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Based on your text's discussion of scientific inquiry, the goals of psychological science include each of the following EXCEPT:

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controlling the causes of behavior and mental processes

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Psychologist Jean Piaget observed children to see how they solved problems. Over the course of many studies, he was able to spot general patterns of behavior. This led him to connect different concepts and behaviors within a single:

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theory

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A researcher believes that presenting possible suspects in a lineup one at a time instead of in a group would lead to more accurate identification of the true suspect. This belief represents a(n):

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hypothesis

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When researchers document that a phenomenon is real by repeating a study done by another scientist, they are engaging in:

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replication

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Which of the following statements is true of variables in studies?

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A variable is something that can change and be measured.

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If a researcher defined happiness based on the number of times a person smiled in a 15-minute period, the number of smiles would be:

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the operational definition of happiness

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Data collection is particularly problematic when a researcher uses participant observation because:

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the researcher loses objectivity in participating with a group

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Relative to cross-sectional research studies, longitudinal studies are:

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more expensive and take more time

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The psychologist Robert Rosenthal told student researchers that some rats in a study would learn a task quickly and others would learn the task slowly. In reality, there was no difference in the rats' ability to learn the task. When the students tested the rats, the animals' learning matched what the students were told. These results reflect the:

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experimenter expectancy effect

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Gwen is studying the effects of comedic film on depressed participants. She is concerned that the data collectors will produce biased observations if they know the purpose of the study. She addresses this problem by using a(n):

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correlational study

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Researchers are likely to choose a correlational design when:

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they are using psychophysiological assessments

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Using correlational studies, psychologists have studied whether exposure to violence in the media leads to violent behavior. They have found that participants who have been exposed to more violence in the media are, in general, more violent. It is not clear from such research which one causes the other. The problem in interpreting these results involves:

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directionality

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There is a correlation between depression and memory: When people suffer from depression frequently, they often display worse memory than people who suffer from depression less frequently. Genetics, however, may have an effect on a study participant's depression and memory. This combination of factors is known as:

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confounds

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Which of the following types of studies allows the researcher to establish causality between an independent variable and a dependent variable?

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none of the above

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A research team told one group of people they would hear a set of jokes that were very funny and a second group that they would hear jokes that were not very funny. A third group was not told anything about the jokes. The jokes in all conditions were the same. Research with this design is:

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psychophysiological

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When confounds are present in an experiment, they result in:

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possible alternative explanations for the results of the experiment

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Because psychologists regularly use college students as research participants, the research does NOT involve:

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random sampling

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Researchers have used driving simulators to investigate whether talking on a cell phone impairs the ability to drive. The published studies show that using a cell phone has a detrimental effect on attention to driving. One valid criticism of these studies is that:

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behavior is almost impossible to predict when it involves a complex set of behaviors like driving an automobile

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Unintended differences between the groups in an experiment reflect _____ bias; these differences stem from a failure to follow the principle of random _____.

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selection; assignment

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In which of the following studies would the concept of reactivity be most relevant?

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an observational study

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A study of the experiences of a synesthete—for example, a person who experiences a visual sensation when hearing a sound—is likely to make use of:

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case study

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In observational studies, participants sometimes show reactivity. A related phenomenon in self-report studies is called:

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participant observation

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Researchers monitor changes in blood oxygen level when they record brain activity using:

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a PET scan

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A limitation of EEG recording in brain research is that

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researchers cannot always identify the specific areas of the brain generating the electrical activity seen in the EEG recordings

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation investigates the activity of a given region of the brain through the:

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interruption of functioning of the brain in the region of interest by sending a magnetic pulse to that region

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If a researcher was denied permission to conduct a study because participants might suffer harm, that decision would have been made by the:

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institutional review board

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When a researcher debriefs her participants, she:

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describes the factors that might affect their willingness to participate

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When data collected in research are not useful in addressing the issue that the investigator is studying, we say that the data are NOT:

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reliable

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The mean, median, and mode are all examples of:

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measures of central tendency

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Research has shown that some types of behavioral or psychiatric disorders are more prevalent among people with low levels of education. This pattern of data is associated with:

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descriptive statistics

Psy 202 Chapter 2

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