CHAPTER 2                 Research in Psychology

 

To minimize the impact of random variables on an experiment’s results, researchers commonly use

To investigate the effects of exercise on mathematical problem-solving ability, a researcher assigned subjects to 

one of two groups. One group did 50 jumping jacks, the other group did 200 jumping jacks. After exercising, both groups did a set of math problems and their performances were compared. In this experiment the number of jumping jacks is the ______________ variable

Randy, a community psychologist, is working with a community AIDS organization on a project to help reduce

HIV transmission. He decides to gather as much information from as many people as possible about their sexual behavior patterns. Which of the following research methods would be the best choice for him to use?

Nina wants to know whether there is a market for a brand new product, the Arctic Blast, which freezes all types

of food within seconds. To find out what percentage of people and what types of people might be interested in such a product, Nina needs to use ______________ as her method of research.

Thanh was in a car accident a year ago in which she suffered some brain damage. Because of the rare nature of

her impairment, Dr. Morello kept very detailed notes concerning the treatments administered, the effects of those treatments, and other particular aspects of her condition. He hopes to publish his findings so that if another psychologist encounters a patient with a condition like Thanh’s, that psychologist will have some information to aid him or her in treating that individual. Which research method is Dr. Morello using?

 Critical thinking is

If you were __________, you would not blindly accept someone’s claims.

Consider the data set 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4. The standard deviation measures the average difference between each score and the number you get when you evaluate the expression

Shantae is doing an experiment on how anxious people will feel if they are told that they did not do well

on an intelligence test. She asks her subjects to rate how nervous, upset, and anxious they feel on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very). Subject’s scores on the scale are a(n)

Joe, a psychologist, believes that listening to classical music while studying will increase academic

            performance.  This is an example of a(n)

After the magician pulled a rabbit from her hat, Dora exclaimed, “I’d like to see her do that again!” In other words, Dora is challenging the_________ of the magician.

A theory is

Psychology is based on research questions about many phenomena. The first step in assembling information about a phenomenon is usually

What is the correct order for the goals of psychological research?

The goals of the scientific study of behavior are

To avoid bias and confounding variables in a controlled experiment, subjects should be assigned to either the experimental or control group

While conducting an experiment on alcohol tolerance, Dr. Guff solicits his subjects at the door to Skam’s (a

local drinking and social establishment). When he publishes his findings (that people are extremely tolerant to the effects of alcohol), Dr. Guff’s research is criticized because of

A major limitation of naturalistic observation in the study of human behavior is that

Dr. Panchal is a neuropsychologist studying behavioral deficits experienced by people with brain damage. Her

 research probably involves

Yasou calls people and asks them a specified list of questions concerning their opinions of how irritating             telemarketers can be. What kind of research is Yasou conducting?

A psychologist looks for a link between aggressive behavior and television violence by measuring the

frequency of fighting and television-viewing habits of many twelve-year-old children. The psychologist concludes that children who watch more violent programming also get into fights more often. This is an example of

Megan believes she has found a medication that will greatly reduce the symptoms of depression, so she decides

to conduct an experiment to test her ______________. She randomly assigns depressed people to one of two groups. One group of subjects takes the medication, while the other group gets only sugar pills. The latter group is receiving a ______________.

A researcher was interested in determining whether or not test performance of students could be improved by

providing them with individual tutoring. The researcher randomly divided fifty first-year college students into two groups. In Group A the instructor lectured to them for three hours per week. Group B received an equal amount of lecturing, but their instructor also met with each student for thirty minutes every week. Each group took the same final exam. The test performance of students in Group B was about the same as that of students in Group A. This study is an example of a(n)

A psychologist interested in determining the effects of a new diet regimen on the stress tolerance level of

 severely mentally retarded patients would most likely choose which research method?

Experimenters who want to find the best explanation of a phenomenon when they have several rival hypotheses

 should

Sima believes that wearing black clothing causes people to behave more aggressively.  In her experiment, she

randomly assigns people into two groups. In group one, participants are given a black shirt to wear, while participants in group two are given a white shirt to wear. Each participant is then asked to play a violent video game for 15 minutes and their score is computed. In this experiment, the participants’ video game score is the ______ variable.

Malcolm administers a survey of people’s attitudes about the relationship between exercise and stress level. What is the independent variable?

Franz is conducting an experiment to study the effects of wearing heavy clothing on weight-lifting performance. He gives Group A heavy sweatshirts and lets Group B wear whatever they wish. He measures the amount of

 weight they can lift after the workout. Group B is the ______________ group.

A(n) ______________ variable can be any factor, other than the variable being manipulated by the

 experimenter, in the experimental situation that might affect the dependent variable.

Dr. Ayala conducts an experiment where she gives half her participants a yellow pill containing a drug that

keeps them awake during psychology lectures. She gives the other half of her participants an identical-looking, yellow pill that does not contain the drug.  This experimental design controls for

Dr. Gillis has decided to use _ in his research to guard against both experimenter bias and participant

 expectations.

Descriptive statistics

Consuela collected the following quiz scores from her class. 20, 19, 17, 17, 16, 15, 15, 15, 12, 12. What is the

 median score?

When Harry met Sally they had a debate about whether or not men and women can be friends.  Harry decided to

ask random people, “On a scale from 0 (not at all) to 10 (definitely), how strongly do you believe that men and women can be friends?”  Their responses were as follows:  1, 1, 1, 1, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10.  Which measure of central tendency should Harry use if he wants to convince Sally that most people do not believe that men and women can be friends?

Some people believe that a person is born either smart or dumb and education does little to affect

            intelligence. This is an example of the ______________ argument.

Mike’s research has shown a positive correlation between the number of books in families’ homes and the

 grade-point averages of the children in those families. Mike’s results indicate

Which correlation coefficient indicates the greatest strength in the relationship?

Jerome is studying the relationship between time spent together and his wife’s marital satisfaction. He finds a

 correlation of –0.86. This means that spending time together

Dr. Redford has long been interested in dissociative identity disorder (DID).  For the past three years, the only

participant in his research has been his client, Sybil. He has studied her case intensively. What research method is Dr. Redford using?

A researcher studied how foreign students adapt to college by living in a foreign students’ dorm and going to

            classes with a small group of foreign students. Which research method was used?

Cornelius is interested in studying cooperation in children between the ages of two and six. He suspects that

cooperation is greatest in groups of girls as opposed to groups of boys or coed groups.  Cornelius determines

that _________ is the best suited research method to investigate his idea.

Dr. Wisgoski asked fifty drug addicts a series of questions about their childhoods and then collected blood

samples from them. He found a high correlation between levels of the stress hormone cortisol and amount of reported childhood trauma. Dr. Wisgoski concluded that childhood trauma causes high levels of stress during adulthood, which, in turn, causes drug addiction. Dr. Wisgoski’s operational definition of adult stress level is