The School Newspaper Reports That the GPA of Athletes Is

Multiple Choice

The school newspaper reports that the GPA of athletes is slightly higher than the GPA of undergraduates in general.Suppose you want to use these data to argue that athletes are smarter than the average student.Someone else points out that intelligence ("smartness") is only one of several factors influencing GPA; others are self-discipline, tutoring, pressure from coaches, required class attendance, and so on.Each of these latter factors is a potential ____ in any simple explanation of GPA.

A) exogenous variable
B) moderator variable
C) placebo
D) confounding variable
E) discriminant variable