Question 1

What is one reason why naturalistic observation alone cannot solve the problem of demand characteristics?

Accepted Answer

A) Some things of interest to psychologists do not occur naturally. 
B) It is impossible not to be detected. 
C) People become angry if they discover that someone has been watching them. 
D) Recording devices are too expensive for scientists to purchase.

Question 2

The public gets suckered into buying the latest weight-loss supplement from television infomercials featuring many testimonials that the supplement is effective,precisely because they rarely consider which question?

Accepted Answer

A) How expensive will this supplement be to use long term? 
B) Do the side effects of the supplement outweigh the weight-loss benefits? 
C) How many people have taken the supplement and not lost weight? 
D) Is the supplement more effective than diet and exercise?

Question 3

Which statement is TRUE if scores on an examination are negatively skewed?

Accepted Answer

A) The modal score is the same as the median score. 
B) The median score is greater than the mean score. 
C) The mean score is greater than the modal score. 
D) The peak of the frequency distribution corresponds to the mean score.

Question 4

If there are two different research methodologies that both would answer a particular research question,psychologists are obligated to use whichever methodology minimizes risk to participants.This illustrates which ethical principle?

Accepted Answer

A) freedom from coercion 
B) informed consent 
C) debriefing 
D) protection from harm

Question 5

Which statement describes a negative correlation?

Accepted Answer

A) Increased time studying is associated with a higher GPA. 
B) Life expectancy increases as body weight decreases. 
C) Body weight tends to increase with increases in height. 
D) People who eat more tend to weigh more.

Question 6

Which description is the BEST example of naturalistic observation research methodology?

Accepted Answer

A) recording the attractiveness level of women approached by men at the bar 
B) asking men to rate the attractiveness level of female faces while either sober or intoxicated 
C) surveying college students about the qualities that they find attractive in a possible romantic partner 
D) randomly assigning participants on first dates to either a hike in the woods or a city tour and then surveying their attitudes toward their partner

Question 7

Mike wants to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of his all-day sucker.He tells his friends that "one full gyration of the tongue around the outer surface of the lollipop" is what constitutes a "lick." In an informal way,Mike is offering a(n):

Accepted Answer

A) measurement instrument to answer his question. 
B) way to eliminate the reactivity sometimes associated with observation. 
C) operational definition for the behavior he wants to measure. 
D) naturalistic observation.

Question 8

A scatterplot of a perfect positive correlation would depict a(n):

Accepted Answer

A) linear increasing function. 
B) linear decreasing function. 
C) linear horizontal function. 
D) absence of a linear relationship.

Question 9

Margot wonders if people behave more aggressively when there is a full moon.To attempt to find out,she categorizes arrest records and emergency room admissions by the cycle of the moon.Margot is taking a(n)_____ approach to the question.

Accepted Answer

A) empirical 
B) dogmatic 
C) hypothetical 
D) deductive

Question 10

Participants in psychological research are free to end their participation at any time,with no threat of retribution or punishment.This freedom is consistent with which feature of ethical research?

Accepted Answer

A) external validity 
B) beneficence 
C) being just 
D) respecting people

Question 11

When participating in psychological research,participants sometimes report not their true beliefs but rather what they feel to be the socially acceptable answer.This illustrates that people can be highly _____ when studied.

Accepted Answer

A) empirical 
B) variable 
C) complex 
D) reactive

Question 12

In the context of an experiment,the dependent variable is the variable that is:

Accepted Answer

A) eliminated. 
B) held constant. 
C) manipulated. 
D) measured.

Question 13

The phrase "n = 1" means that:

Accepted Answer

A) the results are not statistically significant. 
B) there is a perfect correlation between two variables. 
C) there is only one participant in the study. 
D) there is only one independent variable.

Question 14

In the context of an experiment,participants in the experimental group:

Accepted Answer

A) are exposed to a third variable. 
B) behave as they normally would. 
C) receive a particular manipulation. 
D) are not treated differently from any other participants.

Question 15

A clinical psychologist is evaluating a client recovering from a substance abuse disorder to evaluate his likelihood of relapse.Which measure is LEAST susceptible to demand characteristics?

Accepted Answer

A) measuring differences in blood pressure when exposed to drug paraphernalia 
B) asking the client if he has used alcohol or drugs since their last session 
C) asking the client to rate the severity of his daily cravings on a 10-point scale 
D) showing the client pictures of drug paraphernalia and asking him if the pictures are triggering cravings

Question 16

If differences between the experimental and control groups are obtained,and when the odds are acceptably low that random assignment hasn't failed in an experiment,the results of the experiment are said to be:

Accepted Answer

A) applicable to the real world. 
B) certain. 
C) statistically significant. 
D) operationally defined.

Question 17

It is unethical to coerce people into participating in research,even if the research is ultimately beneficial,because doing so violates which feature of ethical research?

Accepted Answer

A) external validity 
B) beneficence 
C) being just 
D) respecting people

Question 18

In the context of an experiment,the independent variable is the variable that is:

Accepted Answer

A) eliminated. 
B) held constant. 
C) manipulated. 
D) measured.

Question 19

Williams and Ceci (2015)sought to determine if gender biases exist in academic hiring practices.They studied almost 1,000 professors in a mock hiring situation in which each professor read the files of several job applicants and then rank-ordered the applicants in terms of most-to-least qualified.What the professors did not know was that the gender of the job applicants was randomly assigned to the professors.That is,if one professor read that job applicant A was a woman,another professor read that the same job applicant A was a man.As a result,an average rating of each applicant could be compared when that applicant was presented as a male and as a female.In this study,what is the dependent variable?

Accepted Answer

A) the number of professors 
B) the rank-order 
C) the gender of the applicants 
D) the number of applicants

Question 20

A p-value is a(n):

Accepted Answer

A) measure of central tendency. 
B) measure of variability. 
C) descriptive statistic. 
D) inferential statistic.

Exam 2: Methods in Psychology-Part A