AP Psych Chapter 1 Study Guide

Juwan eagerly opened an online trading account, believing that his market savvy would allow him to pick stocks that would make him a rich day trader. This belief best illustrates:

• illusory correlation.

• overconfidence.

• the false consensus effect.

• hindsight bias.

Which of the following is true, according to the text?

• No psychological theory can be considered a good one until it produces testable predictions.

• Because laboratory experiments are artificial, any principles discovered cannot be applied to everyday behaviors.

• Psychology's theories reflect common sense.

• Psychology has few ties to other disciplines.

You decide to test your belief that men drink more soft drinks than women by finding out whether more soft drinks are consumed per day in the men's dorm than in the women's dorm. Your belief is a(n) ________, and your research prediction is a(n) ________.

• independent variable; dependent variable

• theory; hypothesis

• hypothesis; theory

• dependent variable; independent variable

A psychologist studies the play behavior of third-grade children by watching groups during recess at school. Which type of research is being used?

• case study

• correlation

• experimentation

• naturalistic observation

One reason researchers base their findings on representative samples is to avoid the false consensus effect, which refers to our tendency to:

• falsely perceive a relationship between two events when none exists.

• underestimate errors in our judgment.

• make all of the above reasoning errors.

• overestimate the extent to which others share our belief.

If height and body weight are positively correlated, which of the following is true?

• Knowing a person's height, one can predict his or her weight.

• As height increases, weight decreases.

• There is a cause-effect relationship between height and weight.

• All of the above are true.

A professor constructs a questionnaire to determine how students at the university feel about nuclear disarmament. Which of the following techniques should be used in order to survey a random sample of the student body?

• From an alphabetical listing of all students, every tenth (or fifteenth, e.g.) student should be asked to complete the questionnaire.

• Only students living on campus should be asked to complete the questionnaire.

• Only students majoring in psychology should be asked to complete the questionnaire.

• Every student should be sent the questionnaire.

The scientific attitude of humility is based on the idea that:

• researchers must evaluate new ideas and theories objectively rather than accept them blindly.

• scientific theories must be testable.

• researchers must be prepared to reject their own ideas in the face of conflicting evidence.

• simple explanations of behavior make better theories than do complex explanations.

After detailed study of a gunshot wound victim, a psychologist concludes that the brain region destroyed is likely to be important for memory functions. Which research strategy did the psychologist use to deduce this?

• the case study

• experimentation

• a survey

• correlation

Which type of research would allow you to determine whether students' college grades accurately predict later income?

• case study

• experimentation

• naturalistic observation

• correlation