Perspectives
Which of the following perspectives suggests that depression is due to the unconscious conflicts and hostile feelings that originate in early childhood?
A. Behavioral
B. Psychodynamic
C. Cognitive
D. Sociocultural
B. Psychodynamic
A person displays behaviors of a psychological disorder that psychologists in the United States have not seen before. The best strategy to investigate the nature of those behaviors is to conduct which of the following?
A. an experiment
B. a case study
C. cross-sectional research
D. correlational research
B. a case study
A researcher studying stress wants to be sure that income levels do not affect the results of the research. Which of the following is used to reduce the effects of confounding variables in experiments?
A. Descriptive statistics
B Inferential statistics
C. An algorithm
D. Random assignment
D. Random assignment
Dr. Yankovic is interested in whether humans display more anger on their faces when they are alone or with others. Subjects were told that the purpose of the experiment was to evaluate different personality traits using a personality inventory. However, the true purpose of the study was to expose subjects to a frustrating situation in which the personality inventory they are filling out keeps restarting and their information does not save. Subjects’ faces are closely monitored in the alone condition and in the with others condition to see whether subjects display more anger when alone or with others.
Which ethical guideline does Dr. Yankovic need to follow at the conclusion of the study?
A. Informed consent
B. Debriefing
C. Reveal the names of the individual subjects
D. Make sure the sample of the subjects is representative of the population.
B. Debriefing
A student who obtained a percentile rank of 75 on an achievement test is best characterized as having...
A. ranked 75th from the top in a group of 100 test takers
B. answered 75% of the test questions correctly
C. scored higher than 75% of the test takers
D. scored 75% higher than the average test taker
C. scored higher than 75% of the test takers
Which of the following perspectives argues that every person has the potential to become self-actualized?
A. Humanistic
B. Gestalt
C. Cognitive
D. Psychodynamic
A. Humanistic
Petra, a graduate student, studies creativity, and she is frustrated that several studies in her field do not have precise operational definitions for creativity or divergent thinking. It is important for researchers to use precise operational definitions for which of the following reasons?
A. They want to ensure that conditions are assigned randomly
B. They want to be able to replicate the experiment
C. They want to be able to organize the hypotheses appropriately
D. They are conducting experimental research but not correlational research
B. They want to be able to replicate the experiment
Professor Saito is investigating whether online teaching compared to the standard classroom lectures affect intelligence scores. After selecting student participants and assigning half to an online course and half to a standard lecture course, he administers an exam to both groups. What is the independent variable in this research?
A. The type of course instruction
B. The length of the exam
C. The student participants
D. Student scores on the exam
A. The type of course instruction
Dr. Brennan is interested in investigating the negative and positive consequences of diagnosing his female patients with bipolar disorder. To ensure that ethical procedures are followed, what must Dr. Brennan do prior to beginning the research study?
A. Ensure that a random sample of subjects is selected
B. Eliminate confounding variables
C. Receive informed consent from each of the participants
D. Assign subjects randomly to control and experimental groups
C. Receive informed consent from each of the participants
Shayna is chronically tired and decides to record how many hours of sleep she is getting. Her data for the last ten nights include the following estimated hours: 8, 8, 8, 4, 6, 3, 6, 10, 6, 5. What number represents the median value?
A. 10
B. 6
C. 8
D. 7
B. 6
Dr. Nelson believes that the symptoms of Nellie’s schizophrenia stem from childhood trauma. However, Dr. Khan believes that excess dopamine is causing many of Nellie’s symptoms.
Question
Which of the following psychological perspectives is each doctor using to explain Nellie’s symptoms?
A. Dr. Nelson is using a psychodynamic perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a biological perspective.
B. Dr. Nelson is using a cognitive perspective, while Dr. Khan is using an evolutionary perspective.
C. Dr. Nelson is using a behavioral perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a sociocultural perspective.
D. Dr. Nelson is using a humanistic perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a psychodynamic perspective.
A. Dr. Nelson is using a psychodynamic perspective, while Dr. Khan is using a biological perspective.
Margaret is beginning to plan a research project for her psychology class. She wants to examine whether there is a difference between boys and girls in terms of the frequency with which they throw away their trash in the school cafeteria after they have finished eating lunch. Which of the following methodologies would most accurately measure the behavior of interest in Margaret’s study?
A. Case study
B. Experimentation
C. Naturalistic observation
D. Survey
C. Naturalistic observation
Which of the following would indicate the strongest correlation between the variables of gratitude and narcissistic personality disorder?
A. –.90
B. –.23
C. .40
D. .72
A. –.90
Dr. Adeyemi obtains IRB approval for a study examining the effects of growth mindset versus fixed mindset on people’s motivation for learning new information. They recruit 80 participants and receive informed consent from them. Participants then complete a questionnaire about learning strategies. Next, the participants are told that, based on their results, they are either able to readily learn new information or that they will struggle to learn new information. In reality, this questionnaire is meaningless, and participants are randomly told fake results. After hearing their results, the participants are then tested on their ability to learn complex new information. In terms of ethical procedures, after the data are collected, it will be important for Dr. Adeyemi to do which of the following?
A. Fully debrief the participants on the deception involved in the study.
B. Report each participant’s results to the IRB.
C. Destroy all informed consent forms.
D. File the results with IRB.
A. Fully debrief the participants on the deception involved in the study.
A test examining the level of sensation-seeking has a mean of 80 with a standard deviation of 4. Which of the following scores is within one standard deviation of the mean?
A. 75
B. 77
C. 86
D. 90
B. 77
Behavior therapists emphasize which of the following in their treatment of clients?
A. Freedom of choice about the future
B. The uncovering of unconscious defense mechanisms
C. Responses that have been reinforced in the past
D. Early childhood conflicts
C. Responses that have been reinforced in the past
Dr. Miller believes cell phone usage affects short-term memory ability. He randomly selected 20 male students from his university to participate and gave them a survey. Participants were asked a series of questions about how often they use their cell phone and whether they recalled information about world events.
Which of the following is an operational definition for short-term memory used in this study?
A. Number of hours spent on a cell phone
B. Number of correct details remembered about world events
C. Number of participants surveyed in the study
D. Number of data points in the graph
B. Number of correct details remembered about world events
In a research study on the multi-store method of memory, one group of randomly assigned high school students were given 5 minutes to rehearse details about a stimulus after being exposed to it for 15 seconds. A second group were not given time to rehearse the details of the stimulus. Which of the following research designs best represents this study?
A. Experiment
B. Meta-Analysis
C. Correlational Study
D. Case Study
A. Experiment
A psychological study to determine the harmful effects of sleep disruption asked a company to start an overnight shift without notice. Many of the employees began to have accidents while on the job. The researchers conclude that a sudden change in circadian rhythm causes an effect on job performance. What ethical concern may be present in this study?
A. There are some people that are “night owls,” and they would bias the study.
B. The researchers did not have a clear independent variable in the study.
C. The researchers didn’t consider the normal number of accidents that already occurred in the factory.
D. The employees did not provide informed consent and were not given the option to withdraw from the study.
D. The employees did not provide informed consent and were not given the option to withdraw from the study.
12, 3, 3, 4, 8
Researchers collect data from five participants about the number of times they detected pressure applied to the back of their knee. The data are presented in the number set. What is the mean of the set of numbers?
A. 3
B. 8
C. 6
D. 4
C. 6
Dr. Ofori is helping a client who reports feeling overly stressed due to a heavy workload. Dr. Ofori believes an important first step is to help reframe the situation so that the client will see the workload as a challenge to be overcome rather than as an obstacle. This is most consistent with which treatment orientation?
A. Cognitive
B. Biological
C. Behavioral
D. Sociocultural
A. Cognitive
Neurologists trying to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease selected 100 individuals with moderate to severe symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Fifty participants were randomly placed into either an experimental condition that received a new medication that acted as an agonist for acetylcholine or the control condition which continued to receive same care as before. The study lasted for ten weeks at which time members of both groups took a cognitive assessment to determine their level of functioning. Which of the following best explains the operational definition of the dependent variable in this study?
A. The group that received the new medication.
B. The group that continues with their treatment as before.
C. How the participants were placed into their respective groups.
D. The score on the cognitive assessment.
D. The score on the cognitive assessment.
Researchers have found a negative correlation between the signature strength of wisdom and dental problems. What conclusion can correctly be drawn from this statement?
A. Having a higher level of wisdom causes fewer dental problems.
B. As wisdom increases, dental procedures become more affordable.
C. A rise in the incidence of dental problems causes wisdom to be lower.
D. As wisdom increases, the likelihood of dental problems decreases.
D. As wisdom increases, the likelihood of dental problems decreases.
Sports psychologists are studying the use of rational-emotive behavior therapy on the understanding and promotion of mental health in athletes. Once they have received informed consent, the researchers split the athletes into two groups. The experimental group was shown a series of videos in which athletes were injured and then were given rational-emotive behavior therapy to discuss what they viewed. The control group did not watch any videos and received conventional positive thinking training. Which of the following would most likely be of most concern for the IRB reviewing this study?
A. The researchers should have made the participants in the control group watch the injury videos.
B. The researchers are likely exposing the participants to harm by showing videos of injuries.
C. The researchers deceived the participants by not telling the control group about the videos.
D. The researchers should have randomly assigned participants to groups.
B. The researchers are likely exposing the participants to harm by showing videos of injuries.
Researchers recruited student volunteers for a study about memory. Each student given a long story to read about someone experiencing a “health emergency” and then given a quiz on the details of the story a week later. In Group 1, the participants had to read the study each night for a week. In Group 2, the participants were told to read the story 5 times the night before the quiz. After the study was over, the student participants were told the real reason for the study before they left.
Which of the following best describes the conclusion researchers could make if the results of this study are statistically significant?
A. The results have added significant information to the field.
B. The results are not likely due to chance.
C. A strong negative correlation exists between the number of participants and response time.
D. The reaction times were definitely the result of having or not having participants in the room.
B. The results are not likely due to chance.