Exam 2: How Psychologists Do Research

Unlike plays and poems, scientific theories are not judged by how pleasing they are. Instead, a theory must be backed by empirical evidence if it is to be taken seriously. Integrate this information from Chapter 2 with the critical thinking guideline, "Avoid Emotional Reasoning," that you studied in Chapter 1.

Case studies are most commonly used by clinicians.

Which of the following statements is true about case studies?

Case studies are usually sources of hypotheses, rather than tests of hypotheses.

Marcy is trying to define "anxiety" in such a way that it specifies how it is to be observed, measured, and empirically tested. She is attempting to find an appropriate:

Dr. Benjamin Rush treated yellow fever by bloodletting. He attributed each recovery to the bloodletting and each death to the severity of the yellow fever. What rule of science did he violate?

If a psychological test is standardized:

Some correlational studies have found that people who are chronically depressed are more likely than non-depressed people to develop cancer. Which of the following can be derived from the study?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." How would you frame this question in clear and concrete terms so that it could be tested? Specify an operational definition for the major terms.

In a laboratory, smokers are asked to drive using a computerized driving simulator and cover the maximum distance possible, while avoiding rear-end collisions. Some volunteers are given a real cigarette to smoke immediately before the test. Others smoke a fake cigarette without nicotine. The number of collisions the two groups make is to be compared. The control group in this scenario consists of:

Assessment instruments that are designed to tap unconscious feelings or motives are called:

When Hoshi takes a personality test, she is told that the resulting score is compared to norms; that is, the test:

Replication occurs when scientists repeat a study in order to verify or challenge its findings.

Dr. Sardonicus wants to know whether or not the first three years of life are critical for acquiring language. She decides to study a child who was tragically deprived of human language by her parents. This type of research is called a(n):

Which of the following correlation coefficient values indicate the strongest relationship between two variables?

Hannah decides to test whether engineering majors have greater visual-spatial abilities than students with other majors. To measure visual-spatial ability, Hannah times how long it takes each participant to complete a jigsaw puzzle. This is an example of a(n):

Which of the following is an advantage of case studies?

Which of the following is a disadvantage of case studies?

In a single-blind experiment, participants do not know if they are in an experimental group or a control group.

Think of a topic in psychology that interests you. Write a hypothesis regarding this topic and explain what research method you would use in order to investigate the topic.