Exam 2: Methods in Psychology-Part C

Measuring intelligence in terms of eye color lacks reliability.

Cause and effect cannot be demonstrated by observing natural correlations.

It is possible for a measure to be reliable but not valid.

An operational definition is a description of a property in measurable terms.

Scientists tend to judge more complex theories as preferable to simpler theories.

If people in favor of the death penalty are given mixed evidence about its effectiveness at deterring crime,they generally become less supportive of it.

Self-selection by participants to experimental conditions is an effective way of eliminating the third-variable problem.

Third variables are not adequately controlled when random assignment fails to create equivalent groups.

Ethical guidelines allow coercion to make people participate in a psychological study in certain circumstances.

Identifying a group of children who watch violent television and a group of children who do not is an example of manipulating exposure to violent television.

Dogmatism is a desired characteristic of science.

Defining and detecting are the two tasks that allow us to measure physical and psychological properties.

It is common to assign experimental participants to groups by random assignment.

An experimental group should be identical to a control group in every way except one: the manipulation of the independent variable.

A positive correlation between smoking and mental illness is evidenced by the fact that people who smoke are more likely to have a mental illness.

Once participants give their informed consent,they are contractually bound to finish their participation;they cannot quit any time.

The matched samples technique eliminates the third-variable problem associated with correlational research.

A positive correlation between two variables is stronger than a negative correlation between two variables.

A correlation coefficient of 1 indicates that two variables covary perfectly.

Random assignment of participants to groups generally is an effective way of eliminating the third-variable problem.