Psychology Intro Unit Practice Questions

Transcription

1 Psychology Intro Unit Practice Questions The various theoretical perspectives employed by psychologists: A. have little value for applied research. B. typically contradict common sense. C. are generally impossible to test scientifically. D. often complement one another. Overconfidence is best described as a form of: A. random assignment. B. critical thinking. C. positive correlation. D. intellectual conceit. A statistical measure that indicates the extent to which changes in one factor are accompanied by changes in another is called a(n): A. replication. B. independent variable. C. correlation. D. dependent variable. Identical twins are more similar in intelligence than are fraternal twins. This fact would be of most direct relevance to the perspective. A. behavior genetics B. social-cultural C. psychoanalytic D. evolutionary E. cognitive If those who watch a lot of TV violence are also particularly likely to behave aggressively, this would not necessarily indicate that watching TV violence influences aggressive behavior because: A. random sequences often don't look random. B. sampling extreme cases leads to false generalizations. C. correlation does not prove causation. D. events often seem more probable in hindsight.

2 A specification of how a researcher measures a dependent variable is known as a(n): A. hypothesis. B. control condition. C. replication. D. operational definition. Alicia Adams insists that Dr. Phillip's theory of aggression be checked against observable evidence. She is demonstrating the scientific attitude of: A. pride. B. enthusiasm. C. practicality. D. skepticism. The tendency to pay special attention to information that supports the ideas we already believe is known as: A. the false consensus effect. B. confirmation bias. C. the hindsight bias. D. Overconfidence. Several weeks after a political election, voters often exaggerate their ability to have predicted the election outcome. This best illustrates: A. the confirmation bias. B. the false consensus effect. C. the hindsight bias. D. illusory correlation. In order to learn about the TV viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge School, Professor Devries randomly selected and interviewed 50 of the school's students. In this instance, all the children attending the school are considered to be a(n): A. population. B. representative sample. C. independent variable. D. control condition. In a psychological experiment, the factor that may be influenced by the manipulated experimental treatment is called the variable. A. dependent B. experimental C. control D. independent

3 The suggestion that psychology is less a set of facts than a method of evaluating ideas best highlights the nature of psychology. A. youthful B. behavioral C. scientific D. introspective Which of the following correlations affords the greatest predictive value? A..00 B C D E Compared to clinical psychologists, psychiatrists are especially likely to adopt a perspective. A. neuroscience B. behavioral C. cognitive If psychologists discovered that wealthy people are less satisfied with their marriages than poor people are, this would indicate that wealth and marital satisfaction are: A. causally related. B. negatively correlated. C. independent variables. D. dependent variables. E. positively correlated. In the control condition of an experiment the: A. experimenter exerts the greatest influence on participants' behavior. B. research participants are exposed to all the different experimental treatments. C. research participants are exposed to the most favorable levels of experimental treatment. D. experimental treatment is absent. Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the religious beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward abortion? A. the survey B. naturalistic observation C. the case study D. experimentation

4 Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether cigarette smoking boosts mental alertness? A. the case study B. the survey C. naturalistic observation D. the experiment Dr. Wilson attributes the violence of criminal gang members to the norms and role expectations associated with gang membership. Her belief best illustrates a(n) perspective. A. psychoanalytic B. behavior genetics C. social-cultural D. evolutionary Surveys indicate that people are much less likely to support "government welfare" than "government aid to the needy." These somewhat paradoxical survey results best illustrate the importance of: A. random sampling. B. wording effects. C. hindsight bias. D. the false consensus effect. In which type of research is a representative sample of people asked to answer questions about their behaviors or opinions? A. experimentation B. the survey C. the case study D. naturalistic observation The danger of using case-study evidence is that it: A. is based on naturalistic observation. B. may be unrepresentative of what is generally true. C. is unusually easy to explain in hindsight. D. leads us to underestimate our own personal shortcomings. Correlational research is useful for: A. explaining attitudes. B. predicting behavior. C. discovering the causes of behavior. D. doing all the above.

5 Myra has such a high level of selfesteem that she is typically on the lookout for positive comments about her appearance and behavior. Myra best illustrates the dangers of: A. confirmation bias. B. the false consensus effect. C. naturalistic observation. D. the hindsight bias. Which psychological perspective is most likely to be concerned with identifying the limits of human reasoning? A. behavioral B. cognitive C. neuroscience E. behavior genetics Mrs. Alfieri believes that her husband's irritability toward her results from his unconscious feelings of hostility toward his own mother. Mrs. Alfieri is interpreting her husband's behavior from a perspective. A. neuroscience B. psychoanalytic C. behavioral