Question 1

According to the authors, psychology is a method for

Accepted Answer

A) determining simple answers to complex questions. 
B) acquiring more insight into the hows and whys of human behaviour. 
C) knowing how to turn people from maladaptive to adaptive actions, feelings, and thoughts. 
D) restating commonsense findings in a more convoluted manner.

Question 2

A major problem with commonsense proverbs is that they often coexist with their complete opposite. This violates which principle of critical thinking?

Accepted Answer

A) Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence 
B) Falsifiability 
C) Occam's Razor 
D) Replicability

Question 3

The use of the emotions one experiences as a guide for evaluating the validity of scientific claims is called ________ by psychologists.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The use of the emotions one experiences...

Question 4

According to ________ management theory, an awareness of the inevitability of our own death leaves many people with an underlying sense of fear.

Accepted Answer

A) discontinuity 
B) thanatos 
C) mortality 
D) terror

Question 5

The uncovering of learning processes that explain all behaviours, especially observable behaviours, is the goal of which perspective?

Accepted Answer

A) Psychoanalysis 
B) Behaviourism 
C) Functionalism 
D) Structuralism

Question 6

According to the authors, the discipline of psychology is best thought of as

Accepted Answer

A) a field of self-help principles to eliminate mental problems. 
B) a mixture of anecdotes and personal intuition about human behaviour and mental processes. 
C) a process for encouraging people to reach their ultimate potential. 
D) the scientific study of the mind, brain and behaviour.

Question 7

Gwen has posted a questionnaire on MySpace asking her friends to support her idea of mobile phones in the classroom. She ignores anyone opposing her beliefs, which is an example of

Accepted Answer

A) naive realism. 
B) conjunctive fallacy. 
C) confirmation bias. 
D) attribution bias.

Question 8

Transcendental temptation, the desire to alleviate our anxiety by embracing the lofty promises of the supernatural, is an example of a(n)________ factor leading to erroneous beliefs.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Transcendental temptation, the desire to alleviate our...

Question 9

The lasting contribution of the psychological school of thought known as structuralism is

Accepted Answer

A) its concern with understanding the adaptive purposes of consciousness. 
B) the importance it placed on systematic observation in studying consciousness. 
C) its concern with developing a scientific model of human learning. 
D) its findings that underscored the importance of unconscious mental processes in daily life.

Question 10

Which of the following is one of the classic warning signs of a pseudoscience?

Accepted Answer

A) Evasion of peer review. 
B) Under-reliance on anecdotal evidence. 
C) An abundance of self-correction. 
D) The use of meaningless psychobabble.

Question 11

Because none of us wants to believe we are wrong, we are usually reluctant to give up cherished notions. This phenomenon is known as

Accepted Answer

A) belief perseverance. 
B) the confirmation bias. 
C) the availability heuristic. 
D) the fundamental attribution.

Question 12

Tiffany spends a great deal of time reading self-help books on relationships. She has had several failed relationships and is bewildered by the events related to them. Even though she knows most of these books are pseudoscience, Tiffany is attracted to them because

Accepted Answer

A) she is comforted by the realisation she is not alone. 
B) she is trying to make order out of disorder. 
C) she suffers from apophenia. 
D) she is experiencing pareidolia.

Question 13

According to the authors, ________ of the claims made by self-help proponents have been scientifically examined.

Accepted Answer

A) few 
B) many 
C) none 
D) roughly half

Question 14

Which of the following would be best described as an "educated guess"?

Accepted Answer

A) Method 
B) Theory 
C) Hypothesis 
D) Design

Question 15

Behaviourism is associated with which two leading figures?

Accepted Answer

A) John Watson and B.F. Skinner 
B) Jean Piaget and Ulric Neisser 
C) William James and Charles Darwin 
D) Sigmund Freud and E.B. Titchener

Question 16

A group of animal behaviourists has discovered several new species of insects in the Amazon rainforest. They collect the new species for later study back at the camp. Due to advances in computer technology, they are able to transfer their findings immediately to other researchers who are studying insects. Their willingness to share these findings with other scientists shows their commitment to

Accepted Answer

A) critical thinking. 
B) testability. 
C) peer review. 
D) pseudoscience.

Question 17

Describe the dangers of pseudoscience and why the dangers should matter to you.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the dangers of pseudoscience and why...

Question 18

A school psychologist is most likely to support:

Accepted Answer

A) remediation of students' behavioural, emotional, and social difficulties. 
B) identification of better methods of teaching and evaluation of learning. 
C) identification of strategies to improve teacher productivity and satisfaction. 
D) profiling the students most in need of academic support.

Question 19

An important point from the authors' discussion on why people need to care about the dangers of pseudoscience is that

Accepted Answer

A) harm rarely results from pseudoscientific beliefs or treatments. 
B) a lack of critical thinking may lead to a variety of negative outcomes on many different levels of society. 
C) people are often quite accurate and unbiased in their day-to-day decision making. 
D) quackery and pseudoscience are especially easy to detect without exposure to critical thinking or scepticism.

Question 20

You are listening to a discussion among a group of psychology majors. One major says that the field will advance only if we use objective methods for understanding the principles that guide human actions. This statement is most consistent with

Accepted Answer

A) behaviourism. 
B) functionalism. 
C) psychoanalysis. 
D) structuralism.

Exam 1: Science and Pseudoscience in Psychology