Question 1

How has the textbook described the historical relationship between clinical psychology and social psychology?

Accepted Answer

A)  Clinical psychology grew out of social psychology. 
B)  Both clinical psychology and social psychology grew out of cognitive psychology. 
C)  The two fields have historically been at odds and argued with one another. 
D)  The two fields have historically exchanged ideas and viewpoints.

Question 2

Researchers often attempt to design studies that will be high in both experimental realism and mundane realism. However, ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  experimental realism is generally considered to be far more important. 
B)  mundane realism is generally considered to be far more important. 
C)  most researchers acknowledge that experimental realism is really only important when one is conducting a true experiment. 
D)  most researchers acknowledge that mundane realism is almost impossible to achieve.

Question 3

Which of the following topics is a personality psychologist MOST likely to study?

Accepted Answer

A)  The development of schizophrenia 
B)  Gender differences in the acquisition of language skills 
C)  Individual differences in leadership ability 
D)  Cross-cultural differences in mating and courtship behaviors

Question 4

Which of the following would a basic researcher MOST LIKELY study?

Accepted Answer

A)  A theory that explains the causes of aggression 
B)  The plight of welfare mothers 
C)  Why people don't wear seat belts 
D)  How to get people to conserve electric power

Question 5

In one well-known social psychological study, research participants were asked to make very easy perceptual judgments ("Is Line A longer than Line B?"). The catch was that they were asked to do this while sitting around a table with people who continually gave incorrect responses-people who appeared to be other regular research participants. In reality, however, the other people at the table were not real participants at all; they were actually actors who were working for the experimenter and just posing as participants. The question in this research was whether or not the real research participant would conform to the group's opinion (even though the group's opinion was obviously wrong) or whether the real participant would stick to the right answer. In psychological jargon, the "actors" in this study would be referred to as ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  confederates 
B)  participant players 
C)  activators 
D)  role testers

Question 6

Political science is BEST described as the study of ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  organizations and institutions, especially governments 
B)  human societies and groups that form those societies 
C)  past events 
D)  human culture

Question 7

In psychology, the word "confederate" is used to refer to ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  a research assistant who poses as a participant during the course of a research study in order to help create a certain situation 
B)  a research participant who is purposely disruptive during a study (e.g., a participant who lies on questionnaires or refuses to complete an experimental task) 
C)  a statistician or data analyst 
D)  a prototypical research participant (i.e., the "confederate response" is a term used to refer to the "average response" or "mean response")

Question 8

Can correlational studies or experiments ever be conducted outside of the laboratory?

Accepted Answer

A)  No, both of these types of studies are always performed in the lab. 
B)  Correlational studies can be conducted inside the laboratory or out in the "real world," but experiments are always conducted in the lab. 
C)  Correlational studies are always conducted in the "real world" (not the lab) and experiments are always conducted in the lab (not the "real world"). 
D)  Both correlational studies and experiments can be performed in the lab or in the "real world;" when experiments are performed in the "real world" they are called field experiments.

Question 9

Social psychology primarily relies on the experimental method.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

Within psychology, ____ typically focus on "abnormal" behavior (e.g., mental disorders and behavioral disorders).

Accepted Answer

A)  only clinical psychologists 
B)  both clinical psychologists and personality psychologists 
C)  only personality psychologists 
D)  psychologists from all branches of psychology

Question 11

Zhao's research interest is to determine if poverty causes one to be more politically liberal. However, he cannot randomly assign people to conditions of poverty versus wealth because (aside from the practical difficulty) it would be unethical to do so. Zhao will have to ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  conduct a field experiment 
B)  take a correlational approach 
C)  do a meta-analysis 
D)  develop a factorial design

Question 12

A correlation coefficient communicates two pieces of information about the relationship between two variables: The ____ communicates the direction of the relationship, and the ____ communicates the strength of the relationship.

Accepted Answer

A)  value; sign 
B)  sign; value 
C)  slope; value 
D)  sign; slope

Question 13

Today, both funded and unfunded studies conducted at universities must first obtain ____ approval.

Accepted Answer

A)  ABPP 
B)  IRB 
C)  APA 
D)  ERB

Question 14

Which of the following topics would a cognitive psychologist be MOST likely to study?

Accepted Answer

A)  The heritability of depression 
B)  Male-female differences in sexual behavior 
C)  How people learn to memorize complex musical compositions 
D)  Altruistic behavior among chimpanzees

Question 15

How are social psychologists generally similar to behaviorists?

Accepted Answer

A)  They both tend to favor experiments and the scientific method. 
B)  They are both interested in the mind, thoughts, and emotions. 
C)  They are both originally rooted in psychoanalytic theory. 
D)  They are both interested in the unconscious mind.

Question 16

The study of how people change across their lives from conception to death is the purview of ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  developmental psychology 
B)  cognitive psychology 
C)  clinical psychology 
D)  biological psychology

Question 17

According to the textbook, social psychology's reliance on college student samples ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  is a serious problem-although it has not been discussed much among social psychologists 
B)  is a serious problem-such that most social psychologists are now collaborating with anthropologists and sociologists in order to gain access to data from more diverse populations 
C)  is a serious problem-so serious that many social psychology journals now refuse to publish papers that are solely based on college student samples 
D)  is an issue that deserves continued attention, but not necessarily a serious problem for most social psychological research

Question 18

If a researcher tested 1000 people and found that women received significantly higher scores on the verbal portion of the SAT than did men, this would mean that ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  among the sample that was tested, women's scores were definitely higher than men's (even if the difference is very small)-though there might not be a difference in the population at large 
B)  among the sample that was tested, women's scores were at least 5% higher than men's-though there might not be a difference in the population at large 
C)  in the population at large, women's scores are likely higher than men's (even if the difference is very small) 
D)  in the population at large, women's scores are likely higher than men's-by a score difference of at least 5%

Question 19

In psychology, an "affect" is most similar to ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  an emotion or mood 
B)  a belief or attitude 
C)  a behavior or reaction 
D)  a motivating force or drive

Question 20

The first step in the scientific method is to ____.

Accepted Answer

A)  state a problem for study 
B)  state a hypothesis 
C)  determine the research sample 
D)  collect data

Exam 1: The Mission and the Method