Deck 1: Psychology As a Science: Thinking Like a Researcher

Question 1

Research methods courses focus on:

A) know-what.
B) know-why.
C) know-how.
D) know-who.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Nea lives in Atlanta, GA, and learned that there was a tornado watch issued for a nearby county. In deciding whether to follow tornado safety protocols and seek appropriate shelter in her home, she remembers the recent news broadcasts and images from tornado outbreaks in nearby Nashville, TN, and Tuscaloosa, AL. She quickly decides to hide in the bathtub of her windowless bathroom for the night. Her choice was the result of the:

A) representativeness heuristic.
B) better-than-average effect.
C) availability heuristic.
D) confirmation bias.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

_____ is the term that describes an individual's tendency to accept an explanation simply because of a gut feeling it is right.

A) Pleasure paradox
B) Outlier
C) Introspection
D) Truthiness

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Going into the first exam, a professor asks his students how well they think they will do. In line with the better-than-average effect, the top _____ of class performers are likely to anticipate this effect.

A) 0%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 75%

Question 5

According to the representativeness heuristic, which of the following personal descriptions are you most likely to associate with a "librarian"?

A) a beautiful woman in her early twenties
B) an athletically toned man in his teens
C) an elderly woman who wears her hair in a bun
D) a middle-aged man who is poorly shaven with tattered clothes

Question 6

Research methods and statistics courses focus on building skills in:

A) advanced processing.
B) critical thinking.
C) memorization.
D) automatic judgments.

Question 7

The availability heuristic is a strategy for:

A) judging the likelihood of an event based on how easily one can think of similar instances.
B) deciding the likelihood of an event by how much it resembles a "typical" example of that event.
C) estimating one's skills and abilities as compared with others.
D) searching for evidence that supports preexisting beliefs.

Question 8

People often overestimate the likelihood of death by shark attack, plane crash, and violence, because news programs emphasize these extreme occurrences to drive up viewer ratings. An individual's tendency to readily recall such instances even though they are objectively rare is the result of the:

A) representativeness heuristic.
B) better-than-average effect.
C) confirmation bias.
D) availability heuristic.

Question 9

In order to uphold your New Year's Resolution to eat healthier and exercise on a daily basis, which of the following foods would you be more likely to select, given your understanding of the representativeness heuristic?

A) lemon muffin
B) carrots
C) hamburger
D) sushi

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT an example of the better-than-average effect?

A) Most people think they drive better than others.
B) Most people think they are smarter than others.
C) Most people think they are funnier than others.
D) Most people think they are angrier than others.

Question 11

A friend tells you that shaving more frequently causes hair to grow back darker and coarser than before. You think this sounds correct, so you vow to only shave once a week. In this case, you have fallen victim to a phenomenon known as:

A) truthiness.
B) better-than-average effect.
C) confirmation bias.
D) introspection.

Question 12

First-born children may think they are stronger leaders than their siblings, whereas middle children may think they are more patient and understanding than their siblings, and youngest children may think they are more creative than their siblings. Each of these beliefs demonstrates a natural tendency for individuals to endorse the:

A) confirmation bias.
B) better-than-average effect.
C) hindsight bias.
D) overconfidence effect.

Question 13

In what way does a research methods course differ from other psychology courses, such as developmental psychology and biopsychology?

A) Research methods courses focus on concepts and content.
B) Research methods courses emphasize the use of the scientific method to answer questions.
C) Memorizing is more important in research methods courses than in other courses.
D) Only biopsychology courses emphasize the use of the scientific method to answer questions.

Question 14

You know that people are often more generous when donating to a cause after seeing a moving photograph than hearing impersonal statistics. In this case, research on the _____ confirms that a picture is worth a thousand words.

A) representativeness heuristic
B) availability heuristic
C) better-than-average effect
D) hindsight bias

Question 15

Which of the following most accurately depicts the concept of "truthiness"?

A) Mela is waiting outside to view the solar eclipse based on the timing reported in a recent news broadcast.
B) Rob is learning Spanish to better communicate with his future mother-in-law and is speaking to all of his friends and family more frequently in Spanish than in English.
C) Pru read in the Wall Street Journal that tech stocks are down and as a result sold her stock in that industry.
D) Denali wears cologne every day because he believed his brother's explanation about girls liking guys who smell strongly.

Question 16

Deciding the likelihood of an event based on how much it resembles the "typical" example of such an event is known as the _____ heuristic.

A) representativeness
B) availability
C) better-than-average
D) outlier

Question 17

The _____ is the tendency to overestimate skills, abilities, and performance when comparing oneself with others.

A) better-than-average effect
B) confirmation bias
C) representativeness heuristic
D) availability heuristic

Question 18

Juries may be more lenient when determining the innocence or guilt of individuals who appear attractive, sharply dressed, and well-mannered, because of the:

A) better-than-average effect.
B) confirmation bias.
C) representativeness heuristic.
D) availability heuristic.

Question 19

The _____ heuristic relies on how readily instances come to mind, whereas the _____ heuristic relies on how typical that instance is.

A) availability; confirmation
B) availability; representativeness
C) representativeness; availability
D) representativeness; confirmation

Question 20

Imagine that you are a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen cancer foundation. When planning for an upcoming speech you remember the availability heuristic and decide to devote the majority of time to a _____ rather than _____.

A) moving testimonial from a cancer survivor; charts and statistics about cancer risks factors
B) moving testimonial from a cancer survivor; pictures of cancer survivors
C) charts and statistics about cancer risks factors; pictures of cancer survivors
D) charts and statistics about cancer risks factors; moving testimonial from a cancer survivor

Question 21

Professor Emil was shocked to learn that almost 25% of her statistics class submitted their final project online days past the due date. Interestingly enough, Professor Emil never received emails from her students suggesting that there was any concern about having enough time to complete the project. This suggests that students waited until the last minute to start the project. As a result, they likely underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete Professor Emil's comprehensive, multi-step statistics project. By students thinking they could complete the entire project in an abbreviated amount of time, they demonstrated the:

A) overconfidence phenomenon.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) availability heuristic.
D) hindsight bias.

Question 22

When parents emphasize their children's good attributes, while selectively minimizing their negative attributes, they are displaying the _____ effect.

A) focusing
B) overconfidence
C) introspection
D) confirmation

Question 23

Hindsight bias is:

A) the tendency to be overly confident in the correctness of judgments.
B) the tendency, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable.
C) a cognitive bias where some evidence is overvalued, but other evidence is undervalued.
D) the assumption that immediate experience provides all the information needed to make a conclusion.

Question 24

Zev has a crush on someone in his 11^th grade class. He has conveniently only been asking his closest friends whether or not they believe his crush likes him too. Zev has desperately wanted others to support his belief and therefore has likely produced a:

A) confirmation bias.
B) hindsight bias.
C) better-than-average effect.
D) representativeness heuristic.

Question 25

Which of the following is correct regarding people's confidence and accuracy?

A) People are often more confident than they are accurate.
B) People are often less confident than they are accurate.
C) People tend to be equally confident and accurate.
D) People tend to be neither confident nor accurate.

Question 26

Dr. Temur holds an information session to prepare her students for an upcoming project. In previous semesters she has learned that when students base their project on the brief project outline and they do not ask questions, they experience _____, which can lead them to be generally underprepared and underperform overall.

A) confirmation bias
B) hindsight bias
C) overconfidence
D) belief perseverance

Question 27

The overconfidence phenomenon is:

A) a sense that one "knew it all along."
B) a tendency to be overly assured of the correctness of one's own judgments.
C) the tendency to seek out information that supports your current beliefs.
D) a strategy for deciding the likelihood of an event based on how much it resembles a "typical" example of that event.

Question 28

People who are victims of the confirmation bias are like detectives who are focused on looking for _____ information.

A) supporting
B) contradicting
C) all available
D) the most salient

Question 29

The first information that people receive is often more influential than information presented later. Individuals use their previous knowledge and beliefs to judge new information they receive, typically in an effort to bolster those previous beliefs through the process of:

A) confirmation bias.
B) hindsight bias.
C) the "what you see is all there is" bias.
D) belief perseverance.

Question 30

The "what you see is all there is" phenomenon is:

A) the tendency to look for evidence that confirms what we already believe.
B) a sense that one "knew it all along."
C) the tendency to be overly confident in the correctness of one's judgments.
D) a failure to see the limitations of one's immediate experience.

Question 31

Introspection is:

A) reflecting on another person's thoughts and experiences to find relevant evidence.
B) reflecting on one's own thoughts and experiences to find relevant evidence.
C) systematic experimentation on your own thoughts and experiences.
D) systematic experimentation on the thoughts and experiences of others.

Question 32

The false-consensus effect is the tendency to overestimate the degree to which others agree with your beliefs and opinions. Based on your understanding of processing biases, you know that this is most likely the result of:

A) hindsight bias.
B) the representativeness heuristic.
C) confirmation bias.
D) the overconfidence phenomenon.

Question 33

_____ is most likely responsible for endorsement of the better-than-average effect.

A) The availability heuristic
B) The representativeness heuristic
C) The overconfidence phenomenon
D) Hindsight bias

Question 34

Galileo once said, "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." This is best representative of the:

A) "what you see is all there is" phenomenon.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) hindsight bias.
D) confirmation bias.

Question 35

_____ is a bias in which people only look for evidence that agrees with what they already believe to be true.

A) Confirmation bias
B) Hindsight bias
C) "What you see is all there is" phenomenon
D) Belief perseverance

Question 36

Renata and her mother are leaving the third game in a tournament series for softball. Renata's grandfather calls her on the phone to ask how her game went and Renata remarked "not great. We lost again." Even though Renata and her team have lost the last three games, she continues to believe that her team is going to successfully win the championship, despite evidence to the contrary. This is an example of:

A) the overconfidence phenomenon.
B) the representativeness heuristic.
C) the availability heuristic.
D) hindsight bias.

Question 37

Which social psychologist is known for stating, "There is nothing more practical than a good theory."?

A) Darwin
B) Milgram
C) Piaget
D) Lewin

Question 38

Which of the following is the reason that good leaders often employ someone to play the role of devil's advocate before making an important decision?

A) confirmation bias
B) hindsight bias
C) "what you see is all there is" phenomenon
D) belief perseverance

Question 39

Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman wrote the book entitled _____ in which he highlights the importance of failing to see the limitations of our immediate experiences and the tendency to take things at face value.

A) Man and His Symbols
B) The Naturalist's Voyage
C) Only the Smart Think
D) Thinking, Fast and Slow

Question 40

_____ is a bias in which people emphasize some pieces of information while undervaluing other pieces of information.

A) Overconfidence phenomenon
B) Introspection
C) The focusing effect
D) Better-than-average effect

Question 41

The tendency to value anecdotes and personal experience is believed to stem from a(n):

A) inclination for quick and simple explanations.
B) need for thoughtful consideration.
C) drive to evaluate the world based on others' opinions.
D) need for empirically verified data.

Question 42

According to the _____, there is a tendency for more extreme outcomes to occur when considering a small sample as compared to a large sample.

A) law of large numbers
B) law of small numbers
C) law of even numbers
D) law of odd numbers

Question 43

What is skepticism?

A) the willingness to ask questions
B) the ability to consider novel ways to approach questions
C) the tendency to accept claims at face value
D) the inability to accept uncertainty

Question 44

A case that is the exception to the rule would be known as the:

A) average.
B) mean.
C) outlier.
D) norm.

Question 45

Frank is a die-hard Cleveland Browns football fan even though the team has not won an NFL championship since the 1960s. Every year Frank continues to believe that his home team has a chance to make it to the championship. Frank's devotion to the football team against the odds demonstrates:

A) belief perseverance.
B) the "what you see is all there is" phenomenon.
C) illusory correlation.
D) planning fallacy.

Question 46

An outlier is:

A) a case that is distinct from the majority of other cases.
B) a case that is similar to the majority of other cases.
C) an example of the representativeness heuristic.
D) an example of the availability heuristic.

Question 47

_____ is the tendency to maintain an assumption despite encountering contradictory factual information, often by interpreting information in a way that does not invalidate the original assumption.

A) The availability heuristic
B) Overconfidence
C) Hindsight bias
D) Belief perseverance

Question 48

_____ is a systematic approach for addressing questions of interest.

A) The scientific method
B) The law of small numbers
C) The focusing effect
D) Introspection

Question 49

_____ relating to an activity that you love can lead you to like it _____.

A) Introspection; more
B) Introspection; less
C) Experimentation; more
D) Experimentation; less

Question 50

The law of small numbers states:

A) extreme outcomes are more likely when considering a small number of cases.
B) as a sample grows, its average will get closer to the average of the entire population.
C) extreme outcomes are less likely when considering a small number of cases.
D) as a sample grows, its average will get farther away from the average of the population.

Question 51

Humans have a tendency to _____ anecdotes and personal experience.

A) undervalue
B) overvalue
C) ignore
D) discount

Question 52

The pleasure paradox is when introspection about a _____ results in it becoming _____.

A) positive experience; less enjoyable
B) positive experience; more enjoyable
C) negative experience; less enjoyable
D) negative experience; more enjoyable

Question 53

People are more likely to generate "yeah, but" examples for research claims that _____ their personal experience.

A) support
B) contradict
C) are in line with
D) are unrelated to

Question 54

Which of the following is most similar to the confirmation bias?

A) hindsight bias
B) better-than-average effect
C) "what you see is all there is" phenomenon
D) representativeness heuristic

Question 55

The Moneyball approach to baseball represents a strategy in which team scouts rely on:

A) emotions.
B) anecdotes.
C) statistics.
D) gut feelings.

Question 56

Mr. Inza gave an exam in his 8^th grade history class and the mean grade in the class was 82. Identify the grade that is the outlier for this exam.

A) 67
B) 92
C) 80
D) 24

Question 57

If the National Heart Association conducted a longitudinal study of 100 individuals over the course of their lives, data from whom of the following would likely be considered an outlier based on national cardiac trends?

A) Sam has no history of heart disease in his family, engages in moderate exercise, and tries to resist high sugar and high sodium foods in large amounts. Sam is currently alive and healthy at 66 years old.
B) Bert has consumed large amounts of sugary drinks and high fat saturated foods over the course of his life, in addition to smoking cigarettes daily. Bert lives to be 102 years old.
C) Gwen has always been an avid runner and a health conscientious individual who limits her sugar and sodium intake. Gwen lives to be 85 years old.
D) Vera is overweight and consumes high sodium and high fat foods on a daily basis, in addition to frequently drinking energy drinks. Vera dies at 48 years old from a heart attack.

Question 58

Introspective analysis about an event or an area of interest tends to result in the pleasure paradox, which means that an individual:

A) begins to engage in having others from their social circle take part in the event or activity.
B) begins to like that event or interest more after consideration.
C) begins to engage in increased sensation-seeking activities.
D) begins to like that event or interest less after consideration.

Question 59

The "what you see is all there is" phenomenon leads people to:

A) underestimate alternative explanations and outcomes.
B) overestimate alternative explanations and outcomes.
C) ignore the status quo.
D) engage in accuracy checking of beliefs.

Question 60

Virgil continues to attribute sounds and odd sensations in his house to the presence of ghosts although he knows that ghosts are not real. This is an example of:

A) hindsight bias.
B) better-than-average effect.
C) belief perseverance.
D) pleasure paradox.

Question 61

_____ means to base claims on scientific data rather than on personal beliefs or opinions, even on topics which with one has extensive familiarity or experience.

A) Creativity
B) Open-mindedness
C) Empiricism
D) Objectivity

Question 62

A good scientist balances their skepticism with a healthy dose of:

A) creativity.
B) open-mindedness.
C) objectivity.
D) empiricism.

Question 63

Empirical research is a key to differentiating psychology from what other field of study?

A) physics
B) theology
C) anatomy
D) chemistry

Question 64

Psychological science is based on:

A) gut feelings.
B) intuition.
C) introspection.
D) empirical research.

Question 65

Ambrose completed an experiment for his neuropsychology graduate seminar in which he used an EEG machine to monitor the brain activity of the amygdala and frontal cortex as men and women viewed images of landscapes and people. He published his findings showing greater activity in the amygdala for females than males when viewing landscapes. A year later Ambrose saw that another research published a very similar study in an effort to confirm or disprove his Ambrose's study findings. This is an example of:

A) creativity.
B) introspection.
C) replication.
D) open-mindedness.

Question 66

A researcher who advanced the understanding of sexual behaviors by embracing open-mindedness was:

A) Piaget.
B) Maslow.
C) Skinner.
D) Kinsey.

Question 67

Keeping researchers and participants "blinded" to (or unaware of) the research hypotheses under investigation helps to maintain:

A) open-mindedness.
B) creativity.
C) objectivity.
D) skepticism.

Question 68

Rosalie is hesitant to have her newborn son vaccinated. Rosalie has read a number of articles on social media claiming that vaccinations lead to a higher likelihood of food allergies, neurological disorders, and cancer. Rosalie does not take this information as truth and instead conducts her own exhaustive research regarding the impact of infant vaccinations on later development. Rosalie is engaging in which characteristic of a good scientist?

A) humility
B) open-mindedness
C) objectivity
D) creativity

Question 69

_____ makes us more critical consumers of information in our own lives.

A) Creativity
B) Open-mindedness
C) Skepticism
D) Communication

Question 70

Which of the following means a willingness to test ideas using the scientific method to draw conclusions?

A) open-mindedness
B) skepticism
C) empiricism
D) creativity

Question 71

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

A) uncertainty
B) close-mindedness
C) subjectivity
D) empiricism

Question 72

Marigold is told by her mother that her intellectual abilities are the result of a "baby genius" program that her mother enrolled her in when she was an infant. Now that Marigold has taken developmental psychology, she is filled with questions about how much an infant can truly learn at such a young age and whether such programs lead to any intellectual advances. What characteristic of a good scientist is Marigold demonstrating?

A) skepticism
B) open-mindedness
C) humility
D) creativity

Question 73

Replication within the research community leads to:

A) competition.
B) animosity.
C) doubt.
D) confidence.

Question 74

The use of double-blind experiments in psychological research, whereby both the participants and the researchers are unaware of which experimental group the participants have been assigned to, is employed to increase the researchers':

A) skepticism.
B) subjectivity.
C) objectivity.
D) creativity.

Question 75

With regard to characteristics of a good scientist, _____ is the ability to share findings in writing or presentation in an effort to extend the collective of knowledge and serve the common good, whereas _____ is the ability to "think outside the box" and design novel approaches to answer scientific questions.

A) creativity; skepticism
B) objectivity; open-mindedness
C) empiricism; communication
D) communication; creativity

Question 76

The difference between nonempirical and empirical research is:

A) nonempirical research is conducted by a trained professional, whereas empirical research is conducted by a novice.
B) nonempirical research is based on systematic measurement, whereas empirical research is based on opinion.
C) nonempirical research is based on opinion, whereas empirical research is based on systematic measurement.
D) nonempirical research is systematic measurement conducted by a novice, whereas empirical research is based on systematic measurement conducted by a trained professional.

Question 77

Which of the following is an example of replication?

A) recreating another person's study to see if the findings are the same
B) using one's thoughts as evidence for the nature of psychological phenomena
C) designing research to be used in real world situations
D) gaining knowledge from nonsystematic methods of investigation

Question 78

_____ is gaining knowledge with the use of nonsystematic methods such as the examination of personal experiences and opinions.

A) Empirical research
B) Pseudoscience
C) Nonempirical research
D) Experimentation

Question 79

Which of the following would be a creative approach to measuring the actual act of aggression?

A) using a self-report measure of participants' average level of felt aggression
B) using informant reports of participants' aggression on a daily basis
C) videotaping participants as they discussed a recent aggressive encounter
D) allowing participants to use air horns to blast sound at confederates believed to have given them negative feedback

Question 80

Empirical research is:

A) using one's own thoughts as evidence for the nature of psychological phenomena.
B) the presentation of information that is intended to look as though it is based on scientific observation when it is not.
C) gaining knowledge with the use of nonsystematic methods.
D) gaining knowledge with the use of systematic observation, experience, and measurement.