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Chapter 14 Test A
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1. Statements from the Bible about the natural world do not count as scientific evidence because:
a. The people responsible for these claims are all dead.
b. They are always infected with theological claims.
c. They do not report the results of measurements expressed mathematically.
d. The authorship of these documents is subject to debate.
e. They are usually expressed in metaphorical language.
2. Superstitious claims are usually expressed in vague language. As a result:
a. They engage only the emotions and never the intellect.
b. It is often difficult to distinguish one such claim from another.
c. Scientists have no interest in them.
d. It is usually impossible to subject them to empirical test.
e. They lend themselves too readily to ad hoc modifications.
3. According to Karl Popper, genuinely scientific hypotheses must be:
a. Falsifiable.
b. Testable.
c. Flexible.
d. Verifiable.
e. Applicable.
4. Modifications that are made to hypotheses to allow for unexpected or unfavorable pieces of evidence are called:
a. Ad hoc modifications.
b. Hypothetical expansions.
c. Moot hypotheses.
d. Explanatory mutations.
e. Ex post facto modifications.
5. As a result of the application of Ockham’s razor, naturalistic explanations are preferred to supernatural explanations
because:
a. Naturalistic explanations lead to entirely new ways of viewing the world.
b. Naturalistic explanations are preferred by atheists.
c. Supernatural explanations are inconsistent with well confirmed scientific theories.
d. Supernatural explanations are always contaminated by religious beliefs.
e. Supernatural explanations introduce a whole new set of entities into the picture.
6. According to Imre Lakatos and Paul Thagard, science is distinguished from pseudoscience in that science is:
a. Directional.
b. Progressive.
c. Rational.
d. Developmental.
e. Instructive.
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Chapter 14 Test A
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7. One source of support for superstitious hypotheses is:
a. Satanic influences in the world.
b. The universal desire to advance oneself in the world.
c. The desire to know.
d. The belief in an afterlife.
e. The love many people have for the magical and fantastic.
8. The apparent power of a mere sugar pill to cure numerous bodily ailments is called:
a. Confabulation.
b. Pareidolia.
c. The placebo effect.
d. The autokinetic effect.
e. The hypnagogic effect.
9. The effect by which people recognize images (such as faces or animals) in clouds or other media is called:
a. Pareidolia.
b. Psychedelia.
c. Kinesthesia.
d. Echolalia.
e. Precognition.
10. The experiment by Bruner and Postman involving an altered deck of playing cards tends to prove that:
a. There is a difference between perception and sensation.
b. We see what we expect to see.
c. We see what other people want us to see.
d. What we see is affected by ambient lighting conditions.
e. Partial colorblindness is widespread.
11. Hallucinations that occur just as people are drifting off to sleep are called:
a. Soporific hallucinations.
b. Epicyclic delusions.
c. Hypnagogic hallucinations.
d. Hypnotic delusions.
e. Episodic delusions.
12. The process by which the brain fills in gaps in memory images is called:
a. Pareidolia.
b. Articulation.
c. Synthesis.
d. Confabulation.
e. Analysis.
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Chapter 14 Test A
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13. When astrological predictions fail to materialize, the community of astrologers typically responds by:
a. Ignoring them.
b. Reexamining the positions of the planets at the pertinent times.
c. Recasting the astrological charts.
d. Rereading ancient astrological texts.
e. Resetting the astrological clocks.
14. The absence of any astrological explanation as to how the planets can affect people’s lives amounts to:
a. An adequacy problem.
b. An empirical problem.
c. A problem with fruitfulness.
d. An external consistency problem.
e. A coherence problem.
15. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi claimed that some practitioners of transcendental meditation were able to:
a. Read other peoples’ minds.
b. Levitate.
c. Bend spoons and other objects by merely stroking them.
d. Find sources of water by using a diving rod.
e. Practice “cold reading.”