Ethics
A researcher uses deception in a study. According to ethical guidelines, what must the researcher do immediately after the study is complete?
Debrief the participants
A researcher studied rats to determine the effectiveness of a new drug on acetylcholine receptor sites. First, the rats were trained to find a reward at the end of a maze. Next, the rats were randomly assigned to two groups. One group of rats were injected with the new acetylcholine-like drug. The second group of rats were injected with a saline solution. Finally, researchers measured how many mistakes the rats made as they navigated the maze. What research methods was used by the researchers?
Experimental
Sarah, a dedicated student, always works alone because she believes she works harder than anyone else. During a group project, she does minimal work, assuming others will finish it. What concept best supports the argument that situational factors, not just personality, influence Sarah's behavior in this scenario?
Social-Loafing
Jake strongly believes that vitamin C prevents colds. He tells everyone that taking high doses keeps him healthy and rarely sick. Jake gets a cold. But he thinks, “Well, I’ve been taking vitamin C, so imagine how bad it would’ve been without it!” Later, he reads an article titled: “Study Shows Vitamin C Has No Major Impact on Preventing Colds.” He quickly dismisses it: “That study probably didn’t use a high enough dose,” he says. “Or maybe those people already had weak immune systems.” Then he finds a blog post from a wellness site that claims, “Mega-doses of Vitamin C Slash Cold Risk”, and shares it online saying, “See? Told you vitamin C works!”
Confirmation Bias
A researcher studying stress wants to be sure that income levels do not affect the results of the research. What is typically used to reduce the effects of confounding variables in experiments?
Random Assignment
An institutional review board (IRB) rejected a proposal for research where participants requesting to lesion Wernicke’s Area in otherwise healthy individuals to study the resulting speech comprehension issues. What is the most likely ethical consideration for rejecting the study?
Protection from Harm
A researcher is exploring the effectiveness of a new drug that works as an agonist to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. A research design involves two randomly assigned groups of participants. One group receives a onetime treatment, and the other does not. Later, the two groups are compared to see whether the treatment had an effect. What do psychologists call this kind of research?
Experimental
A researcher conducted a study to investigate whether women in the first trimester of pregnancy score higher on levels of disgust than women who are in a later stage of pregnancy. The researcher believes that being more selective about food choices helps pregnant women avoid diseases that could harm their fetuses.
Which perspective would support a claim that aligns with the researchers belief?
The Evolutionary Perspective
In early 2023, Olivia reads an article about a small tech startup called NeuroLink, which is working on brain-computer interface technology. The company is unknown, risky, and not yet profitable. She decides not to invest, thinking it’s too uncertain. By the end of 2024, NeuroLink releases a breakthrough product, gets major media coverage, and its stock value skyrockets by 500%. It becomes one of the hottest companies in tech. She tells her friends, “I knew that company was going to blow up! It was so obvious—they had Elon Musk backing them, and the tech was revolutionary. I should have invested!” What is this showing?
Hindsight Bias
A researcher wants to explore whether a new treatment for muscular sclerosis is effective. What is the best way to ensure that results of a study are generalizable to a population?
Random Sampling
Clive Wearing is an individual involved in a well-known case study examining anterograde amnesia. Clive experienced a high fever which led to damage to the hippocampus nearly 40 years ago. Since that time, Clive has not been able to encode new memories and, by some estimations, can only hold a thought for 7 to 9 seconds. What is an ethical consideration regarding the case of Clive Wearing?
Informed Consent
A small sample of living neural tissue is being studied under a powerful microscope. The researcher notices that some of the neural cells have connections to capillaries and seem to nourish and support the other neural cells. What type of research is being conducted?
Naturalistic Observation
A researcher at a local university is using only students to study the effects of low light in visual processing in the occipital lobe. Why might the results of this correlational study involving student volunteers in a psychology laboratory not apply to the general population?
The sample is not randomly chosen and therefore may not be a representative sample
Ms. Harrison asks students in her psychology class to record how many hours of sleep they get every night and what they eat for breakfast. When the class looks at the data, they find that the fewer hours of sleep they get, the more they eat for breakfast. Which bias is self-report data subject to?
The Social-Desirability Bias
Researchers measured changes in neural firing in the frontal lobes for ten rats that were exposed to stimulants. The researchers used an MRI that indicates brain activity with colors. Normal brain activity is indicated by greens and yellows. High brain activity is indicated by reds and oranges. Low brain activity is indicated by grays and blues. All the rat’s brains showed normal activity prior to being exposed to the stimulant. What is the operational definition of neural activity in the rats?
The Color presented in the MRI images
A researcher wants to examine how much information from waking life ends up in dreams. The researcher recruits 40 volunteers to participate. The participants will be given a sleep monitor that gently wakes them each time they end an REM cycle, after which they will complete a detailed dream diary. The study is planned to last for two weeks. Why would an institutional review board be hesitant to approve this study?
Disrupting sleep for an extended period of time may Cause Harm
Synesthesia is a phenomenon that has been estimated to occur in only a few people in a million. Because of its rarity, researchers are likely to choose which research method to study it?
Case Study
Research on human mating preferences suggests that men place greater value on physical attractiveness and youthfulness, whereas women place greater value on social status and financial resources. Which of the psychological points of view best explains this behavior?
The Evolutionary Perspective
Researchers are conducting a study on daily exercise habits and mood improvement. They recruit volunteers and tell them: “We’re studying how physical activity might affect mood and mental well-being.” Each participant is asked to wear a fitness tracker and report their mood daily for two weeks. Some participants, wanting to appear more active or “health-conscious,” start exercising more than usual and report feeling happier — not necessarily because they are happier, but because they think that’s what the researchers expect.
Participant Bias
A researcher wants to determine which studying technique would be more effective: massed practice or distributed practice. The researcher randomly assigns 30 students to two groups and gives them a list of vocabulary words to remember. One of the groups uses a massed practice technique. The other uses a distributed practice technique. The researcher gives the students a quiz four days later to see how well they remembered their list of words. He compared the scores for both groups. What is the dependent variable in this study?
The vocabulary quiz scores
Researchers at a local university conduct research to find the biological bases for Alzheimer's disease. According to the ethical guidelines set by the American Psychological Association (APA), what is true of psychological research in which animals are used as subjects?
The research must be conducted in a humane manner, ensuring minimal discomfort, pain, or distress to the animals.
Mark and Matt are twins. A psychologist studies Mark and Matt from birth until their 25th birthday. The psychologist gathers data about every aspect of their lives. The psychologist is interested in the interaction of nature and nurture on their development. What research method is the psychologist using to study Mark and Matt?
Case Study
A suggestion that depression is due to the unconscious conflicts and hostile feelings that originate in early childhood can be supported by which psychological perspective?
Psychodynamic
Research shows that women who are referred by a physician to participate in a study of eating disorders have more severe problems than women who volunteer on their own to participate in the study. If research on eating disorders regularly involves only women referred by physicians, the results of the studies might be limited because of the presence of...
Sampling Bias
Dr. Amie conducts an experiment in which participants are asked to observe a recorded lecture and either take notes as they watch in real time or take notes when they pause the lecture every minute. She then gives them a test to evaluate their knowledge about the information presented. To reduce the likelihood of confounding variables influencing the experiment, Dr. Amie should do what?
Ensure that all participants watch the same lecture