Which of the following is an example of hindsight bias? a. Tom is certain that electric cars will represent 80 percent of vehicles in twenty years and only reads research studies that support his hypothesis. b. Liza underestimates how much time it will take her to finish writing her college application essays and as a result fails to meet an important deadline. c. Experts predicting world events with 80 percent confidence turned out to be correct less than 40 percent of the time. d. Marcy cannot recognize a definition on a flashcard. After turning the card over and viewing the term, she tells herself she knew what the answer was all along. e. Dr. Grace overestimates how effectively her new treatment method works because she fails to seek out any evidence refuting her theory.

The tendency to exaggerate the correctness or accuracy of our beliefs and predictions is called: a. hindsight bias. b. overconfidence. c. critical thinking. d. skepticism. e. reliability.

Name the three components of the scientific attitude. Provide an example to show how each component contributes to the investigation of competing ideas in psychology.

Aziz has read that handwriting reveals important details about personality. Explain how each component of the scientific attitude can help Aziz investigate the accuracy of the information he has read about handwriting analysis.

Identify an example of hindsight bias in the context of social psychology.

Do adults typically wash their hands after using the bathroom? In a telephone survey of 1001 U.S. adults, $92\%$ said they always wash their hands after using a public restroom. An observational study of 6076 adults in public restrooms told a slightly different story: only $77\%$ of those observed actually washed their hands after using the restroom. (a) Why do you think the results of the two studies are so different? (b) According to a description of the observational study, "Observers discreetly watched and recorded whether or not adults using public restrooms washed their hands. Observers were instructed to groom themselves (comb their hair, put on make-up, etc.) while observing and to rotate bathrooms every hour or so to avoid counting repeat users more than once. Observers were also instructed to wash their hands no more than 10 percent of the time:' Explain why these precautions were taken by the observers.

An individual with an exceptional memory is identified. For any given date, she is capable of recalling major events, the weather, and what she did that day. What research method is being used if a psychologist conducts an in-depth investigation of this individual using questionnaires, brain scans, and memory tests? a. Naturalistic observation. b. Survey. c. Interview. d. Case study. e. Theory method.

Which of the following psychologists would be most likely to investigate biological, psychological, cognitive, and social changes over a lifetime? a. Educational b. Experimental c. Social d. Cognitive e. Developmental.

Which of the following phrases accurately describes top-down processing? a. The entry-level data captured by our various sensory systems. b. The effect that our experiences and expectations have on perception. c. Our tendency to scan a visual field from top to bottom. d. Our ability to detect letters of a word before we know what the word is. e. The fact that information is processed by the higher regions of the brain before it reaches the lower brain.

While taking a standardized test with randomly scrambled answers, you notice that your last four answers have been "c." Which of the following is true concerning the probability of the next answer being " $\mathrm{c}$ "?

a. It is higher. Once a streak begins, it is likely to last for a while.

b. It is lower. Since answers are distributed randomly, " $\mathrm{c}$ " answers become less common.

c. It is unaffected by previous answers. It is as likely to be " $c$ " as any other answer.

d. You should check your previous answers. Four " $c$ 's" in a row is impossible.

e. It is higher. Test constructors trick students by keeping the same answer many times in a row.

Which of the following questions is best investigated by means of a survey? a. Are people more likely to vote Republican or Democrat in the next election? b. Are violent criminals genetically different from nonviolent criminals? c. Does extra sleep improve memory? d. What is the best study technique for AP exams? e. What role does exercise play in weight loss?

The purpose of random assignment is to: a. allow participants in both the experimental and control groups to be exposed to the independent variable. b. ensure that every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected to participate in the research. c. eliminate the placebo effect. d. reduce potential confounding variables. e. generate operational definitions for the independent and dependent variables.

Which of the following demonstrates the need for psychological science? a. Psychology’s methods are unlike those of any other science. b. Psychological experiments are less valuable without psychological science. c. Our intuitions about human thinking and behavior are not always accurate. d. Intuition does not provide correct answers unless it is applied through the scientific method. e. Psychological science research is superior to that of other sciences like biology and physics.

After the student council election, a friend tells you he has known for weeks who would be elected president. What does this seem to illustrate? a. Skepticism. b. Critical thinking. c. Hindsight bias. d. Overconfidence. e. Perceiving order in random events.