Exam 2: The Science of Social Psychology

A researcher formed the following hypothesis: "Good children receive more positive attention from their parents than bad children".The main problem with this hypothesis is:

Describe the primary responsibilities of an Institutional Review Board (IRB)? When would an IRB deem it acceptable for researchers to use deception in their studies?

Researches who wish to conduct studies are NOT required to do which of the following?

Experimental methods do not allow researchers to identify causes of behaviors and events.

Briefly outline the steps involved in the research process.

In an attempt to determine whether noise interferes with performance,Marc randomly assigns participants to take a math test either while listening to loud music or in silence.In this study,performance is considered the:

Luri decides to conduct a study to examine whether pre-school boys and girls spend more time talking to same-sex or opposite sex children.In this example,preschool children represents_____________.

In an experimental research design,the group that does not receive the main treatment,and is used for comparison to the treatment group is called ____________.

Participant bias occurs when the researcher subconsciously shows bias in his/her evaluation of the results in order to reach a desired conclusion.

Name the three basic ethical principles outline by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research.Pick two of the three ethical principles and provide a brief explanation of each one.

According to your text,what type of study is considered the 'gold standard' in research because it offers the least threat of bias from participants or the experimenter?

An experimenter who decides not to tell participants whether they are receiving a treatment pill or a sugar pill is conducting a double-blind study.

You want to conduct an experiment but you are concerned with being able to apply your findings to the general population.You would be more likely to conduct what type of study in this situation?

A different factor that could be responsible for an observed effect between two other variables is defined as _____________.

Laurie hypothesizes that women will be more likely than men to hold a door open for others.She decides to watch people coming in and out of a local coffee shop,recording the sex of each individual who holds the door open for another person.Laurie is conducting what type of research?

Which adage best illustrates the concept of hindsight bias?

Daniel conducts a study looking at the relationship between exercise and depression and finds there is a negative correlation.Daniel concludes that exercise causes people to become less depressed.However,a colleague points out the possibility that less depressed people may simply be more likely to exercise.This represents a problem in interpreting correlations best known as ____________.

A measureable improvement that is found in a participant that cannot be attributed to any treatment given by the experimenter is known as ___________

In some cases it has been found that a sugar pill produces the same result as an active treatment pill.

Compare and contrast internal and external validity.In an experimental design,can both internal and external validity be maximized at the same time? Why or why not?