AP PSYCHOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODS THINKING CRITICALLY WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND DESCRIPTION

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
You are fascinated by an eccentric neighbor, who is well-known for having taken in numerous stray animals. You are also interested in studying how to get more people to adopt pets from the animal shelter. Which of the following is the best approach for studying this type of altruistic behavior?
A
Conduct an experiment, using your neighbor as the sole participant, subjecting her to PET and MRI scans to determine if there is a biological component to her altruism.
B
Conduct a correlational study, using your neighbor as the sole participant, administering several questionnaires on altruistic behavior.
C
Conduct a case study by intensely interviewing your neighbor over the course of a year, but remembering that anything you learn about her altruistic behaviors might not be relevant to the rest of the population.
D
There is no point to conducting an experiment, because altruism cannot be measured or observed.
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Experimental research, often called true experimentation, uses the scientific method to establish the cause-effect relationship among a group of variables that make up a study.

Detailed explanation-2: -1. Cognitive Perspective. One of the important psychological perspectives is the cognitive perspective of psychology. It focuses on the processing, organizing, storing, and retrieving of information and is concerned with the higher mental processes such as thinking, memory, etc.

Detailed explanation-3: -Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior.

Detailed explanation-4: -Humanistic psychology focuses on each individual’s potential and stresses the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency.

There is 1 question to complete.