Step Up To: Psychology Research Methods

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Step Up To PsychologyResearch Methods

• Psychology, Eighth Edition
• by David G. Myers

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Chapter 1 Thinking Critically With Psychological
Science
Correlation
Describe Our World
Experiment
Psychology as a Science
Statistical Reasoning
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1. Psychology is currently defined as

• A) the scientific study of behavior.
• B) the scientific study of behavior and mental
  processes.
• C) the scientific study of biological and
  cognitive processes.
• D) the scientific study of motives and conflicts.

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2. The ____ administers tests and provides
therapy and the ___ prescribes medication.

• A) clinical psychologist psychiatrist
• B) psychiatrist clinical psychologist
• C) counseling psychologist clinical psychologist
• D) school psychologist clinical psychologist

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3. In the SQ3R model, the recommended sequence
is

• A) survey, question, read, reason, review.
• B) study, question, review, read, reflect.
• C) study, question, read, review, reflect.
• D) survey, question, read, review, reflect.

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4. Dr. James proposes that mens desire for
young, healthy women contributes to the survival
of the human species. He is taking the ___
perspective.

• A) psychodynamic
• B) neurological
• C) evolutionary
• D) socio-cultural

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Together, three different levels form an
integrated approach to understanding
psychological processes. This approach is called

• A) neuro-developmental.
• B) biopsychosocial.
• C) bio-mental-behavioral.
• D) cognitive-behavioral.

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6. Julie appeared not to be surprised when the
couple broke up. I could have predicted that,
she said. Julie is demonstrating

• A) ESP.
• B) hindsight bias.
• C) overestimation the extent to which others
  share her opinion.
• D) correlation proves causation.

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7. To have a scientific attitude, we should not
just believe something we have been told, we
should examine the evidence, ask questions and
come to our own conclusions. This process is
called

• A) a hypothesis.
• B) an experiment.
• C) critical thinking.
• D) logical reasoning.

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8. A hypothesis is a(n)

• A) testable prediction that gives direction to
  research.
• B) way to organize facts.
• C) process of linking facts to deeper principles.
• D) set of principles that explains newly
  discovered facts.

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9. According to the recommendations by the
Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, research using animal subjects

• A) should not be done.
• B) should be conducted in a controlled
  laboratory.
• C) should only be conducted in order to
  save lives.
• D) should be done through naturalistic
  observation.

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10. The following is an example of an operational
definition

• A) stress is defined as how well a person adjusts
  to his/her environment.
• B) personality is defined as how well that person
  relates to others.
• C) empathy is defined as showing you can
  understand the other persons feelings.
• D) intelligence is defined as a score on
  an intelligence test.
• E) all of the above.

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11. When everybody has an equal chance of being
included in a study, this process is called

• A) unbiased reporting.
• B) a survey.
• C) a random sample.
• D) reliability.

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12. Which of the following correlation
coefficients reflects the strongest correlation?

• A) .10
• B) -.64
• C) .59
• D) -.10

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13. A mistaken belief that two factors or events
are related when they are not is called

• A) the rule of falsifiability.
• B) pseudoscience.
• C) an illusory correlation.
• D) paranormal phenomena.

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14. Joan had not been able to get pregnant for
years so she and her husband decided to adopt.
Six months after the adoption, Joan became
pregnant. This proves

• A) the belief that infertile couples are more
  likely to have a child after adoption.
• B) if you try hard to have a child, you are less
  likely to.
• C) she must have become remarried.
• D) coincidences which confirm a belief
  are believed to be meaningful.

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15. Consistently, we find low self-esteem is
often related with high levels of depression.
This means

• A) low self-esteem causes depression.
• B) depression causes low self-esteem.
• C) low self-esteem and depression are caused by a
  third factor.
• D) they are correlated but this does not
  prove causation.

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16. In order to prove a cause-and-effect
relationship, we must use

• A) naturalistic observation.
• B) the experimental method.
• C) human subjects.
• D) correlation coefficients.

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17. In an experiment, the group of participants
who are exposed to the treatment of interest is
in the

• A) control condition.
• B) independent condition.
• C) placebo condition.
• D) experimental condition.

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18. Neither the researcher nor the subjects knew
whether or not they received the drug studied or
a placebo. This is an example of

• A) expectancy effects.
• B) placebo effects.
• C) a double-blind study.
• D) nothing. It would be ridiculous.

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19. The best way to assure the post-treatment
differences found between the experimental and
control groups is due to the treatment is by

• A) random assignment.
• B) training your subjects well.
• C) letting your subjects know which group they
  are in.
• D) using a placebo.

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20. Dr. Schulte wants to investigate if
aggressive behavior in children is increased if
they view violent videos. In this instance, the
dependent variable is

• A) violent videos.
• B) aggressive behavior.
• C) a placebo.
• D) the control condition.

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21. Which measure of central tendency is the
exact middle score of a distribution of scores?

• A) mean
• B) median
• C) mode
• D) coefficient

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22. The ____ is a measure of the degree of
variation among a set of scores from each other.

• A) mean
• B) scatterplot
• C) standard deviation
• D) normal distribution

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23. Mean is to range as ____ is to ___.

• A) central tendency variation
• B) frequency distribution bar graph
• C) scatterplot correlation
• D) mean mode

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24 If results of research are not likely to have
occurred by chance, we say the results are

• A) an illusory correlation.
• B) descriptive.
• C) valid.
• D) statistically significant.

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25. Mr. Soda found in his experiment more
Americans enjoyed Coke than Pepsi. He
blindfolded 100 people, had them taste each and
then report. You would recommend that Mr. Soda

• A) should use other colas, too.
• B) should have tested non-Americans.
• C) should test many more subjects.
• D) should have some test 7-up.

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Answers
1. B
2. A
3. D
4. C
5. B
6. B
7. C
8. A
9. D
10. D
11. C
12. B
13. C
14. D
15. D
16. B
17. D
18. C
19. A
20. B
21. B
22. C
23. A
24. D
25. C