Psychology Ch. 1

1. PsychologyCh. 1 From Myers, Psychology 8e

2. Chapter 1:Thinking Critically With Psychological Science Correlation Describing our world Experiment Science of Psychology Statistical Reasoning

3. Science of Psychology 500 400 300 200 100

4. Describing our world 500 400 300 200 100

5. Correlation 500 400 300 200 100

6. Experiment 500 400 300 200 100

7. Statistical Reasoning 500 400 300 200 100

8. 1. The hindsight bias refers to people’s tendency to: • A) dismiss the value of replication • B) reject any ideas that can’t be scientifically tested. • C) exaggerate their ability to have foreseen the outcome of past events. • D) assume that correlation proves causation. • E) overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions.

9. 2. Two fundamental characteristics of the scientific attitude are: • A) pride and enthusiasm. • B) ingenuity and practicality. • C) creativity and patience. • D) skepticism and humility.

10. 3. A hypothesis is a(n): • A) observable relationship between independent and dependent variables. • B) testable prediction that gives direction to research. • C) set of principles that organizes and explains newly discovered facts. • D) unprovable assumptions about unobservable processes that underlie psychological functioning.

11. 4. As scientists, psychologists adopt an attitude of skepticism because they believe that: • A) people are unlikely to reveal what they are really thinking. • B) most common sense beliefs about human behavior are wrong. • C) claims about human behavior need to be supported by evidence. • D) events never occur randomly. • E) people are usually liars.

12. 5. Professor Saxton was very skeptical about the findings of a recently reported experiment on the effects of sleep deprivation. Which process would best enable her to assess the reliability of her findings? • A) naturalistic observation • B) replication • C) random sampling • D) the case study

13. 6. The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it: • A) is based on naturalistic observation. • B) may be unrepresentative of what is generally true. • C) is unusually easy to explain in hindsight. • D) leads us to underestimate the causal relationships between events.

14. 7. Jeff mistakenly assumes that everybody around him enjoys listening to country music just as much as he does. Jeff best illustrates: • A) the false consensus effect. • B) the hindsight bias. • C) an illusion of control. • D) the placebo effect.

15. 8. Psychologists select a random sample of research participants in order to ensure that: • A) The same number of participants will be assigned to each of the experimental conditions. • B) the study will not be influenced by the researcher’s personal values. • C) there will be a large number of participants in the research study. • D) the participants are representative of the population they are interested in studying.

16. 9. Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the religious beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward abortion? • A) the survey. • B) naturalistic observation. • C) the case study. • D) experimentation.

17. 10. Dr. Johns carefully monitors and records the behaviors of children in her classrooms in order to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Dr. Johns is most clearly engaged in: • A) survey research. • B) experimentation. • C) replication. • D) naturalistic observation.

18. 11. Correlational research is most useful for purposes of: • A) explanation. • B) prediction. • C) control. • D) replication.

19. 12. A researcher would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between: • A) financial poverty and physical health. • B) self-esteem and depression. • C) intelligence and academic success. • D) school grades and school absences.

20. 13. Illusory correlation refers to: • A) the perception of a relationship between two variables that does not actually exist. • B) a correlation that exceeds +1.0. • C) a cluster of points on a scatterplot that subtests a correlation between two variables. • D) a correlation that is not statistically significant.

21. 14. If those who watch more violent TV tend to behave more aggressively, this would not necessarily indicate that watching TV violence influences aggressive behavior because: • A) random sequences often don’t look random. • B) correlation does not prove causation. • C) sampling extreme cases leads to false generalizations. • D) events often seem more probable in hindsight.

22. 15. If the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of elementary school students is +.85, this would indicate: • A) the relationship between weight and reading ability among elementary school students is not statistically significant. • B) low body weight has a negative effect on the reading abilities of elementary school children. • C) better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among elementary school students. • D) body weight has no causal influence on the reading abilities of elementary school children.

23. 16. The relief of pain following the ingestion of an inert substance that is presumed to have medicinal benefits illustrates: • A) random assignment. • B) the hindsight bias. • C) the false consensus effect. • D) the placebo effect. • E) illusory correlation.

24. 17. Participants in an experiment are said to be “blind” if they are uninformed about: • A) what experimental hypothesis is being tested. • B) whether the experimental findings will be statistically significant. • C) how the dependent variable is measured. • D) which experimental treatment, if any, they are receiving.

25. 18. Being randomly assigned to the experimental condition in a research project involves being assigned: • A) to that condition by chance. • B) to the condition in which participants are representative of people in general. • C) in a fashion that ensures that the independent variable will have a strong effect on the dependent variable. • D) to the condition in which participants are all very similar in personality characteristics.

26. 19. In a psychological experiment, the potentially causal factor that is manipulated by the investigator is called the ___ variable. • A) dependent • B) independent • C) control • D) experimental

27. 20. Cause is to effect as ___ is to ___. • A) independent variable; dependent variable • B) correlation; experimentation • C) control condition; experimental condition • D) prediction; explanation • E) observation; replication

28. 21. Which measure of central tendency is used to calculate your grade-point average? • A) standard deviation • B) median • C) mean • D) mode

29. 22. Which of the following is a measure of the degree of variation among a set of events? • A) mean • B) scatterplot • C) standard deviation • D) normal distribution • E) correlation coefficient

30. 23. Median is to range as ___ is to ___. • A) frequency distribution; bar graph • B) mean; mode • C) scatterplot; correlation • D) central tendency; variation

31. 24: Animal protection organizations are more likely to support the use of animals in research involving ____ than in research involving ___. • A) experimentation; replication • B) naturalistic observation; experimentation • C) case studies; naturalistic observation • D) random assignment; case studies

32. 25. In order to decide whether observed differences between samples reflect actual differences between populations, it is necessary to determine the ___ of the observed differences. • A) mean • B) median • C) standard deviation • D) statistical significance

33. Congratulations!

34. Answers Stop here, or continue as a review

35. 1. The hindsight bias refers to people’s tendency to: • A) dismiss the value of replication • B) reject any ideas that can’t be scientifically tested. • C) exaggerate their ability to have foreseen the outcome of past events. • D) assume that correlation proves causation. • E) overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions. 20

36. 2. Two fundamental characteristics of the scientific attitude are: • A) pride and enthusiasm. • B) ingenuity and practicality. • C) creativity and patience. • D) skepticism and humility. 23

37. 3. A hypothesis is a(n): • A) observable relationship between independent and dependent variables. • B) testable prediction that gives direction to research. • C) set of principles that organizes and explains newly discovered facts. • D) unprovable assumptions about unobservable processes that underlie psychological functioning. 25

38. 4. As scientists, psychologists adopt an attitude of skepticism because they believe that: • A) people are unlikely to reveal what they are really thinking. • B) most common sense beliefs about human behavior are wrong. • C) claims about human behavior need to be supported by evidence. • D) events never occur randomly. • E) people are usually liars. 23

39. 5. Professor Saxton was very skeptical about the findings of a recently reported experiment on the effects of sleep deprivation. Which process would best enable her to assess the reliability of her findings? • A) naturalistic observation • B) replication • C) random sampling • D) the case study 25

40. 6. The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it: • A) is based on naturalistic observation. • B) may be unrepresentative of what is generally true. • C) is unusually easy to explain in hindsight. • D) leads us to underestimate the causal relationships between events. 26

41. 7. Jeff mistakenly assumes that everybody around him enjoys listening to country music just as much as he does. Jeff best illustrates: • A) the false consensus effect. • B) the hindsight bias. • C) an illusion of control. • D) the placebo effect. 28

42. 8. Psychologists select a random sample of research participants in order to ensure that: • A) The same number of participants will be assigned to each of the experimental conditions. • B) the study will not be influenced by the researcher’s personal values. • C) there will be a large number of participants in the research study. • D) the participants are representative of the population they are interested in studying. 28

43. 9. Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the religious beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward abortion? • A) the survey. • B) naturalistic observation. • C) the case study. • D) experimentation. 27

44. 10. Dr. Johns carefully monitors and records the behaviors of children in her classrooms in order to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Dr. Johns is most clearly engaged in: • A) survey research. • B) experimentation. • C) replication. • D) naturalistic observation. 29

45. 11. Correlational research is most useful for purposes of: • A) explanation. • B) prediction. • C) control. • D) replication. 30

46. 12. A researcher would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between: • A) financial poverty and physical health. • B) self-esteem and depression. • C) intelligence and academic success. • D) school grades and school absences. 30

47. 13. Illusory correlation refers to: • A) the perception of a relationship between two variables that does not actually exist. • B) a correlation that exceeds +1.0. • C) a cluster of points on a scatterplot that subtests a correlation between two variables. • D) a correlation that is not statistically significant. 33

48. 14. If those who watch more violent TV tend to behave more aggressively, this would not necessarily indicate that watching TV violence influences aggressive behavior because: • A) random sequences often don’t look random. • B) correlation does not prove causation. • C) sampling extreme cases leads to false generalizations. • D) events often seem more probable in hindsight. 34

49. 15. If the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of elementary school students is +.85, this would indicate: • A) the relationship between weight and reading ability among elementary school students is not statistically significant. • B) low body weight has a negative effect on the reading abilities of elementary school children. • C) better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among elementary school students. • D) body weight has no causal influence on the reading abilities of elementary school children. 33

50. 16. The relief of pain following the ingestion of an inert substance that is presumed to have medicinal benefits illustrates: • A) random assignment. • B) the hindsight bias. • C) the false consensus effect. • D) the placebo effect. • E) illusory correlation. 37