Research Methods & Psychological Foundations Flashcards

Pavlov's discovery that a neutral stimulus can elicit a conditioned response after repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus best illustrates:

Answer: Classical conditioning

Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning involves pairing a neutral conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus until the conditioned stimulus alone elicits the response.

The concept of 'regression to the mean' is most relevant when interpreting:

Answer: Pre-test scores of extreme performers on a retest

Regression to the mean predicts that individuals who score at extremes on one assessment tend to score closer to the group mean on a subsequent assessment.

Which of the following is a key assumption of parametric tests such as the independent-samples t-test?

Answer: Homogeneity of variance across groups

The independent-samples t-test assumes homogeneity of variance (equal population variances) across the groups being compared.

A researcher uses a double-blind procedure in a drug efficacy study. This controls for:

Answer: Placebo effects and experimenter expectancy bias

Double-blind procedures prevent both participants and researchers from knowing group assignments, controlling placebo effects and experimenter bias.

In Erikson's theory, the central conflict of young adulthood (approximately ages 20–40) is:

Answer: Intimacy vs. isolation

Erikson identified intimacy vs. isolation as the core psychosocial crisis of young adulthood, focused on forming close relationships.

A meta-analysis that includes only published studies may suffer from:

Answer: Publication bias favoring significant results

Publication bias occurs because journals preferentially publish significant findings, causing meta-analyses restricted to published work to overestimate effect sizes.

Chronbach's alpha is a measure of:

Answer: Internal consistency reliability

Cronbach's alpha estimates internal consistency by assessing the average correlation among items within a scale.