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What is Psychological Science?

by Jeffry Ricker, Ph.D.


Section 2
Altered States: Sleeping and Dreaming


Quiz 2-4 Questions: What Are Objective Definitions?

1. Which of the following represents an objective definition?

A. Anxiety is defined as a state of uneasiness and apprehension.
B. Psychosis is defined as a mental disorder characterized by a break with reality.
C. An attribution is defined as the inference made about the cause of an event.
D. Intelligence is defined as the score on an IQ test.

2. Uri claims that he can read people's minds and bend metal objects simply by using the "power of my mind." Whenever he is tested under controlled scientific conditions, however, he always fails. Uri explains that this is because the scientists testing him are skeptics and that their skepticism interferes with his psychic powers. The existence of Uri's psychic powers are not

A. definable.
B. reliable.
C. valid.
D. verifiable.

3. Which of the following would not be an example of an objective definition?

A. Emotional stability is defined as whether or not a person's emotions change frequently.
B. Anxiety is defined as the score a person gets on a test of anxiety.
C. Weight is defined as the number of pounds shown on a scale.
D. Physical attractiveness is defined as the percentage of people who think a person is attractive
.

4. Which of the following concepts would be the most difficult to observe and measure objectively?

A. the width of a desk in a classroom
B. the diameter of the earth at the equator
C. the amount of intelligence in an individual
D. the distance of the nearest star to earth

5. Which of the following claims is most likely to be untestable?

A. Weight is related to height.
B. The amount of freedom in a country is related to the amount of economic growth in that country.
C. The level of anxiety is related to the level of blood pressure.
D. The amount of general knowledge people have is related to their academic performance.

6. The first test is designed to measure the following concept: knowledge of the material taught in Sections 1 and 2. Would a multiple-choice test measure precisely the same thing as an essay test?

A. Yes: they both measure students' knowledge of the material being taught.
B. No: essay tests measure students' knowledge of the material being taught, whereas multiple-choice tests measure students' skill at guessing.
C. Yes: they both measure how good one is at taking tests, not knowledge of the material being taught.
D. No: although both types of test measure students' knowledge of the material being taught, each also measures other characteristics unique to them.

Go to Quiz 2-4 answers

Go Back to Readings Section 2-4


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