Scientific findings are typically accepted only after they have been tested and supported repeatedly.
Correct Answer
True
True. A single study can be wrong for many reasons, so scientists look for consistent results across repeated tests before treating a finding as established.
Category: Scientific Reasoning
Question 2
A naturalistic observation gives researchers tight control over the conditions under which behavior occurs.
Correct Answer
False
False. Because behavior is recorded in its everyday setting, naturalistic observation is difficult to set up and control, which is the price of its realism.
Category: Descriptive Methods
Question 3
The scientific method is cyclical, with tests of hypotheses producing new observations that in turn refine theories.
Correct Answer
True
True. Theories generate hypotheses, empirical tests produce observations, and those observations support, revise or replace the theories in a continuing cycle.
Category: Scientific Reasoning
Question 4
Findings from a single case study can usually be generalized to the whole population with confidence.
Correct Answer
False
False. Case studies examine one person or a few people, often with rare conditions, so their findings are difficult to generalize to the larger population.
Category: Descriptive Methods
Question 5
Naturalistic observation tends to have high ecological validity because behavior is observed in a realistic setting.
Correct Answer
True
True. Ecological validity refers to how closely a study's setting and behaviors resemble real life, and observing behavior where it naturally occurs makes that resemblance high.
Category: Descriptive Methods
Question 6
Observer bias occurs when participants change their behavior because they know they are being watched.
Correct Answer
False
False. Observer bias is the tendency of observers to unconsciously skew what they record to fit their expectations. Researchers reduce it with clear recording criteria and multiple observers.
Category: Descriptive Methods
Question 7
In Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation, an infant's behavior when reunited with the caregiver is used to assess attachment.
Correct Answer
True
True. The Strange Situation is a structured observation in which researchers watch infants during brief separations and reunions with a caregiver to classify attachment style.
Category: Descriptive Methods
Question 8
Cross-sectional studies are less affected by cohort effects than longitudinal studies are.
Correct Answer
False
False. Cross-sectional studies are more vulnerable to cohort effects, because differences between age groups may reflect the different eras in which people grew up rather than age itself.
Category: Descriptive Methods
Question 9
A correlation coefficient of 0 indicates no linear relationship between two variables.
Correct Answer
True
True. Correlation coefficients range from -1 to +1, and values closer to 0 indicate weaker linear relationships. A coefficient of 0 means no linear relationship, though a curved relationship could still exist.
Category: Correlation
Question 10
A strong correlation between two variables shows that one variable causes the other.
Correct Answer
False
False. Correlation does not establish causation, because a third, confounding variable or a reversed direction of influence could explain the relationship. Only an experiment can show cause and effect.
Category: Correlation
Question 11
Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out evidence that supports a belief while ignoring evidence against it.
Correct Answer
True
True. Confirmation bias helps keep illusory correlations alive, because people notice and remember the cases that fit their hunch and overlook the ones that do not.
Category: Correlation
Question 12
In an experiment, the control group receives the treatment being tested while the experimental group does not.
Correct Answer
False
False. The experimental group receives the treatment, and the control group serves as a comparison that is treated the same way except that it does not receive the treatment.
Category: Experiments
Question 13
An operational definition describes exactly how a variable will be measured, allowing other researchers to repeat the study.
Correct Answer
True
True. For example, learning might be operationally defined as the score on a test of the material taught, which makes the variable precise and the study repeatable.
Category: Experiments
Question 14
In a single-blind study, the researchers do not know which participants are in which group, but the participants do.
Correct Answer
False
False. In a single-blind study the participants do not know their group assignment, while the researchers do. Hiding assignments from both sides makes a study double-blind.
Category: Experiments
Question 15
The placebo effect occurs when people's expectations alone change how they feel or perform.
Correct Answer
True
True. A participant may feel better simply from believing a treatment is effective, which is why drug studies compare the real treatment with an inactive one.
Category: Experiments
Question 16
By convention in psychology, a result is statistically significant when there is less than a 50 percent chance it would occur if the groups did not truly differ.
Correct Answer
False
False. The usual threshold is less than a 5 percent chance (p < .05) of obtaining a result at least that large if there were truly no difference between the groups.
Category: Evaluating Research
Question 17
Peer review means experts evaluate a manuscript's methods and conclusions before a journal decides whether to publish it.
Correct Answer
True
True. Reviewers, usually anonymous, assess a study's rationale, methods, ethics, statistics and conclusions, and the editor uses their feedback to accept, request revisions or reject.
Category: Evaluating Research
Question 18
Large epidemiological studies have confirmed a link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Correct Answer
False
False. Large-scale research has found no link between vaccines and autism. The 1998 study that launched the claim was retracted after its data were found to be misrepresented and its lead author was found to have an undisclosed financial conflict of interest.
Category: Evaluating Research
Question 19
The Tuskegee syphilis study ended in 1972 after national press coverage brought it to public attention.
Correct Answer
True
True. The study had run for about 40 years, and the public outrage that followed its exposure led to the National Research Act of 1974.
Category: Research Ethics
Question 20
Animal research in psychology is reviewed by the institutional review board, the same committee that oversees human studies.
Correct Answer
False
False. Animal research proposals are reviewed by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, or IACUC, which also inspects animal facilities twice a year.
Category: Research Ethics