Exam 8: Two-Group Design: Texting: I Cant Get You Out of My Mind

Professor Tompkins notices that rats run quickly through a maze when exposed to loud noise. Identify which of the following is necessary to transform this observation into a two-group experimental design?

Each of the following is required in a true experiment, EXCEPT:

Veronica was thrilled to discover that her experimental manipulation resulted in a significant difference between conditions. Now, she is interested in knowing about the magnitude of the difference between the groups. To determine this, she should look at which of the following?

Costanza conducts a true experiment examining the effect of energy drinks on work performance. As such, you know that her experiment has _____ internal validity.

As a pop-culture expert you have noticed that when celebrities wear the color black on the red carpet they receive more positive feedback than when they wear other colors. As a researcher, you decide to design an experimental study to test this observation. What would be your null hypothesis and your experimental hypothesis for the experimental study you design?

Which of the following is an acceptable manner for randomly assigning participants to groups?

A t-test for independent means is appropriate for studies who use a:

Professor Montgomery is interested in testing the utility of a new teaching technique but is worried that individual differences between her students' levels of comprehension of the course material may affect her outcomes. How might she reduce this concern?

To promote safe driving, phone companies have recently designed apps that disable the text messaging capabilities of a cell phone when traveling more than 10 MPH. As a psychologist, you are aware of the research that shows thought suppression can lead to a rebound effect, whereby people think of the forbidden item more. You are curious whether these safe driving apps have the unanticipated effect of creating greater distraction and ultimately leading to impaired driving. How would you design an experiment to test whether these types of apps promote or inhibit safe driving? Be sure to clearly identify your independent and dependent variables, as well as what happens in your experimental and control conditions.

Camila is interested in examining whether people who have more frequent access to pictures have better memory. Which of the following represents the null hypothesis for her study?

Aya is a developmental psychologist who is interested in studying children's acrophobia (i.e., fear of heights). In her experimental study, she randomly assigns some infants to crawl to their mothers on the floor. Other infants must crawl across a glass table (allowing them to see how high they were off of the ground) to get to their mothers. In her study, who is in the control condition?

Use the following to answer questions Scenario II Scenario II is based on fabricated data inspired by the following study: Kouchaki, M., Gino, F. & Jami, A. (2014). The burden of guilt: Heavy backpacks, light snacks, and enhanced morality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 414-424. Weight and Guilt Kouchaki and colleagues hypothesized that excess weight leads to emotional guilt. To that end, they asked participants to wear either a heavy backpack (12 pounds) or a light backpack (2 pounds) while sitting on a stool to "evaluate the quality of the backpack." In reality, the researchers were not interested in the participants' perception of the backpack's quality, but in how the weight of the backpack may subconsciously affect their behavior. As such, when the participants were leaving the laboratory they were told they may take a snack from a basket as a thank you for participating in the study. Two types of snacks were available: healthy and not healthy. The results revealed that 78% of the participants in the heavy backpack condition selected the healthy snack compared with only 48% of participants in the light backpack condition. The authors concluded that the type of snack the groups of participants chose indicates that an increase in weight causes one to experience feelings of guilt. -(Scenario II) Suppose the researchers manipulated the independent variable such that the heavy backpack was 5 pounds and the light backpack was 3 pounds. After conducting the study they saw no difference between the groups when choosing a snack. Prior to the study the researchers should have probably conducted a(n):

Why might an experimenter choose to use a behavioral measure of the dependent variable rather than a self-report measure?

Researcher notes are important because they do each of the following, EXCEPT:

Failing to find a significant difference between the experimental and control groups on variables that examine alternative explanations means:

Use the following to answer questions Scenario I Scenario I is based on fabricated data inspired by the following study: Curry, N. A. & Kasser, T. (2005). Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? Art Therapy: Journal of American Art Therapy Association, 22(2) 81-85. Effect of Coloring on Anxiety Curry and Kasser were interested in examining whether coloring complex geometric patterns reduces anxiety. To that end, they induced anxiety in 84 undergraduate volunteers from their university. Following anxiety induction the participants were divided into two coloring conditions. To determine which condition each participant would be in the researchers put all of their names in a hat. The first name drawn was placed in group 1, the second name drawn was placed in group 2, the third name drawn was placed in group 1, and so on. Those in the complex geometric coloring condition (group 1) were given a paper with a plaid pattern or the outline of a mandala. Those in the control condition (group 2) were given a blank piece of paper. After 20 minutes of coloring all of the participants completed a self-administered State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). Lower SAI scores indicate low levels of anxiety whereas higher SAI scores indicate high levels of anxiety. The mean SAI scores of each coloring condition were compared to determine whether the type of coloring one does affects anxiety. The results revealed that those who colored a complex geometric pattern had significantly different levels of anxiety than those who colored on a blank sheet of paper. Curry and Kasser concluded that coloring causes a change in anxiety, but only when coloring requires a certain amount of attention and focus. Figure 1. Effect of Coloring on Anxiety -(Scenario I) In this study, the experimental group did NOT:

Virtual reality has been used to increase _____ and helps to make a study feel as real as possible.

If you are interested in determining whether fatigue causes negative mood, you would need to conduct a(n):

Valentino is a health psychologist who is working on a campaign to encourage people to take the stairs instead of the elevator. He places posters in the elevators in his building. In one location the posters highlight the negative consequences of taking the elevator. In another location, the posters highlight the positive consequences of taking the stairs. He then measures how many people change their behavior at each location. What measure could Valentino include as a manipulation check?

By choosing to conduct a study in a research laboratory instead of its natural setting, researchers gain _____, but lose _____.