Intro Methods Labs

Question 1

If psychology is the science of mind why are the data in psychology always drawn from behavior?
Select one:
a. Behavior is produced by activity in the brain’s neurons, but the mind is not
b. Behavior can be influenced by the environment but the mind cannot.
c. Behavior can be directly observed but the mind cannot.
d. People’s behavior can be influenced by scientific findings but the mind cannot.

Answer 1

c. Behavior can be directly observed but the mind cannot.

Question 2

Delgardia claims he has a special gift that enables him to sense what other people are thinking. Which of the following is a FALSE statement?
Select one:
a. A scientific approach would test his claims using an objective test
b. Delgardia’s beliefs about his special gift arise from activities in the synapses in his brain
c. Claims like those of Delgardia demonstrate that phenomena of mind are outside the realm of science
d. A scientific approach would use empirical methods to verify or refute Delgardia’s claims.

Answer 2

c. Claims like those of Delgardia demonstrate that phenomena of mind are outside the realm of science

Question 3

Andrew believes that a depressed client's self-degrading thoughts and self-injurious behaviors are the results of the mechanical brain and body's control over the client's behavior. He only believes in matter and how it influences behavior. Andrew's belief identifies with the early philosophy known as:
Select one:
a. materialism.
b. behaviorism.
c. dualism.
d. empiricism.

Answer 3

a. materialism.

Question 4

What was the significance of Paul Broca discovering that the loss of the ability to speak is linked to damage in a specific area of the brain?
Select one:
a. It refuted the idea that mental processes interact to produce behavior.
b. It supported the idea that only humans can use language.
c. It suggested the idea that different parts of the brain serve different mental functions.
d. It refuted the concept of localization of function in the brain.

Answer 4

c. It suggested the idea that different parts of the brain serve different mental functions.

Question 5

Thomas Hobbes’s ideas helped initiate the school of thought known as empiricism. Empiricism held as its central belief that:
Select one:
a. elementary ideas are innate to the human mind and do not need to be gained through experience.
b. human knowledge and thought derive ultimately from sensory experience.
c. observable actions of people and other animals should be studied, but sensory experiences should not be studied.
d. the relationship between human thoughts and experiences cannot be established.

Answer 5

b. human knowledge and thought derive ultimately from sensory experience.

Question 6

The view that elementary ideas are innate to the human mind and are not gained through experience is known as:
Select one:
a. empiricism.
b. dualism.
c. nativism.
d. materialism.

Answer 6

c. nativism.

Question 7

One of Darwin’s key ideas is that, because of natural selection, animals have an inborn tendency to behave in ways that help them to:
Select one:
a. use the least amount of energy.
b. select from various natural alternatives.
c. learn from their parents.
d. survive and reproduce.

Answer 7

d. survive and reproduce.

Question 8

Darwin's concept of natural selection is most important for psychologists interested in the \_\_\_\_\_ of behavior.
Select one:
a. functions
b. structures
c. limitations
d. variations

Answer 8

a. functions

Question 9

How did the contributions of Charles Darwin help make the world ripe for psychology?
Select one:
a. He advanced the idea that specific parts of the brain serve specific functions in the production of mental experience and behavior.
b. He helped convince people that humans are part of the natural world and can be analyzed in the same way as nonhuman species.
c. He was the first to conceptualize the mechanical control of movement as reflexes, or involuntary responses to stimuli.
d. He was the first to challenge the church’s view that the human soul could not be studied scientifically.

Answer 9

b. He helped convince people that humans are part of the natural world and can be analyzed in the same way as nonhuman species.

Question 10

The psychologist Oskar Pfungst discovered the source of Clever Hans’s intellectual abilities by:
Select one:
a. comparing the behavior of Clever Hans to that of other horses.
b. calling in several experts in animal behavior.
c. conducting experiments in which he controlled what the horse could and could not see.
d. convincing the horse’s owner to reveal the truth.

Answer 10

c. conducting experiments in which he controlled what the horse could and could not see.

Question 11

A scientific theory is a(n):
Select one:
a. objective statement, usually based on direct observation, that reasonable observers agree is true.
b. concept in psychology that usually takes the form of particular behaviors in animals or humans.
c. idea or a conceptual model designed to explain existing facts and make specific predictions.
d. specific prediction based on facts that have already been determined.

Answer 11

c. idea or a conceptual model designed to explain existing facts and make specific predictions.

Question 12

Which statement BEST expresses the relationships among facts, hypotheses, theories, and experimental testing in science?
Select one:
a. facts  theories  hypotheses  tests  more facts
b. hypotheses  theories  facts  tests  observations
c. theories  tests  predictions  hypotheses  facts
d. facts  tests  observations  theories  hypotheses

Answer 12

a. facts  theories  hypotheses  tests  more facts

Question 13

Barry observes that mice are more active at night than during the day. He predicts that switching the normal light-dark cycle by using artificial light to make nighttime bright and daytime dark will alter the activity cycle of the mice, and will cause them to be more active during the day. If Barry tests his prediction and finds that the mice were still more active at night, he would need to revise:
Select one:
a. his original observations and reanalyze the data collected for possible errors.
b. his method of measuring the animals’ activity levels.
c. his hypothesis about the connection of light intensity and activity levels.
d. the experimental conditions that he used to test his prediction.

Answer 13

c. his hypothesis about the connection of light intensity and activity levels.

Question 14

When running a study, it is important for the experimenter to not convey their beliefs and expectations to the participants because the participants may:
Select one:
a. perceive them and behave unsuitably.
b. disagree with those beliefs.
c. observe them and act accordingly.
d. deviate from the experiment.

Answer 14

c. observe them and act accordingly.

Question 15

The MOST direct way to test a hypothesis about a cause-effect relationship is through a(n):
Select one:
a. correlational study.
b. descriptive study.
c. experiment.
d. self-report.

Answer 15

c. experiment.

Question 16

In an experiment, the independent variable is the one that the researcher:
Select one:
a. systematically alters.
b. holds constant.
c. measures.
d. discovers.

Answer 16

a. systematically alters.

Question 17

A psychologist is testing the effectiveness of a weight loss program. One group receives a diet and a specific counseling program. Another group receives the same diet and speaks to the counselors regularly but does not receive the specific counseling program. Participants are weighed weekly for 6 months. What is the independent variable?
Select one:
a. whether or not the participants receive the counseling program
b. the 6-month period of the weight loss program
c. the average weekly weight loss of each participant
d. the number of dieters in each group

Answer 17

a. whether or not the participants receive the counseling program

Question 18

A researcher has two groups of participants, one that has been taught a memory aid and one that has not. Both groups are asked to learn a list of 20 nouns in two minutes, and are given a recall test. What is the independent variable?
Select one:
a. the number of words
b. the participants’ scores on the recall test
c. whether or not the participants have been taught the memory aid
d. the amount of time participants took to complete the recall test

Answer 18

c. whether or not the participants have been taught the memory aid

Question 19

Mark believes that doing yoga increases calorie intake. To test his hypothesis, Mark assigns participants to two groups, one that participates in a yoga program and another that does not. He then measures how many calories they consume each day. In Mark's study, calories are the \_\_\_\_\_ variable.
Select one:
a. independent
b. control
c. dependent
d. between

Answer 19

c. dependent

Question 20

Mary tests two groups of participants to determine whether sleeping enhances memory. She has both groups read a list of words to memorize. Group A then goes to sleep, while group B stays awake all night. In the morning, both groups are given a memory test. In this example, the number of words remembered is the _____ and sleeping is the _____.
Select one:
a. dependent variable; independent variable
b. independent variable; dependent variable
c. criterion; biased sample
d. biased sample; criterion

Answer 20

a. dependent variable; independent variable

Question 21

A psychologist asks 3-year-olds to explore a room filled with toys either with or without their mothers present. The time the children spend exploring is measured. Exploration time is thus an example of a(n) \_\_\_\_\_ variable, and the presence or absence of the mother is a(n) \_\_\_\_\_ variable.
Select one:
a. constant; experimental
b. experimental; constant
c. independent; dependent
d. dependent; independent

Answer 21

d. dependent; independent

Question 22

A psychologist interested in the effects of music on concentration gives three similar groups of subjects a task requiring concentration and has each group listen to a different type of music while completing the task. The psychologist is conducting a(n):
Select one:
a. experiment.
b. correlational study.
c. descriptive study.
d. self-report study.

Answer 22

a. experiment.

Question 23

In an experiment, the variable hypothesized to be the cause is called the _____, and the variable hypothesized to be affected is called the _____.
Select one:
a. independent variable; dependent variable
b. dependent variable; independent variable
c. experimental variable; independent variable
d. constant; variable

Answer 23

a. independent variable; dependent variable

Question 24

If Lulana conducts research in which she manipulates an environmental factor in order to observe its effects on a participant's behavior, she is using the \_\_\_\_\_ method.
Select one:
a. self-report
b. correlational
c. observational
d. experimental

Answer 24

d. experimental

Question 25

Ashtad, a psychology professor, is investigating the effect on exam grades of a note-taking strategy. Which statement is an example of a between-groups experimental approach to this research question?
Select one:
a. He teaches the strategy to all the students and compares the exam scores of students who did not want to learn it with those who did.
b. He divides the exam questions into two groups—those for which the note-taking strategy should have aided learning and those for which it should not have helped.
c. He teaches one group of randomly selected students the note-taking strategy and the other students are given general instructions to “take good notes.”
d. He compares performance on the first exam, in which students were given general instructions, to that of the second exam, in which students used the note-taking strategy.

Answer 25

c. He teaches one group of randomly selected students the note-taking strategy and the other students are given general instructions to “take good notes.”

Question 26

How can an experiment allow a researcher to demonstrate a cause-effect relationship between two variables?
Select one:
a. Researchers can investigate natural relationships between two or more variables without manipulating them.
b. Researchers can conclude that change in the dependent variable is caused by change in the independent variable.
c. Researchers can observe effects of different conditions of the dependent variable.
d. Researchers can conduct surveys for evidence of a cause-effect relationship.

Answer 26

b. Researchers can conclude that change in the dependent variable is caused by change in the independent variable.

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT required in an experiment capable of demonstrating a cause and effect relationship between independent and dependent variables?
Select one:
a. random assingment of subjects to treatment groups in between groups designs
b. control of the experimental situation so that there are no differences between treatment conditions except for the deliberate manipulations by the experimenter
c. comparison of dependent variable scores between at least two treatment conditions
d. subjects who are representative of the population as a whole

Answer 27

d. subjects who are representative of the population as a whole

Question 28

Arzu hypothesized that highly stressful childhood experiences are associated with mental distress in adulthood. To test this hypothesis, she identified a group of people who had suffered such experiences and a group who had not, and then determined how many in each group had experienced a period of severe mental distress in adulthood, as defined by inpatient psychiatric treatment for two weeks or longer. This study is an example of a(n):
Select one:
a. experiment.
b. correlational study.
c. descriptive study.
d. psychoanalytic study.

Answer 28

b. correlational study.

Question 29

Which statement is FALSE about correlational studies?
Select one:
a. no variables are manipulated
b. cause and effect are determined
c. several variables are measured
d. they can identify relationships between variables

Answer 29

b. cause and effect are determined

Question 30

Michelle has noticed a trend of children with autism having a larger head circumference and wants to run a study to demonstrate this trend. Which type of study should Michelle conduct?
Select one:
a. correlational study
b. descriptive study
c. field study
d. laboratory study

Answer 30

a. correlational study

Question 31

A study shows that as the number of churches in a town increases, the rate of crime also increases. Which statement below is TRUE regarding the study’s findings?
Select one:
a. They are correlational. The two variables might be caused by a third variable.
b. They are descriptive. The experimenter is just explaining the types of buildings and the level of crime in a town.
c. They are factual. The increase of crime causes an increase in churches.
d. They are experimental. If a town built more churches, there would be more violence.

Answer 31

a. They are correlational. The two variables might be caused by a third variable.

Question 32

A psychologist is studying mastectomy patients in local hospitals to learn whether a patient's age at the time of surgery is related to postsurgical emotional adjustment. The psychologist is carrying out a:
Select one:
a. between-groups experiment.
b. within-subject experiment.
c. descriptive study.
d. correlational study.

Answer 32

d. correlational study.

Question 33

A correlational study may suggest a cause-effect relationship between two variables, but it does not in itself constitute evidence of cause and effect. Why not?
Select one:
a. Neither variable is manipulated, so it’s impossible to identify the cause and effect with certainty.
b. The variables are compared after they have been manipulated, so it’s impossible to be sure what caused the difference.
c. Only one variable is manipulated at a time, so it’s impossible to compare them.
d. Human behavior is so variable that it’s impossible to determine cause and effect with any research design.

Answer 33

a. Neither variable is manipulated, so it’s impossible to identify the cause and effect with certainty.

Question 34

Researcher Diana Baumrind classified families according to the parents' discipline style and measured behavioral characteristics of their children. She then looked for a relationship between the children's behavior and their parents' style of discipline. This type of research design is a(n):
Select one:
a. experiment.
b. descriptive study.
c. correlational study.
d. self-report study.

Answer 34

c. correlational study.

Question 35

In her correlational study of parents’ disciplinary styles and children’s development, Diana Baumrind found that children of authoritative parents scored higher on behavioral measures than children of authoritarian and permissive parents. Which statement is TRUE regarding Baumrind’s study?
Select one:
a. The causal relationship goes in one direction, with parents influencing children’s behavior.
b. The parents’ disciplinary styles and children’s behaviors are stable and unchanging.
c. The parents’ discipline style and the children’s behavior may be influenced by a third variable not measured in Baumrind’s study.
d. The causal relationship goes in one direction, with children influencing parents’ disciplinary styles.

Answer 35

c. The parents’ discipline style and the children’s behavior may be influenced by a third variable not measured in Baumrind’s study.

Question 36

A psychologist systematically observes and records the behavior of children on their first trip to a dentist's office. This psychologist is performing a(n):
Select one:
a. experiment.
b. correlational study.
c. descriptive study.
d. self-report study.

Answer 36

c. descriptive study.

Question 37

A university counseling office is profiling the different types of problems that cause students to seek counseling and the percentage of cases in each category. This type of research design is a(n):
Select one:
a. experiment.
b. correlational study.
c. self-report study.
d. descriptive study.

Answer 37

d. descriptive study.

Question 38

A study is run on the shoe size of ninth grade boys, the shoe sizes collected were as follows: 8, 10, 7, 6, 9, 8. What is the median of this data set?
Select one:
a. 10
b. 6
c. 8
d. 9

Answer 38

c. 8

Question 39

A study is run on the shoe size of freshman girls, the shoe sizes collected were as follows: 8, 6, 8, 5, 9, 6. What is the mean of this data set?
Select one:
a. 6
b. 8
c. 5
d. 7

Answer 39

d. 7

Question 40

Rachel and her five friends shared a super-size pizza. They each ate the following number of pieces: 3, 3, 2, 2, 5, and 3. The mean number of pieces these six friends ate is:
Select one:
a. 2.
b. 3.
c. 5.
d. 6.

Answer 40

b. 3.

Question 41

A teacher asks a class of college students at what age they expect to marry. The female students' responses fall within a narrow range, between 21 and 23, whereas the male students' responses fall within a broader range, between 21 and 35. Answers from the male students show greater:
Select one:
a. correlation.
b. bias.
c. significance.
d. variability.

Answer 41

d. variability.

Question 42

The coach of the Silver Ferns netball team wants to summarize the amount of difference between each individual player's height and the team's average height.  Which statistic would give her this information?
Select one:
a. range
b. mode
c. range divided by the mean
d. standard deviation

Answer 42

d. standard deviation

Question 43

Bill finds that he has a very large standard deviation and he concludes that the scores in his data set are:
Select one:
a. very similar to one another.
b. very different from one another.
c. statistically significant.
d. not valid and should be discarded.

Answer 43

b. very different from one another.

Question 44

Which statement about descriptive statistics is FALSE?
Select one:
a. They are used to calculate inferential statistics.
b. They summarize sets of data.
c. They determine the mean, median, and standard deviation.
d. They determine whether results are due to chance.

Answer 44

d. They determine whether results are due to chance.

Question 45

What takes into account the difference between each individual score and the mean and combines those differences to produce a single measure of variability?
Select one:
a. median
b. correlation coefficient
c. standard deviation
d. inferential statistic

Answer 45

c. standard deviation

Question 46

Jen was studying the correlation between the amount of TV people watch and their GPA. She found the more television people watched, the lower their GPA. The type of correlation Jen found is a \_\_\_\_\_ correlation.
Select one:
a. positive
b. negative
c. biased
d. neutral

Answer 46

b. negative

Question 47

Judy conducts a correlational study to investigate the relationship between teenagers listening to pop music and their likelihood to commit violence. She finds that the more hours teenagers listen to pop music, the more times they are arrested for violent behavior. What can Judy conclude from her data about the relationship between listening to pop music and violence?
Select one:
a. Having violent inclinations causes teenagers to listen to pop music.
b. Listening to pop music causes teenagers to be violent.
c. Being a teenager causes people to be violent and to listen to pop music.
d. Judy concludes that listening to pop music does not necessarily cause teenagers to engage in violent behavior.

Answer 47

d. Judy concludes that listening to pop music does not necessarily cause teenagers to engage in violent behavior.

Question 48

Which alternative illustrates the strongest linear relationship between two variables?
Select one:
a. +0.5
b. +0.1
c. -0.3
d. -0.8

Answer 48

d. -0.8

Question 49

If an experiment has the correlation coefficient of –.85, this means that when one variable decreases the other variable:
Select one:
a. decreases.
b. increases.
c. stays the same.
d. changes due to chance.

Answer 49

b. increases.

Question 50

A shorter person usually weighs less than a taller person. Which correlation coefficient between height and weight might possibly describe this relationship?
Select one:
a. –1.00
b. –0.80
c. +0.80
d. +1.00

Answer 50

c. +0.80

Question 51

Scores on a pre-employment test and subsequent ratings of job performance were calculated and were found to indicate a correlation coefficient of –1.25. Based on this correlation coefficient, a researcher would be justified in telling the company that:
Select one:
a. the test is a poor predictor of job success.
b. the test is a good predictor of job success.
c. the employees at this company are underachieving.
d. the correlation coefficient calculated is incorrect.

Answer 51

d. the correlation coefficient calculated is incorrect.

Question 52

Which correlation coefficient would indicate the weakest linear relationship?
Select one:
a. 0.00
b. 0.20
c. 0.50
d. – 0.40

Answer 52

a. 0.00

Question 53

A correlation coefficient of –0.90 would indicate a \_\_\_\_\_ correlation.
Select one:
a. lack of
b. weak
c. moderate
d. strong

Answer 53

d. strong

Question 54

In the induction lab experiment you imagined samples that varied in number (1, 3, or 20) and were told that all members of the sample had a particular attribute (e.g. brown skin, nested in a particular tree). The authors of the original research explained their results in terms of two sampling principles they believed were understood even by people with no formal statistical training. Which of the results below is consistent with the authors’ principles?
Select one:
a. Sample size overrides all. Population variance is irrelevant.
b. The rate of increase in estimates with sample size was steeper where population variance was greater
c. In the induction lab experiment you imagined samples that varied in number (1, 3, or 20) and were told that all members of the sample had a particular attribute (e.g. brown skin, nested in a particular tree). The authors of the original research explained their results in terms of two sampling principles they believed were understood even by people with no formal statistical training. Which of the results below is consistent with the authors’ principles.
d. People without formal statistical training have no idea of the role of population variance when inferring from samples

Answer 54

b. The rate of increase in estimates with sample size was steeper where population variance was greater

Question 55

In the class memory experiment we explored the effects organization at the time of study on later recall. One groups studied words (around 100 of them) that were organized into hierarchies while a second group studied the same words arranged randomly. The alternatives below list in order Independent variable; dependent variable; the name of a condition in the experiment; and a variable held constant in the experiment. Choose the correct alternative.

Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Condition
Held Constant

Select one:
a. 
List organization
number of list words recalled
no-organization
font size
 b. 
Assignment of participants to groups
number of list words recalled
no-organization
booklet colour
 c. 
Assignment of participants to groups
recall score
no-organization
time of day and room environment
 d. 
List organization
number of words recalled per minute
organization
time of day and the room environment

Answer 55

a. 
List organization
number of list words recalled
no-organization
font size