PSY 3331 Final Exam Questions And All
Correct Answers 2025.
Thin-Slicing - Answer Observing people's appearance or a small selection of their behaviors
and drawing
conclusions about them.
Recency Effect - Answer When information presented last in a list
it is remembered better (limited cognitive resources).
dependent variable - Answer The variable that is measured. A change in this variable is
predicted to be caused by the independent variable (i.e., manipulation).
Holistic Thinking - Answer People with this thinking style pay attention to
and take into account the situational elements of stimuli and events. People with
interdependent self-construal tend to have this style.
Internal Attribution - Answer Explaining behavior by the aspects of the person, such as
personality, traits, ability, wishes...
Theories - Answer general ideas on how different constructs (variables) relate to each other
Hypothesis - Answer Testable and specific prediction. Can be derived from a theory,
observations, or personal experience.
Naturalistic Observation - Answer •Observation of naturally occurring events without
interfering
• Record particular aspects of those events
• Look for relations among elements in the events
Validity - Answer Does the tool you use measure what it is supposed to measure?
Reliability - Answer How consistent is your measurement across items, over time, and across
,Acquiescence bias - Answer Tendency to agree with most items on a measure regardless of
content.
Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) - Answer Tendency for people (especially
independent/individualistic) to underestimate situational influences & overestimate person
influences on others' behavior.
Reverse causation - Answer Correlation between two variables but can go in the opposite
direction such as marriage causes happiness
Availability Heuristic - Answer Judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in
memory.
Priming - Answer Presenting people with certain stimuli or putting them in a situation to
momentarily make
them think/feel/act in a certain way.
Independent variable - Answer • The variable that is manipulated by the researcher
• The independent variable is hypothesized to cause changes in the dependent variables
Interdependent Self - Answer People with this self-view are more likely to
define themselves in relation to their groups, friends, family, and social roles (e.g., I'm a
member of the rowing team)
Actor-observer Bias - Answer Tendency to attribute one's own behavior to
situational causes & others' behavior to dispositional causes
Self-Handicapping - Answer Strategy where people create excuses for
themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves and prevent
loss of face.
Random Assignment - Answer Assigning participants to experimental groups
, our ability to control our future behavior.
Self-Serving Bias - Answer Tendency to attribute one's failures to external
causes and success to internal causes.
Downward Social Comparison - Answer A self-enhancement strategy. Comparing ourselves to
people who are worse than we are on a
certain trait or ability.
Confirmation Bias - Answer The tendency to test an idea by searching for evidence that would
support it.
Schema - Answer A knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored
information. Could be about people, events, or objects.
Self-reference Effect - Answer The tendency for information that is related to the
self to be more thoroughly processed and integrated with existing self-knowledge, thereby
making it more memorable than other information.
belief perserverance - Answer Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the
basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
self-fulfilling prophecy - Answer The tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the
very thing they expect to happen.
External Validity - Answer Psychological realism; whether your experiment
is similar to real life.
Experimental Research - Answer 1. To demonstrate causality
2. To overcome problems of self-report
(if they are lab
or field studies with behavioral measures)
Correct Answers 2025.
Thin-Slicing - Answer Observing people's appearance or a small selection of their behaviors
and drawing
conclusions about them.
Recency Effect - Answer When information presented last in a list
it is remembered better (limited cognitive resources).
dependent variable - Answer The variable that is measured. A change in this variable is
predicted to be caused by the independent variable (i.e., manipulation).
Holistic Thinking - Answer People with this thinking style pay attention to
and take into account the situational elements of stimuli and events. People with
interdependent self-construal tend to have this style.
Internal Attribution - Answer Explaining behavior by the aspects of the person, such as
personality, traits, ability, wishes...
Theories - Answer general ideas on how different constructs (variables) relate to each other
Hypothesis - Answer Testable and specific prediction. Can be derived from a theory,
observations, or personal experience.
Naturalistic Observation - Answer •Observation of naturally occurring events without
interfering
• Record particular aspects of those events
• Look for relations among elements in the events
Validity - Answer Does the tool you use measure what it is supposed to measure?
Reliability - Answer How consistent is your measurement across items, over time, and across
,Acquiescence bias - Answer Tendency to agree with most items on a measure regardless of
content.
Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) - Answer Tendency for people (especially
independent/individualistic) to underestimate situational influences & overestimate person
influences on others' behavior.
Reverse causation - Answer Correlation between two variables but can go in the opposite
direction such as marriage causes happiness
Availability Heuristic - Answer Judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in
memory.
Priming - Answer Presenting people with certain stimuli or putting them in a situation to
momentarily make
them think/feel/act in a certain way.
Independent variable - Answer • The variable that is manipulated by the researcher
• The independent variable is hypothesized to cause changes in the dependent variables
Interdependent Self - Answer People with this self-view are more likely to
define themselves in relation to their groups, friends, family, and social roles (e.g., I'm a
member of the rowing team)
Actor-observer Bias - Answer Tendency to attribute one's own behavior to
situational causes & others' behavior to dispositional causes
Self-Handicapping - Answer Strategy where people create excuses for
themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves and prevent
loss of face.
Random Assignment - Answer Assigning participants to experimental groups
, our ability to control our future behavior.
Self-Serving Bias - Answer Tendency to attribute one's failures to external
causes and success to internal causes.
Downward Social Comparison - Answer A self-enhancement strategy. Comparing ourselves to
people who are worse than we are on a
certain trait or ability.
Confirmation Bias - Answer The tendency to test an idea by searching for evidence that would
support it.
Schema - Answer A knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored
information. Could be about people, events, or objects.
Self-reference Effect - Answer The tendency for information that is related to the
self to be more thoroughly processed and integrated with existing self-knowledge, thereby
making it more memorable than other information.
belief perserverance - Answer Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the
basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
self-fulfilling prophecy - Answer The tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the
very thing they expect to happen.
External Validity - Answer Psychological realism; whether your experiment
is similar to real life.
Experimental Research - Answer 1. To demonstrate causality
2. To overcome problems of self-report
(if they are lab
or field studies with behavioral measures)
