Baylor Psychology 1305 Test 1
Questions and All Correct Answers
2026 Updated.
hindsight bias - Answer the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would
have foreseen it
critical thinking - Answer thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions; it
examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
theory - Answer an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes
observations and predicts behaviors or events
hypothesis - Answer a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition - Answer a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define
research variables
replication - Answer repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different
participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other
participants and circumstances
case study - Answer an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the
hope of revealing universal principles
naturalistic observation - Answer observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring
situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
survey - Answer a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes of behaviors of a
particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group
population - Answer all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be
drawn
random sample - Answer a sample that fairly represents a population because each member
has an equal chance of inclusion
, correlation - Answer a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of
how well either factor predicts the other
correlation coefficient - Answer a statistical index of the relationship between two things
scatterplot - Answer a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two
variables; the slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two
variables; the amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation
experiment - Answer a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more
factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process
experimental group - Answer in an experiments, the group that is exposed to the treatment,
that is, to one version of the independent variable
control group - Answer in an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment;
contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of
the treatment
random assignment - Answer assigning participants to experimental and control groups by
chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups
double-blind procedure - Answer an experimental procedure in which both the research
participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have
received the treatment or the placebo
placebo effect - Answer experimental results caused by expectation alone; any effect on
behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient
assumes us an active agent
mode - Answer the most frequently occurring scores in a distribution
mean - Answer the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and
then dividing by the number of scores
median - Answer the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above and half are
below it
range - Answer the difference between the highest and the lowest scores in a distribution
Questions and All Correct Answers
2026 Updated.
hindsight bias - Answer the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would
have foreseen it
critical thinking - Answer thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions; it
examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
theory - Answer an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes
observations and predicts behaviors or events
hypothesis - Answer a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition - Answer a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define
research variables
replication - Answer repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different
participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other
participants and circumstances
case study - Answer an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the
hope of revealing universal principles
naturalistic observation - Answer observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring
situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
survey - Answer a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes of behaviors of a
particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group
population - Answer all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be
drawn
random sample - Answer a sample that fairly represents a population because each member
has an equal chance of inclusion
, correlation - Answer a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of
how well either factor predicts the other
correlation coefficient - Answer a statistical index of the relationship between two things
scatterplot - Answer a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two
variables; the slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two
variables; the amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation
experiment - Answer a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more
factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process
experimental group - Answer in an experiments, the group that is exposed to the treatment,
that is, to one version of the independent variable
control group - Answer in an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment;
contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of
the treatment
random assignment - Answer assigning participants to experimental and control groups by
chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups
double-blind procedure - Answer an experimental procedure in which both the research
participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have
received the treatment or the placebo
placebo effect - Answer experimental results caused by expectation alone; any effect on
behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient
assumes us an active agent
mode - Answer the most frequently occurring scores in a distribution
mean - Answer the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and
then dividing by the number of scores
median - Answer the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above and half are
below it
range - Answer the difference between the highest and the lowest scores in a distribution
