Question 1

Dr. McGufficke's research indicates that twenty minutes of exercise done three times a week positively affects people's emotions as well as their overall fitness. Dr. McGufficke is a(n)__________ psychologist.

Accepted Answer

A) cognitive 
B) developmental 
C) health 
D) industrial and organizational

Question 2

Dr. Ayala conducts an experiment where she gives half her participants a yellow pill containing a drug that keeps them awake during psychology lectures. She gives the other half of her participants an identical-looking yellow pill that does not contain the drug. This experimental design controls for

Accepted Answer

A) experimenter bias. 
B) random variables. 
C) a placebo effect. 
D) confirmation bias.

Question 3

A friend of yours claims that psychology isn't a science. Explain why your friend is wrong by relating the scientific goals of psychological research to the research methods psychologists use.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A friend of yours claims that psychology...

Question 4

An experimenter is studying the facial expression of the emotion terror. He plans to point a loaded gun at participants as they enter the room and photograph them at the same instant. Such an experiment would be ethically

Accepted Answer

A) acceptable if the experimenter explained the experiment afterward. 
B) acceptable if the experimenter explained the experiment afterward and if the participants were paid. 
C) acceptable if the participants were paid. 
D) unacceptable because the risks and discomfort to the participants outweigh the potential benefits of the knowledge gained.

Question 5

Marcella has applied for a job, and as part of the process of getting hired she must take a test that examines her outgoingness and general levels of friendliness. Marcella's test was most likely created by a __________ psychologist.

Accepted Answer

A) clinical 
B) developmental 
C) personality 
D) cognitive

Question 6

In an experiment to study the effects of alcohol consumption on sexual stamina, individual participants' drinking histories are an example of

Accepted Answer

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

Question 7

Subjects in an experiment are exposed to a stimulus and asked to describe and analyze their experiences. These subjects are engaging in

Accepted Answer

A) affective processing. 
B) client-centered therapy. 
C) introspection. 
D) free association.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 9

The first figure in psychology to suggest that all of our processes, from actions to slips of the tongue to dreams, were influenced by psychological factors was

Accepted Answer

A) Freud 
B) Watson 
C) Wundt 
D) Titchener

Question 10

Dr. Lampert wants to know how college students tend to flirt with each other, so he sits in the college cafeteria and pretends to be doing a crossword puzzle. In fact, he's listening to the conversations of nearby students and is taking notes when he observes flirtations taking place. Dr. Lampert has chosen a __________ research method.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 11

A researcher might test the influence of environment on cognitive development by taking newborn children away from their parents and assigning half of them to a rich cognitive environment and half to a deprived cognitive environment. What is wrong with this experiment?

Accepted Answer

A) There is nothing wrong with this experiment. 
B) There is no control group. 
C) The experimental method violates ethical standards. 
D) There is no way to control for the Hawthorne effect.

Question 12

A ________ psychologist would be most interested in researching changes in human behavioral, emotional, and mental processes over time.

Accepted Answer

A) social 
B) personality 
C) cognitive 
D) developmental

Question 13

Automobiles have been made more accessible to those who suffer from physical limitations, such as amputated limbs or body parts that do not function normally. Part of this development has been to redesign the controls of vehicles so that those who have these challenges can access the controls more easily. These changes would most likely be made by a(n)__________ psychologist.

Accepted Answer

A) Personality 
B) Engineering 
C) Social 
D) Developmental

Question 14

In what ways are culture typically passed from generation to generation?

Accepted Answer

A) through example and tradition 
B) through direct instruction 
C) through genetic influence 
D) through formal schooling

Question 15

LaTasha works for a multinational corporation. She must report to executives from a collectivist culture about the status of a project conducted by her group. To communicate in the most appropriate way to these executives, she should say:

Accepted Answer

A) "The group is performing well together." 
B) "I have done well in my management." 
C) "I worked hard to maintain unity in the group." 
D) "There is no information to report at this time."

Question 16

A psychologist proposed an experiment in which he would tell participants that their performance on an intelligence test was extremely low (regardless of actual performance)and then measure their self-esteem. What might an Institutional Review Board ethics committee say about such a proposal?

Accepted Answer

A) Deception is allowable only if it is revealed afterward and if the emotional distress that it causes is short-lived. 
B) Deception is allowable only if participants give informed consent prior to the experiment. 
C) Deception is never allowable. 
D) Deception such as this would cause emotional discomfort, so it should not be done.

Question 17

In the United States, approximately ________ of those earning doctoral degrees in psychology today are women.

Accepted Answer

A) One-quarter 
B) One half 
C) Two-thirds 
D) Three-quarters

Question 18

Craig works with students at Middlesex High School who are experiencing academic problems. He meets with these students to assess what family and peer factors may be leading to their poor performance. Craig is a(n)__________ psychologist.

Accepted Answer

A) educational 
B) school 
C) developmental 
D) social

Question 19

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 was most likely due to

Accepted Answer

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

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Exam 1: Introduction to the Science of Psychology

Dr. McGufficke's research indicates that twenty minutes of exercise done three times a week positively affects people's emotions as well as their overall fitness. Dr. McGufficke is a(n) __________ psychologist.