Psych Test Bank 1 Chapter 1

Front 1

The hindsight bias refers to people's tendency to

A) dismiss the value of replication.
B) reject any ideas that can't be scientifically tested.
C) exaggerate their ability to have foreseen an outcome.
D) overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions.

Back 1

C) exaggerate their ability to have foreseen an outcome.

Front 2

Political officials who have no doubt that their own economic and military predictions will come true most clearly demonstrate

A) illusory correlation.

B) random sampling.

C) overconfidence.

D) the placebo effect.

Back 2

C) overconfidence.

Front 3

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

A) correlation coefficient.

B) empirical approach.

C) standard deviation.

D) independent variable.

Back 3

B) empirical approach.

Front 4

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.

Back 4

D) curiosity, skepticism, and humility.

Front 5

The scientific attitude requires an open-minded humility because it involves a willingness to

A) perceive order in random events.

B) reject any ideas that can't be scientifically tested.

C) recognize the errors in our own ideas.

D) respect political beliefs that contradict our own.

Back 5

C) recognize the errors in our own ideas.

Front 6

Assessing whether conclusions are warranted by the existing evidence best illustrates

A) critical thinking.

B) naturalistic observation.

C) the placebo effect.

D) the double-blind procedure.

Back 6

A) critical thinking.

Front 7

Professor Shalet contends that parents and children have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as a(n)

A) theory.

B) replication.

C) naturalistic observation.

D) illusory correlation.

Back 7

A) theory.

Front 8

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.

Back 8

B) testable prediction that gives direction to research.

Front 9

A statement describing how a researcher measures a research variable is known as a(n)

A) hypothesis.

B) control condition.

C) replication.

D) operational definition.

Back 9

D) operational definition.

Front 10

In a written report of their research, psychologists specify exactly how anxiety is assessed, thus providing their readers with a(n)

A) hypothesis.

B) independent variable.

C) operational definition.

D) standard deviation.

Back 10

C) operational definition.

Front 11

The case study is a research method in which

A) a single individual is studied in great depth.
B) a representative sample of people are questioned regarding their opinions or behaviors.
C) organisms are carefully observed in a laboratory environment.
D) an investigator manipulates one or more variables that might affect behavior.

Back 11

A) a single individual is studied in great depth.

Front 12

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

A) is based on naturalistic observation.
B) may be unrepresentative of what is generally true.
C) overestimates the importance of operational definitions.
D) leads us to underestimate the causal relationships between events.

Back 12

B) may be unrepresentative of what is generally true.

Front 13

In which type of research is a representative, random sample of people asked to answer questions about their behaviors or attitudes?

A) experimentation

B) the survey

C) the case study

D) naturalistic observation

Back 13

B) the survey

Front 14

Surveys indicate that people are much less likely to support “welfare” than “aid to the needy.” These somewhat paradoxical survey results best illustrate the importance of

A) random sampling.

B) wording effects.

C) the placebo effect.

D) naturalistic observation.

Back 14

B) wording effects.

Front 15

To assess reactions to a proposed tuition hike at her school, Ariana sent a questionnaire to every fifteenth person in the registrar's alphabetical listing of all currently enrolled students. Ariana is ensuring that her survey results are accurate by using

A) random assignment.

B) naturalistic observation.

C) replication.

D) random sampling.

Back 15

D) random sampling.

Front 16

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.

Back 16

B) naturalistic observation.

Front 17

Correlation is a measure of the extent to which two variables

A) vary together.

B) are random samples.

C) influence each other.

D) show statistically significant differences.

Back 17

A) vary together.

Front 18

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

A) correlation coefficient

B) standard deviation

C) range

D) mean

Back 18

A) correlation coefficient

Front 19

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

A) intelligence and academic success.

B) financial poverty and physical health.

C) self-esteem and depression.

D) school grades and school absences.

Back 19

A) intelligence and academic success.

Front 20

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

A) –0.12

B) –0.99

C) +0.25

D) –0.50

Back 20

A) –0.12

Front 21

Our tendency to notice and remember instances in which a premonition of an unlikely phone call is actually followed by the call most clearly contributes to

A) random assignment.

B) an illusory correlation.

C) replication.

D) the placebo effect.

Back 21

B) an illusory correlation.

Front 22

To find out whether breast-milk feeding contributes to the intellectual development of children, psychologists used

A) case studies.

B) surveys.

C) naturalistic observations.

D) experiments.

Back 22

D) experiments.

Front 23

In which type of research would an investigator manipulate one factor in order to observe its effect on some behavior or mental process?

A) the survey

B) the case study

C) experimentation

D) naturalistic observation

Back 23

C) experimentation

Front 24

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

Back 24

C) reduce the likelihood of any preexisting differences between groups of participants.

Front 25

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

A) naturalistic observation.

B) random sampling.

C) the double-blind procedure.

D) replication.

Back 25

C) the double-blind procedure.

Front 26

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.

Back 26

C) placebo.

Front 27

In a psychological experiment, the experimental factor that is manipulated by the investigator is called the ________ variable.

A) dependent

B) independent

C) control

D) experimental

Back 27

B) independent

Front 28

In an experimental study of the effects of anxiety on self-esteem, anxiety would be the ________ variable.

A) experimental

B) dependent

C) correlational

D) independent

Back 28

D) independent

Front 29

The most frequently occurring score in a distribution of scores is the

A) mode.

B) median.

C) standard deviation.

D) mean.

Back 29

A) mode.

Front 30

Mr. and Mrs. Klostreich have six children aged 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, and 16. The mean age of the Klostreich children is

A) 5.

B) 6.

C) 7.

D) 8.

Back 30

D) 8.

Front 31

During the past year, Zara and Ivan each read 2 books, but George read 9, Ali read 12, and Marsha read 25. The median number of books read by these individuals was

A) 2.

B) 10.

C) 12.

D) 9.

Back 31

D) 9.

Front 32

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution is the

A) mean.

B) range.

C) median.

D) standard deviation.

Back 32

B) range.

Front 33

Which of the following is a measure of the degree of variation among a set of scores?

A) mean

B) scatterplot

C) standard deviation

D) correlation coefficient

Back 33

C) standard deviation

Front 34

The symmetrical bellshaped figure used to represent the distribution of many physical and psychological characteristics is called a

A) bar graph.

B) normal curve.

C) correlation.

D) scatterplot.

Back 34

B) normal curve.

Front 35

If a set of standardized test scores is normally distributed, having a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, approximately 68 percent of the group members receive scores somewhere between

A) 50 and 60.

B) 45 and 55.

C) 40 and 60.

D) 35 and 65.

Back 35

C) 40 and 60.

Front 36

In a single day, 45 babies were born in hospital X, 65 babies in hospital Y, and 25 babies in hospital Z. At which hospital is there the greatest probability that more than 60 percent of the babies are of the same sex?

A) hospital X

B) hospital Y

C) hospital Z

D) The probability is the same at all three hospitals.

Back 36

D) The probability is the same at all three hospitals.

Front 37

The enduring traditions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a large group of people constitutes their

A) culture.

B) normal curve.

C) wording effects.

D) statistical significance.

Back 37

A) culture.

Front 38

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

A) usefulness of studying biological processes in animals.
B) ethics of placing the well-being of humans above that of animals.
C) obligation to treat information about individual animals with confidentiality.
D) need to obtain the informed consent of animals used in research.

Back 38

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

Front 39

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.

Back 39

C) deceive participants about the true purpose of an experiment.

Front 40

Professor Smith told one class that drinking alcohol has been found to increase sexual desire. He informed another class that drinking alcohol has been found to reduce sexual appetite. The fact that neither class was surprised by the information they received best illustrates the power of

A) replication.

B) hindsight bias.

C) the double-blind procedure.

D) the placebo effect.

Back 40

B) hindsight bias.