Chapter 1

Question 1

What is psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Question 2

What are the four goals of psychology?

Answer 2

To describe, explain, predict, and change behavior and mental processes.

Question 3

What are the main perspectives of psychology?

Answer 3

Biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, evolutionary, sociocultural, and biopsychosocial.

Question 4

What are the steps of the scientific method?

Answer 4

Forming a research question, forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, analyzing the data, and reporting the results.

Question 5

What are the types of descriptive research methods?

Answer 5

Naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, and correlational studies.

Question 6

What are the types of experimental research methods?

Answer 6

Laboratory experiments, field experiments, and quasi-experiments.

Question 7

What are the ethical principles of psychological research?

Answer 7

Respect for persons, beneficence, justice, fidelity, and responsibility.

Question 8

What are the different types of neurons?

Answer 8

Sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons.

Question 9

What are the parts of a neuron?

Answer 9

Dendrites, cell body, axon, and terminal buttons.

Question 10

What are the different types of neurotransmitters?

Answer 10

Acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA.

Question 11

What are the different types of brain imaging techniques?

Answer 11

CT scan, MRI, PET scan, and fMRI.

Question 12

What are the different types of consciousness?

Answer 12

Waking consciousness, altered states of consciousness, and unconsciousness.

Question 13

What are the different types of sleep?

Answer 13

REM sleep and non-REM sleep.

Question 14

What are the different types of memory?

Answer 14

Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Question 15

What are the different types of learning?

Answer 15

Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.

Question 16

Why do we overuse intuition and make errors?

Answer 16

Hindsight bias, overconfidence, and our tendency to
perceive patterns in random events often lead us to
overestimate our intuition.

Question 17

What is Post-Truth?

Answer 17

Post-truth—describing a modern culture where
people’s emotions and personal beliefs often
override their acceptance of objective facts

Question 18

What is descriptive research?

Answer 18

Descriptive research is a systematic, objective
observation of people.
Its goal is to provide a clear, accurate picture of
people’s behaviors, thoughts, and attributes.

Question 19

What is Correlation Research

Answer 19

Correlation

Scientific definition: A measure of how closely
two factors vary together, or how well you can
predict a change in one from observing a
change in the other

Question 20

Positive correlation (between 0 and +1.00)

Answer 20

Indicates a direct relationship: Two things increase together or decrease together.

Question 21

Negative correlation (between 0 and −1.00)

Answer 21

Indicates an inverse relationship: As one thing increases,
the other decreases

Question 22

Correlation Coefficient

Answer 22

Provides a statistical measure of how closely two things
vary together and how well one predicts the other

Question 23

Variable

Answer 23

Includes anything that can vary and is feasible and
ethical to measure.

Question 24

Scatterplot

Answer 24

A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents
the values of two variables
Slope of the points
Amount of scatter

Question 25

True or false:
Correlation proves causation.

Answer 25

False, No matter how strong the relationship is,
correlation does not prove causation

Question 26

Regression toward the mean

Answer 26

The tendency for extreme or unusual scores or
events to fall back (regress) toward the average

Question 27

Experimentation Research

Answer 27

Done to explain cause and effect.
With experiments, researchers can focus on the
possible effects of one or more factors in several
ways.
 They can manipulate the factors of interest to
determine their effects.
 They can hold constant (“controlling”) other factors.
 Experimental group
 Control group

Question 28

Double-blind procedure: Eliminating bias

Answer 28

Neither those in the study nor those collecting the
data know which group is receiving the treatment

Question 29

Independent Variable

Answer 29

Factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied

Question 30

Confounding variable in an experiment

Answer 30

Factor other than the independent variable that might
produce an effect

Question 31

Dependent variable in an experiment

Answer 31

Factor that is measured; the variable that may change when
the independent variable is manipulated

Question 32

What are the names of the British & American Psychological groups that help maintain ethical conditions for humans & social animals?

Answer 32

BPS - British Psychological Society
APA - American Psychological Association

Question 33

Normal curve (normal distribution):

Answer 33

Symmetrical,
bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of
many types of data; most scores fall near the mean
(about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of
it), and fewer and fewer occur near the extremes

Question 34

When is an observed difference significant?

Answer 34

When sample averages are reliable and the
difference between them is relatively large, the
difference has statistical significance

Question 35

True or false:
Statistical significance indicates the likelihood
that a result could have happened by chance

Answer 35

true

Question 36

Senator Scott always held his political rallies at large stadiums because of the large, enthusiastic crowds that attended. As a result, he became overconfident about his chances of re-election. In this instance, the senator needs to be alerted to the value of

Answer 36

Random Sampling

Question 37

After sports magazines give cover-story attention to the recent outstanding performances of an athlete, the individual often suffers a real decline in performance. This may be at least partially explained in terms of

Answer 37

Regression toward the mean.

Question 38

If the correlation between the physical weight and reading ability of children is +.85, this would indicate that

Answer 38

better reading ability is associated with greater physical weight among children.

Question 39

In a study of the effects of drinking coffee, some participants drank a decaf coffee that actually smelled and tasted like regular coffee. This decaf coffee was a

Answer 39

Placebo

Question 40

The symmetrical bell-shaped figure used to represent the distribution of many physical and psychological characteristics is called a

Answer 40

Normal Curve

Question 41

o assess the influence of self-esteem on interpersonal attraction, researchers either insulted or complimented students about their physical appearance just before they went on a blind date. In this research, the dependent variable was

Answer 41

Interpersonal Attraction

Question 42

Psychologists’ personal values and goals

Answer 42

can bias their observations and interpretations.

Question 43

If participants in the experimental group of a study of athletic ability are much younger than participants in the control group, the age of the research participants is a

Answer 43

Confounding Variable

Question 44

Dr. Wertheim is studying the effect of studying at night or during the day on high school students’ test performance and has defined time of day as before 5 P.M. or after 5 P.M. This definition is an example of a(n)

Answer 44

operational definition

Question 45

being randomly assigned to the experimental group in a research project involves being assigned

Answer 45

to that group by chance