Assess Your Knowledge Chapters 1-4 Flashcards
psychology involves studying the mind at one specific level of explanation
FALSE
psychological influences are rarely independent of one another
TRUE
single-variable explanations of behaviour are rarely found in popular psychology
FALSE
an investigator studying a culture from the perspective of the inside would be using an emic approach
TRUE
that we mutually influence each other’s behaviour is known as multiple determination
FALSE
behaviourism focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning in animals, but not humans
FALSE
cognitive psychologists argue that we need to understand how organisms interpret rewards and punishments
TRUE
experimental psychologists do all their work in psychological laboratories
FALSE
increasingly, modern psychologists believe that human behaviour is mostly attributable to our genes
FALSE
advocates of determinism believe that free will is an illusion
TRUE
theories typically explain one specific event
FALSE
science is a body of knowledge consisting of all of the findings that scientists have discovered
FALSE
scientific theories are general explanations and hypotheses are specific predictions derived from these explanations
TRUE
good scientists are confident they’re right, so they don’t need to protect themselves against confirmation bias
FALSE
metaphysical claims are not testable
TRUE
most self-help books and psychotherapies have been tested
FALSE
humans’ tendency to see patterns in random data is entirely maladaptive
FALSE
according to terror management theory, our fears of death are an important reason for pseudoscientific beliefs
TRUE
the fact that many people believe in a claim is a good indicator of its validity
FALSE
pseudoscientific treatments can cause both direct and indirect harm
TRUE
scientific skepticism requires a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims
TRUE
when evaluating a psychological claim, we should consider other plausible explanations for it
TRUE
the fact that two things are related doesn’t mean t hat one directly influences the other
TRUE
falsifiability means that a theory must be false to be meaningful
FALSE
when psychological findings are replicated, it’s especially important that the replications be conducted by the same team of investigators
FALSE
psychological research suggests that we’re all capable of being fooled
TRUE
analytical thinking tends to be rapid and intuitive
FALSE
the psychological processes that give rise to heuristics are generally maladaptive
FALSE
research methods help us get around some of the problems produced by uncritical use of intuitive thinking
TRUE
case studies can sometimes provide existence proofs of psychological phenomena
TRUE
rating data can be biased because some respondents allow their ratings of one positive characteristic to spill over to other positive characteristics
TRUE
a correlation of -0.8 is just as large in magnitude as a correlation of +0.8
TRUE
experiments are characterized by two, and only two, features
TRUE
to control for experimenter expectancy effects, only participants need to be blind to who’s in the experimental and control groups
FALSE
the tuskegee study violated the priciples of informed consent
TRUE
milgram’s study would be considered unethical today because the shock could have caused injury or death
FALSE
in debriefing, the researcher informs participants of what wil happen in the procedure before asking them to participate
FALSE
before conductiing invasive research on animals, investigators should weigh carefully the potential scientific benefits of this research against the cost of animal death and suffering
TRUE
the mean is not always the best measure of central tendency
TRUE
the mode and standard deviation are both measures of dispersion
FALSE
all statistically significant findings are important and large in size
FALSE
researchers can easily manipulate statistics to make it appear that their hypotheses are confirmed
TRUE
few psychological journals use a peer review process
FALSE
when evaluating the quality of a study, we must be on the lookout for potential confounds, expectancy effects, and nonrandom assignment to experimental and control groups
TRUE
most newspaper reporters who write stories about psychology have advanced degrees in psychology
FALSE
“balanced” coverage of a psychology story is sometimes inaccurate
TRUE
belief in ESP can be partly explained by our tendency to underestimate the probability of conincidence
TRUE
dendrites are the sending portions of neurons
FALSE
positive particles flowing into the neuron inhibit its action
FALSE
neurotransmitters send messages between neurons
TRUE
some antidepressants block the reuptake of serotonin from the synapse
TRUE
neurogenesis is the same thing as pruning
FALSE
the cortex is divided into the frontal, parietal, temporal and hippocampal lobes
FALSE
the basal ganglia control sensation
FALSE
the amygdala plays a key role in fear
TRUE
the cerebellum regulates only our sense of balance
FALSE
there are two divisions of the autonomic nervous system
TRUE
hormones are more rapid in their actions than neurotransmittors
FALSE
adrenalin ssometimes allow people to perform amazing physical feats
TRUE
cortisol tends to increase in response to stressors
TRUE
women have no testosterone
FALSE
PET scans detect changes in cerebral blood flow that tend to accompany neural activity
FALSE
most people use only about 10 perent of their brains
FALSE
psychological functions are strictly localized to specific areas of the cerebral cortex
FALSE
split brain subjects are impaired at integrating information from both visual fields
TRUE
brain evolution is responsible for humans’ advanced abilities
TRUE
the fact that the human brain is smaller than an elephant’s shows that brain size is unrelated to intelligence
FALSE
heritability values can’t change over time within a population
FALSE
identical twins have similar phenotypes (observable traits) but may have different genotypes (sets of genes)
FALSE
adoption studies are useful for distinguishing nature influences from nurture influences
TRUE
perception is an exact translation of our sensory experience into neural activity
FALSE
in signal detection theory, false positives and false negatives help us measure how much someone is paying attention
FALSE
cross-modal activation produces different perceptual experience than either modality provides by itself
TRUE
the rubber hand illusion shows how our sense of smell and touch interact to create a false perceptual experience
FALSE
selective attention allows us to pay attention to important stimuli and ignore others
TRUE
the visible spectrum of light differs across species and can differ across individuals
TRUE
the lens of the eye changes shape depending on the perceived distance of objects
TRUE
red-green colour blindness results when rods are missiong but cones are intact
FALSE
only nonhuman animals, like bats, engage in echolocation
FALSE
people with visual agnosia have problems naming objects
TRUE
the amplitude of the sound wave corresponds to loudness
TRUE
sound waves are converted to neural impulses by creating vibrations of fluid inside the cocklea
TRUE
place theory states that each hair cell in the inner ear has a particular pitch or frequency to which it’s most responsive
TRUE
volley theory is a variation of frequency theory
TRUE
as we age, we tend to lose hearing for low-pitchef sounds more than high-pitched sounds
FALSE
the most critical function of our chemical snese is to sample our food before we swallow it
TRUE
humans can detect only a small number of odours but thousands of tastes
FALSE
there’s good evidence for a “tongue taste map” with specific taste receptors located on specific parts of the tongue
FALSE
the limbic system plays a key role in smell and taste reception
TRUE
the vomernasal organ helps to detect pheromones in many mannals but doesn’t develop in humans
TRUE
