Question 1

Sandra strongly believes that attending daycare is detrimental to children's development so she decides to write her psychology term paper on this topic. She does a literature search and finds several sources supporting her opinion, but she finds that the majority of research indicates that children attending daycare experience healthy development. She writes a paper using the sources that find negative associations with daycare attendance. This is an example of ________.

Accepted Answer

Sandra is demonstrating confirmation bias by selectively searching for and using information that confirms her pre-existing beliefs about daycare, while ignoring evidence that contradicts her viewpoint.

Question 2

A negative correlation means ________.

Accepted Answer

A negative correlation indicates that as one variable increases, the other decreases.

Question 3

Which correlation coefficient best represents a moderate relationship showing fewer anxiety symptoms in people who report higher life satisfaction?

Accepted Answer

A correlation coefficient of -0.53 indicates a moderate negative relationship, meaning as life satisfaction increases, anxiety symptoms decrease.

Question 4

Psychological knowledge is advanced through a process known as ________, which involves a prescribed series of steps designed to achieve the desired knowledge.

Accepted Answer

The scientific method is a systematic process involving steps such as observation, hypothesis formulation, experimentation, and conclusion, which is used to advance knowledge in psychology and other sciences.

Question 5

Dr. Mattar is interested in knowing more about brain injury to the occipital cortex, and he studies patients individually in order to gain in-depth knowledge about their behaviors. These studies would best be described as ________.

Accepted Answer

Case studies involve in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event, or community. Dr. Mattar's approach of studying patients individually to gain detailed insights into their behaviors after brain injury to the occipital cortex aligns with the methodology of case studies.

Question 6

Dr. Guttierez is examining a research question and has posted a hypothesis, but his student points out, "Dr. G., the assumption that you have made cannot be disproven no matter what data we gather!" This research study suffers from an absence of ________.

Accepted Answer

Falsifiability is a key criterion for a hypothesis in the scientific method, meaning that it must be possible to prove the hypothesis wrong through observation or experiment. If a hypothesis cannot be disproven no matter the data, it lacks falsifiability.

Question 7

________ assesses the consistency of observations by different observers.

Accepted Answer

Inter-rater reliability is a measure of how consistently different observers or raters evaluate the characteristics, behaviors, or outcomes. It is important in research to ensure that observations are not subjective or biased to one observer's perspective.

Question 8

Simplicity of conducting the study is to ________ as ability to test large numbers of participants is to ________.

Accepted Answer

Archival research is simple because it involves analyzing existing data, while surveys allow testing large numbers of participants efficiently.

Question 9

________ is an anthropologist who contributed to our understanding of chimpanzee behavior in the wild, using naturalistic observation.

Accepted Answer

Jane Goodall is renowned for her groundbreaking work in studying the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees, significantly advancing our understanding of their behavior through naturalistic observation.

Question 10

A(n) ________ variable is a factor that affects both variables of interest in research and may falsely give the impression of a cause-and-effect relationship.

Accepted Answer

A confounding variable is one that influences both the dependent and independent variables in a study, potentially leading to incorrect conclusions about the relationship between those variables.

Question 11

A(n) ________ is a well-developed set of ideas that proposes an explanation for observed phenomena.

Accepted Answer

A theory is a well-developed set of ideas that proposes an explanation for observed phenomena, integrating facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.

Question 12

The scientific process is ________, involving both inductive and deductive reasoning.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The scientific process is ________, involving both...

Question 13

The first woman to earn the PhD degree in psychology was ________.

Accepted Answer

Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman to earn a PhD in psychology, which she received from Cornell University in 1894.

Question 14

In order to assess whether viewpoints on decriminalization of marijuana for medical purposes change with age, four groups of participants, ages 20, 30, 40, and 50, are asked whether they support this issue. What is one flaw of this design?

Accepted Answer

The design does not account for the possibility that differences in opinions may be due to varying social or cultural backgrounds among the age groups, rather than age itself. This could lead to incorrect conclusions about the effect of age on views toward marijuana decriminalization.

Question 15

Research shows that people who smoke cigarettes are more likely to get lung cancer than those who do not smoke. This research alone demonstrates that ________.

Accepted Answer

The research indicates a relationship between smoking and lung cancer, but it does not specify causation, contribution, or predisposition.

Question 16

________ is a reduction in the number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time.

Accepted Answer

Attrition refers to the loss of participants over the course of a study, which can impact the results and conclusions drawn from the research.

Question 17

A group of preschool-age children are enrolled in a study that plans to follow them over time in order to assess behaviors and other characteristics that may predict later development of schizophrenia. This is an example of a(n) ________ design.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a longitudinal design because it involves following the same group of individuals over a period of time to observe changes or developments in their behaviors or characteristics.

Question 18

Krista and Tatiana Hogan are participants in a(n) ________ of conjoined twins who are joined at the head.

Accepted Answer

Krista and Tatiana Hogan are examples of a case study, which is an in-depth analysis of a unique situation, individual, or event. In their case, it's an in-depth study of conjoined twins joined at the head, providing insights into medical, psychological, and developmental aspects unique to their condition.

Question 19

This organization, one of the largest professional groups of psychologists in the world, was founded in 1892.

Accepted Answer

The American Psychological Association (APA) was founded in 1892 and is one of the largest professional groups of psychologists in the world.

Question 20

________ is/are often conducted with large numbers of participants and can even be conducted by phone, email, or mail.

Accepted Answer

Surveys are often conducted with large numbers of participants and can be administered through various means such as phone, email, or mail, allowing researchers to collect data from a broad audience efficiently.

Quiz 2: Psychological Research