Deck 2: Research in Psychology

Question 1

During a lunch discussion on the TV show Lost,your friend Aldo exclaims,"I have a theory about the mysteries of the island." Having just come from your Psychology class,you turn to Aldo and say,"you don't really have a theory.You have a hunch.I know this because a theory is ____."

A) the constant recyclingand pruning of explanations of behavior and mental processes
B) an elaborate set of hypotheses
C) a law that has been established through experimentation
D) an integrated set of principles that can be used to explain and predict phenomena

Answer 1

an integrated set of principles that can be used to explain and predict phenomena

Question 2

The kind of treatment a client is given (e.g.,EMDR versus no treatment)and the results of that treatment (the amount of anxiety reduction observed)are examples of ____,or the specific factors or characteristics that are manipulated and measured in research.

A) research variables
B) theories
C) confounding variables
D) research topics

Answer 2

research variables

Question 3

Jason answers a series of vocabulary and reading comprehension questions on a web site.When he finishes,the site gives him a rating of intelligence."I don't think that test really measures intelligence," thought Jason.Jason is questioning the test's ____.

A) consistency
B) validity
C) datum
D) reliability

Answer 3

validity

Question 4

Joe,a psychologist,believes that listening to classical music while studying will increase academic performance.This is an example of a(n)____.

A) hypothesis
B) theory
C) experimental design
D) case study

Question 5

The ____of data is the degree to which they accurately represent the topic being studied.

A) statistical validity
B) statistical reliability
C) research variables
D) inferential statistics

Question 6

Psychology is based on research questions about many phenomena.When a psychologist asks if she can control for a phenomenon,she is ready to ____.

A) devise a theory that will predict future phenomena
B) describe the phenomenon empirically
C) explain why the phenomenon occurs and why certain treatments are more effective
D) conduct an experiment testing various treatment methods in a clinical setting

Question 7

____is the degree to which the data are stable and consistent.

A) Statistical validity
B) Statistical reliability
C) Research variables
D) Inferential statistics

Question 8

If you were reviewing evidence for an insurance investigation,you would not blindly accept someone's claims.You would look for well-supported evidence.Your text refers to this process as ____.

A) naturalistic observation
B) intelligence
C) parsimonious thought
D) critical thinking

Question 9

Twenty volunteers are shown a movie about a party.After viewing,participants are asked to rate their reactions to the movie using a scale from 1 to 7.In this example,what would be the data?

A) The participants
B) The movie
C) The party
D) The ratings

Question 10

The prediction that "bright colors will make people happier" is called a(n)____.

A) hypothesis
B) law
C) theory
D) explanation

Question 11

Shantae is doing an experiment on how anxious people will feel if they are told that they did not do well on an intelligence test.She asks her participants to rate how nervous,upset,and anxious they feel on a scale from 1 (not at all)to 7 (very).Participant's scores on the scale are a(n)____.

A) operational definition of anxiety
B) independent variable
C) confounding variable
D) empirical definition of anxiety

Question 12

Julian and Meghan are discussing several theories they have found that offer explanations for why children become bullies in schools.Julian is not sure how to sift through all the theories because they all seem equally convincing.Meghan suggests that they go with the explanation that is the simplest.Meghan's decision are made based on____.

A) observational methods
B) statistical significance
C) biased sampling
D) the law of parsimony

Question 13

On the first day of Introductory Philosophy class,Nora asks her students to provide a definition of the term critical thinking.Having aced Introductory Psychology last semester,Cassie knows that critical thinking is ____.

A) a specific, testable proposition about something under study
B) the process of assessing claims and making judgments on the basis of well-supported evidence
C) a cognitive response reliant on heuristics that allows a person to draw reasonable conclusions
D) the process of describing the exact operations or methods a scientist will use in a research study

Question 14

Dr.Wisgoski asks fifty drug addicts a series of questions about their childhoods and then collects blood samples from them.He finds a high correlation between levels of the stress hormone cortisol and the amount of reported childhood trauma.Dr.Wisgoski concludes that childhood trauma causes high levels of stress during adulthood,which,in turn,causes drug addiction.Dr.Wisgoski's operational definition of adult stress level is ____.

A) childhood trauma
B) blood cortisol
C) drug addiction
D) self-report

Question 15

Dr.Zumbahlen is conducting a research study in which she is interested in the effects of aerobic activity on weight loss.Aerobic activity is defined by thirty minutes of exercise on the treadmill three times a week.This specific way of defining aerobic activity is referred to as a(n)____ definition.

A) experimental
B) construct
C) operational
D) empirical

Question 16

Megan believes she has found a medication that will greatly reduce the symptoms of depression,so she decides to conduct an experiment to test her ____.She randomly assigns depressed people to one of two groups.One group of participants takes the medication,while the other group gets only sugar pills.The latter group is receiving a ____.

A) hypothesis; placebo
B) theory; random variable
C) bias; treatment
D) intervening variable; placebo

Question 17

Dr.Gholson tells his students to maintain caution as they begin to draw conclusions on their own research.He encourages them to follow the law of parsimony,which means that ____.

A) statistically significant results are not due to chance factors
B) results must be reported with the highest ethical standards
C) all members of a population had an equal chance of being selected for the study
D) the correct explanation tends to be the simplest one

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT one of the fivequestions that provide a strategy for critical thinking?

A) Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
B) What am I being asked to believe or accept?
C) What is the reputation of the researcher(s)?
D) What evidence is available to support the assertion?

Question 19

Ernest has collected and examined his research data,and now has a set of general principles that he believes accounts for the acquisition of personality traits.Ernest has formed a(n)____ of personality.

A) theory
B) operational definition
C) experimental design
D) opinion

Question 20

After the magician pulled a rabbit from her hat,Dora exclaimed,"I'd like to see her do that again!" In other words,Dora is challenging the ____ of the magician.

A) reliability
B) hypothesis
C) validity
D) data

Question 21

A researcher studies how Pakistani students adapt to college by living in multicultural dorms on campus.He uses the data collected to find trends of adjustment and what factors may help to ease the transition into college.What research method is being employed?

A) naturalistic observation
B) experiment
C) correlational study
D) introspection

Question 22

Dr.Redford has long been interested in dissociative identity disorder.For the past three years,the only participant in his research has been his client,Sybil.He has studied her case intensively.What research method is Dr.Redford using?

A) case study
B) naturalistic observation
C) survey
D) experimental

Question 23

A doctor has completed a three-year research project on patients with dissociative fugue.She has decided the next step is to run correlational studies on her data.The doctor is doing this to ____.

A) determine if her sampling is representative
B) find trends and relationships among variables
C) find a cause-and-effect relationship
D) eliminate the possibility of experimenter bias

Question 24

Jocelyn is interested in a rare form of phobia.She is particularly interested in the factors associated with the development of this phobia.The research method that would be most useful for her is ____.

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

Question 25

What research topic would lend itself best to naturalistic observation?

A) comparing smokers and nonsmokers on judgments of self-esteem
B) describing play among children in a kindergarten class
C) determining gender attitudes for all Chicagoans
D) understanding the life of someone with a rare brain disorder

Question 26

A noted psychologist and environmentalist,Dr.Pigeon,has received a grant to study older persons' bird-feeding behavior in public parks.Dr.Pigeon has research assistants sit in public parks to unobtrusively collect the data.Dr.Pigeon has chosen a ____ research method.

A) case study
B) naturalistic observational
C) controlled experimental
D) survey

Question 27

A major limitation of naturalistic observation in the study of human behavior is that ____.

A) accurate observations can rarely be made
B) there is no sure way to know the cause of the behavior being studied
C) there is no sure way to account for the influence of context on behavior
D) several observers are required, making it very expensive

Question 28

Chan-ju and Lucas are researchers studying consumer behavior.Chan-ju goes to a store and watches the shoppers for several days.She takes very careful notes about what she sees the shoppers doing,but she does not talk to the shoppers or interact with them in any way.Lucas goes to a store and asks each shopper a series of questions.He makes sure to ask these questions of each shopper in the store.Chan-ju's study is an example of a(n)____,and Lucas's study is an example of a ____.

A) case study; naturalistic observation
B) experiment; case study
C) survey; survey
D) naturalistic observation; survey

Question 29

A psychologist is looking for a link between aggressive behavior and television violence.She measures the frequency of fighting and television-viewing habits of many twelve-year-old children.The psychologist concludes that children who watch more violent programming also get into fights more often.This is an example of ____.

A) a case study
B) a survey
C) correlational research
D) experimental research

Question 30

N.A.has a damaged hippocampus,and psychiatrists visit him weekly for two years.During these visits,they test his memory and IQ.One of the limitations of this case study is that it ____.

A) may cause N.A. to behave differently because he knows he is being observed
B) is susceptible to confounds and experimenter bias
C) may only contain information the psychiatrists deem important
D) only shows cause and effect, not relationships between variables

Question 31

Surveys are able to address the problems associated with ____,which are inherent in case studies.

A) small sample sizes
B) the lack of control groups
C) the lack of experimental groups
D) confounds

Question 32

Hilary wants to know whether women are getting paid the same amount of money as men for equal work.She asks men and women in several business firms for information about their salaries.What research method is Hilary using?

A) survey
B) case study
C) experimental
D) naturalistic observation

Question 33

Thanh was in a car accident a year ago in which she suffered some brain damage.Because of the rare nature of her impairment,Dr.Morello kept very detailed notes concerning the treatments administered,the effects of those treatments,and other particular aspects of Thanh's condition.He hopes to publish his findings so that if another psychologist encounters a patient with a condition like Thanh's,that psychologist will have some information to aid him or her in treating that individual.Which research method is Dr.Morello using?

A) controlled experiment
B) case study
C) naturalistic observation
D) survey

Question 34

Cornelius is interested in studying cooperation in children between the ages of two and six.He suspects that cooperation is greatest in groups of girls as opposed to groups of boys or coed groups.After carrying out his observation,he decides to examine the results to determine any relationships between gender and cooperation.Cornelius is planning to carry out a(n)____.

A) double-blind design
B) random assignment
C) experiment
D) correlational study

Question 35

The first evidence for EMDR was based on Francine Shapiro's own experience with eye movements.If she had not been able to consistently repeat,or _______,those effects in other people,one would have to question the reliability of such data.And if her clients' reports of reduced anxiety were not supported by,say,their overt behavior or the reports of their close relatives,one would have to doubt the ____of these data.

A) reproduce; effectiveness
B) reiterate; efficacy
C) replicate; validity
D) redo; truthfulness

Question 36

Psychologists are most likely to use case studies instead of other research methods when they wish to study ____.

A) cause-effect relationships between variables
B) phenomena that are new, complex, or rare
C) group behavior and public opinion
D) people without being intrusive

Question 37

Nina wants to know whether there is a market for a brand new product,the Arctic Blast,which freezes all types of food within seconds.To find out what percentage of people and what types of people might be interested in such a product,Nina needs to use ____ as her method of research.

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

Question 38

Yasou calls people and asks them a specified list of questions concerning their opinions of how irritating telemarketers can be.What kind of research is Yasou conducting?

A) naturalistic observation
B) case study
C) survey
D) experiment

Question 39

When research does not support a(n)____,it may need to be ____.

A) hypothesis; rewritten
B) idea, rethought
C) hypothesis; discarded
D) theory; revised

Question 40

A disadvantage most associated with the ____ research method is that people who know they are being studied may alter their normal behavior.

A) case study
B) survey
C) double-blind
D) naturalistic observational

Question 41

Dr.Noyd conducts an experiment to determine whether talking to a psychiatrist makes depressed people less depressed.He randomly divides participants who scored highly on a depressive inventory into two groups.Group A discusses their problems with a psychiatrist while Group B does nothing.He finds that Group A shows significantly more improvement in their depression than does Group B.In Dr.Noyd's experiment,the experimental group refers to the ____.

A) differences observed whether or not therapy was received
B) individuals who discuss their problems
C) scores on the depressive inventory
D) random assignment

Question 42

Quisley's hypothesis is that listening to classical music improves intellectual performance.He randomly divides a mathematics class into two rooms.In room A,music by Mozart plays softly in the background during a lecture.In room B,the students listen to a lecture without background music.The independent variable is ____.

A) whether music played during a lecture.
B) mathematical performance.
C) the level of mathematics taught.
D) present only in the control group.

Question 43

Researchers who want to find the best explanation of a phenomenon when they have several rival hypotheses should ____.

A) describe the correlation among the variables involved
B) conduct controlled research using experimental methods
C) conduct research in the real world instead of in a laboratory
D) continue observing the phenomenon of interest until the best explanation becomes clear

Question 44

To investigate the effects of exercise on mathematical problem-solving ability,a researcher assignsparticipants to one of two groups.One group cycles on an exercise bike for one hour,and the other group performs no exercises.Afterward,both groups work on a set of math problems and their performances are compared.In this experiment,the group that does not exercise is the ____.

A) control group
B) dependent variable
C) independent variable
D) intervening group

Question 45

The Harvard Business School is famous for teaching MBA students about business by using the casestudy method.A Harvard MBA who attempts to apply knowledge from a case study to a new situationshould keep in mind that case studies may not be ____.

A) representative
B) unique
C) detailed
D) specific

Question 46

Jon believes that exercise is a cause of higher levels of life satisfaction.If Jon plans to study this hypothesis experimentally,his independent variable would be the ____.

A) amount of exercise his participants receive
B) level of life satisfaction before the exercise
C) level of life satisfaction after the exercise
D) physical health of his participants

Question 47

A researcher is interested in determining whether test performance of students can be improved by providing them with individual tutoring.The researcher randomly divides fifty first-year college students into two groups.In Group A,the instructor lectures to them for three hours per week.Group B receives an equal amount of lecturing,but their instructor also meets with each student for thirty minutes every week.Each group takes the same final exam.The test performance of students in Group B is about the same as that of students in Group A.This study is an example of a(n)____.

A) correlational study
B) case study
C) experiment
D) survey

Question 48

Dr.Adcock is a community psychologist studying whether a special program instituted for an at-risk group of junior high school students decreases behavior problems.At-risk students are randomly assigned to either Group A,the special program,or Group B,a study hall meeting at the same time.In this experiment,Group A is the __________ while Group B is the __________.

A) independent variable; dependent variable
B) experimental group; control group
C) control group; experimental group
D) dependent variable; independent variable

Question 49

Dr.Jones is studying the effects of fatigue on aggression.He hypothesizes that the more fatigue a person is experiencing,the more aggressively the person will behave.Dr.Jones's control group should be composed of ____participants.

A) nonfatigued
B) fatigued
C) aggressive
D) nonaggressive

Question 50

Professor Beamish administers a survey to better understand stealing behaviors that occur in the workplace.Even though the survey is administered anonymously,employees may still not respond truthfully.According to your text,this occurs because some people ____.

A) believe the researcher may be tricking them
B) do not like to admit embarrassing things about themselves
C) realize they are part of a control group
D) have not been randomly assigned

Question 51

Dr.V wanted to test her hypothesis that sugar improves memory,so she gave one group of participants candy sweetened with sugar and another group candy sweetened with NutraSweet.Then she compared the performance of the two groups on a test of recognition memory.Dr.V's research method is ____.

A) dependent
B) experimental
C) descriptive
D) naturalistic

Question 52

Randy,a community psychologist,is working with a community AIDS organization on a project to help reduce HIV transmission.He decides to gather as much information from as many people as possible about their sexual behavior patterns.Which research method would be the best choice for him to use?

A) naturalistic observation
B) case study
C) survey
D) experiment

Question 53

James reads a magazine ad about a drug that doctors say may help college students perform better on multiple-choice type tests.Being the inquisitive person that he is,James decides to do an experiment to see if the magazine's claims are true.He administers the drug to one of his classes,and gives the other class a placebo.James then tests the students in both groups on material they have recently discussed in class.In this example,the experimental group is the ____.

A) students who received the drug
B) students who received the placebo
C) test performance of the students
D) age of the students

Question 54

An experimenter wants to determine if taking a specific amount of the drug Prozac relieves depression.Which element will be most in need of an operational definition in this study?

A) The dependent variable
B) The independent variable
C) The inferential statistic
D) An experimental confound

Question 55

Giorgi wants to manipulate certain aspects of his study to understand the effect of those changes.Such manipulation is a foundational part of ____.

A) naturalistic observation
B) surveys
C) case studies
D) experiments

Question 56

Dr.Kermit is interested in studying whether the readers on Reading Rainbow cause higher student reading scores than the readers on Avocado Alley.To answer his question,Dr.Kermit should use which research method?

A) naturalistic observation
B) case study
C) survey
D) experiment

Question 57

Franz is conducting an experiment to study the effects of wearing heavy clothing on weight-lifting performance.He gives Group A heavy sweatshirts and lets Group B wear whatever they wish.He measures the amount of weight they can lift after the workout.Group B is the ____ group.

A) experimental
B) control
C) dependent
D) independent

Question 58

A psychologist who is interested in determining the effects of a new diet regimen on the stress tolerance level of severely intellectually impaired patients would most likely choose which research method?

A) naturalistic observation method
B) telephone survey method
C) case study method
D) controlled experiment method

Question 59

An experimenter who conducts a study under highly controlled conditions often reduces the ____.

A) scientific value of the results
B) extent to which conclusions drawn from the results can be applied to other populations or situations
C) likelihood that the research hypothesis will be confirmed by the results
D) strength of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables

Question 60

P.W.Herman wants to know whether consumption of alcoholic beverages affects peoples' bicycling abilities.He suggeststhat the alcohol itself doesn't have any negative effects,but that people who drink alcohol expect to have their riding abilities impaired so they "act drunk." To control for the participants' expectations,P.W.gives half of his sample vodka and the other half of his sample vodka-flavored water.P.W.is using a(n)____research method,and the vodka-flavored water is a ____.

A) naturalistic observation; confounding variable
B) survey; confounding variable
C) experimental; placebo
D) experimental; treatment variable

Question 61

A(n)____ variable can be any factor,other than the variable being manipulated by the experimenter,in the experimental situation that might affect the dependent variable.

A) interval
B) correlational
C) independent
D) random

Question 62

Dr.Denton designs an experiment to test the hypothesis that children who are taught alternative ways of responding to failure will show increased persistence in problem solving.Dr.Denton assigns half of a random sample of third-graders to a tutor who emphasizes learning from mistakes rather than improving grades.The other half of the sample receive tutoring without this emphasis on "learning goals." After two months of tutoring,both groups were given a test of persistence.A possible random variable in this experiment is the ____.

A) amount of time before the persistence test
B) persistence test score
C) level of intelligence of the children
D) time of day the experiment was conducted

Question 63

Malcolm administers a survey of people's attitudes about the relationship between exercise and stress level.What is the independent variable?

A) exercise level
B) stress level
C) survey
D) Malcolm himself

Question 64

To avoid bias and confounds in a controlled experiment,participants should be assigned to either the experimental or control group ____.

A) on the basis of careful thought
B) randomly
C) on the basis of individual tests
D) according to age variables

Question 65

Zack believes that drinking milk improves memory.He conducts an experiment in which he randomly chooses a group of participants and randomly divides them into two groups.Group A drinks milk before trying to remember a list of nonsense syllables.Group B drinks nothing before trying to remember a list of nonsense syllables.The experimental group in this experiment is ____.

A) the number of nonsense syllables remembered
B) Group A
C) the level of thirst before drinking the milk
D) Group B

Question 66

Dr.Kurtz believes that students who use calculators learn the basics of math better.He designs an experiment in which Group A is taught a math concept and allowed to use calculators.Group B is taught the same math concept but is not allowed to use calculators.Then he gives both groups a standardized math test to assess their knowledge of the concept and compares their scores.In Dr.Kurtz's experiment,the standardized math test score is the ____.

A) dependent variable
B) independent variable
C) confound
D) placebo

Question 67

In Dr.Turgrove's experiment,he includes a control group that receives a placebo.This type of research design is meant to control which confound?

A) participants' expectations
B) experimenter bias
C) sampling bias
D) independent variable

Question 68

Dr.Jiminez investigates the influence of snacking on the onset of sleep in preschool children.One group of preschoolers eats a candy bar prior to bedtime,and the other group eats nothing.Time until the onset of sleep is recorded for each child.In this experiment,eating or not eating the snack is the ____ variable,and the time until the onset of sleep is the ____ variable.

A) independent; dependent
B) dependent; independent
C) experimental; control
D) control; experimental

Question 69

A professor wants to examine the effects of diet on learning.He places some laboratory rats on a starvation diet (Group A)but eliminates only desserts from the diet of a second group (Group B).During the experiment,the professor discovers that he needs more Group B rats,so he catches some in a local alley.The results of the experiment show that Group B rats are faster at learning a maze,so the professor concludes that diet is related to learning speed.Which statement about his conclusion is most accurate?

A) The professor's conclusion is correct because the number of rats in each group are the same.
B) The professor's conclusion is correct because the two groups of rats were on a different diet.
C) The professor's conclusion is incorrect because the type of rat was a confound.
D) The professor's conclusion is incorrect because the study is correlational.

Question 70

A participant in an experiment is told that a particular pill should improve her performance on a cognitive task.The participant is then given the pill,and she performs better than usual on the task.In actuality,the pill did not contain any ingredients that would affect her performance on the task.The participant's improved performance is most likely due to ____.

A) the double-blind design
B) random variables
C) the placebo effect
D) confirmation bias

Question 71

A researcher has one group of children go trick-or-treating wearing masks and a second group of children go trick-or-treating without masks.The researcher finds that the children who wore masks took more candy than the children who did not wearmasks.What was the control group in this study?

A) The group who wore masks
B) The group who did not wear masks
C) The act of trick-or-treating
D) The amount of candy taken

Question 72

Dr.Kilgore is studying the effects of Prozac on depression.Dr.Kilgore runs a double-blind study on a group of sixty college students.Thirty students receive Prozac and thirty students receive a placebo.At the beginning and end of the study,Dr.Kilgore administers the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)to determine the efficacy of the drugs.In this experiment,the group that receive Prozac is considered the ____ group.

A) independent
B) dependent
C) experimental
D) control

Question 73

A researcher shows a violent film to one group of participants and a nonviolent film to another before giving both groups a test measuring aggressiveness.Which statement is true about this experiment?

A) The participants who are shown the violent film are the control group.
B) The type of film shown is the independent variable.
C) The nonviolent film is likely to produce a placebo effect.
D) The violent film is a confounding variable.

Question 74

Brielle is studying the effect that alcohol consumption has on test-taking ability.In her study,a participant's alcohol tolerance would be ____.

A) the independent variable
B) the dependent variable
C) a confound
D) the experimental group

Question 75

Sima believes that wearing black clothing causes people to behave more aggressively.In her experiment,she randomly assigns people into two groups.In Group A,participants are given black shirts to wear,while participants in Group B are given white shirts to wear.Each participant is then asked to play a violent video game for fifteen minutes and his or her score is computed.In this experiment,each participant's video game score is the ____ variable.

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

Question 76

Dr.Fontenot is studying the effects of fatigue on aggression.He hypothesizes that the more fatigue a person is experiencing,the more aggressively the person will behave.The level of aggression in Dr.Fontenot's study is the ____ variable.

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

Question 77

Dr.Hodo is conducting a study in which he examines the effect of two types of therapy on depression in college students.The type of therapy is the ____ variable.

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

Question 78

Tai is interested in how alcohol consumption affects driving ability.He gives college students two,four,or six beers and then measures how many obstacles the students "hit" when they are in a driving simulator.The dependent variable is ____.

A) alcohol consumption
B) driving ability
C) the number of drinks
D) the number of obstacles hit

Question 79

Derrill is worried that variables such as age,gender,personality characteristics,and education level might confound the results of his experiment,which is designed to test the effects of mood on reaction time.Derrill should use ____ assignment to experimental groups to distribute the impact of these ____ variables.

A) random; representative
B) representative; random
C) representative; representative
D) random; random

Question 80

In an experiment to study the effects of marijuana usage on memory,previous experiences with drug usage indicate ____.

A) experimenter bias
B) the independent variable
C) the dependent variable
D) a confound