Exam 1: The Mission and the Method

The margin of error in a poll best represents the  ____ in a survey's results.

Dr. Pow is interested in whether exposure to TV advertisements has a different impact on girls' self-image than it does on boys' self-image. To examine this question, she conducts a quasi-experiment. Why doesn't Dr. Pow conduct a true experiment instead?

What do we best call the field that combines the interests of social and biological psychology?

The social psychological theory known as "social exchange theory" is based MOST obviously on which of the following other social sciences?

What is a hypothesis?

Today, both funded and unfunded studies conducted at universities must first obtain ____ approval.

If you conduct a study and predict that X causes Y, then X is the ____ variable.

MOST research in social psychology is based on ____.

Consider the following American adages, which seem to contradict one another: "Birds of a feather flock together" and "opposites attract." What would social psychologists say about these adages?

Zhao's research interest is to determine if poverty causes one to be more politically liberal. However, he cannot randomly assign people to conditions of poverty versus wealth because (aside from the practical difficulty)it would be unethical to do so. Zhao will have to ____.

Suppose you own a rowboat and enjoy going rowing on a nearby lake in the summer. In June, you are planning to go rowing with two of your friends (three people in total in the boat), and in July, you are planning to go rowing with just one friend (two people in total in the boat). Will you put in more effort (row harder)on the three-person trip or on the two-person trip?

Suppose a researcher asked you to answer a series of personal questions about your sexual life. You might (justifiably)feel annoyed and intruded upon, and find yourself being rude to the researcher, or even purposely giving the researcher incorrect information. Your response would be an example of ____.

In the ____, medical doctors from the U.S. Public Health Service studied the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government from 1932 to 1972.

In one of the first social psychological experiments ever conducted, researcher Norman Triplett built a "competition machine," in which children wind up a fishing reel. He found that the children were able to wind more quickly when ____.

Behaviorism seeks to explain human behavior in terms of ____.

If a researcher tested 1000 people and found that women received significantly higher scores on the verbal portion of the SAT than did men, this would mean that ____.

An experiment has two essential features. First, the researcher manipulates the independent variable(s). Second, the researcher makes use of _____.

The study of what happens in the brain, nervous system, and other aspects of the body is called _____.

The Literary Digest poll that predicted Alf Landon would resoundingly win the presidential election when, in fact, Franklin Roosevelt won, was flawed by ____.

When experiments are conducted outside of the laboratory, in real-world settings, they are called ____.