Professor Todd decides to test her hypothesis that eating chocolate prior to exams increases students’ test scores. She randomly assigns students to two groups at the beginning of the semester. One group receives a bar of chocolate before each test, while the other group receives another type of candy. She compares their scores at the end of the year, and finds that the students who ate the chocolate scored an average of ten points higher on their exams. What is the dependent variable in this experiment?

What psychological school of thought was most concerned with the influence of the general principles of learning on an organism’s or a person’s actions?

Imagine that you see the textbook authors on television talking with Larry King about popular psychology. What point are you most likely to hear them make?

Due to its reliance on proper research methods to help verify its claims, modern psychology is best considered to be a __________.

Scientist Stephen Jay Gould made which of the following contentions about the relationship between science and religion?

Dr. Rashad offers the class an explanation for an extensive group of research findings connecting emotionality and nonverbal communication. Her explanation for this group of findings is a(n) __________.

A mental shortcut that helps us to streamline our thinking and make sense of our world is called a __________.

Recently, the local radio station has played ads for some natural herbs that will calm you, increase your sense of well-being, and make you happier within days of taking your first dose. In fact, one ad even says, “users who feel that their happiness is increasing too much are advised to cut down to a half dose each day!” You are sure this is a pseudoscientific claim because it is __________.

Which of the following statements would your authors probably find the most worrisome?

Tiffany spends a great deal of time reading self-help books on relationships. She has had several failed relationships and is bewildered by the events related to them. Even though she knows most of these books are pseudoscience, Tiffany is attracted to them because __________.