PSYCH 100 Exam 1 9/12

A correlational study found that people who ate more wild salmon from fish farms had lower cholesterol. From this study, we can conclude that ___________.

we do not yet know whether it's the wild salmon causing the reduction in cholesterol

Sometimes, a participant's beliefs and expectations actually cause a measurable change, even when they do not receive an actual drug, treatment, or procedure. This phenomenon is referred to as _________. 

Placebo effect

We conduct a study where participants complete a depression scale and a sleep survey. On the depression scale, higher scores indicated more depressive symptoms. We then take the depression scores and correlate them with the average number of hours participants slept per night. Which of the following correlation coefficients supports the hypothesis that depression is strongly associated with sleeping less?

\-0.75

Dr. Bob's research involves observing the behavior of children at a playground.  He records how many times children of different genders use the various types of playground equipment.  Which research method is he using?

Naturalistic Observation

Dr. Bob conducts a correlational study and finds a +.88 correlation between ice cream consumption and course grades. What can Dr. Bob appropriately conclude regarding these two variables?

Eating ice cream and good grades are strongly related.

Dr. Bob hypothesizes that aerobic exercise improves memory in older adults. Which study listed below would be the best way to show that exercise causes a change in memory?

experiment

Researchers told elementary school teachers that a few of their students were on the verge of an academic "blooming" that year.  In reality, the so-called “blooming” children were just chosen at random.  At the end of the year, the so-called “bloomers” outperformed their peers—not because they were actually superior to their peers, but because their teachers had inadvertently given them more attention throughout the year.  In this study, the INDEPENDENT variable was _________.

The researchers’ categorization of students as “bloomers” or “non-bloomers”

In a study on the effects of alcohol consumption on behavior, one group of participants consumes alcohol while the other consumes a non-alcoholic beverage.  The researcher measures how quickly participants in each group are able to press a button after a red light appears.  The participants who consumed the non-alcoholic beverage are the ______________.

control group

Which of the following does NOT demonstrate critical thinking:

Relying on gut feelings and instinct to make a decision

Which of the following is a weakness of a case study?

generalization is limited

Base answers off

critical thinking

confirmation bias

tendency to remember things that support your beliefs rather than bring them down

case study

in depth analysis of the behavior of one person or a small group of people

Naturalistic Observation

a study of an organism in a natural setting

surveys

a group of participants are asked the same question

correlation

how strongly two factors vary together

positive correlation

data for both variables go in the same direction

negative correlation

data travels in opposite directions

“As ice cream sales go up, drowning rates increase.”

positive correlation

“Kids who play violent video games tend to show more violent behavior.”

Negative correlation

modeling

kids who take after the actions of their parents

Correlation is not

cause and effect

"As an adult, the smaller hands, the longer you are likely to live."

Negative correlation

"The more someone does aerobic exercise, the less body fat they are likely to have."

Negative correlation

(0.1- +0.1)

positive correlation

(-1.0- -0.1)

negative correlation

Experiment

One variable is manipulated by the experiment

Independent variable

variable that is manipulated

Dependent variable

the variable affected by the independent variable

Experimental group

the group exposed to the altered independent variable

control group

group exposed to the regular independent variable

The scientific method

make an observation

ask a question

form a hypothesis

conduct an experiment

accept or reject hypothesis

Scientists can never prove…

their results

reliability

how consistent the measure is

validity

how accurately the measures evaluates what it is supposed to evaluate

descriptive statistics

finding the meaningful patterns in the data

Mean

average

median

middle

mode

most common

bell curve

a graphical description of a normal probability distribution

Placebo

something that appears real but has no effect

single blind

control groups are blind to the experiment

double blind

both researchers and control groups are blind

objectivity

process of basing conclusions on facts, without personal bias

critical thinking

ability to think clearly, rationally, and independently

peer review

the process of having other experts examine research prior to piublication

theory

a set of facts and relationships between facts that can explain and predict related phenomea

hypothesis

a proposed solution to a problem

replication

repeating an experiment

descriptive method

research method designed for making careful, systematic observations

sample

a subset of a population being studied

population

the entire group from which a sample is taken

random assignment

each participant has an equal chance of being placed in any group

confounding variable

variables that are irrelevant to the hypothesis being tested but can alter a researcher’s conclusions

operationalization

defining variables in ways that allow them to be measured

meta-analysis

a statistical analysis of many previous experiments on a single topic

publication bias

possibility that published studies are not all work done on a phenomenon

cross-sectional study

experimental design for accessing age -related changes in which data are obtained simultaneously from people of different ages

longitudinal study

an experimental design for accessing age-related changes in which data are obtained from the same individuals at intervals over a long period of time

mixed longitudinal study

a method for accessing age-related changes that combines cross section and longitudinal approaches

standard deviation

a measure of how tightly clustered around the mean a group of scores is

nature

the result of genetics

nurture

the result of experience

chromosomes

long sections of DNA

DNA

a molecule of biological instructions to build a living organism; a single species

gene

a small segment of your DNA that produces a single protein

Allele

one particular version of a gene

punnet square

a table where all possible outcomes for a genetic cross between two individuals are given

genotype

a genetic code of alleles for an individual person

Phenotype

observable characteristics

relatedness

the probability that two people share the same allele from a common ancestor

concordance rates

the statistical probability that a trait in one person will be shared by another person

behavioral genetics

attempts to identify and understand links between genetics and behavior

heritability

the statistical likelihood that variations in a population are due to genetics

epigenetics

the study of gene - environment integrations

homozygus

having two of the same alleles for a gene

heterozygus

having two different alleles for an gene

recessive

phenotype only in the homozygous condition

dominant

phenotype in either the homozygous or heterozygous condition

evolution

descent with modification from a common ancestor

natural selection

organisms more fit to their environment are more likely to survive

mutation

an error that occurs when DNA is replicated

genetic drift

change in a populations genes from a generation because of accident