Question 1

A researcher found that children reporting more depressive symptoms also had a greater percentage of body fat.This is an example of ______.

Accepted Answer

A positive correlation occurs when two variables increase or decrease together, as seen with depressive symptoms and body fat percentage in this example.

Question 2

Researchers look at how close to ______ their correlational value is and whether it is statistically significant.

Accepted Answer

Researchers look at how close their correlational value is to 1, as a correlation of 1 indicates a perfect positive relationship between variables. They also assess statistical significance to determine if the observed correlation is likely due to chance.

Question 3

This is one critical factor in a research study that can make previously insignificant changes significant.

Accepted Answer

Increasing the sample size can enhance the power of a study, making it more likely to detect significant effects that were previously insignificant due to a smaller sample size.

Question 4

The p value, or probability value, is influenced by ______.

Accepted Answer

The p-value is influenced by the sample size because larger samples tend to provide more reliable estimates of the population parameters, which can affect the statistical significance of the results.

Question 5

Students were told that they were part of a clinical trial, testing a new topical anesthetic, Trivaricane.They were told that it had proved effective in studies at other universities.In reality, it had NO medical properties.One index finger was rubbed with Trivaricane; the other index finger was left untreated.Next, a mildly painful electrical shock was administered to both fingers.After 1 minute, subjects were asked to rate the pain intensity.The result was an overwhelming decrease in pain for fingers treated with the Trivaricane.This is an example of ______.

Accepted Answer

The decrease in pain for fingers treated with Trivaricane, despite it having no medical properties, is an example of the placebo effect, where a person experiences a perceived improvement in condition due to their belief in the treatment's efficacy.

Question 6

Upon reading the results section of a study, you see r =.38.The "r" refers to ______.

Accepted Answer

The "r" refers to a correlation coefficient, which measures the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables.

Question 7

Dr.Galloti calculated a(n) ______, a statistic that measures the relation between two variables while controlling for a third variable.

Accepted Answer

Partial correlation measures the relationship between two variables while controlling for the effect of a third variable.

Question 8

Inactive substances that appear similar to the experimental drugs given to test the power of expectations are called ______.

Accepted Answer

Placebos are inactive substances that appear similar to the experimental drugs given to test the power of expectations.

Question 9

Rates of smoking go up as SES goes down.This is an example of ______.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a negative correlation because as one variable (SES) decreases, the other variable (rates of smoking) increases.

Question 10

Which of the following is FALSE?

Accepted Answer

The journal Health Psychology does examine psychological well-being, not just the extent to which health-improving behaviors are practiced.

Question 11

The proportion of the population that has a particular disease at a particular time refers to ______.

Accepted Answer

The prevalence rate is the proportion of the population that has a particular disease at a particular time.

Question 12

When only the relation between two variables is tested (e.g., shift work and depressive symptoms), this is called a(n) ______.

Accepted Answer

A direct correlation refers to the relationship between two variables, where changes in one variable are directly associated with changes in the other.

Question 13

Experiments are powerful and help determine cause because the experimenter manipulates a variable between groups holding other factors constant.This manipulated variable is the ______.

Accepted Answer

The manipulated variable in an experiment is the independent variable, as it is the one that the experimenter changes to observe its effect on the dependent variable.

Question 14

Which is the strongest correlation listed?

Accepted Answer

The strongest correlation is determined by the absolute value of the correlation coefficient. The closer the absolute value is to 1, the stronger the correlation. Here, -.76 has the highest absolute value, indicating the strongest correlation.

Question 15

In an experimental design that investigates the effects of stress on heart rate in middle-age men, the dependent variable would be ______.

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured and is expected to change as a result of the independent variable. In this case, the dependent variable is heart rate, as it is the variable that is being measured to determine the effects of stress.

Question 16

Dr.Oliver is investigating whether depression is a determinant of the development of cardiovascular disease.To measures the strength of the relation between depression and cardiovascular disease, she would use a(n) ______.

Accepted Answer

A correlation coefficient measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, such as depression and cardiovascular disease.

Question 17

Which of the following p values indicates the strongest significance?

Accepted Answer

A p-value of less than 0.001 indicates the strongest statistical significance, suggesting a very low probability that the observed results are due to chance.

Question 18

Dr.Chew studied the frequency of new cases of the HPV virus in adolescents in the U.S.during a 2018.He was studying ______.

Accepted Answer

Dr. Chew was studying the incidence rate, which refers to the frequency of new cases of a disease in a specific population during a certain time period.

Question 19

Lu and colleagues (2017) evaluated the benefits of expressive writing among Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors in the U.S.There were two conditions of expressive writing with different directions and a control group who wrote about the facts of having cancer.This would be considered ______.

Accepted Answer

The study involves evaluating the effects of different expressive writing interventions, which is characteristic of an intervention study.

Question 20

Sometimes researchers cannot manipulate some of the variables they are most interested in (e.g., having thyroid cancer).We use naturally occurring groups.This form of research is known as ______.

Accepted Answer

Quasi-experimental research involves studying naturally occurring groups where the researcher cannot manipulate the independent variable, such as in cases where it is unethical or impractical to do so.

Quiz 2: Doing Health Psychology