Psych 115 Quizzes with 100% Correct Answers
Solved
You are listening in on a discussion among a group of psychology majors. One major says that field will
only move forward if we use objective methods for understanding the principles that guide publicly
observable human actions. This statement is most consistent with
behaviourism
Your friend claims that a diet change led to weight loss and muscle gain for him, and that you should
try it too. Which of the following represents a scientific approach to your friend's claim?
Your friend's claim is anecdotal evidence, which could be true or false and requires further testing.
A major problem with common-sense proverbs is that they often coexist with their complete
opposite. For example, when people talk about dating they might say both "Opposites attract" and
"Birds of a feather flock together!" This violates which principle of critical thinking?
Falsifiability
Critical thinking is
a set of skills for evaluating claims in an open-minded and careful manner.
When attempting to differentiate between useful and useless information from popular psychology,
what is a good rule to follow?
Insist on evidence to accurately evaluate all claims.
Psychological research applied to police settings has compared simultaneous lineups to sequential
lineups, in order to make recommendations that increase eyewitness accuracy. Which category of
research is this?
Applied
According to evolutionary psychologists, which of the following explains why men and women tend to
have slightly different approaches to sex and relationships?
Differences in the 'cost' of mating
Michael says that he is not racist, yet he avoids areas of the city that he thinks are 'ethnic' because he
says he does not feel safe. In this example, Michael is demonstrating a phenomenon called
__________.
bias blind spot
What influence did psychology need to break away from in order to establish itself as a discipline and
be free of associations with studying the spirit or soul?
Spiritualism
"The contents of the Bible must be true because it's been around for thousands of years." This is an
example of the __________ fallacy.
argument from antiquity
,What early American psychologist wanted to identify the basic elements of psychology in order to
create a 'map' or 'periodic table' of consciousness?
Edward Titchener
All types of psychology involve
the use of scientific methods.
Which theoretical framework proposed that our lives are full of symbols, or things that represent
other things?
Psychoanalysis
Suppose a theorist decides not to revise his theory despite a large amount of contradictory evidence.
If this continues, it's very likely that this theory
will join the ranks of pseudoscience.
With its study of the adaptive purpose of various psychological systems, evolutionary psychology is
most like which early psychological school of thought?
Functionalism
A key characteristic of a pseudoscience is that incorrect theories are
never corrected or changed.
One person interprets eye contact as friendly, and another person interprets it as threatening. Which
of the following fields is most interested in this difference of interpretation?
cognitivism.
Based on Occam's razor, a good theory is __________; that is, it offers the __________ explanation
for the available data.
parsimonious; most simple
Recall from your text that researchers gave students false feedback about their abilities to distinguish
between false and real documents. At the conclusion of the study, the researchers informed the
students that their feedback was in no way related to their actual performance. However, on a
subsequent task where the students had to estimate their performance on a similar task, they used
this false feedback to guide their estimates. This is an example of
belief perseverance.
Many claims of ESP have been refuted because, under controlled conditions, the claimants have been
unable to reproduce what they claim to have done in the past. This an example of the failure to
replicate.
In science, a scientific theory is defined as a(n)
explanation for a large number of findings
Which theoretical school of thought focused on early childhood experience as a major influence on
behaviour?
, psychoanalysis
What does science have that pseudoscience lacks?
Safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance.
Suppose you were one of the early students in the new field of psychology. Your mentor is interested
in answers to questions such as "Why do we see in colour?" "Why do people cry when they are sad?"
and "Why do we dream?" Your mentor's approach is most consistent with the __________
perspective.
functionalist
Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This
premise is called __________.
empiricism
A friend says he will not have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he is
afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that
idea. He says he knows that, but he just feels that it is true. What logical fallacy is at work?
emotional reasoning fallacy
Wilhelm Wundt developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany.
He pioneered the technique of __________, in which trained observers reflected on and reported on
their own mental experiences.
introspection
Georgio does not want to take college entrance exams because he thinks they will not accurately
reflect his ability to succeed in college and are no more useful than flipping a coin. His guidance
counselor explains that psychologists have determined that, although not perfect, these tests are
significantly better than chance at predicting college success. These psychologists are sharing some
__________ with Georgio.
applied research
British philosopher John Locke stood on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, comparing the
mind of a newborn to a sheet of paper that had yet to be written on. Others later used which term to
describe the same idea?
tabula rasa
The outgoing behaviour of other people can make an extraverted person act even more extraverted.
Bandura called this mutual influence on one another's behaviour __________.
reciprocal determinism
According to David Hume, an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, the more a claim contradicts
what we already know, the more __________ must be the evidence for the claim.
persuasive
Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken
conclusions are called __________.
Solved
You are listening in on a discussion among a group of psychology majors. One major says that field will
only move forward if we use objective methods for understanding the principles that guide publicly
observable human actions. This statement is most consistent with
behaviourism
Your friend claims that a diet change led to weight loss and muscle gain for him, and that you should
try it too. Which of the following represents a scientific approach to your friend's claim?
Your friend's claim is anecdotal evidence, which could be true or false and requires further testing.
A major problem with common-sense proverbs is that they often coexist with their complete
opposite. For example, when people talk about dating they might say both "Opposites attract" and
"Birds of a feather flock together!" This violates which principle of critical thinking?
Falsifiability
Critical thinking is
a set of skills for evaluating claims in an open-minded and careful manner.
When attempting to differentiate between useful and useless information from popular psychology,
what is a good rule to follow?
Insist on evidence to accurately evaluate all claims.
Psychological research applied to police settings has compared simultaneous lineups to sequential
lineups, in order to make recommendations that increase eyewitness accuracy. Which category of
research is this?
Applied
According to evolutionary psychologists, which of the following explains why men and women tend to
have slightly different approaches to sex and relationships?
Differences in the 'cost' of mating
Michael says that he is not racist, yet he avoids areas of the city that he thinks are 'ethnic' because he
says he does not feel safe. In this example, Michael is demonstrating a phenomenon called
__________.
bias blind spot
What influence did psychology need to break away from in order to establish itself as a discipline and
be free of associations with studying the spirit or soul?
Spiritualism
"The contents of the Bible must be true because it's been around for thousands of years." This is an
example of the __________ fallacy.
argument from antiquity
,What early American psychologist wanted to identify the basic elements of psychology in order to
create a 'map' or 'periodic table' of consciousness?
Edward Titchener
All types of psychology involve
the use of scientific methods.
Which theoretical framework proposed that our lives are full of symbols, or things that represent
other things?
Psychoanalysis
Suppose a theorist decides not to revise his theory despite a large amount of contradictory evidence.
If this continues, it's very likely that this theory
will join the ranks of pseudoscience.
With its study of the adaptive purpose of various psychological systems, evolutionary psychology is
most like which early psychological school of thought?
Functionalism
A key characteristic of a pseudoscience is that incorrect theories are
never corrected or changed.
One person interprets eye contact as friendly, and another person interprets it as threatening. Which
of the following fields is most interested in this difference of interpretation?
cognitivism.
Based on Occam's razor, a good theory is __________; that is, it offers the __________ explanation
for the available data.
parsimonious; most simple
Recall from your text that researchers gave students false feedback about their abilities to distinguish
between false and real documents. At the conclusion of the study, the researchers informed the
students that their feedback was in no way related to their actual performance. However, on a
subsequent task where the students had to estimate their performance on a similar task, they used
this false feedback to guide their estimates. This is an example of
belief perseverance.
Many claims of ESP have been refuted because, under controlled conditions, the claimants have been
unable to reproduce what they claim to have done in the past. This an example of the failure to
replicate.
In science, a scientific theory is defined as a(n)
explanation for a large number of findings
Which theoretical school of thought focused on early childhood experience as a major influence on
behaviour?
, psychoanalysis
What does science have that pseudoscience lacks?
Safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance.
Suppose you were one of the early students in the new field of psychology. Your mentor is interested
in answers to questions such as "Why do we see in colour?" "Why do people cry when they are sad?"
and "Why do we dream?" Your mentor's approach is most consistent with the __________
perspective.
functionalist
Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This
premise is called __________.
empiricism
A friend says he will not have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he is
afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that
idea. He says he knows that, but he just feels that it is true. What logical fallacy is at work?
emotional reasoning fallacy
Wilhelm Wundt developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany.
He pioneered the technique of __________, in which trained observers reflected on and reported on
their own mental experiences.
introspection
Georgio does not want to take college entrance exams because he thinks they will not accurately
reflect his ability to succeed in college and are no more useful than flipping a coin. His guidance
counselor explains that psychologists have determined that, although not perfect, these tests are
significantly better than chance at predicting college success. These psychologists are sharing some
__________ with Georgio.
applied research
British philosopher John Locke stood on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, comparing the
mind of a newborn to a sheet of paper that had yet to be written on. Others later used which term to
describe the same idea?
tabula rasa
The outgoing behaviour of other people can make an extraverted person act even more extraverted.
Bandura called this mutual influence on one another's behaviour __________.
reciprocal determinism
According to David Hume, an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, the more a claim contradicts
what we already know, the more __________ must be the evidence for the claim.
persuasive
Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken
conclusions are called __________.
