Deck 2: Doing Social Psychology Research

Question 1

What was the inspiration for Solomon Asch's classic research on conformity?

A) real-world historical events
B) his own personal experiences and observations of group pressure
C) reading Sherif's prior research in the field
D) reading classic literature

Answer 1

reading Sherif's prior research in the field

Question 2

Which of the following best describes the primary goal of basic research?

A) to examine human behaviour in real-world settings
B) to test specific hypotheses derived from a specific theory
C) to integrate the different research methodologies within one scientific field
D) to solve practical problems

Answer 2

to test specific hypotheses derived from a specific theory

Question 3

Which of the following is most consistent with Bem's theory of self-perception?

A) People prefer to perceive themselves in positive rather than negative terms.
B) Becoming aware of one's own actions is threatening to the self-concept.
C) The way that people perceive themselves is primarily determined by their private thoughts and feelings.
D) People sometimes rely on their own behaviour to infer their attitudes and feelings.

Answer 3

People sometimes rely on their own behaviour to infer their attitudes and feelings.

Question 4

For a hypothesis to be useful,which of the following traits must it possess?

A) testability
B) simplicity
C) generativity
D) comprehensiveness

Question 5

Which of the following best describes the process of "treeing" when searching the psychology literature?

A) cross-referencing output from PsychLIT with that of PsychINFO
B) breaking down the size of an electronic search by using several limiting terms
C) limiting searches to articles that have been cited by many other articles
D) using the reference sections of relevant articles to find other relevant articles

Question 6

Why is it important to have a public record of the methods social psychologists use to test their hypotheses?

A) because it allows other social psychologists to repeat the study themselves
B) because it ensures that the right people get credit for the research
C) because it provides a solid theoretical foundation for social psychological research
D) because it encourages social psychologists to conduct more basic,rather than applied,research

Question 7

Which of the following is a testable hypothesis?

A) Conformity is behaving in agreement with other people.
B) Stereotypes are preconceived ideas about a person based on their perceived group membership.
C) People smile more when they are lying than when they are telling the truth.
D) Refusing to help someone in need is morally wrong.

Question 8

Which of the following is a common attribute of current theories in social psychology?

A) They are highly complex in nature.
B) They are general theories that apply across many situations.
C) They allow researchers to decrease the operationalization of behaviour.
D) They address particular and specific features of a person's behaviour.

Question 9

Which of the following is the most important feature of a hypothesis?

A) simplicity
B) testability
C) generality
D) comprehensiveness

Question 10

On which of the following criteria are theories evaluated?

A) their specificity
B) their popularity
C) their inclusivity
D) their generativity

Question 11

Which of the following is a goal of applied research?

A) solving practical problems
B) testing psychological theories
C) building a foundation of knowledge for the field
D) discovering general principles of behaviour

Question 12

After a researcher has a particular research question in mind,what is the next step?

A) developing a theory to answer the question
B) searching the existing literature for related research
C) selecting a random sample of participants to test the question
D) consulting the institutional research ethics board

Question 13

What is a hypothesis?

A) an organized set of principles used to explain and predict observed phenomena
B) a specific procedure for manipulating or measuring variables in an experiment
C) an explicit statement specifying the circumstances that give rise to a particular outcome
D) a measure of the strength and association between two or more variables

Question 14

What does all social psychological research begin with?

A) a question
B) an independent variable
C) a dependent variable
D) a control group

Question 15

Melissa's research examines the cognitive processes involved in persuasion and how those processes can be used to persuade women to have yearly mammograms.This work represents an integration of which of the following fields?

A) hypothetical and theoretical research
B) specific and general research
C) basic and applied research
D) conceptual and operational research

Question 16

On which of the following characteristics are social psychologists most likely to value a theory?

A) the extent that the theory develops from a well-known hypothesis
B) the extent that the theory is generative
C) the extent that the theory is complex
D) the high degree of accuracy of the theory

Question 17

Learning about research methods in social psychology has been shown to have which of the following effects in critical thinking?

A) It affects critical thinking about social psychology,but not other domains.
B) It leads to increased critical thinking about fields of psychology,yet it does not affect thinking in non-psychological domains.
C) It leads to increased critical thinking about popular claims regarding social,but not non-social,behaviour.
D) It leads to increased critical thinking about popular claims in general.

Question 18

Which of the following are social psychologists most likely to propose?

A) mini-theories
B) grand theories
C) meta-theories
D) pluralistic theories

Question 19

Why do social psychologists use electronic databases (such as PsychINFO and PsychLIT)?

A) to help them select a random sample of participants from the population of interest
B) to determine the scientific and moral value of their research question
C) to find published research on a particular topic
D) to increase the external validity of their research

Question 20

Sebastian is learning about research methods in his social psychology course.Which of the following benefits is he most likely to experience?

A) The findings he learns about in class will be easier to relate to real world events.
B) It will improve his appreciation of folk wisdom.
C) He will become a better consumer of information in general.
D) He will develop a better appreciation for the advantages of uncontrolled anecdotal observations.

Question 21

Why have researchers developed interval-contingent,signal-contingent,and event-contingent report methods?

A) to observe participants' behaviour unobtrusively
B) to strengthen the ethical standards used in experiments
C) to incorporate a more diverse sample of participants and cultures in their research
D) to reduce the time that elapses between an actual experience and the person's report of it

Question 22

Which of the following is the best example of a bogus pipeline technique?

A) Participants agree to be connected to a scanner that detects deception.
B) Participants believe that subliminal messages are being "piped" to them through their headphones.
C) Participants agree to be hypnotized to tell the truth.
D) Blindfolded participants whisper messages to each other in line.

Question 23

A group of participants (Group A)is asked to indicate how often they add salt to their food on a 5-point scale ranging from "almost never" to "once in awhile." A second group (Group B responds to this question on a 5-point scale ranging from "once in awhile" to "all the time." Which of the following is most likely to occur?

A) Both groups will be more likely to give responses on the higher than lower end of the scales.
B) Both groups will be more likely to give responses on the lower than higher end of the scales.
C) On average,Group A will report adding salt to their food more often than Group B.
D) On average,Group B will report adding salt to their food more often than Group A.

Question 24

To examine how people cope with anger,Cheryl has participants complete a brief questionnaire every time they feel angry for a period of two weeks.What is Cheryl collecting?

A) interval-contingent self-reports
B) event-contingent self-reports
C) signal-contingent self-reports
D) narrative-contingent self-reports

Question 25

In which of the following ways is applied research in social psychology different from basic social psychological research?

A) It is more theoretical than basic research.
B) It is more experimental than basic research.
C) It is specifically designed to find solutions to social problems.
D) It is specifically designed to address sociological issues.

Question 26

Scenario 1
A researcher wanted to see if being drunk raises or lowers a person's self-esteem.In one condition he gives participants three glasses of punch spiked with alcohol and in the other he gives participants three glasses of plain punch.After participants finish their punch,they complete the Rosenberg (1965)self-esteem scale.
Refer to Scenario 1.In this study,what type of variable is the Rosenberg questionnaire?

A) a conceptual independent variable
B) a conceptual dependent variable
C) an operational independent variable
D) an operational dependent variable

Question 27

Scenario 1
A researcher wanted to see if being drunk raises or lowers a person's self-esteem.In one condition he gives participants three glasses of punch spiked with alcohol and in the other he gives participants three glasses of plain punch.After participants finish their punch,they complete the Rosenberg (1965)self-esteem scale.
Refer to Scenario 1.In this study,what type of variable is self-esteem?

A) a conceptual independent variable
B) a conceptual dependent variable
C) an operational independent variable
D) an operational dependent variable

Question 28

How are self-report measures and observational measures similar?

A) Both are subject to biases and distortions in memory.
B) Both require high interrater reliability to be considered accurate.
C) Both can be influenced by social desirability concerns.
D) Both provide direct access to people's thoughts and feelings.

Question 29

When machines are used to measure dependent variables in observational studies,which of the following needs is reduced?

A) the need for internal validity
B) the need for random sampling
C) the need for construct validity
D) the need for interrater reliability

Question 30

In which of the following ways is construct validity important to social research?

A) It ensures that the researcher is manipulating the concept of interest.
B) It ensures that the researcher is measuring the concept of interest.
C) It ensures that the study is high in internal validity.
D) It ensures that the study is high in reliability.

Question 31

Dr.Gillig is worried that when she asks participants to indicate on a questionnaire how they feel about gun control,they will respond in a socially desirable manner instead of indicating how they really feel.Which of the following scenarios accurately reflects the way that construct validity will be affected in Dr.Gillig's study?

A) There will be higher construct validity if she uses a bogus pipeline.
B) There will be lower construct validity if the anonymity of participants' responses is increased.
C) There will be higher construct validity if she asks participants to sign a gun-control petition.
D) There will be higher construct validity if she asks her participants to respond verbally in person rather than commit their responses to paper.

Question 32

Which of the following has been shown to increase the accuracy of self-reports?

A) experimental research
B) construct validity
C) bogus pipeline
D) random sampling

Question 33

What is construct validity?

A) the extent to which the independent variable caused the observed change in the dependent variable
B) the extent to which the operational definitions reflect the conceptual variables of interest
C) the extent to which the experimental procedures are involving and meaningful to the participants
D) the extent to which different constructs within the study are correlated with one another

Question 34

In her research on mood,Selena asks research participants to keep a journal for a period of one month.In this journal,participants write as much as they can about the various emotions they experience each day.What kind of research is Selena conducting?

A) an experimental study
B) a correlational study
C) a narrative study
D) an archival research

Question 35

In a study concerning the cues that signal deception,Winston uses the number of times a person shifts in his or her seat as a measure of lying.Virginia points out that people may shift their position because they are nervous about being perceived as a liar,even though they are actually telling the truth.What is Virginia questioning?

A) the construct validity of Winston's measure of lying
B) the interrater reliability of Winston's measure of lying
C) the mundane realism of Winston's measure of lying
D) the internal validity of Winston's measure of lying

Question 36

In a study examining the creativity of children's paintings,several judges are asked to rate the creativity of each painting.Which of the following is being assessed if we calculate the level of agreement between judges' ratings?

A) internal validity
B) random sampling
C) construct validity
D) interrater reliability

Question 37

In encouraging social psychologists to generate useful,practical theories,what did Kurt Lewin do?

A) He set apart reliability issues from validity issues.
B) He encouraged the synthesis of basic and applied research.
C) He reduced the distinction between hypotheses and theories.
D) He emphasized the importance of experimental methodologies.

Question 38

In comparison to self-report measures,observational measures have the advantage of being free from which of the following concerns?

A) experimenter expectancy effects
B) social desirability concerns
C) sampling biases
D) memory biases

Question 39

To assess the extent to which students are reading their textbooks,a professor notes how creased the spine of each book is.What is this professor relying on?

A) a narrative study
B) signal-contingent self-reports
C) event-contingent self-reports
D) observational measures

Question 40

Wayne and Wanda are designing a study to assess the impact of positive reinforcement on pro-social behaviour in children.Wanda thinks that they should reinforce the children with verbal praise,whereas Wayne thinks they should use candy as the positive reinforcement.What aspect of the reinforcement variable do Wayne and Wanda disagree about?

A) internal validity
B) experimental realism
C) operational definition
D) interrater reliability

Question 41

A television producer is interested in whether women like soap operas more than sitcoms.The producer uses a random number table to select a sample of 100 households,and then makes phone calls to these households every afternoon for three weeks.Of those who were home when the producer called,75 percent reported they liked soap operas more than sitcoms.Which of the following might raise questions about the results?

A) the use of archival data
B) the representativeness of the sample
C) the construct validity of the measure
D) the operational definition advanced by the producer

Question 42

According to your textbook,what is the most important feature that should be considered when selecting samples in survey studies?

A) inclusion of equal numbers of individuals from different groups in the population
B) the number of people in the sample
C) the ratio of the sample size to the population size
D) the extent to which the demographics of the sample proportionally match those of the population

Question 43

To examine potential gender differences in the qualities individuals seek in their romantic partners,HaeJin compares the personal ads placed by men and women.What type of research is HaeJin conducting?

A) a survey study
B) an observational study
C) an archival study
D) an experiment

Question 44

Which of the following is a general difference between descriptive and correlational research methods?

A) Descriptive research does not look at relationships between variables.
B) Descriptive research is more useful when one wants to infer causation.
C) Correlational research cannot make use of archival data.
D) Correlational research imbues the researcher with more control over the research participants.

Question 45

Carmella finds a correlation of +0.47 between self-esteem and academic achievement.Which of the following is the most appropriate interpretation of this correlation?

A) High self-esteem motivates students to achieve more academically.
B) Doing well academically increases students' self-esteem.
C) The higher students' self-esteem,the greater their academic achievement.
D) As self-esteem increases,academic achievement decreases.

Question 46

Tony finds a correlation of -0.35 between procrastination behaviours and academic achievement.Which of the following is the most appropriate interpretation of this correlation?

A) Students with a greater tendency to procrastinate,also tend to show lower grades academically.
B) Students with a greater tendency to procrastinate,also tend to show higher grades academically.
C) Procrastination causes academic achievement to increase.
D) Procrastination causes academic achievement to decrease.

Question 47

Luke would like to know if there is a relationship between the number of psychology courses people take and their level of empathy.He surveys a randomly selected group of university students.Each student indicates the number of psychology courses he or she has taken and then completes an empathy scale.Which research method is Luke using?

A) an experiment
B) a correlational study
C) a prospective study
D) an archival study

Question 48

Which of the following research methods do social psychologists tend to prefer?

A) meta-analytic research
B) correlational research
C) experimental research
D) descriptive research

Question 49

When decreases in one variable are accompanied by decreases in another variable,how are the variables described?

A) They are described as negatively correlated.
B) They are described as positively correlated.
C) They are described as causally related.
D) They are described as prospectively related.

Question 50

What does the absolute value of a correlation coefficient indicate?

A) the direction of the relationship between variables
B) which of two variables is the cause and which is the effect
C) the probability that the observed association was due to chance
D) the strength of the association between variables

Question 51

What do social psychologists use descriptive research to reveal?

A) general patterns and trends in the variables of interest
B) cause-and-effect relationships between independent and dependent variables
C) associations between two or more variables of interest
D) the strength of an observed effect

Question 52

For which of the following questions would a researcher be most likely to use an observational study?

A) Is memory for television commercials influenced by the content of the programs in which the commercials appear?
B) Is there any relationship between taking social psychology courses and happiness later in life?
C) Does the consumption of alcohol lead to increased aggressiveness?
D) Do banks tend to offer heterosexual couples lower interest rates on home mortgages than homosexual couples?

Question 53

Latrell,the editor of a popular sports magazine,would like to know more about the demographics of the magazine's readers.He designs a questionnaire to assess this information and sends it to a random sample of the magazine's readers.What type of research is Latrell conducting?

A) a survey study
B) an observational study
C) an archival study
D) an experiment

Question 54

What is the primary goal of using correlational research?

A) to describe general patterns and trends in the variables of interest
B) to establish cause-and-effect relationships between independent and dependent variables
C) to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables
D) to examine the effects of manipulated variables on measured variables

Question 55

Which of the following explanations would be consistent with a negative correlation between the number of hours a person sleeps per night and her level of positive mood?

A) The more sleep a person gets,the better her mood.
B) People who are happy are less likely to suffer from insomnia.
C) Stress causes people to sleep less and be in a bad mood.
D) People who are depressed tend to need more sleep than other people.

Question 56

What,in principle,is the purpose of random sampling?

A) to make sure that research participants have the right to withdraw from a study without incurring any penalty
B) to make sure that research participants are fully informed as to the procedures and hypotheses of the study
C) to make sure that research participants do not differ from one another in systematic ways
D) to make sure that research participants constitute a representative sample from the population of interest

Question 57

What types of variables can researchers use in correlational research?

A) Researchers can use measured,but not manipulated,variables.
B) Researchers can use one measured variable,and one manipulated variable.
C) Researchers can use observational,but not archival,variables.
D) Researchers can use archival,but not observational,variables.

Question 58

In a study examining well-being in the elderly,respondents living in different nursing homes are asked to rate the quality of the health care they receive.Researchers then obtain a copy of participants' medical records.The relationship between the quality ratings and actual health is assessed.Which of the following concepts is measured by this relationship?

A) internal validity
B) external validity
C) construct validity
D) experimental validity

Question 59

Which of the following would be considered a method of descriptive research?

A) correlational research
B) field experiments
C) observational studies
D) laboratory experiments

Question 60

Which of the following correlation coefficients reflects the strongest meaningful relationship?

A) -0.67
B) 0
C) +0.86
D) +1.25

Question 61

Random assignment is a defining feature of an experiment.What does it mean?

A) It means that participants randomly select the particular experimental manipulations they will experience.
B) It means that participants were randomly selected from the population of interest.
C) It means that whether participants are in one condition or another is determined by chance.
D) It means that participants are assigned to the experimental conditions on the basis of their pre-existing differences.

Question 62

To examine the relationship between media violence and aggressive behaviour,Lomez first measures the number of hours of violent television watched per week for a sample of boys.Ten years later,the same boys are contacted and asked to complete a questionnaire to measure their aggressiveness.Which research method is Lomez using?

A) an experiment
B) an observational study
C) a concurrent study
D) a prospective study

Question 63

Which of the following is one of the many advantages of correlational research over experimental research?

A) It offers more flexibility as to where and how variables are measured.
B) It allows the researcher to test for and determine the nature of causal relationships.
C) It exhibits high internal validity.
D) It tends to be statistically significant.

Question 64

In a well-designed experiment,which of the following conditions is necessary?

A) that all participants are treated in exactly the same manner except for the specific differences the experimenter wants to create
B) that all participants are matched on important subject variables
C) that all participants accurately represent the groups in the population
D) that all participants of different types are assigned to the appropriate conditions in a balanced way

Question 65

Eugenia will be using a correlational study to examine the relationship between physical attractiveness and marital satisfaction.Which of the following is a major limitation of Eugenia's chosen research method?

A) She will not be able to demonstrate that one of these variables is causing the other.
B) She will not be able to assess the strength of the association between these variables.
C) She will not be able to determine whether the variables are positively or negatively related.
D) She will not be able to discern whether one variable is predictive of the other.

Question 66

Irina is interested in whether frustration causes aggression.What type of research should she conduct?

A) an experiment
B) a correlation study
C) a prospective study
D) a narrative study

Question 67

Scenario 2
A researcher was interested in the effects of mood on aggression.She decided to see how receiving an insult or a compliment affects aggression,and she measured aggression by having participants administer small shocks to another participant.The researcher found that participants in the insult condition were more aggressive than those in the compliment condition.
Refer to Scenario 2.In this research,what is the conceptual independent variable?

A) administering of small shocks
B) receiving a compliment or insult
C) mood
D) aggression

Question 68

Suppose the correlation between the number of times couples go to the movies and the number of times they go out to dinner is ?0?0.79.Among the following conclusions,which one is most consistent with this computation?

A) The more often that couples go to the movies,the more often they go out to dinner.
B) The less often that couples go to the movies,the less often they go out to dinner.
C) There is a strong correlation between the number of times couples go to the movies and the number of times they go out to dinner.
D) Because the correlation coefficient is less than 1.0,the association between these two variables is very weak and probably unreliable.

Question 69

In what ways can correlational studies be used?

A) They can be used to evaluate hypotheses.
B) They can be used to help predict behaviour.
C) They can be used to establish causal relationships among variables.
D) They can be used to study questions after experimentation has failed.

Question 70

Which of the following is the most important contribution of correlational research?

A) It is a powerful way to establish causal relationships between variables.
B) It allows an experimenter to control extraneous variables.
C) It permits researchers to determine the strength of the relationship between variables.
D) It is allows detailed investigation of variables that can be measured in the laboratory.

Question 71

Which of the following is most relevant to ensuring that any differences one obtains after the experimental manipulation of a study have been produced only by that manipulation?

A) statistical interactions
B) external validity
C) construct validity
D) experimenter control

Question 72

Camryn measures the association between students' political attitudes when they first arrive at university and their political attitudes just prior to graduation.What kind of research is Camryn doing?

A) an experiment
B) an observational study
C) a prospective study
D) a concurrent study

Question 73

Causation cannot be inferred from correlational studies? Why is this so?

A) because correlational studies suffer from a lack of construct validity
B) because correlational studies do not involve the manipulation of variables
C) because one can only infer causation from studies conducted in the lab
D) because researchers have too much control over the variables in correlational research

Question 74

Which of the following is an example of a negative correlation?

A) The more pets you own,the greater your physical health.
B) The more alcohol you consume,the lower your grades will be.
C) The fewer vacations you take,the less happy you are.
D) The more you eat,the more you weigh.

Question 75

Dr.Vandelay found the correlation between conservative political attitudes and overall health to be +0.18.Which of the following can you conclude from this correlation?

A) As conservative political attitudes increase,overall health increases.
B) As conservative political attitudes increase,overall health decreases.
C) There is virtually no relationship between conservative political attitudes and overall health.
D) Becoming ill causes you to become more conservative politically.

Question 76

Scenario 2
A researcher was interested in the effects of mood on aggression.She decided to see how receiving an insult or a compliment affects aggression,and she measured aggression by having participants administer small shocks to another participant.The researcher found that participants in the insult condition were more aggressive than those in the compliment condition.
Refer to Scenario 2.In this research,what is the operationalized independent variable?

A) administering of small shocks
B) receiving a compliment or insult
C) mood
D) aggression

Question 77

What is the most important advantage of correlational research?

A) Correlational research aids researchers in the development of new hypotheses.
B) Correlational research permits researchers to determine whether one variable causes another.
C) Correlational research is often useful for studying phenomena for which experimentation is impractical or unethical.
D) Correlational research allows researchers to measure relationships between independent and dependent variables.

Question 78

Relative to experimental studies,what is the primary disadvantage of correlation studies?

A) They are more labour-intensive.
B) Cause and effect cannot be determined with them.
C) Their results are more difficult to understand.
D) The choice of variables that can be studied is limited.

Question 79

In order to conduct an experiment,which of the following must researchers have?

A) the ability to observe behaviour unnoticed
B) the ability to systematically measure two variables
C) the ability to manipulate an independent variable
D) a laboratory environment

Question 80

Which of the following is the most important difference between prospective and concurrent studies?

A) They differ in whether the variables are independent or dependent.
B) They differ in the amount of time between measurement of the variables.
C) They differ in the type of statistic used to assess their significance.
D) They differ in the extent to which they are considered ethical by social psychologists.