Psychology Chapter 1 Flashcards
Sid believes his dreams forecast the future. He describes all the dreams that came true in the last month. His friend Joey asks him about all the times his dreams did not come true. Sid’s tendency to remember the times his dreams came true and forget the times they did not is known as
the confirmation bias.
Which specialty area in psychology would be most likely to study how people interact in group settings, including such areas as prejudice, conformity, and peer influences?
social
Personal observation and careful description of one’s own thoughts, feelings, sensations, or behavior is called
introspection
When we see the image below, you probably see a dog rather than a group of black shapes. This phenomenon illustrates which school of thought in psychology?
Gestalt psychology
Which of the following is FALSE concerning functionalism?
Functionalism promoted a narrower view of psychology than did structuralism and Gestalt psychology.
John B. Watson believed that introspection was unscientific. To explain most behavior, he adopted the concept of conditioning developed by
Ivan Pavlov.
Which of the following statements concerning psychodynamic psychology is TRUE?
Almost immediately, many of Freud’s students broke away from his theories in order to modify and change them.
Which of the following best describes Maslow’s concept of self-actualization? t
he need to fully develop one’s potential
Which of the following is FALSE concerning the biopsychosocial model?
It allows us to know which biological, psychological, and social factors determine behavior.
In Lawrence Kohlberg’s research regarding how we develop moral values, his participants were primarily male. Later studies on the moral development of women were conducted by Carol Gilligan. Which of the following statements regarding these two studies is TRUE?
Carol Gilligan found that women’s moral development was based on caring, while Kohlberg found that women’s moral development was based on justice.
An environmental psychologist helps redesign a college dorm to reduce feelings of crowding. The psychologist’s work reflects which of psychology’s goals?
control
Two research studies are conducted on the effects of body piercing on self-esteem. One study found that body piercing increased self-esteem, while the other one found a decrease in self-esteem. If you are a critical thinker, you would
compare and evaluate the quality of the studies.
Kelly is writing a paper on conformity for her psychology class. In order to find the research articles she needs for the paper, the first step for her would be to get an overview of each of the articles that come up in her computer search. She should first read which part of each article?
abstract
A local television station conducts what they refer to as “surveys,” in which they ask viewers to call in their opinions to various topics. These “surveys” are not considered a scientific poll because the television station
is using a biased sample.
Researchers using naturalistic observations to study a chimpanzee troop in the wild must avoid making friends and interacting with the animals to minimize the
observer effect.
A researcher wants to find out if taking a new antianxiety will decrease the symptoms of subjects suffering from social anxiety. The number of symptoms exhibited by the subjects would be the __________ variable.
dependent
An experimenter conducts an experiment on the effects of a drug to control hallucinations. The experimenter declares the results to be “statistically significant,” which usually means that
differences of this size between the experimental and control groups would occur by chance in fewer than 5 out of 100 experiments.
Which of the following coefficients of correlation indicates the STRONGEST relationship between two sets of variables?
+.90 Remember that the bigger the number, the stronger the relationship, regardless of the sign (positive or negative). The sign indicates the direction of the relationship. The strongest correlation is +/- 1.00, which rarely occurs. The weakest correlation is 0.
An advantage of the case study or clinical method is that it
allows investigation of rare or unusual problems or events.
You caution a friend about eating so many foods that are high in fat content. Your friend replies that his grandfather ate all the bacon and cheese he wanted and he lived to be 93. Which of the following is the BEST explanation for your friend’s error in reasoning?
the use of individual cases
Many television viewers are impressed by “psychic mediums” who pretend to communicate with the deceased friends and relatives of audience members. Typically, the viewers will remember the apparent “hits,” or correct statements made by the “mediums,” while ignoring the “misses,” or incorrect statements. This tendency is referred to as
the confirmation bias.
Requiring a master’s degree and one to two years of supervised experience, this mental health professional does not treat serious mental disorders but uses practical helping skills with clients who have problems in their marriage, family, or career. This mental health professional described is a
licensed counselor.
When early psychologists attempted to break down sensations and personal experiences into basic elements, much like chemists break down chemical compounds into basic elements, this was called
structuralism.
If you heard only the individual notes of your favorite song played one per hour, you would not recognize it. However, when these notes are played together in the correct order and close in time as a melody, your favorite song is easily recognizable. The importance of being able to hear a melody rather than individual notes illustrates which school of thought in psychology?
Gestalt psychology
