Deck 3: Developing Ideas for Research in Psychology

Question 1

Qualitative research is to quantitative research as _______ is to _______.

A)analytic narrative; inferential analysis
B)applied research; basic research
C)field research; laboratory research
D)basic field research; applied field research

Answer 1

analytic narrative; inferential analysis

Question 2

What is the advantage of using operational definitions?

A)they force researchers in different laboratories to all use the exact same definition
B)they facilitate replication
C)it's easy to agree on a universal definition for a concept like aggression
D)there are no advantages to using operational definitions; no two persons can ever agree on the best definition

Answer 2

they facilitate replication

Question 3

After completing their laboratory experiment on exposure to violent video games, why did Bushman and Anderson (2009)complete a field experiment on the exposure to violence and helping behavior?

A)they wanted to improve experimental realism
B)they wanted to see if the results of their first experiment would generalize to everyday situations
C)they wanted to rule out alternative interpretations of their laboratory experiment
D)they wanted to increase sample size

Answer 3

they wanted to see if the results of their first experiment would generalize to everyday situations

Question 4

Compared to field research, which of the following is true about laboratory research?

A)it allows for a greater degree of control over variables
B)it may be lower in mundane realism
C)both informed consent and debriefing are easier to manage
D)all of the above

Question 5

In Bushman and Anderson's (2009)field experiment, who was the experimental confederate?

A)a young man who was heard fighting with another person
B)a young woman with and apparent ankle injury and crutches at a movie theater
C)a young woman with and apparent ankle injury and crutches in the laboratory
D)the experimenter who administered the questionnaires

Question 6

Participants are asked to memorize three different lists of words. The lists are presented at three different presentation speeds. How would you classify this study?

A)applied research
B)field research
C)basic research
D)both a. and b.

Question 7

Empirical questions must

A)be answerable with data
B)include terms that can be operationally defined
C)both alternatives a. and b.
D)none of the above

Question 8

Which of the following research studies is most obviously an example of basic research?

A)the effect of delaying reward on maze learning in rats
B)the effectiveness of hypnosis for improving courtroom eyewitness memory
C)worker productivity in well-lit vs. poorly-lit environments
D)whether hands-free cell phones are less disruptive to driving than hand-held phones

Question 9

Compared to field research, what is the advantage of laboratory research?

A)informed consent is easier
B)it allows experimental realism to occur
C)there is a greater degree of mundane realism
D)only lab research yields data that can be analyzed adequately (statistically)

Question 10

Compared to laboratory research, which of the following is true about field research?

A)it allows for a greater degree of control over variables
B)it may be higher in mundane realism
C)both informed consent and debriefing are easier to manage
D)it will be higher in experimental realism

Question 11

The studies by Cherry and by Broadbent, using dichotic listening, are examples of

A)basic research on attention
B)applied research on the factors that enhance the focusing of attention
C)research high in mundane realism but low in experimental realism
D)basic research on car driving

Question 12

Broadbent's (1958)study on selective attention is to Strayer and Johnston's (2001)study on cell phone use while driving as _______ is to _________.

A)field research; laboratory research
B)mundane realism; experimental realism
C)applied research; basic research
D)basic research; applied research

Question 13

A researcher is measuring aggression. Which of the following is most clearly inadequate as an operational definition of the term?

A)choosing a button which makes it difficult for another subject to complete a task
B)honking one's horn at an intersection for a period of more than two seconds
C)attempting to harm someone
D)delivering electric shocks to a competitor

Question 14

If a study is high on experimental realism, then

A)participants will take the procedures seriously
B)the participant's task will resemble a normal daily activity
C)it is certain that deception has been used
D)it is almost certainly a field study rather than a laboratory study

Question 15

Operational definitions

A)are seldom needed because of modern advances in behavioral technology
B)are needed to force researchers in different laboratories to all use the exact same definition of a construct
C)force researchers to be clear about defining the terms of their studies
D)differ from one study to another, which means that using operational definitions hinders the replication process

Question 16

Applied research

A)always has mundane realism but seldom has experimental realism
B)always has experimental realism but seldom has mundane realism
C)can be either laboratory or field research
D)is always field research, while basic research is laboratory research

Question 17

The study in the text that examined male and female patterns of control over the TV remote is a good example of a study that combines

A)basic and applied research
B)field and lab research
C)qualitative and quantitative research
D)all of the above

Question 18

Which of the following is true of the studies done by Bushman and Anderson (2009)who evaluated exposure to violence and helping behavior?

A)it combined both laboratory and field research in a series of experiments
B)it was a series of experiments high in mundane realism but low in experimental realism
C)it combined both basic and applied research in a single experiment
D)it was a series of experiments high in experimental realism but low in mundane realism

Question 19

In the laboratory research study by Bushman and Anderson (2009), participants played either violent or nonviolent video games, then filled out a questionnaire. Which of the following describes what they found?

A)participants who played violent video games completed the questionnaires faster than participants who played non-violent video games
B)participants who played violent video games reported less violence in the video games than participants who played non-violent video games
C)participants who played violent video games
D)participants who played violent video games were slower to help an individual in an adjacent room compared to participants who played non-violent video games
E)participants who played violent video games did not help an individual in an adjacent room compared to participants who played non-violent video games

Question 20

Basic research is concerned with ______ while applied research tries to ________.

A)experimental realism; accomplish mundane realism
B)establishing essential principles; solve practical problems
C)the laboratory only; use field studies only
D)mundane realism; accomplish experimental realism

Question 21

According to the original cognitive dissonance theory, dissonance occurs when people

A)experience electrical shock that is painful
B)simultaneously experience contradictory thoughts
C)are rewarded by others for feeling sad
D)must learn difficult tasks and they sometimes fail

Question 22

Which of the following examples illustrates research that resulted from reflecting on an everyday observation?

A)Skinner's research on extinction
B)Festinger's application of dissonance theory to the decision making
C)Darley and Latané's helping behavior research
D)Pfungst's study of Clever Hans

Question 23

What do the following discoveries have in common: Skinner's extinction curve and Hubel and Wiesel's feature detectors?

A)both examples of research ideas resulting from everyday observations
B)both examples of research deduced logically from theory
C)both examples of a serendipitous finding
D)both examples of failures to replicate

Question 24

Theories

A)are not highly regarded until proven true
B)lead to hypotheses through the process of induction
C)provide the basis for making predictions that can be tested empirically
D)are ideal if they can explain all possible outcomes

Question 25

All of the following are true of theories except

A)they organize existing data
B)an attribute of a good theory is that it is high on "productivity"
C)provide the basis for making predictions that can be tested empirically
D)they are tentative until the facts prove them true

Question 26

Which of the following is true about cognitive dissonance theory?

A)it failed the criterion of productivity
B)it generated a lot of research, but it was discarded because better theories came along
C)it was not stated precisely enough to be tested-thus, it failed the test of falsifiability
D)through the work of Aronson, it evolved into a theory emphasizing threats to the self

Question 27

If a number of studies all seem consistent with a theory, then the theory is said to have been supported through

A)induction
B)deduction
C)serendipity
D)parsimony

Question 28

Hypotheses are derived from theories through the process of

A)induction
B)deduction
C)falsification
D)parsimony

Question 29

Hypotheses are

A)reasonable predictions about what should occur under specific circumstances
B)guesses about the causes of events
C)generated from theory through the process of induction
D)considered to be "proven true" when supported by more than one experiment

Question 30

Which of the following would be an example of a research project began as the result of a serendipitous event?

A)A suspects B of fraud, so A replicates B's work
B)A notices that complete strangers who take the same subway to work every day begin to greet one another at the station; A wonders why
C)A comes across an interesting study and does a partial replication and an extension of it
D)A has an equipment failure and notices some unusual behavior that leads to a series of studies

Question 31

To reason inductively is to

A)reason from the specific event to the general principle
B)reason from the general principle to the specific event
C)prove the hypothesis true
D)to disprove the hypothesis

Question 32

In the original cognitive dissonance theory, it was said that dissonance develops as a result of experiencing contradictory thoughts. This "dissonance" is an example of

A)a behavior
B)a hypothesis
C)an operational definition
D)a construct

Question 33

A prediction is made from a theory and the results are just as predicted. What can be concluded about the theory?

A)it has been proven true
B)it has been inductively supported
C)it has been turned into a fact
D)it has been disproven

Question 34

Anxiety is not observed directly but is inferred from certain behaviors. That is, anxiety is an example of

A)a construct
B)a law
C)a theory
D)an operational definition

Question 35

When is a theory discarded?

A)when a study does not come out as predicted, thereby producing falsification
B)whenever a better theory is proposed
C)when empirical results consistently fail to support it
D)when the theory's originator dies

Question 36

To reason deductively is to

A)reason from the specific event to the general principle
B)reason from the general principle to the specific event
C)prove the hypothesis true
D)to disprove the hypothesis

Question 37

Which of the following is the best example of converging operations?

A)several studies use different operational definitions of aggression yet produce the same basic results
B)several studies of anxiety, each with a different operational definition of anxiety, each yields different results
C)researchers from different laboratories agree ahead of time to use the same operational definitions for intelligence
D)researchers from different laboratories collaborate on the same research program

Question 38

Which of the following is an example of research began as the result of reflecting on a real news event?

A)Festinger's cognitive dissonance research
B)Darley and Latané's helping behavior research
C)Broadbent's dichotic listening research
D)Bushman and Anderson's violence and helping behavior research

Question 39

Two researchers with two completely different operational definitions for aggression nonetheless produce the same result - frustration leads to aggression. This outcome is referred to as

A)exact replication
B)operationism
C)converging operations
D)serendipity

Question 40

On the basis of cognitive dissonance theory, it was predicted that after making a hard choice, people will convince themselves that they have made a wise choice. Suppose you do a study and discover that exact outcome. What is the proper conclusion?

A)cognitive dissonance theory has been proven
B)cognitive dissonance theory has been disproven
C)cognitive dissonance theory has not been supported
D)cognitive dissonance theory has been supported

Question 41

A researcher uses some of the same procedures in her method as in a previous study, but she adds a new variable to be tested. What has she done?

A)engaged in data falsification
B)did a direct replication of the previous study
C)did a conceptual replication of previous study
D)created serendipity in her study

Question 42

Which of the following were found to be Questionable Research Practices (QRP's)by John, Loewenstein, and Prelec (2012)?

A)Failing to report all dependent measures
B)Selectively reporting studies that "worked"
C)Claiming to have predicted an unexpected finding
D)All of the above

Question 43

In their first experiment on study strategies on memory performance, Roediger and Karpicke (2006)found that a practice test led to better memory one week later than rereading the material one time. Roediger and Karpicke then used ________ in their second experiment to test the role of rereading multiple times as a study strategy compared to practice testing.

A)creative thinking in science
B)"what's next?" thinking
C)falsification
D)serendipitous thinking

Question 44

Study #1 compares 2- and 4-month old children on a perceptual task. Study #2 uses the same task and compares four groups of children, aged 2, 4, 6, and 8 months. Which of the following is true?

A)study #2 is an direct replication
B)study #2 should not have tested the 2- and 4-month olds (already been done)
C)study #2 is a conceptual replication
D)study #1 should have tested 6- and 8-month olds

Question 45

A theory that has the minimum of constructs and assumptions, yet adequately summarizes and organizes information, is said to be a(n)________ theory.

A)parsimonious
B)operationalized
C)falsified
D)simplistic

Question 46

The creation of the maze apparatus

A)a) required the presence of scientists (Small and Kline)with "prepared" minds (i.e., they knew about rat behavior)
B)was not creative because it merely copied the human version
C)is an example of following authority (i.e., lab director Sanford imposed his will)
D)resulted from a desire to produce a laboratory situation unrelated to the rat's everyday experience (that way, learning could be studied in its purest form)

Question 47

Roediger and Karpicke (2006)conducted two experiments on the effects of different study strategies on remembering scientific texts. Their second experiment is considered a ________, because it used similar procedures as the first experiment, but altered other features of the first experiment.

A)questionable research practice
B)direct replication
C)parsimonious theory
D)conceptual replication

Question 48

According to Pasteur, "chance favors the prepared mind." Thus, creative breakthroughs in physics are most likely to be made by

A)random accident (thus they could be made by anyone)
B)physicists
C)chemists
D)any scientist other than a physicist

Question 49

Upon completion of a study, a research team may discuss predictions about the outcomes from a future revision of the study. This is best known as a form of

A)creative thinking in science
B)serendipitous thinking
C)falsification
D)"what's next?" thinking

Question 50

The predictions from dissonance theory did not always come out as predicted. What happened to the theory?

A)it was discarded
B)it was concluded that it must be true; most of the research proved it
C)it evolved to incorporate the idea that dissonance occurred most strongly when the self was threatened
D)it was logically disproven but hung on over the years because nothing better came along

Question 51

Theories that can explain all outcomes after the fact

A)do not allow for predictions to be made
B)have been falsified
C)are said to be highly parsimonious
D)illustrate the results of converging operations

Question 52

Some dogs can open gates with their noses. To explain this phenomenon by attributing logic and problem solving abilities to the dog is to

A)give a parsimonious explanation
B)falsify a simpler explanation
C)be guilty of a confirmation bias
D)give an explanation that is not very parsimonious

Question 53

Which of the following is the least accurate description of most research in psychology?

A)the outcome of one study is usually a question that leads to the next study
B)research is more likely to be the product of a research team than of an individual investigator working alone
C)the majority of research ideas come from a logical deduction from an established theory
D)researchers don't complete projects in topic A, then move to B; they develop programs of research on topic A

Question 54

According to Karl Popper, science proceeds by

A)creating theories and trying to falsify them
B)searching for the ideal (i.e., cannot be falsified)theory
C)accumulating data in the absence of formal theories
D)achieving the proof of a theory after sufficient inductive support has accumulated

Question 55

Which of the following is true about the case of Clever Hans?

A)it was shown to be a case of scientific fraud
B)Pfungst demonstrated that the most parsimonious explanation was that the horse had a higher level of intelligence than other horses
C)Pfungst ruled out intelligence by showing that if the questioner didn't know the answer, thehorse didn't know the answer
D)he only answered correctly when his trainer (von Osten)knew the answer

Question 56

Which of the following distinguishes a good theory from a bad one?

A)the good theory has been proven true
B)the good theory can explain all possible research outcomes
C)both alternatives a. and b.
D)none of the above