Exam 2: The Methods of Social Psychology

A study shows that people who watch the local evening news believe the world is more dangerous than people who do not watch the evening news.On the basis of this study,a newspaper reporter concludes that watching the evening news causes people to believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is.This is a flawed conclusion because

A social psychologist conducts an experiment and finds a statistically significant result.This means that the

Experiments are the best research method for finding causal relationships between variables because they incorporate ________ and ________ into their design.

A researcher who runs the same study a second time to see if the results are the same is attempting to

The function of an institutional review board (IRB)is to review

How does the control condition compare to the experimental condition in experimental research designs?

Jamal is taking a course in social psychology and learns about the Milgram experiment,in which the majority of participants administered potentially fatal shocks to another person when an experimenter told them to do so.After class,he thinks to himself that the results are really not that surprising.He most certainly would have guessed that people are willing to hurt others if someone tells them to.Identify the bias to which Jamal is potentially falling prey.

A hypothesis ________ ,whereas a theory ________.

Experiments are different from other research methods in that they encompass which of the following components?

Which of the following research methods is the best way to identify a causal relationship between two variables?

An experiment that is set in the real world,and in which the participants themselves are usually unaware that they are participating in a research study,is usually described as a

You read the results of a survey that reports that two-thirds of Cosmopolitan readers lost weight by "going vegan." You should not give the report of this survey much credence because

If a researcher finds a correlation between two variables,it is always possible that there is some unmeasured variable out there in the world that is the true cause of the other two,and is responsible for the relationship between them.This reflects

Describe the difference between basic science and applied science.

An institutional review board (IRB)has reviewed a study and determined that participating is likely to make the participants feel uncomfortable and embarrassed.Could the IRB allow the researchers to begin this study?

As they walked down the street,participants (who were unaware they were part of a study)were approached by a confederate posing as a panhandler (a person who begs for money).The confederate asked the participant either for 75 cents or for whatever change he or she had handy.The researchers compared how much money participants gave across these two conditions.This is best characterized as which type of research design?

Random assignment is a crucial component of experiment design.Failing to use random assignment when placing participants into groups would have the strongest effect on the ________ of an experiment.

A group of social psychologists is working on a research project with the aim of promoting condom use as a way to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.This type of research project is probably best described as