A researcher scans the brains of gum-chewing volunteers, finds out which part of their brains is most active, and concludes that he or she has discovered the brain's "gum-chewing center." What's wrong with this conclusion?

What will be an ideal response?


Many actions and sensations are involved in chewing gum, such as the chewing motion, enjoyment of the flavors, and salivation. A brain scan may tell us where things are happening, but not why or how they are happening. The same areas might also become active when you chew a piece of asparagus. Finally, even if there were a gum-chewing center (there isn't!), yours might not be in the same place as someone else's. Brains vary a lot, a fact that may be lost when a researcher averages the results of all the brain scans in his or her study.

Psychology

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A careful test constructor obtained the correlation between her test and a well-defined validity criterion. She then repeated the study to determine whether this same relationship held in another sample. This exercise is known as

a. correction for attenuation. b. construct validation. c. cross validation. d. criterion/predictor confusion.

Psychology

At McCutcheon University, Dr. West is studying how factors such as gender, ethnicity, and social class affect the attitudes of domestic students toward international students. This research is focusing on ____ variables.?

a. ?collectivist b. ?sociobiological c. ?sociocultural d. ?individualist

Psychology

Which of the following is a new diagnostic classification that may appear in the DSM-5 and describes a person who is left so resentful after a perceived injustice that he or she cannot let it go?

a. paranoid personality disorder b. post-traumatic embitterment disorder c. affective neurosis d. bipolar disorder

Psychology

Hearing loss most often results from damage to the sensory receptors caused by _____

a) the process of aging. b) the buildup of earwax. c) exposure to excessive noise. d) chronic ear infections.

Psychology