psych final part 1 – Flashcards

Contemporary psychology is best defined as the science of A. conscious and unconscious mental activity. B. observable responses to the environment. C. behavior and mental processes. D. maladaptive and adaptive behaviors.

Professor Crisman believes that most women prefer tall and physically strong partners because this preference promoted the survival of our ancestors' genes. This viewpoint best illustrates the ________ perspective. A. social-cultural B. cognitive C. evolutionary D. psychodynamic

Dr. Santaniello conducts research on how children's moral thinking changes as they grow older. It is most likely that Dr. Santaniello is a(n) ________ psychologist. A. social B. clinical C. developmental D. industrial-organizational

Mike Crampton's stockbroker has informed him that he has suffered substantial investment losses. When Mike tells his wife, she angrily responds, "I could have told you that your investment plan would fail!" Her comment best illustrates A. hindsight bias. B. illusory correlation. C. the placebo effect. D. replication.

Megan was certain that she would never live far away from her family. However, when offered a better job in another state, she decided to move. Megan's experience best illustrates A. hindsight bias. B. illusory correlation. C. the placebo effect. D. overconfidence.

Three key attitudes of scientific inquiry are A. pride, enthusiasm, and ingenuity. B. ingenuity, practicality, and certainty. C. certainty, creativity, and curiosity. D. curiosity, skepticism, and humility.

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

To understand the unusual behavior of an adult client, a clinical psychologist carefully investigates the client's current life situation and his physical, social-cultural, and educational history. Which research method has the psychologist used? A. the survey B. the case study C. experimentation D. naturalistic observation

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

Governor Donovan was greeted by large, enthusiastic crowds at all of his political rallies. As a result, he became overconfident about his chances of re-election. In this instance, the governor needs to be alerted to the value of A. replication. B. random sampling. C. experimental control. D. naturalistic observation.

Professor Ober carefully observes and records the behaviors of children in their classrooms in order to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Professor Ober is most clearly engaged in A. survey research. B. naturalistic observation. C. experimentation. D. replication.

If the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of children is +0.85, this would indicate that A. there is very little statistical relationship between weight and reading ability among children. B. low body weight has a negative effect on the reading abilities of children. C. better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among children. D. body weight has no causal influence on the reading abilities of children.

A negative correlation between degree of wealth and likelihood of suffering from a psychological disorder would indicate that A. poverty makes people vulnerable to psychological disorders. B. people who are poor are more likely to have a psychological disorder than are wealthy people. C. psychological disorders usually prevent people from accumulating wealth. D. all of these statements are correct.

Sally mistakenly believes that her test grades are negatively correlated with the amount of time she studies for her tests. Research on illusory correlation suggests that she is especially likely to notice instances in which A. poor grades follow either brief study or lengthy study. B. either poor grades or good grades follow lengthy study. C. good grades follow lengthy study and poor grades follow brief study. D. poor grades follow lengthy study and good grades follow brief study.

Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether cigarette smoking boosts mental alertness? A. the case study B. the survey C. naturalistic observation D. the experiment

Research participants are randomly assigned to different groups in an experiment in order to A. reduce the likelihood that participants within any group know each other. B. increase the likelihood that research participants are representative of people in general. C. reduce the likelihood of any preexisting differences between groups of participants. D. increase the likelihood that the different groups have the same number of participants.

To study the potential effects of social interaction on problem solving, some research participants were instructed to solve problems working together; other participants were told to solve problems working alone. Those who worked alone were assigned to the ________ group. A. experimental B. survey C. control D. correlational

In a study of the effects of drinking alcohol, some participants drank a nonalcoholic beverage that actually smelled and tasted like alcohol. This nonalcoholic drink was a A. dependent variable. B. replication. C. placebo. D. double blind.

In an experimental study, men with erectile dysfunction received either Viagra or a placebo. In this study, the drug dosage (none versus peak dose) was the A. random sample. B. dependent variable. C. standard deviation. D. independent variable.

In an effort to prevent participants in an experiment from trying to confirm the researchers' predictions, psychologists sometimes A. obtain written promises from participants to respond honestly. B. treat information about individual participants confidentially. C. deceive participants about the true purpose of an experiment. D. allow people to decide for themselves whether they want to participate in an experiment.