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The hindsight bias refers to people's tendency to

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exaggerate their ability to have foreseen an outcome.

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Our tendency to believe we know more than we do illustrates

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overconfidence.

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The tendency to perceive order in random events often leads to overestimating the value of

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informal consent.

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The fact that the same individual won the New Jersey lottery on two separate occasions best illustrates

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a random outcome.

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By testing their predictions with the observational method of science, psychologists are using a(n)

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empirical approach.

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Three key attitudes of scientific inquiry are

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certainty, creativity, and curiosity.

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A hypothesis is a(n)

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testable prediction that gives direction to research.

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A statement describing the exact procedures for measuring an anticipated experimental outcome is known as a(n)

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operational definition.

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Which technique involves repeating the essence of an earlier research study with different participants and in different circumstances?

answer

replication

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The case study is a research method in which

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a single individual is studied in great depth.

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In a survey, psychologists select a random sample of research participants in order to ensure that

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the participants are representative of the population they are interested in studying.

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Which of the following is a statistical measure of both the direction and the strength of a relationship between two variables?

answer

correlation coefficient

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A researcher would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between

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intelligence and academic success.

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Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two variables?

answer

-0.12

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Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to isolate

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causes from effects.

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To accurately isolate cause and effect, experimenters should use

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random assignment.

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Both the researchers and the participants in a memory study are ignorant about which participants have actually received a potentially memory-enhancing drug and which have received a placebo. This investigation involves the use of

answer

the double-blind procedure.

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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

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placebo.

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To study the potential effects of social interaction on problem solving, some research participants were instructed to solve problems by working together; other participants were told to solve problems by working alone. Those who worked alone were assigned to the ________ group.

answer

correlational

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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

answer

independent variable.

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A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment is called a

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confounding variable.

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In a psychological experiment, the factor that may be influenced by the manipulated experimental treatment is called the ________ variable.

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dependent

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When a statistical average is reported in the news, it is most important for readers to

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consider whether it is distorted by a few extreme cases.

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The first major issue that emerges in debates over experimenting on animals centers around the

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ethics of placing the well-being of humans above that of animals.

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Potential research participants are told enough about an upcoming study to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate. This illustrates the practice of seeking

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informed consent.

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After an experiment, research participants are told its purpose and about any deception they may have experienced. This is called

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debriefing.

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Psychologists' personal values and goals can do what?

answer

can bias their observations and interpretations.

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In an effort to prevent participants in an experiment from trying to confirm the researchers' predictions, psychologists sometimes

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deceive participants about the true purpose of an experiment.

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The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it

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may be unrepresentative of what is generally true.

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Psychologists who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzee societies in the jungle are using a research method known as

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naturalistic observation.

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A focus on the links between brain activity and behavior is most characteristic of psychologists who work from a ________ perspective.

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biological

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A drug that mimics the effects of a particular neurotransmitter is called a(n)

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agonist.

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The two major divisions of the nervous system are the central and the ________ nervous systems.

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peripheral

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The central nervous system consists of

answer

the brain and the spinal cord.

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The "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem is called the

answer

cerebellum.

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The part of the central nervous system that carries information from your senses to your brain and motor-control information to your body parts is the

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spinal cord.

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A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus is called a(n)

answer

reflex.

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The release of hormones by the adrenal glands is most likely to trigger

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the fight-or-flight response.

question

The master gland of the endocrine system is the

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pituitary gland.

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Messages are transmitted from your spinal cord to your heart muscles by the

answer

autonomic nervous system.

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Which division of the autonomic nervous system arouses the body and mobilizes its energy in stressful situations?

answer

the sympathetic nervous system

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The amygdala consists of emotion-linked neural clusters in the

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limbic system.

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Auditory stimulation is first processed in the ________ lobes.

answer

temporal

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The occipital lobes are to ________ as the temporal lobes are to ________.

answer

seeing; hearing

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The motor cortex is located in the ________ lobes.

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frontal

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The capacity of a brain area to reorganize in response to damage is known as brain

answer

plasticity

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Consciousness is

answer

our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

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Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus is called

answer

selective attention.

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While reading a novel, Raoul isn't easily distracted by the sounds of the TV or even by his brothers' loud arguments. This best illustrates

answer

selective attention.

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Circadian rhythm refers to

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a pattern of biological functioning that occurs on a roughly 24-hour cycle.

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Fast and jerky movements of the eyes are especially likely to be associated with

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REM sleep.

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Forty-year-old Lance insists that he never dreams. Research suggests that he probably

answer

would report a vivid dream if he were awakened during REM sleep.

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The human sleep cycle repeats itself about every

answer

90 minutes.

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Nageeb thought all nurses were young females until a middle-aged male nurse took care of him. Nageeb's altered conception of a "nurse" illustrates the process of

answer

accommodation.

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A child's temperament is likely to be

answer

a product of parenting style.

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One of the most consistently damaging teratogens is

answer

alcohol.

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Incorporating new information into existing theories is to ________ as modifying existing theories in light of new information is to ________.

answer

assimilation; accommodation

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Which of the following represents the correct order of Piaget's stages of cognitive development?

answer

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

question

A teratogen is a(n)

answer

fertilized egg that undergoes rapid cell division.

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Object permanence is the understanding that

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things continue to exist even when they are not perceived.

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According to Piaget, egocentrism refers to

answer

the difficulty perceiving things from another person's point of view.

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The symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome are most likely to include

answer

brain abnormalities.

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A recurring difficulty in falling or staying asleep is called

answer

insomnia

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The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes are called

answer

genes

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The genome is the complete

answer

set of interactions between genes and environments.

question

The home environment most clearly has a greater influence on children's ________ than on their ________.

answer

religious beliefs; personality traits

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The labels "easy," "difficult," and "slow-to-warm-up" are used to refer to differences in an infant's

answer

temperament.

question

A child's temperament is likely to be

answer

stable over time.

question

A random error in gene replication is known as a

answer

mutation.

question

Narcolepsy is a disorder in which a person

answer

has sudden uncontrollable seizures.

question

In which of the following disorders does the person repeatedly stop breathing while asleep?

answer

narcolepsy

question

Hypnosis involves a state of

answer

heightened openness to suggestion.

question

The simultaneous processing of information at both conscious and unconscious levels is called

answer

dual processing.

question

Parents who are demanding and yet sensitively responsive to their children are said to be

answer

authoritative

question

According to Kohlberg, morality based on the avoidance of punishment and the attainment of concrete rewards represents ________ morality.

answer

preconventional

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According to Erikson, achieving a sense of identity is the special task of the

answer

adolescent

question

Most 20-year-olds outperform most 70-year-olds on video games due to age-related differences in

answer

information-processing speed.

question

Four-year-old Jennifer mistakenly believes that her mother would like to receive a toy doll as a Christmas present. This best illustrates Piaget's concept of

answer

egocentrism

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Conditioning is the process of

answer

learning associations.

question

Pets who learn that the sound of an electric can opener signals the arrival of their food illustrate

answer

classical conditioning.

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After one chimpanzee sees a second chimp open a box that contains a food reward, the first animal opens a similar box with great speed. This best illustrates

answer

observational learning.

question

Associating a conditioned stimulus with a new neutral stimulus can create a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. This best illustrates

answer

higher-order conditioning.

question

A Skinner box is a(n)

answer

chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a reward.

question

The retention of encoded information over time refers to

answer

storage

question

The process of getting information out of memory is called

answer

retrieval.

question

We encode implicit memories by means of

answer

automatic processing.

question

Chunking refers to

answer

the organization of information into meaningful units.

question

A mnemonic is a

answer

memory aid.

question

Which type of memory has an essentially limitless capacity?

answer

long-term memory

question

When an eyewitness to an auto accident is asked to describe what happened, which measure of memory is being used?

answer

recall

question

Which measure of memory is used on a test that requires matching glossary terms with their correct definitions?

answer

recognition

question

Which measure of memory retention assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again?

answer

relearning

question

When Tony is in a bad mood, he interprets his parents' comments as criticisms. When he's in a good mood, he interprets the same types of parental comments as helpful suggestions. This best illustrates that our emotional states influence the process of

answer

repression

question

An event that strengthens the behavior it follows is a(n)

answer

reinforcement.

question

Five-year-old Trevor is emotionally disturbed and refuses to communicate with anyone. To get him to speak, his teacher initially gives him candy for any utterance, then only for a clearly spoken word, and finally only for a complete sentence. The teacher is using the method of

answer

shaping

question

Any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response is called a(n)

answer

positive reinforcer.

question

After a week at college, Su-Chuan has formed a mental representation of the layout of the campus and no longer gets lost. Su-Chuan has developed a

answer

cognitive map.

question

Although we may be unaware of our gender prejudices, they often influence the way we consciously perceive males and females. This best illustrates

answer

dual processing.

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