Research Methods
A researcher observes how often children share toys with peers on a playground without interacting with the children or altering their environment. The most appropriate research method to use.
What is Naturalistic Observation?
While walking alone at night, a person suddenly hears footsteps behind them and immediately feels fear before fully identifying the sound. The brain part responsible for the fear.
What is the Amygdala?
In a photograph of a long road, the road appears to narrow as it stretches into the distance. The monocular cue used to judge distance based on this.
What is Linear Perspective?
Even after years without riding a bike, an adult can quickly regain the ability to ride without explicit instruction. This type of memory.
What is Procedural Memory?
A 9-month-old infant watches their caregiver place a toy under a blanket and then reaches for the toy even though it is no longer visible.
What is Object Permanence?
After walking around a new school for several days, a student can take shortcuts between classrooms without using a map.
What is a Cognitive Map?
After consuming several alcoholic drinks, a person experiences slower reaction times and impaired judgment. Alcohol is this type of drug
What is a Depressant?
A psychologist investigates whether the amount of sleep students get affects their reaction time on a computer task. Students are assigned to get either 4, 6, or 8 hours of sleep before completing the task. Identify the IV and DV.
IV = Amount of sleep
DV = Reaction time on a computer task
After finishing a stressful final exam, a student notices their breathing slows, heart rate decreases, and muscles relax. The nervous system responsible for this.
What is the Parasympathetic Nervous System?
While studying in a busy café, a student is able to focus on reading their textbook even though conversations and music are happening around them. This allows the student to concentrate on studying.
What is Selective Attention?
During a power outage, a student struggles to prop open a door because they only think of a chair as something to sit on, not as a tool.
What is Functional Fixedness?
Parents set clear rules for their teenager but explain the reasons behind the rules and encourage open discussion.
What is the Authoritative Parenting Style?
A factory worker receives a bonus for every 10 items they assemble.
What is Fixed-Ratio Schedule?
A student performs well across multiple cognitive tasks, including verbal, mathematical, and spatial reasoning. The intelligence theory that explains this.
What is g Factor?
A psychology teacher gives a test to a class of 25 students. Most students score between 78 and 88, but one student scores a 15 because they left early and did not finish the test. The measure of central tendency that is most affected.
What is the Mean?
A teenager feels a strong sense of pleasure after receiving many positive comments on a social media post and begins checking their phone repeatedly for more feedback. The neurotransmitter responsible for this.
When light from a bright screen enters the eye, it is converted into neural signals that the brain can interpret. The process responsible for this.
What is the Transduction?
After a head injury, a patient can recall childhood memories but cannot remember events that occur after the injury.
What is Anterograde Amnesia?
A child who is not exposed to spoken language during early childhood later struggles to develop normal speech. Reason why this occurs.
What is the Critical Period?
A teenager loses access to their phone for missing curfew. The type of consequence.
What is Negative Punishment?
A psychology final exam includes questions covering all units taught throughout the semester. The principle of test construction that this illustrates.
What is Content Validity?
Two classes take the same psychology test and earn the same average score. However, one class has scores that range widely, while the other class’s scores are very similar. The measure that explains this.
What is Standard Deviation?
A researcher wants to examine which areas of the brain are active while participants solve math problems compared to when they rest quietly. The researcher uses a technique that tracks changes in blood flow within the brain.
What is the fMRI?
A person adds sugar to their coffee but does not notice any change in taste until they add a second spoonful.
What is the Difference Threshold?
A student remembers vocabulary words better when they focus on the meaning of each word rather than how it looks or sounds. The type of encoding used.
What is Semantic Encoding?
A preschool child refuses to play with a toy kitchen because they believe it is only for girls. Reason for the refusal to play with the toy kitchen.
What is Gender Typing?
A child begins using polite language after watching their older sibling receive praise for saying “please” and “thank you.” Observational learning is part of this theory.
What is Social Learning Theory?
A person dreams of random and disconnected events after a night of intense brain activity during sleep. Dream theory that explains this.
What is the Activation Synthesis Theory?
A researcher concludes that students who drink energy drinks perform better on exams. However, many of these students also report studying longer hours than others. Identify the confounding variable.
What is studying longer hours?
During a track meet, a runner touches a hot metal railing and immediately pulls their hand away. For a brief moment afterward, the same nerve cell cannot fire again even if the railing is touched a second time. The process in the neuron responsible for this.
What is the Refractory Period?
After watching several horror movies, a person interprets a pile of clothes in a dark room as a person crouching in the corner.
What is a Perceptual Set?
After seeing several news stories about airplane accidents, a person believes flying is more dangerous than driving. The strategy responsible for this belief.
What is the Availability Heuristic?
A student’s academic motivation is strongly influenced by daily interactions with teachers and peers at school. The level of the ecological systems theory.
What is the Microsystem?
A person naturally feels anxious when they hear a sudden, loud thunderclap. After repeatedly hearing a specific ringtone just before the thunder occurs, the person begins to feel anxious when hearing the ringtone alone. Identify the US, UR, CS, and CR
US = Loud thunderclap, UR = Anxiety, CS = Ringtone, CR = Anxiety
A school district compares the results of an intelligence test given to students in 1985 and to students today. The modern students score higher on average, even though the test questions and scoring method remain the same. The reason for this increase in scores.
What is the Flynn Effect?