Module 4 & 5

Question 1

What is the most powerful psychological research tool?

Answer 1

Experiment

Question 2

Experiment

Answer 2

the formal process undertaken to confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis about the causes of behavior

Question 3

What does an experiment entail?

Answer 3

Directly vary a condition you think might effect behavior, create two or more groups of subjects alike in all ways except for what you are varying

Question 4

Independent variable

Answer 4

altered by the experimenter

Question 5

dependent variable

Answer 5

measure the results of the experiment

Question 6

extraneous variables

Answer 6

conditions a researcher wants to prevent from affecting outcomes of the experiment

Question 7

Experimental group

Answer 7

participants who get independent variable

Question 8

control group

Answer 8

participants who do NOT get independent variable

Question 9

Random assignment

Answer 9

equal chance of being in either experimental or control group.
Balances personal differences in the two groups.

Question 10

“Statistically significant”

Answer 10

results occur very rarely by chance alone.
To be significant, a difference must be large enough so that it would occur by chance in less then 5 experiments out of 100

Question 11

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 11

a prediction that leads people to act in ways to make prediction come true

Question 12

single-blind experiment

Answer 12

The participants don’t know what group they’re in

Question 13

double blind experiment

Answer 13

neither the researcher or the participants know what group they’re in

Question 14

Naturalistic observation

Answer 14

Observing a person or an animal in the natural environmental context.
Provides descriptions of behavior

Question 15

observer effect

Answer 15

Changes in behavior caused by an awareness of being observed.

Question 16

Observer bias

Answer 16

Occurs when observers see what they expect to see or record only selected details.

Question 17

Anthropomorphic error

Answer 17

Attributing human thoughts, feelings, or motives to animals

Question 18

Correlational studies

Answer 18

• degree of a relationship between two variables.
• correlation coefficient ranges from -1.0-+1.0
• Closer to -1 or 1 the stronger the relationship
• correlation of 0.0 demonstrates no relationship

Question 19

positive correlation

Answer 19

increases in one variable are matched by increases in the other variable. Ex. High School grades and College grades

Question 20

negative correlation

Answer 20

Increases in one variable are matched by decreases the other variable. Ex. Hours playing video games and grades

Question 21

Case Study

Answer 21

In-depth focus on all aspects of a single person

Question 22

Natural clinical tests

Answer 22

Natural events, such as accidents, that provide psychological data (ex. phineas gage)

Question 23

Survey method

Answer 23

-Using public polling techniques to answer psychological questions

Question 24

Representative sample

Answer 24

small group that accurately reflects a larger population

Question 25

Population

Answer 25

entire group of animals or people belonging to a particular category

Question 26

problems with survey methods

Answer 26

• biased sample

- give polite or socially accepted answers

Question 27

survey

Answer 27

in psychology, a public polling technique used to answer psychological questions

Question 28

representative sample

Answer 28

a small, randomly selected part of a larger population that accurately reflects characteristics of the whole population

Question 29

population

Answer 29

an entire group of animals or people belonging to a particular category

Question 30

Who is the cutest freshman girl at MNU

Answer 30

Ellie Nyhus