Practice Test Geeks(ASPPB) Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards Practice Test
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Research Methods & Psychological Foundations Flashcards

7 cards from real ASPPB practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Research Methods & Psychological Foundations flashcards as text

  1. A researcher asks participants to rate their anxiety before and after a mindfulness intervention without a control group. The design is best described as:

    Answer: Quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design

    Without random assignment to a control condition, the single-group pre-test/post-test design is quasi-experimental and cannot rule out alternative explanations.

  2. According to the gate control theory of pain, pain perception is modulated by:

    Answer: Neural gates in the spinal cord that can be opened or closed by various signals

    Melzack and Wall's gate control theory proposes that neural mechanisms in the spinal cord act as gates that regulate pain signals traveling to the brain.

  3. In a 2×3 factorial ANOVA, the maximum number of possible effects (main effects plus interactions) is:

    Answer: 3

    A 2×3 factorial ANOVA yields three effects: two main effects (one per factor) and one two-way interaction, totaling three.

  4. Demand characteristics in research refer to:

    Answer: Cues that lead participants to guess the study's hypothesis and adjust their behavior accordingly

    Demand characteristics are cues in the experimental environment that hint at the hypothesis, prompting participants to respond in ways they believe are expected.

  5. Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model places immediate family interactions in which system?

    Answer: Microsystem

    The microsystem is the innermost layer containing direct, face-to-face interactions such as those within the family, school, or peer group.

  6. Which of the following best exemplifies a confounding variable?

    Answer: An uncontrolled variable that co-varies with the independent variable and affects the dependent variable

    A confounding variable varies systematically with the independent variable and also influences the dependent variable, making it impossible to isolate the treatment effect.

  7. The concept of 'heritability' in behavioral genetics refers to:

    Answer: The proportion of variance in a trait within a population attributable to genetic differences among individuals

    Heritability is a population-level statistic estimating what proportion of individual differences in a trait are due to genetic variation, not a statement about any one person.