Psychology is formally defined as:

a. the treatment of mental illness

b. the study of human problems

c. the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

d. the scientific investigation of unconscious mental processes

Dr. Jackson is studying changes in the brain after stressful experiences. Dr. Jackson is most likely to subscribe to the _____ perspective.

a. behavioral

b. cross-cultural

c. biological

d. psychoanalytic

Watson and Skinner's contentions that psychology should study the laws of learning and outwardly observable behavior form the basis of which perspective in contemporary psychology?

a. cognitive

b. psychodynamic

c. humanistic

d. behavioral

Research on social loafing demonstrated that European subjects engage in social loafing whereas Chinese subjects display the opposite behavior. These results illustrate the importance of _____ psychology.

a. cross-cultural

b. cognitive

c. biological

d. humanistic

The evolutionary perspective in psychology:

a. has had next to no influence in psychology after it was flatly rejected by William James in the late 1800s.

b. analyzes behavior in terms of its adaptive function, such as how it increases a species' chances to survive and reproduce.

c. is now regarded as nothing more than pseudoscience.

d. analyzes how the key ideas of psychology have evolved since it was founded as an experimental science in the mid-1800s.

Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to:

a. behave in accordance with cultural norms.

b. stress the importance of cross-cultural psychology.

c. use your own culture as the standard for judging other cultures.

d. deny your ethnic heritage.

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Cognitive psychology focuses on the study of:

a. mental processes

b. children with special needs

c. how people are affected by their social environments

d. psychological disorders and their treatment

Which of the following titles would most likely be found in a research journal for social psychology?

a. "Increased levels of the male hormone, testosterone, causes increased aggresive behavior in laboratory rats"

b. "How the presence of other people affects helping behavior in public situations"

c. "Decreases in intellectual functioning can be reversed through increased mental activities in the older adult"

d. "Motivational effects of stress"

Which of the following is a FALSE statement about clinical psychologists?

a. They have extensive training in psychological disorders, psychotherapy, and psychological testing.

b. They often work in private practice, hospitals, or community mental health centers.

c. They may conduct psychotherapy with individuals, couple, families, or groups of unrelated people.

d. As a regular part of their training, they are supervised in prescribing medications, electroconvulsive therapy, and other medical procedures.

When researchers create questions to investigate, generate evidence, and draw conclusions, they are guided by a set of assumptions, attitudes, and proccedures that is (are) called:

a. the scientific method

b. the Gestalt principle

c. the general answers and principles (GAP) model.

d. primary values

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Like other scientists, psychologists are guided by the assumption that:

a. only experimental data has scientific relevance

b. statistically significant results always have practical significance

c. certain phenomena will never be understood

d. events are lawful and ultimately explainable

A hypothesis is:

a. a tentative statement that describes the relationship between two or more variables.

b. a geometrical construct often used in statistical analysis

c. a theory that has been proven

d. the operational definition assigned to the independent variable.

Dr. Hazlett used statistics and determined that the result of her experiment was statistically significant. Dr. Hazlett would then conclude that:

a. the results of the experiment were not likely to have occurred by chance.

b. the results of the experiment have practical importance in every day life.

c. the hypothesis for the experiment was not supported.

d. one variable did not have any effect on the variable in the experiment.

In contrast to the experimental method, the basic goal of the descriptive method is to:

a. investigate and refute "common sense" notions about human behavior

b. manipulate variables in a meaningful way

c. deduce valid operational definitions and generate new experiments

d. observe and describe behavior

The basic goal of the experimental method is to:

a. demonstrate that one variable causes change in a second variable

b. describe and predict naturally occurring phenomena

c. investigate a single subject in depth

d. discover new operational definitions

In order to increase confidence in the findings of a particular study, it is important that the study and its results:

a. have practical significance

b. be widely reported

c. be reported or replicated

d. be tested by meta-analysis

The word replicate refers to:

a. a second statistical analysis of the study's results by an independent researcher

b. confirming a researcher's results with a meta-analysis

c. a statistical technique

d. repeating a study using the same research methods but different research participants.

A ____ is a specific question or prediction to be tested, whereas a(n) ____ tries to integrate and summarize a large number of findings.

a. hypothesis; theory

b. variable; operational definition

c. theory; hypothesis

d. descriptive method; experimental method

When psychologists systemically observe and record behaviors as they occur in their natural settings, they are using a descriptive method called:

a. case study survey research

b. meta-analysis

c. naturalistic observation

d. the experiment

Columbia University researcher Elizabeth Gershoff (2002) conducted a wide-ranging meta-analysis on parental use of corporal punishment. One finding that emerged was a relationship between parental socioeconomic status and use of corporal punishment. Put simply, as socioeconomic status declines, rates of parents' use of corporal punishment rise. This finding represents:

a. a cause-and-effect relationship

b. a positive correlation

c. a negative correlation

d. a classic example of an expectancy effect

Correlational research is valuable because:

a. one can conclude meaningful cause-and-effect relationships when several correlations are examined collectively

b. variables can be easily manipulated by the experimenter to yield effects of the variables

c. correlations allow researchers to predict the cause of one variables effect on another

d. correlational research can be used to rule out some factors and identify others that merit more intensive study

In an experiment, the independent variable is the variable that is:

a. affected by changes in the dependent variable

b. unknown

c. beyound the researcher's control, as it independently varies or changes over time.

d. deliberately manipulated by the researcher

In an experiment, the dependent variable is:

a. always equivalent to zero

b. affected by changes in the indepedent variable

c. measured only in the control group subjects

d. deliberately manipulated by the researcher

Professor Hebb is studying whether learning is affected by different environments. He raises some rats in cages with many interesting objects to play on and explore. Other rats are raised in isolated, barred cages with none of the interesting objects. Late, Hebb carefully records how many attempts it takes each rat to learn to run a maze with no mistakes. What is the independent variable in this study?

a. how many attempts it takes each rat to learn to run a maze

b. being raised in an interesting or a barrn environment

c. the use of animals versus people

d. the number of rats in the study

In Dr. Foster's study, one group is given a new medication that is believed to reduce anxiety. Another group is given a medication that looks like the real medication it has none of the active ingredients in it to affect anxiety. In this experiment, the experimental group is the:

a. group that received the new medication

b. group that receives the medication without the active ingredients

c. anxiety group

d. group without anxiety

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In an experiment, the control group is:

a. the group of scientists who determine the value to be assigned to the independent variable

b. the group of administrators who determine whether a given procedure is ethical

c. the group of participants who are exposed to all experimental conditions, except for the treatmment of intererst

d. the group of participants who are exposed only to the dependent variable

The purpose of using a double-blind research design is to:

a. guard against the possibility that the researcher will treat subjects differently or communicate the behavior that is expected of the subjects

b. guard agaisnt the release of confidential information

c. guarantee the anonymity of the subjects

d. determine which subjects will be exposed to the dependent variable

Limitations of the experimental method include which of the following?

a. it may not be feasible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship

b. it may not be ethical or possible to experimentally investigate some issues

c. cultural factors cannot be studied experimentally

d. because the subjects are "blind" to the experimental conditions, they are unable to give informed consent.

The ethical requirement of informed consent means that:

a. all participants must read and approve any written reports of the research results before they are published

b. participants must be completely informed about the purpose and conditions of the research, and must be free to withdraw from the research at any time

c. research participants must agree not to divulge any information about the nature of the study to any outside party

d. once the participants have agreed to participate in the study, they may not withdraw for any reason other than medical necessity

Deception in psychology experiments:

a. as not been allowed since the 1960s when two research participants died in Milton Hudson's infamous "obedience" experiments

b. is still allowed under certain conditions

c. iis not allowed in the US but is allowed in Canada

d. was banned after the American Psychological Association was harshly criticized for approving the sensory deprivation experiments at the U.S. Air Force Academy in the 1980