Exam 1: Scientific Thinking in Psychology

To be data driven is to

Our experiences can be a valuable guide to the truth, but drawing firm conclusions from experience can be affected by our tendencies to ignore events that don't support our beliefs. That is, we sometimes

People often will believe that learning graphology will allow them to assess one's personality. One reason is motivational-having spent $30, they convince themselves of the value of the experience and work harder to bring about the desired outcome. This phenomenon is called

Psychological scientists make the assumptions of determinism and discoverability. What do they mean by these terms and why do they consider them an essential part of their belief system?

A way to scientifically test (and potentially falsify) graphology's claims is to

B. F. Skinner first uncovered evidence of extinction in his laboratory when

Explain why the research methods course is considered to be an essential foundation for all the remaining courses in the psychology curriculum.

Describe the four main goals of psychological science and use an example of each goal to illustrate your points.

After a tragic and much publicized plane crash, Ed came to believe that air travel was not as safe as traveling by car; Ed was a victim of the _____________ heuristic.

Which of the following is an example of describing behavior?

With which of the following attributes of scientific thinking is most likely to confuse and frustrate the general public?

Ted argues that the mind equals the brain. His argument is based on the assertion that the mind ceases to function when the brain ceases to function. This illustrates which of Peirce's ways of fixing belief?

A research methods course is to a social psychology course as ______ is to ______.

Students sometimes change their answers on multiple-choice questions. Many students believe that the most common outcome is that they change from the correct answer to a wrong answer, despite research that shows that students more often change from an incorrect answer to a correct one. What accounts for the strength of this erroneous belief?

Regular and predictable relationships between variables are called

According to Thomas Kuhn, it is generally a good thing for scientists to hang on to their pet theories tenaciously. Why?

All of the following generally characterize pseudoscience except

As psychologists use the term, determinism means that

Relying on authority as a basis for fixing belief is illustrated by which of the following statements?

Which of the following is not an important factor when determining that X is causing Y to occur?