Practice Questions Unit 2 - from Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo (2009)

1. When we know that two events regularly occur together, which goal of psychology can
be met?

a. predicting behaviour b. changing behaviour

c. understanding behaviour d. explaining behaviour

2. Correlational studies test which type of hypotheses?

a. predictive b. both predictive and causal

b. causal c. neither predictive nor causal

3. As an educational psychologist, you might use naturalistic observations of college

students in a test-taking environment to get at which of psychology’s goals?

a. change behaviour b. predict behaviour

c. explain behaviour d. describe behaviour

4. In an experiment on attitudes, participants are given either positive or negative

information about a speaker and then asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the speaker.
In this experiment, which is the independent variable?

a. the effectiveness of the speaker

b. the type of information the participant is given
c. attitude change
d. the speaker

5. The more hours that students work, the less stressful they are academically. This is an
example of what type of correlation?

a. zero
b. positive
c. perfect
d. negative

6. Dr. Kwan is performing case study research. She should be most concerned with which
of the following ethical principles?

a. deception
b. physical harm
c. debriefing
d. confidentiality

7. What is the rule for deceiving participants in a psychological study?

a. Deception is never allowed in psych research. It is against the law and you will
go to jail if you use it.
Practice Questions Unit 2 - from Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo (2009)

b. Deception is allowed only when using animals as subjects; human beings are
too intelligent for deception.

c. Deception is allowed when alternative procedures are not available, and

participants are debriefed at the end of the study.

d. Deception can be done under any circumstances because psychological

research never harms participants.

8. Which of the following is NOT an ethical guideline psychologists must follow when
conducing research?

a. paying participants for their participation

b. informed consent
c. freedom from harm
d. confidentiality