Module 2 Flashcards
a stress resistant personality pattern that involves the factors of commitment, control, and challenge
hardiness
beliefs relating to our ability to deal effectively with a stressful stimulus or situation, including pain
coping self-efficacy
people have a rosy glow of the future, expecting that in the long run, things will work out well
optimism
problem unrecognized or unacknowledged
precontemplation
recognition of problem; contemplating change
contemplation
preparing to try to change behaviour
preparation
implementing change strategies
action
behaviour change is being maintained
maintenance
permanent change; no maintenance efforts required
termination
Which of the following statements regarding the differences between experimental and correlational research is true?
Experimental research is better suited for examining cause-effect relations than is correlational research
What has the research shown regarding the effectiveness of the directed questions study method regarding the rentention of material?
The method is more effective than underlining the text as you read
In experimental research, the researcher ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬________ the IV and the ¬¬_________ the dv.
..
An educational psychologist wants to study the effectiveness of using the Internet as a way of taking academic classes. She designs a study in which one group of students is assigned to take a course in a standard classroom with a live instructor. Another group of students is assigned to take the same course over the Internet. The psychologist then compares the course grades for students in each of the two groups. In this case, the instruction group (regular class vs. Internet class) would be considered the:
IV
The placebo effect refers to:
How people’s behaviour can change because of their expectations rather than the treatment they receive
In an experiment, a(n) ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬_________ is defined as a group that is not exposed to the treatment or that receives a zero-level of the IV.
Control group
A researcher conducted a study relating the time parents spent with their children to their children’s happiness. From a correlational analysis of the data, the researcher concluded that happier children are a result of parents spending more time with them. The possibility that the parents spent more time with their children in response to the fact that their children were happier is an example of:
The bi-directionality problem in correlational research.
Charley tells you that 17 out of the 30 students enrolled in his English class scored exactly 62 points on the last exam. Conceptually, this is the same as saying
the mode for that particular exam was 62 points
While structuralists held that psychology should study the basic elements of consciousness, functionalists argued that psychology should concentrate on:
the functions, or “whys,” of consciousness
A researcher conducting a study on the effectiveness of a new prescription medication gives the actual medication to a group of people. A second group of participants are told they are receiving the medication but instead are given an inert sugar pill. Though the drug is found to be effective for the people who actually took it, a sizeable percentage of the people given the sugar pill also improve. The improvement of this second group is most likely due to:
The placebo effect
Which of the following psychologists would have been most likely to assert that “free will is an illusion”?
BF Skinner
Research findings indicate that when changing answers on a multiple choice test, most people
Change a wrong answer to a right answer
A correlational coefficient of zero describes a
Lack of relationships between two variables
Experimenter expectancy effects are
..
Which of the following statements regarding correlation coefficients are false (NOT TRUE)?
A correlation of .50 indicates a stronger association than a correlation of -.75
The plus or minus (+/-) on the correlation coefficient reflects
The direction of the association
A researcher is concerned that his expectations about the effectiveness of a new drug are influencing the reports of participants in his studies. Specifically, he believes that this new drug is effective and has shared this information with participants in his research. Now he is wondering if this might be affecting people. In order to better control the effect of his own expectations on participants, this researcher should:
use the double-blind procedure.
Who founded the first laboratory of experimental psychology in 1879?
Wilhelm Wundt
In Swarnjit’s sociology discussion group 4 of the 5 students are between the ages of 19 and 23; the fifth student is 54 years old. If Swarnjit wants to report the statistic that best represents the “average” age for her discussion group, she should report either
the median or the mode, because these numbers will be more representative
The branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders is called
clinical psychology
A psychologist who argues that the proper focus of psychology is not inner mental events but observable behaviour is most likely associated with which psychological perspective?
behavioural
‘History falls on your head like rocks’ is a quote from the poet Robinson Jeffers and was used to express the idea that:
Modern psychology is in part a product of history
Lee calculated descriptive statistics for the age of residents in a nursing home. She reported the mean age as 75 years, with a standard deviation of 10 years. Later she found that she had made an error in her calculations. One resident’s age was entered as 27 when it should have been 72. When this correction is made
the standard deviation for the data set will decrease
The _______________ psychological perspective focuses on the role of the external environment in influencing and effecting our actions.
behavioural
If you are a participant in an experimental study, the procedure that insures that you have an equal chance of being in any group or condition within the experiment is called:
random sampling
Which psychological perspective views perception, memory processes, and thoughts as among the major causal factors in behaviour?
cognitive
The three important principles of effective time management are
creating written schedules, prioritizing, monitoring progress
Structuralism, functionalism, and Gestalt psychology were all mentioned as playing important roles in the origin of which psychological perspective?
humanistic
The sociocultural and behavioural perspectives are similar in that both emphasize:
the role of the environment on the development of behaviour
According to the text, psychology is defined as the
scientific study of behaviour and its cause
Dr. White wants to look at the impact of failure on self-esteem. He designs an experiment where half of the participants are led to believe that they have failed on an ambiguous task, while the other half of the participants are told that they have succeeded. Dr. White then has the people in his study complete a questionnaire measuring self-esteem and he looks to see if there are any differences between the success and failure groups. In this example, self-esteem would be considered the:
DV
If we view an experiment as an attempt to establish a cause-effect relationship, the __________ variable would be the cause, and the __________ variable would be the effect.
independent, dependent
Generally, the minimum requirement for statistical significance is that there is less than __________ that the observed results are due to chance.
five changes in 100
Assume that there is a strong negative correlation between two variables: variable 1 and variable 2. If you know that a person’s score on variable 1 is low, what would be your best prediction for the person’s score on variable 2?
The person’s score on variable 2 should be high
Sally wants to know what percentage of Canadian college students are receiving financial aid their first year in college. Sally attends a small two-year community college with a large percentage of students who commute to campus every day. Sally stands outside of the dining hall one weekday evening and hands out surveys to every third person entering the hall for dinner. Sally’s data will be ___________ because ___________.
invalid; she did not use a representative sample
William James, who was a pioneer in the development of psychology, was most heavily influenced by which of the following individuals?
Charles Darwin
A psychologist notes that there is a correlation between physical health and the number of vacations that a person takes. People who take more vacations tend to have better physical health. The psychologist suggests that people should take more vacations to improve their physical health. After thinking about this result, you realize that this association may be due to a third factor: income. People with more income can afford more vacations and can afford better health care. Your explanation for this is most consistent with which limitation of correlational research?
the third variable problem
To the extent that a sample in a survey accurately reflects the important characteristics of the population from which it is drawn (e.g., the sample has 53 percent women and the population has 53 percent women), the sample is said to be a:
representative sample
Psychological perspectives on behaviour are:
view points for analyzing behaviour
Which psychological perspective stresses the role of unconscious processes and unresolved conflicts from the past?
psychodynamic
The area of psychology concerned with how people adapt emotionally and socially to the work environment is
industrial/organizational psychology
The root of the word ‘Clinical’ is ‘kline’, which means
to be in bed
The root of the word ‘Counsel’ is ‘consulere’, which means
to advise
Bigos et al. (1992) found that psychological factors played the dominant role in determining who would file a Worker’s Compensation claim for back pain. About 100 different variables were explored, most of which were medical in nature. Despite this, the only factors found to predict who would file a Worker’s Compensation claim for back pain were:
..
White Coat Syndrome refers to
the increase in hypertension at the doctor’s office found in many people.
Which of the following is NOT included in environmental psychology:
study of vegetarians
The experimental study of eyewitness testimony is found in cognitive psychology. The applied area most likley to study eyewitness testimony is
forensic psychology
The results of the study of human reaction time is likely to be applied in
intelligence ?
Valerie has been working on a program to improve motivation in the employees at her company. Valerie will most likely have had her training in
industrial/organizational psychology
A person who is under constant stress has chronically high levels of stress hormones in her body. The fact that these elevated hormone levels may eventually damage her arteries is best considered as an example of how stress can impact health by changing:
physiology
There is a distinct physiological pattern that emerges when people are exposed to strong and prolonged stress. Hans Selye labelled this response pattern the:
GAS
According to psychologists, the personal conviction that we can perform the behaviours necessary to produce a desired action is technically called:
self-efficacy
According to your text, psychologists have defined stress in terms of:
….
Beliefs regarding challenge, commitment, and control were specifically mentioned as being central to the psychological construct of:
hardiness
Alison is a single mother with a full time job during the day and college classes at night. Having enough money to pay the bills each month has been a source of stress for Alison and right now there seems to be no end in sight to her financial difficulties. Lately, Alison has been getting more viruses, aches, and pains than usual. Selye’s GAS suggests that she is in the ________________ phase.
exhaustion
By definition, people with ___________ tend to have positive views of the future and expect that things will work out well in the long run.
optimism
Factors that increase a person’s susceptibility to stressful events are called:
vulnerability
In studies of “resilient” or “invulnerable” children, one factor that appeared to be common to all children who survived and thrived in very difficult situations was having:
at least one person who believed in them and provided social support.
During finals week, one of your friends comes up to you and says, “I’m so worked up this week. I’ve been so worried, tense, and strung out that I’ve really lost it!” Statements like these are most consistent with the definition of stress as a(n):
…..
Kelly enrolled in a foreign language course this term and is about to take the final oral examination for the course. Kelly is feeling worried about the examination and believes “If I don’t get an ‘A’ on this exam it will show that I’m always going to be a complete failure at everything”. Kelly’s belief best represents:
..
Many stress management techniques work to reduce our general responses to stressors by working to modify ________.
..
Norm and Cliff have both recently been through relationship break ups. Norm decides to go to his favourite bar and talk with his friends about what’s been happening. Cliff, on the other hand, decides to go home and meditate in order to deal with his negative feelings. Based on the information provided, we would say that Norm is involved in _____________, while Cliff is involved in ____________.
seeking social support; emotion-focused coping
Of the three factors that comprise the hardiness personality construct, research suggests that the construct of ___________ appears to be the strongest in terms of protecting people from the negative effects of stress.
control
People who are high in the personality trait of _____________ have a heightened tendency to experience negative emotions and to get themselves into stressful situations. This variable may explain in part why there is a positive correlation between negative life events and distress.
neuroticism
Poor coping skills and the lack of a social support network were both discussed as examples of ______________ that can _____________ a person’s resistance to stress.
vulnerability factors; decrease
Research on the impact of religious beliefs have suggested that they have the most positive effects in helping people to deal with __________, but often function to increase the stress of people dealing with ___________.
illnesses; losses
Robert Baron and his colleagues (1990) conducted a study of people whose spouses were being treated for cancer. Those who rated themselves as having good social support responded to the injection of artificial antigens with more antibodies, demonstrating how strong social support appears to:
enhance immune system functioning
Stress researchers typically refer to the daily hassles that most people encounter, such as being stuck in traffic or having their computer crash, as:
….
The three stages of Hans Selye’s general adaptation syndrome (GAS) are:
alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
The sympathetic nervous system mobilizes the body to a state of arousal when we are faced with a stressful situation. However, it is the ______________ that releases the longer acting stress hormones into our system.
endocrine system
Hans Selye would most likely assert that many college students get sick at the end of the quarter or semester because:
they are in the exhaustion stage of his GAS model
Zach was working as an intern for an investment company. His office was in the World Trade Center in New York City and his first day on the job was September 11, 2001. Zach survived the terrorist attacks physically unharmed but is now experiencing flashbacks, digestive problems, and he can’t seem to have successful personal relationships. Zach’s current problems may be a result of:
catastrophic events
Technostress also has related effects such as
users take on too much work because they overestimate their increased productivity
The “three Cs” beliefs that constituted a stress-protective factor called hardiness are:
commitment, control, challenge
Michael has learned to deal with his previously problematic test anxiety by reminding himself of what he needs to focus on during tests and by reinforcing himself when he doesn’t get overly anxious during an exam. The things that Michael is doing are most similar to which stress management skill?
..
Which of the following is one of the main assumptions of the transtheoretical model
People often make repeated efforts to change before they are successful
Self-blame for a failure to adhere to a commitment and taking this failure as evidence for a lack of willpower or personal strength are most central to which of the following?
..
Which of the following is an approach to changing cultural attitudes about health-impairing behaviours that is based on Bandura’s social-cognitive theory?
“entertainment-education” radio dramas
Some of the characteristics that distinguish people who are in the ______________ stage of change are that they possess a beginning awareness of their problem behaviour but they are not yet ready to change it.
contemplation
The term ____________ refers to the rules that govern the organization of the surface structure of a language, whereas __________ are rules that determine how symbols are connected to what they represent.
‘syntax’; semantics
The ___________ of a language refers to the ways that symbols are combined within that language, whereas ___________ refers to the underlying meaning of these combined symbols.
surface structure; deep structure
In ___________processing, individual elements of a stimulus are analyzed and then combined to form a unified perception.
bottom-up
The process of _________ allows us to perceive where each word within a spoken sentence begins and ends.
speech segmentation
Depending on the social context, “Do you have the time?” could mean “Are you busy right now?” or “What time is it?” The knowledge that helps you decide how to respond to this question is called:
..
English has many everyday expressions that are based on a conceptualization of love as a journey, and they are used not just for talking about love, but for reasoning about it as well. Which of the following statements is NOT a metaphor based on the concept ‘love is a journey’?
..
Recognition of the kind of metaphor contained in the language we use should become part of the education of every person. The article in the module notes proposed 5 principles of such an education. Which of the following is NOT one of the 5 principles:
Encourage creativity by teaching students how to avoid using metaphors.
Your friend was raised in Hong Kong and speaks fluent Chinese. It might not be surprising that he was able to grasp many mathematical principles at an early age because of the symbolic nature of the Chinese language. This situation would be consistent with the:
linguistics relatively hypothesis
A mental representation of the way ice cream tastes is an example of _____, whereas the expression “I wish I had some ice cream right now” is an example of _____.
imaginal thought; propositional thought
The thought “I need to study for my psychology exam” enters your head. This thought is best considered as an example of:
a propositional
Many ____________ are difficult to describe in words, but we often can define them using _____________, which are typical and familiar members of a particular class.
concepts; prototypes
Deductive reasoning is considered to be a stronger and more valid form of reasoning than inductive reasoning because:
if the premise are true, the conclusion cannot be false
“All creatures that can swim are fish. People can swim. Therefore people are fish.” This syllogism is _____ correct and _____ incorrect.
logically; factually
The Crow and the Trains problem discussed in the text asked you to determine the total distance a crow would fly while flying back and forth between two converging trains. If you initially conceptualized it as a __________ problem, it was very difficult to solve; but if instead you framed the problem in terms of _________, it was relatively easy to arrive at the solution.
..
When using ____________ to solve a problem, we identify differences between the present situation and the desired goal state and then make changes to reduce these differences.
means-ends analysis
After hearing a lecture on abnormal psychology, John became convinced that he had a particular personality disorder. For the rest of the week, John focused on and remembered every aspect of his behaviour that was consistent with the symptom of the personality disorder he identified and he ignored all his other “normal” behaviours. John’s behaviour is most relevant to which of the following concepts?
confirmation bias
The flaw in this syllogism represents which type of error in incorrectly inferring causation from correlation?
The more firemen fighting a fire, the bigger the fire is observed to be.
Therefore firemen cause fire.
..
The flaw in this syllogism represents which type of error in incorrectly inferring causation from correlation?
Young children who sleep with the light on are much more likely to develop myopia in later life.
Therefore, sleeping with the light on causes myopia.
the third variable problem
You can readily use language to do things such as describe the features of a person who is not currently present. This use of language best illustrates the linguistic feature of _____________ and more generally demonstrates how language is symbolic.
..
The fact that language is ___________ specifically means that it can be used to create an infinite number of messages that can have novel or new meanings.
..
The smallest unit of sound that can be distinctly recognized in a language is known as a:
phoneme
A ‘morpheme’ is the smallest unit of _____________ in a language.
meaning
The fact that children in all cultures are able to master the rules of language relatively early in life without formal instruction was discussed as evidence indicating that:
language acquisition may have a biological basis
Prior to 6 months of age, infants around the world are able to differentiate _______________, but at about 6 months of age they begin differentiating _____________.
The phonemes of different languages sound distinct to infants less than 6 months of age, but as the infant grows and their brain develops, they become less able to distinguish phonemes of nonnative languages and more responsive to their native language.
While at the park, 19-month-old Suzy points to the swing set and says, “Push swing!” After she has had enough and wants to leave, she turns to her father and says, “Go car.” Utterances such as these are called:
telegraphic speech
Which of the following was mentioned as evidence disputing the position that animals exhibit true language?
combined symbols into longer
sequences, he was either imitating his trainer’s previous signs or
“running on” with his hands until he got what he wanted.
Evidence in support of apes’ language abilities is strongest in terms of the __________ criterion of language.
symbolic
Sharon and her boyfriend disagree about the use of gender-neutral language. Her boyfriend thinks she is making a “big deal” over nothing when Sharon insists that “mankind” should be changed to “humankind.” According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis:
Sharon is right as language has been shown to influence how we think
Eleanor Rosch (1973) studied the Dani people from New Guinea who had only two words for colour: one for bright colours and one for dark colours. Her results revealed that the Dani were capable of distinguishing the difference between _______________ colours, providing evidence that ___________ the linguistic relativity hypothesis.
a wide assortment of; contradicted
The text discusses a problem in which you have a drawer that contains 19 black socks and 13 blue socks and you are asked to determine the minimum number of socks that you must take from the drawer to insure that you have a matching pair. Most people have difficulty determining the answer (which is 3 socks) because:
they are distracted by irrelevant information
The term “belief bias” specifically refers to our tendency to:
they are distracted by irrelevant information
The term “belief bias” specifically refers to our tendency to:
abandon logic in favour of our already held personal ideas
_____________ are general problem-solving strategies that often involve short-cuts and may or may not generate the correct answer.
heuristics
One of the primary advantages of using a(n) _____________ to solve a problem is that if you use it correctly, it will always generate the correct answer.
algorithm
Stan and Samantha are the proud parents of three little girls. They decide to have one more child because it seems like they are “due” to have a boy. Stan and Samantha think that most families have both boys and girls therefore they figure the probability the next child will be a boy is high. Stan and Samantha:
have confused representativeness with probability
According to the availability heuristic, we often base our probability decisions on:
how easy it is for us to call something up from memory
Which happens more frequently: death by drowning or death by fire? People typically believe that fires cause more deaths, but statistics reveal that drowning actually causes significantly more deaths than fire. Some researchers argue that we make this error because TV news programs show much more footage of fires than drowning, because fires are more exciting to televise. This presumably makes it much easier for us to call up examples of death by fire. This particular finding is best considered as an example of a judgment error caused by:
the availability heuristic
According to the text, the best thing you can do to test your ideas is to attempt to _________ them, but the phenomenon known as ____________ demonstrates that people don’t often do this.
disprove; the confirmation bias
Suppose there was a language that had only two words for precipitation, and that one of those words was for rain and the other for snow. If it was found that people who spoke only that language had difficulty discriminating among mist, drizzle, rain, freezing rain, hail, ice pellets, snow, and other forms of precipitation, then that finding would support the:
..
The prefix “un” in the word “unusual” is an example of a:
..
An athletic trainer gives five different tests of athleticism to a group of athletes: upper-body weight lifting, lower-body weight lifting, push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. A factor analysis reveals that performance on these tests are all highly correlated with each other and cluster onto one factor. We can conclude that:
..
The argument against ______ testing is that it is difficult to construct a test that is independent of prior learning.
aptitude
