HOW TO MANIPULATE AND CONTROL VARIABLES

What is instructional manipulation in experimental psychology?

• Changing the number of participants in each group

• Altering the actual events in the experiment

• Changing the instructions given to participants to influence understanding or behavior

• Removing a variable completely from the experiment

Which of the following best represents the Framing Effect?

• Comparing the effects of hot and cold environments

• “This vitamin is 90% effective” vs. “This vitamin has a 10% failure rate”

• Participants are asked to focus on the sound of words

• Showing either a baby or a car crash to participants

Priming instruction is used to:

• Increase group size in random assignment

• Activate certain thoughts or behaviors before the task begins

• Introduce a control group in the study

• Match participants based on pre-test scores

What is the purpose of goal-setting instruction in an experiment?

• To motivate participants through varied task duration

• To observe how different goal types affect performance

• To limit the number of participants in each group

• To introduce bias into the study deliberately

Which is an example of event manipulation?

• Giving different instructions in two languages

• Varying the room temperature to observe changes in emotion

• Dividing participants based on gender

• Giving all participants the same task order

What is an example of amount of variable manipulation?

• One group exercises for 10 minutes; another for 40 minutes

• Giving either positive or constructive feedback

• Presenting instructions in two different languages

• Having participants perform a task with or without a friend

What technique is used to control carry-over effects in within-subjects design?

• Random assignment

• Matching technique

• ABBA counterbalancing

• Deception method

What is random assignment?

• Selecting people from a general population

• Assigning people to groups based on IQ

• Giving each participant an equal chance of being placed in any group

• Choosing participants based on their behavior

Which method involves using a “fake treatment” to control treatment flaws?

• Control group

• Double-blind technique

• Placebo

• Baseline test

What does the double-blind technique help prevent?

• Time-related effects

• Physical fatigue in participants

• Bias from both participants and experimenters

• Learning and practice effects