Question 1

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or is aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. What is the null hypothesis in this study?

Accepted Answer

A)   Similarity and social warmth have no effect on interpersonal attraction.
B)   Similarity and social warmth have a positive effect on interpersonal attraction.
C)   Similarity has a positive effect on interpersonal attraction, but social warmth does not.
D)   Similarity has no effect on interpersonal attraction, but social warmth has a positive effect. A

Question 2

12.In your study on how relationship satisfaction predicts changes in weight, you find that couples who are happy weigh less than couples who are unhappy. Why would you conduct statistical analyses rather than simply describing your data?

Accepted Answer

Averages are not perfect, and no two groups of people are ever exactly the same, thus any differences need to be evaluated in terms of whether they represent significant or reliable differences. In other words, the differences between the two groups might be due to chance. By conducting statistical analyses, we can evaluate whether there really is an effect that is statistically significantÑthat is, large enough to occur less than 5 percent of the time if the null hypothesis were true (if using the convention of a probability of .05).

Question 3

What is the null hypothesis?

Accepted Answer

A)   There is an effect.
B)   There is no construct validity.
C)   There is no external validity.
D)   There is no effect. D

Question 4

Spouses who are experiencing a lot of stress in their lives also tend to experience more symptoms of depression. This is an example of a:

Accepted Answer

A)   positive correlation.
B)   negative correlation.
C)   causal association.
D)   descriptive association.

Question 5

For Sally's study, one member of a set of married couples carried voice-activated digital recorders for two weeks and both spouses made relationship satisfaction ratings at the end of each day. The recordings contained a lot of meaningless information, but they also contained daily conversations that the spouses had with each other. Sally analyzed the conversations and examined whether the positive and negative behaviors on each day predicted the relationship satisfaction ratings on subsequent days. What kind of research is this?

Accepted Answer

A)   home-based observational and cross-sectional
B)   home-based observational and experimental
C)   home-based observational and correlational
D)   daily diary approach and experimental

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a crucial element of a true experiment?

Accepted Answer

A)   dependent variable
B)   random assignment
C)   random sampling
D)   control

Question 7

Patrice randomly assigns thirty couples to a problem-solving skills training group and another thirty couples to a group where they have group discussions about their relationship problems, but no specific training is provided. She assesses positive and negative problem-solving behavior before and after the groups, and she finds that after the groups, couples in the skills training group have higher positive and lower negative behavior scores than couples in the discussion group. What can Patrice conclude from this?

Accepted Answer

A)   Patrice can conclude nothing; she has to conduct statistical analyses to determine whether there is a significant difference between her groups.
B)   Patrice can conclude that her skills training program improves behavior because she conducted a controlled experiment.
C)   Patrice can conclude nothing until she conducts a meta-analysis of her results.
D)   Patrice can conclude that the skills training program improves behavior, and that this finding is not due to chance.

Question 8

4.Imagine that you wanted to learn more about how couples communicate about hurt feelings, whether and how they forgive each other for interpersonal transgressions, and how these behaviors relate to relationship quality. How would you design your study? Comment on what measurement strategy and what type of design you would use and why.

Accepted Answer

The answer of 4.Imagine that you wanted to learn more...

Question 9

14.Distinguish participant confidentiality from participant anonymity, and explain how each can be maintained in the research process.

Accepted Answer

The answer of 14.Distinguish participant confidentiality from participant anonymity, and...

Question 10

A researcher is surveying men about partner behaviors that are potentially annoying. When presented with a list of possibly annoying behaviors and asked to rate their tolerance of these behaviors that have occurred in the current relationship, respondents indicate a high level of tolerance for all behaviors, even the most annoying ones. What phenomenon might these responses illustrate?

Accepted Answer

A)   inaccurate recall
B)   reactivity
C)   social desirability effect
D)   cognitive editing

Question 11

Kahni has developed a measure of conflict and she is using participants' frequency of conflict to predict their relationship satisfaction. She is assessing relationship satisfaction with the Marital Adjustment Test, which is a self-report measure of satisfaction that taps in to how spouses resolve disagreements, how much spouses confide in each other, and how much spouses agree about various topics. Which of the following is NOT a potential problem with using the Marital Adjustment Test in Kahni's study?

Accepted Answer

A)   poor construct validity
B)   reactivity
C)   social desirability effect
D)   sentiment override

Question 12

Ravneet is doing a study on social support in romantic relationships and depression. He recruited a sample of undergraduates to complete his questionnaires, but would like to generalize his findings to anyone in a romantic relationship. What is one problem with his study?

Accepted Answer

A)   It may lack internal validity.
B)   It may suffer from attrition bias.
C)   It may lack reliability.
D)   It may lack external validity.

Question 13

Ravneet is doing a study on social support in newlyweds and depression. He would like to collect data from a representative sample. This means Ravneet should:

Accepted Answer

A)   recruit couples at bridal shows so he can ensure that couples will be newly married when they enter his study.
B)   ensure that the couples in his sample are similar to the population of newlywed couples to which he would like to generalize.
C)   make sure there aren't any college student couples in his study, because these couples have been overrepresented in relationship research.
D)   give up nowÑthere is no way he will be able to find a representative sample of newlywed couples.

Question 14

8.Why would a researcher choose to conduct a longitudinal study rather than an experiment to understand relationship processes?

Accepted Answer

The answer of 8.Why would a researcher choose to conduct...

Question 15

Danica put spouses in separate rooms, asked them to complete relationship satisfaction ratings, and then videotaped all participants giving a brief speech, which she said their partners would later watch. After the speech, participants were provided with written false feedback presumably provided by their partners, and then they rated their relationship satisfaction again. Danica then assessed how evaluations of relationship satisfaction changed when participants received three different types of false feedback. In one condition, the feedback was positive and reassuring, in the second it was negative and critical, and in the third it was mixed. In this experiment, the independent variable is ________ and the dependent variable is ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   the false feedback; the relationship satisfaction
B)   the relationship satisfaction; the false feedback
C)   the speech; the false feedback
D)   the speech; the relationship satisfaction

Question 16

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, the dependent variable is:

Accepted Answer

A)   similarity.
B)   social warmth.
C)   interpersonal attraction.
D)   all of the above.

Question 17

In the 1970s, a number of studies suggested that over the course of a long marriage, spouses' relationship satisfaction generally followed a U-shaped curve: first declining, then remaining stable, and then increasing (presumably after children left home). In the 1990s, new research proved this idea wrong. Generally, marital satisfaction declines throughout the course of marriage. What was the difference between the earlier and the later research?

Accepted Answer

A)   The early research was correlational, and the later research was experimental.
B)   The early research suffered from attrition bias, and the later research did not.
C)   The early research examined only American couples, and the later research examined cross-cultural samples.
D)   The early research was cross-sectional, and the later research was longitudinal.

Question 18

2.Describe some of the pros and cons of using physiological measurement in relationship research.

Accepted Answer

The answer of 2.Describe some of the pros and cons...

Question 19

Andy decides to use a measure of how many times per week research participants talk to their partners as a measure of relationship closeness. According to the chapter on research methods, ÒclosenessÓ is ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   an imaginary construct
B)   the operationalization of a psychological construct
C)   the predictor variable
D)   a psychological construct

Question 20

Informed consent involves:

Accepted Answer

A)   telling participants the hypothesis and procedure of the study in advance of their participation.
B)   guaranteeing participant confidentiality but not necessarily anonymity.
C)   an explanation of the research procedures and what participants can expect.
D)   none of the above.

Exam 2: Tools of Relationship Science