Deck 4: Methods for Studying Culture and Psychology

Question 1

After examining surveys that you collected from Culture X,you notice that everyone's responses tend to cluster at both ends of the scale.How do you correct this?

A)Convert the data into z-scores.
B)Reverse-score half of the items.
C)Ensure that the items are thoroughly back-translated.
D)Use a scale with an odd number of response options.
E)Specify a reference group for comparison.

Answer 1

Convert the data into z-scores.

Question 2

Nisbett and Cohen argue that the U.S.South has historically been more violent than the North because

A)the South is hotter than the North.
B)there was a more extensive slave trade in the South than the North.
C)the South is poorer than the North.
D)there were more herders in the South than in the North.
E)there are more guns available in the South than in the North.

Answer 2

there were more herders in the South than in the North.

Question 3

After examining surveys you collected from Culture X,you find that people's responses tend to gather toward the center of your scale.What is this phenomenon known as?

A)acquiescence bias
B)social desirability bias
C)moderacy bias
D)centripetal bias
E)central bias

Answer 3

moderacy bias

Question 4

You want to study how large people's faces are in Cultures X and Y.To do this,you simply ask people,"On a scale of 1 (small)to 10 (large),how large is your face?" To your surprise,most people in Culture X think they have small faces,even though their faces are much larger than those in Culture Y.Conversely,most people in Culture Y think they have large faces.How can you address this problem of trying to assess cultural differences in how large people's faces are?

A)Use a scale with an odd number of response options.
B)Use concrete as opposed to subjective response options.
C)Reverse-score the item.
D)Ensure that the items are thoroughly back-translated.
E)Use bilingual samples.

Question 5

One way of correcting for problems associated with an acquiescence bias is to

A)use concrete as opposed to subjective response options.
B)use a scale with an odd number of response options.
C)ensure that the items are thoroughly back-translated.
D)reverse-score half of the items.
E)None of these choices will correct the problem.

Question 6

Reference-group effects in cross-cultural research occur because

A)people use social comparison to evaluate themselves.
B)people don't really know how they feel.
C)people from different cultures have different response styles.
D)people value what they are most in need of.
E)some words do not translate well into other languages.

Question 7

The tendency for people living in conditions with a real threat of starvation to report valuing food more than those living in conditions where food is abundant is an example of

A)the reference-group effect.
B)social desirability norms.
C)acquiescence biases.
D)unsynchronized sample selections.
E)the deprivation effect.

Question 8

What is a strategy for avoiding problems with the reference-group effect?

A)standardizing people's responses
B)combining the cultures' respective reference groups
C)reverse-scoring half of the items
D)counterbalancing the order of the items
E)using concrete response options

Question 9

After examining surveys you handed out in a given culture,you find that many people in the culture tend to agree with both the positively worded item "I strongly support the prime minister's policies," and the negatively worded item "I disagree with the prime minister's policies." What is this an example of?

A)deprivation effects
B)acquiescence biases
C)moderacy biases
D)agreement biases
E)reference-group effects

Question 10

Your study doesn't have enough power.To maximally increase power in your study,which of the following should you do?

A)Get a more sensitive independent variable and keep the dependent variable the same.
B)Get a less sensitive independent variable but a more sensitive dependent variable.
C)Keep things the way they are-you can't increase power.
D)Get a more sensitive independent variable but a less sensitive dependent variable.
E)Get a more sensitive independent variable and a more sensitive dependent variable.

Question 11

What is a problem with using the "back-translation" method?

A)You may inadvertently prime your participants to think in ways that are similar to English speakers.
B)The literal meaning of the words is sometimes lost.
C)The researcher has no way of identifying whether the translators faithfully captured the meaning.
D)The translation may sound very unnatural,and may contain idioms that are unintelligible.
E)Your participants might not have good enough language skills to understand the materials.

Question 12

A strength of Nisbett and Cohen's research program into the regional differences in violence between the U.S.South and North is that

A)they accounted for biases between the two groups.
B)they were able to manipulate all of their independent variables.
C)they were able to cause northerners to respond like southerners.
D)there are no response bias differences between these two groups.
E)they used multiple methods across their studies.

Question 13

One advantage of experimental methods over survey methods in cultural psychological research is that

A)experimental methods are cheaper and easier to conduct than survey methods.
B)experimental methods allow you to investigate more cultures at one time than survey methods.
C)cultural differences in response biases are controlled better with experimental methods than with survey methods.
D)experimental methods allow you to focus on comparing means across cultures,whereas survey methods allow you to focus on comparing patterns of means across cultures.
E)experimental methods are more easily understood than survey methods.

Question 14

As seen in the textbook,finding that U.S.southerners respond aggressively to insults more than northerners because the southerners also score higher on measures of honor would be an example of

A)unpackaging a cultural difference.
B)a within-groups experimental design.
C)a situation-sampling study.
D)a quasi-experimental finding.
E)None of these describe the finding.

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT an example of a culture-level measure?

A)song lyrics
B)a journal entry
C)television programs
D)school books
E)magazine advertisements

Question 16

While helping your colleague analyze data,you realize that she has turned the participants' responses into z-scores.Based on the response biases in the textbook,which one is she most likely to be trying to account for?

A)acquiescence bias
B)deprivation effect
C)moderacy bias
D)reference-group effect
E)ingroup bias

Question 17

Nisbett and Cohen's archival studies in the United States found that

A)the homicide rate within the rural U.S.South is larger in the moist plains than in the hills and dry plains.
B)prior to the Civil War,there were more slaves in the hills and dry plains than in the moist plains.
C)the difference in argument-related homicide rates between the U.S.South and North is more pronounced between large cities in the South and North than it is between rural areas within the South and North.
D)all kinds of homicide rates are higher in the U.S.South than in the North.
E)None of these statements are correct.

Question 18

If you wanted to do a study using a within-groups manipulation to examine whether European Canadians can be made to think like Canadians and East Asians,which of the following would be the MOST relevant and appropriate methodology?

A)random assignment
B)standardization
C)between-groups manipulation
D)acculturation
E)cultural priming

Question 19

An advantage of the situation-sampling method is that

A)it can be used with more than one culture at a time.
B)it does not require the experimenter to translate any materials.
C)it controls for cultural differences in response biases.
D)it allows researchers to see how people in different cultures would respond if they were in the other group's cultural worlds.
E)it equates the reference group across cultures.

Question 20

Which of the following is a difference between between-groups and within-groups experimental designs?

A)Random assignment is not necessary for within-groups designs.
B)There is more statistical power for between-groups designs.
C)Between-groups designs provide stronger evidence for causality.
D)Cross-cultural comparisons are easiest for within-groups designs.
E)Between-groups designs are more generalizable.

Question 21

You want to do a study to examine whether Greek participants view their parenting experiences as being different from those of Chinese participants,and vice versa.What is the most appropriate methodology for testing this?

A)cultural priming
B)culture-level measure
C)within-groups manipulation
D)between-groups manipulation
E)situation sampling

Question 22

If an independent variable has more variance,is it more difficult or easier to detect an effect on the dependent variable?

A)more difficult,but only if the dependent variable also has lots of variance
B)easier,but only if the dependent variable has much less variance
C)more difficult
D)easier
E)The answer cannot be determined.

Question 23

After examining the surveys you collected from people in Culture A,you find that people tend to answer "yes" to all the questions,regardless of the content.How do you deal with this problem in the future so this doesn't recur?

A)establish methodological equivalence
B)reverse-code half of the items
C)thoroughly back-translate the items
D)provide a middle "neutral" option
E)make sure a middle "neutral" option is not provided

Question 24

The idea that a theory should have as few assumptions as possible is most accurately called

A)the principle of simplicity.
B)a basic law.
C)naturalistic fallacy.
D)Occam's Razor
E)falsifiability

Question 25

Dr.G is conducting a study to see whether people can be made to think in terms of East Asian and Western thoughts.Using college students in two cultures as participants,and using a very insensitive cultural prime for each participant,Dr.G measured how much they believe in Chinese medicine.A sample of the dataset is given below. This study employs a ________________,has ________________,and the prime is classified as a(n)____________________.

A)between-groups manipulation;low generalizability;independent variable
B)between-groups manipulation;low power;independent variable
C)between-groups manipulation;low generalizability;dependent variable
D)within-groups manipulation;low power;independent variable
E)within-groups manipulation;low generalizability;independent variable

Question 26

If you wanted to test the universality of a psychological phenomenon,which of the following should you do?

A)Test hunter-gatherer societies.
B)Test two very different societies.
C)Test English-speaking samples.
D)Avoid WEIRD samples.
E)Test two very similar societies.

Question 27

Which of the following is one problem especially associated with studies using WEIRD samples?

A)Researchers cannot use effective independent variables.
B)They are very difficult to unpackage.
C)It is difficult to find powerful dependent variables.
D)They have very low generalizability.
E)They make it especially impractical to use multiple methods.

Question 28

A group of researchers want to learn about the characteristics of home-cooking recipes in Culture X.What is this type of method an example of?

A)within-groups manipulation
B)between-groups manipulation
C)culture-level measure
D)situation sampling
E)cultural priming

Question 29

Dr.G is conducting a study to see whether people can be made to think in terms of East Asian and Western thoughts.Using very insensitive cultural primes for each participant,Dr.G measured how much they believe in Chinese medicine.A sample of the dataset is given below. This study employs a ________________,has ________________,and "belief in Chinese medicine" is classified as a(n)____________________.

A)between-groups manipulation;high power;independent variable
B)between-groups manipulation;low generalizability;dependent variable
C)within-groups manipulation;low power;dependent variable
D)within-groups manipulation;high generalizability;independent variable
E)between-groups manipulation;low generalizability;culture-level measure

Question 30

Dr.H wants to unpackage the cultural difference between Japanese and American horror movies.What is Dr.H trying to find out?

A)Japanese and Americans' opinions about Japanese and American horror movies
B)what the Japanese think about American horror movies,and vice versa
C)how much statistical power this difference has
D)the underlying reasons for this difference
E)the generalizability of this difference