Exam 1: Introduction to Psychology

Research on animals _____

The third variable problem occurs when one variable, for example your independent variable, is actually linked to another variable that you are not manipulating or controlling for. In this example, what might the third variable be? (Example: The larger a child's shoe size, the more vocabulary she has.)

Which of the following would be true if the number of hours students spend watching T.V. is negatively correlated with their grades in school?

Two of the many mental processes studied by cognitive psychologists are _____ and _____.

A sample that includes important subgroups that the researchers want to be able to generalize their results to is called a _____

Dr Bùi has been asked by the defense attorney to evaluate a client convicted of assault and write a report that will be presented to the judge before sentencing. Dr. Bùi is most likely a _____ psychologist.

Lee is not very interested in academics and performs poorly in school. This is causing problems at home in his traditional Chinese family where academic success is highly valued. In order to help him reconcile his values and maintain better relationships at home, he is likely to do best with a counselor who has a _____ perspective.

Professor Beverly approaches questions about human behavior from a perspective that emphasizes bodily events and chemicals, such as hormones, associated with behavior. It is most likely that she accepts which of the following psychological perspectives?

Joanne is struggling to make a decision about her health care. She can't decide whether to get screened for cancer with a mammogram. She has read in some popular magazines that there are risks related to getting mammograms, things like false positives and X-ray exposure. Her friend told her about someone she knew who had a needle biopsy because the mammogram showed a tumor and there was no cancer, but she got a bad infection from the biopsy. Joanne doesn't know anyone who has been saved by getting a mammogram. She is leaning strongly toward not getting any mammograms. What type and quality of evidence does Joanne have so far? How would you advise she gather and evaluate information? What should she do to think critically about the information, and make her decision?

Which of the following is an example of research?

Most experiments have a _____ group for purposes of comparison. This group is not given the treatment or the same independent variable as the _____ group.

A school psychologist would be most likely to _____

Professor Kim's students designed an experiment to investigate whether self-esteem was affected by how often she called on them when they raised their hand in class. They planned to count the number of times each student was called on when they raised their hand, ask each student how their self-esteem was before and after the experiment, and compare their responses based on how often they were called upon. Their causal hypothesis was, "If the professor calls on you more often when you raise your hand, your self-esteem will go up." What is one significant flaw in their design?

Erik observes that when he dresses in business casual, people seem more comfortable approaching him. He wants to know if this is true because it is very important to him that he meet new people at college. If Erik uses the scientific method to investigate this, what type of research would he be doing?

In order to prevent the researcher's expectations from influencing study participants, a(an)_____ design is used.

By using random samples, polling organizations can represent the view of the American public with a sample size starting from _____

Sandi believes that people who eat at McDonald's are overweight, so she decides to do a naturalistic observation of people who eat at McDonald's. What should most concern us about Sandi's observations?

Carlo created a new study technique. He got 60 students to test out his new technique. Half of them were taught the new technique, while the other half were not. All of the students were then given a psychology exam. Students who learned the technique were in the _____ group, whereas students who did not learn the technique were part of the _____ group.

Carla was driving to work when she heard a report from a medical center on the radio saying, "Upon conception, the sex of the baby is determined by the person who is least stressed out." Knowing Carla is a critical thinker, which of the following thoughts did she most likely have?

Consider this observation: As calorie intake increased, body weight increased. Considering the direction of the relationship between calorie intake and body weight, we would say it is a _____ relationship.