Based on this study,you can:

A) conclude that watching TV caused children to behave more aggressively.
B) conclude that an aggressive personality causes children to watch more TV.
C) conclude that TV watching and aggression are causally related,although you can't tell which causes which.
D) NOT draw any causal conclusions about the relation between TV watching and aggression.

Question 56

Which of the following would be most useful in helping you determine if two variables are associated with one another? A(n):

A) unobtrusive measure of behaviour
B) good operational definition
C) representative sample
D) scatterplot

Question 57

Which of the following goals is best suited to correlational research? To

A) determine cause-effect relations.
B) gather detailed information about a single variable.
C) examine associations between several variables.
D) observe behaviour in natural settings.

Question 58

Which of the following correctly defines the term sample,as it is used in survey research?

A) a subset of individuals drawn from the entire group in which we are interested
B) all the individuals we are interested in drawing conclusions about
C) all the members of any experimental or control group
D) a preliminary survey designed to determine whether there are any problems with it

Question 59

Initially,people or animals may behave differently if they are being watched,but,over time,they become acclimated to the presence of an observer and their behaviour returns to normal.This process is specifically referred to as:

A) adaptation.
B) naturalization.
C) adjustment.
D) habituation.

Question 60

Examining the social behaviours of whales as they migrate is an example of

A) a case study.
B) naturalistic observation.
C) survey research.
D) an experiment.

Question 61

One of the important advantages of correlational research is that it:

A) can be used to infer causal relations.
B) is not susceptible to the social desirability bias.
C) can be used to make predictions.
D) tends to have higher internal validity than do other research methods.

Question 62

In an experiment assessing the effect of pain on anxiety,anxiety is the

A) independent variable.
B) dependent variable.
C) experimental condition.
D) control condition.

Question 63

A graph used to graphically represent a correlation between two variables is called a(n)____________________.

A) scattergram
B) scatterplot
C) correlation map
D) association chart

Question 64

If there is a strong correlation suggesting that more parental involvement is associated with a higher IQ for children,which would be the most likely correlation coefficient?

A) 1.90
B) 0.80
C) 0.20
D) 0

Question 65

The logic behind most experimental research design contains three essential steps: manipulate one variable,measure whether this manipulation affects another variable,and:

A) interpret the correlation between the two variables.
B) attempt to manipulate other factors.
C) attempt to control or hold constant other factors.
D) use random sampling.

Question 66

The experiment on driving and cell phone use conducted by Strayer (2003)described in the text had two independent variables.Each independent variable had two levels.How many conditions were there?

A) 2
B) 4
C) 8
D) 16

Question 67

The procedure that ensures that all subjects have an equal chance of being in any group or condition within the experiment is called:

A) random sampling.
B) random choice.
C) random assortment.
D) random assignment.

Question 68

If there is a weak correlation suggesting that more exposure to media violence is associated with more aggressive behaviour,which would be the most likely correlation coefficient?

A) 1.00
B) 0.20
C) -0.20
D) -1.00

Question 69

In an experiment,which of the following is defined as a group that is not exposed to the treatment or that receives a zero-level of the independent variable?

A) contrast
B) experimental
C) check
D) control

Question 70

If there is a strong correlation suggesting that more parental involvement is associated with fewer behaviour problems for children,which would be the most likely correlation coefficient?

A) 1.00
B) 0.20
C) -0.20
D) -0.80

Question 71

An animal researcher is studying the effect of a new drug on the memory of mice.One group of mice receives the drug,whereas a second group does not.The memory of the mice is then tested by how quickly they can negotiate a maze.In this example,the group of mice that does NOT receive the drug would be considered the ____________ group.

A) experimental
B) correlational
C) control
D) confounding

Question 72

An educational psychologist wants to study the effectiveness of using the Internet as a way of taking academic classes.She designs a study in which one group of students is assigned to take a course in a standard classroom with a live instructor.Another group of students is assigned to take the same course over the Internet.The psychologist then compares the course grades for students in each of the two groups.In this case,the instruction group (regular class vs.Internet class)would be considered the ____________ variable.

A) dependent
B) correlational
C) confounding
D) independent

Question 73

In experimental research,the researcher ______________ the independent variable and _________________ the dependent variable.

A) manipulates;manipulates
B) manipulates;measures
C) measures;manipulates
D) measures;measures

Question 74

The range of the correlation coefficient is

A) 0 to 1.0.
B) 0 to 100.
C) -1.0 to +1.0.
D) negative infinity to positive infinity.

Question 75

One of the essential features of true experiments is that:

A) participants in all conditions are treated exactly the same.
B) except for the measurement of the dependent variable,participants in all conditions are treated the same.
C) except for the manipulation of the independent variable,participants in all conditions are treated the same.
D) except for the use of random selection,participants in all conditions are treated the same.

Question 76

In experimental research,the variable that is manipulated by the experimenter is called the ________________ variable.

A) independent
B) dependent
C) operational
D) random

Question 77

In order for a study to be considered an experiment,there must be both random assignment of subjects/participants to groups,and _______.

A) equal numbers of male and female subjects
B) preliminary testing to see if participants are eligible
C) specific measurement of variables
D) manipulation of an independent variable

Question 78

A researcher wants to assess the effect of sleep on test performance.She brings students into the lab,gives each student an IQ test,and then asks them how much they slept last night.This would NOT be an experiment because

A) IQ was measured first.
B) sleep was measured second.
C) sleep and IQ were measured at the same time.
D) no variable was manipulated.

Question 79

In an experiment assessing the effect of pain on anxiety,pain is the

A) independent variable.
B) dependent variable.
C) experimental condition.
D) control condition.

Question 80

One of the essential differences between experimental research and correlational research is that:

A) in experimental research all variables are measured,whereas in correlational research at least one variable is manipulated.
B) in experimental research,subjects are randomly assigned to the levels of the independent variable.
C) experimental research uses random sampling,whereas correlational research uses random assignment.
D) experimental research has higher external validity than correlational research.