Crash Course Psychology #2: Research Methods

What phenomenon describes the tendency to believe, after an event has occurred, that one would have predicted or known the outcome?

• Confirmation Bias

• Hindsight Bias

• Observational Bias

• Self-serving Bias

Why is it often unreliable to solely rely on intuition when trying to understand human behavior?

• Intuition is always wrong and should be ignored.

• People are too complex for intuitive understanding.

• Intuition can be influenced by overconfidence and the tendency to find patterns in random events.

• Only trained psychologists can understand human behavior.

What is the initial step in the scientific method, according to the video's explanation of psychological research?

• Testing with a replicable experiment.

• Forming a hypothesis.

• Question and a theory.

• Operationalizing questions.

What is a primary limitation of using case studies in psychological research?

• They are too expensive to conduct.

• They cannot be replicated, limiting generalizability.

• They only focus on animal behavior.

• They provide too much data to analyze effectively.

What is the fundamental difference between correlation and causation in scientific research?

• Correlation proves a direct cause-and-effect relationship, while causation only suggests a link.

• Correlation indicates a relationship between variables, but causation implies one variable directly influences another.

• Causation is a statistical measure, whereas correlation is a theoretical concept.

• There is no significant difference; the terms are interchangeable in research.

What is the primary goal of conducting an experiment in scientific inquiry?

• To describe behaviors and traits through observation.

• To establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables.

• To gather opinions and attitudes from a large population.

• To predict future behaviors based on past observations.

In an experiment, what is the purpose of having both an experimental group and a control group?

• To ensure all participants receive the same treatment.

• To allow researchers to manipulate multiple independent variables simultaneously.

• To compare the effects of the independent variable against a baseline or no-treatment condition.

• To increase the overall number of participants in the study.

In an experiment designed to test if caffeine affects maze navigation speed, what would be the independent and dependent variables?

• Independent: Maze navigation speed; Dependent: Caffeine dosage.

• Independent: Adult humans; Dependent: Maze navigation speed.

• Independent: Caffeine dosage; Dependent: Maze navigation speed.

• Independent: Maze navigation speed; Dependent: Adult humans.