GRE Subject Test: Psychology : Other Areas
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Psychology
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Example Questions
Example Question #11 : Measurement & Methodology
After much success with her initial experiments (i.e. Groups A and B) and pilot test, Dr. Crawford wanted to further test the effects of a “smart pill." She recruited a new group of twenty students, Group C, for this next experiment. In the first trial, she gave the students the smart pill, and then waited five minutes to give them the list of forty words. Students were instructed to memorize the list in any order and were given five minutes to study it. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember within three minutes. One week later, Dr. Crawford repeated the experiment with the same group and same list of words. However, on the second trial, students were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill.
On the first trial, students from Group C recalled an average of seventeen words. On the second trial, students recalled an average of twenty words.
Which of the following experimental designs best describes this particular study?
Repeated measures
Separate variables
Counterbalancing method
Independent variables
Independent measures
Repeated measures
The students in Group C undergo the experiment two separate times, and experience both conditions. No other students than the 20 in Group C are used in this experiment. They act as both the control group and the experimental group.
Example Question #21 : Other Areas
After much success with her initial experiments (i.e. Groups A and B) and pilot test, Dr. Crawford wanted to further test the effects of a “smart pill." She recruited a new group of twenty students, Group C, for this next experiment. In the first trial, she gave the students the smart pill, and then waited five minutes to give them the list of forty words. Students were instructed to memorize the list in any order and were given five minutes to study it. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember within three minutes. One week later, Dr. Crawford repeated the experiment with the same group and same list of words. However, on the second trial, students were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill.
On the first trial, students from Group C recalled an average of seventeen words. On the second trial, students recalled an average of twenty words.
What should Dr. Crawford have done to improve the experiment?
Use a list of different words between trials to avoid confounding results.
Do the second trial of the experiment in the morning, when students are more awake.
Give the students the “smart pill” during both trials of the experiment.
Give the students a shorter amount of time to study the list during the second trial.
Instruct the students to memorize the words in order during the second trial to increase difficulty.
Use a list of different words between trials to avoid confounding results.
By using the same list, Dr. Crawford is not giving students new material to memorize. Students may still remember the words on the list from the previous trial, possibly compromising results. Using a new list would test students’ ability to remember forty new words within five minutes during both trials.
Example Question #11 : Measurement & Methodology
After much success with her initial experiments (i.e. Groups A and B) and pilot test, Dr. Crawford wanted to further test the effects of a “smart pill." She recruited a new group of twenty students, Group C, for this next experiment. In the first trial, she gave the students the smart pill, and then waited five minutes to give them the list of forty words. Students were instructed to memorize the list in any order and were given five minutes to study it. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember within three minutes. One week later, Dr. Crawford repeated the experiment with the same group and same list of words. However, on the second trial, students were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill.
On the first trial, students from Group C recalled an average of seventeen words. On the second trial, students recalled an average of twenty words.
The students’ improved recall on the second trial is likely due to which of the following?
Students being nervous during the first trial of the experiment.
Students wanting to perform better on the second trial.
The effects of the “smart pill” improving student memorization.
The second trial taking place during the day, when students are more awake.
Already having been exposed to the list of words during the first trial.
Already having been exposed to the list of words during the first trial.
During the second trial, students in Group C were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill. It is highly unlikely that the sugar pill improved memory, so we must search for what else may be causing this improvement. The students had previous exposure to the list of 40 words from the first trial. This may have made it easier for them to memorize a second time.
Example Question #21 : Other Areas
A researcher is interested in studying the cognitive development of children. She administers an appropriate instrument to three groups of children at a school: 8-year olds, 9-year olds, and 10-year olds. She tests the students only once. This study is an example of a __________.
cross-sectional study
sequential cohort study
longitudinal study
case study
cross-sectional study
Example Question #22 : Other Areas
What is the difference between reliability and validity?
Validity measures accuracy, reliability measures consistency.
Reliability measures veracity, validity measures accuracy.
Reliability measures accuracy, validity measures veracity.
There is no difference.
Reliability measures accuracy, validity measures consistency.
Validity measures accuracy, reliability measures consistency.
A reliable measure consistently produces similar answers, and a valid measure produces correct or accurate answers. Imagine a soccer player shooting on an empty goal. If the player consistently misses to the left of the goal, their shooting is reliable, because they continue to miss in the same place, but not valid, because they are not scoring goals. If, on the other hand, the player scores on most of their shots, but scores all over the goal, they are valid, because they continually hit the intended target, but not reliable, because they do not score in the same place. If the player were to score in the same place on the goal over and over, they would be both consistent AND reliable. Veracity, or truthfulness, does not factor into reliability and validity.
Example Question #23 : Other Areas
Which of the following statistical tools has one mode and 99.7% of the data falls within three standard deviations of the mean?
Venn diagram
Bell curve
Scatter plots
Chi-squared test
Learning curve
Bell curve
A bell curve, or normal distribution, is a symmetrical curve with the mode (which also correlates to the mean and median) at the highest point of the curve. The mode is the value most frequently occuring in a set of variables. The mean is the average of a set of values. How spread out the curve is determined by the data set's standard deviation.
A learning curve plots one variable on the x-axis and another on the y-axis. An example of a learning curve could be experience plotted against learning. A person who learns quickly will have a learning curve convex to the vertical axis. A Venn diagram consists of two overlapping circles. In the overlap area, items that are similar to the data sets are included. Scatter plots show the observed relationships between different variables. A chi-squared test compares observed data with data the experimenter would expect to obtain.
Example Question #21 : Other Areas
A statistician who determines that the independent variable has no effect when it really does have an effect has committed which of the following errors?
A sampling error
Type I error
Effect size error
Type II error
Type II error
A type II error means that the experimenter has failed to recognize an effect that is present. On the other hand, a type I error indicates that the experimenter has mistakenly stated that the independent variable has an effect when it has no real effect.
Example Question #22 : Other Areas
Which of the following post hoc tests applies simultaneously to all pairwise comparisons 
Scheffe's method
Fisher's least significant difference (LSD)
Rodger's method
Tukey's range test
Newman-Keuls method
Tukey's range test
Named after John Tukey, the Tukey test is based on a studentized range distribution included with many standard psychological and statistical textbooks today. It is flexible enough to be used with all types of pairwise comparisons, including ANOVA and multiple comparison tests; however, it suffers when sample sizes are unequal.
Example Question #1 : Statistical Procedures
Which of the following kinds of diagrams is best to display nominal data?
Frequency polygon
Design
Histogram
Bar chart
Bar chart
Nominal data is best represented by a bar chart. Nominal data can be variables such as religion. This is because there is no inherent rank. No one religion is statistically “better” than the other; therefore, it would be impossible to place one higher up than another in a rank order scheme.
Example Question #23 : Other Areas
Which of the following can be described as the variable that is changed in an experiment in order to determine its effects on other variables?
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Experiment
Correlation
Independent variable
The correct choice is “independent variable.” The independent variable is changed in order to observe the changes, if any, that it has on the dependent variable or variables. The dependent variable is defined as the variable that changes in response to the independent variable.
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All GRE Subject Test: Psychology Resources
