Experimental Psychology 7th Edition

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 Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Solving Problems: Controlling Extraneous Variables

Chapter Overview
Extraneous variables threaten an experiment’s internal validity when they are
allowed to confound the experiment. In well-designed experiments, only the
independent variable changes systematically across treatment conditions. This chapter
examines four kinds of extraneous variables (physical, social, personality, and context)
and the procedures used to control them.

Physical variables are aspects of the testing conditions that need to be controlled.
Elimination, constancy of conditions, and balancing are three techniques that
researchers use to control physical variables. While elimination is the most effective
strategy since it removes the extraneous variable from the experiment, it is not always
feasible. In these cases, a researcher can either use constancy of conditions or
balancing to ensure that the extraneous variable does not affect the treatment
conditions differently.

Experiments are social situations and can be confounded by uncontrolled social

variables, including demand characteristics and experimenter bias. Single-blind
experiments and cover stories can control demand characteristics, and double-blind
experiments can control both demand characteristics and experimenter bias. Since
cover stories involve deception, researchers must only use them when absolutely
necessary and the participants should be debriefed.

Personality variables, characteristics of experimenters and volunteer subjects, can

affect subject behavior in an experiment. We control these variables by standardizing
our procedures and minimizing face-to-face contact with subjects. Volunteers are more
sociable and intelligent than nonvolunteers, and these differences might decrease the
external validity of experiments that mainly recruit college student subjects.

Context variables are extraneous variables created by the experimental setting

itself. Subject selection of experiments and experimenter selection of subjects threaten
both an experiment’s internal and external validity. Experimenters should be aware that
they can show practice and fatigue effects over the course of an entire experiment and
should take precautions to control for them.

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Chapter Outline
Physical Variables
Elimination and Constancy
Balancing
Social Variables
Demand Characteristics
Experimenter Bias
Personality Variables
Experimenters
Volunteer Subjects
Context Variables
When the Subjects Select the Experiment
When the Experimenter Selects the Subjects
Some Folklore about Subjects
Summary
Key Terms
Review and Study Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Online Resources

Key Terms
DSBalancing Experimenter bias
Constancy of conditions Personality variables
Context variable Physical variables
Cover story Placebo effect
Demand characteristics Rosenthal effect
Double-blind experiment Single-blind experiment
Elimination Social variables

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Teaching Suggestions

Cengage Online Workshop Exercises

http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/workshops/res_
methd/controls/controls_01.html
Many of the workshops referred to in the last chapter are relevant to the topics of this
chapter as well. For example, this is a workshop on various issues of “Control” in
experiments. Students should learn to answer:
Why is control an important part of experimentation?
What are inclusion and exclusion criteria?
Define the term “double-blind” and explain its usefulness
How can we control a between-subjects design? A within-subjects design?
What are order effects? How can we control for them?

http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/workshops/res_
methd/confounds/confounds_01.html
The workshop on “Confounds” should be covered again here as well, as it overlaps with
content of the current chapter. Have students work through it and then ask them the
following:
What good is internal validity in an experiment?
How can you tell if you have construct validity?
What are confounds and why are they bad?
What is differential mortality?
What problems are reduced when you make your study double-blind?

Additional Web Resources

A classic article on Demand Characteristics is “The Nature and Role of Demand

Characteristics in Scientific Inquiry,” by Ralph Rosnow (2002). Check your library’s full-
text databases for it. The journal is Prevention & Treatment, Vol 5(1), Oct, 2002. ArtID:
37.

http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch08_animals/clever_hans.html
http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/C2P1.htm
Above are just two of many sites that describe Clever Hans, the mathematical horse. No
discussion of demand characteristics or experimenter bias is complete without mention
of Hans.

http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/hawth.html
This page presents a nice description of many of the topics discussed in Chapter 8:
Rosenthal effect, Hawthorne effect, Placebo effects, etc.

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Classroom/Homework Exercises

Handout 8-1: Identifying and Fixing Extraneous Variables

There are several extraneous variables in the experiment described below. Identify all
the extraneous variables you see. For each one, explain what type it is (e.g., social,
personality), whether or not it is confounding, and how you could eliminate or minimize
the problem it creates.

Jared and Molly are conducting an experiment on how performance is

affected by the presence of other people. They ask their participants to
solve a series of difficult math problems in one of two conditions: alone or
in a large group. All the volunteers for the Alone condition are recruited
from an Introductory Psychology class, and those for the Group condition
are recruited from a Social Psychology class. Jared tests the individuals in
the Alone condition, and Molly tests the Group condition. The two rooms
they have reserved are appropriate for the treatment sizes; Jared’s is very
small and Molly’s is an auditorium. While they are testing some of their
participants, the lights in the rooms go out for a minute or so (this happens
occasionally to both Jared and Molly). They each grade half of the
problems from each condition; but when Molly grades them, she marks
any problem wrong if the participant failed to show his or her work,
whereas Jared only marks a problem wrong if the answer was incorrect.

Identifying Extraneous Variables

Students often assume that published research is perfect, and thus fail to examine
previous studies with a critical eye. For this exercise, ask students to bring to class
published articles that they find interesting and comprehensible. Divide the class into
small groups and have each group work on one or two of the papers. Ask them to
scrutinize the Method section in order to identify possible extraneous variables. Have
them specify how these variables might have affected the data and then ask them to
indicate how they might fix the problems if they were to replicate the study.

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Key to Review and Study Questions

1. What are physical variables in an experiment?

Physical variables are aspects of the testing conditions that need to be controlled.
These include the day of the week, time of day, the testing room, and potential
distractions like noise.

2. How is elimination used as a control procedure? Give two examples of variables

that could be controlled by elimination.

Elimination controls extraneous variables by removing them from an experiment. A

researcher could eliminate noise by testing subjects in a soundproof room and
visual distraction by closing window blinds.

3. What is constancy of conditions? Give two examples of variables that could be

controlled through constancy of conditions.

Constancy of conditions prevents confounding by holding extraneous variables

constant across treatment conditions. An experimenter could control the effect of
room color by testing all subjects in the same room. She could control the effect of
instructions by reading directions from a printed script.

4. What is balancing? Give two examples of variables that could be controlled by

balancing.

Balancing prevents confounding by distributing the effects of extraneous variables

equally across treatment conditions. We could control the effect of experimenter
personality by asking each experimenter to run half the subjects in each treatment
group. We could control the effect of time of day by running half of each treatment
group in the morning and the remaining half in the evening.

5. You are doing a study at a local school. Because of the way things are scheduled,
you can have one small testing room in the morning and another much larger
testing room in the afternoon. If you have two treatment conditions (A and B), how
can you assign subjects to the testing rooms so that the type of room will not lead
to confounding in your experiment?

Room size is a potentially confounding physical variable. Since you are required to
use two rooms, the best control procedure is balancing. After you randomly assign
subjects to condition A or B, you could randomly assign half of each treatment
group to the small room and half to the large room.

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6. What are demand characteristics?

Demand characteristics are aspects of the experimental situation that demand or

elicit specific responses that subjects believe are expected of them in the
experiment. For example, Orne and Scheibe’s (1964) “sensory deprivation”
experiment employed cues like an “Emergency Tray” and white medical coats to
manipulate expectations of sensory distortion.

How do they affect our data?

Since demand characteristics can consciously or unconsciously alter subject

behavior, they can distort data and confound an experiment.

How can they be controlled?

Researchers can control demand characteristics using single-blind experiments

and cover stories. In a single-blind experiment, subjects do not know which
treatment they are receiving. A cover story is an alternative procedure where a
researcher provides a plausible but false explanation of the experimental
procedures to disguise the research hypothesis.

7. A researcher says, “I want my experiment to be a success. I’m sure my hypothesis

is correct, so I’ll just give my subjects a couple of hints here and there. You know,
maybe a wink now and then if they give a good answer. That way I’ll really be able
to show that my independent variable had an effect.”

a. How would you convince her that her plan is faulty?

I would explain that providing different demand characteristics for each

treatment condition constitutes experimenter bias that would confound the
experiment. She could not separate the effects of her cues from the changes
produced by the independent variable and therefore could not draw causal
conclusions.

b. What is a double-blind experiment? Would you recommend that she use it?
Why or why not?

In a double-blind experiment, neither the subjects nor the experimenter know

the treatment the subjects are receiving. Given the researcher’s eagerness to
confirm her experimental hypothesis, a double-blind experiment is necessary
to keep her honest by preventing her from selectively providing hints to
subjects in different conditions. If she doesn’t know their experimental
condition, she can’t systematically influence them through demand
characteristics.

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8. Dr. L. is planning a large-scale learning experiment. He would like to have 100 rats
in one treatment group and another 100 in the other group. Because he needs so
many rats, he says, “Well, I can’t test all these animals by myself. I’ll ask Dr. P. to
help me. He can run the animals in the one group while I test the animals in the
other group.”

a. Knowing what you know about confounding, is Dr. L.’s solution a good
one? What can happen if one experimenter tests all the subjects in one group
while another tests all the subjects in another group?

Dr. L.’s solution could confound the experiment with experimenter bias since
the two researchers may have different expectations about the treatment
groups’ performance and may not handle the animals in the same manner.

b. Given what you know about balancing procedures, work out a better plan for
Dr. L.

The two researchers should be randomly assigned to run 50 rats from each
treatment group to balance the effects of experimenter bias across both
conditions.

9. When should a cover story be used?

A cover story should be used when there is a risk that subjects will guess the
experimental hypothesis and jeopardize an experiment’s internal validity.

When shouldn’t one be used?

Cover stories should not be used when they are unnecessary or when they
preclude informed consent by misrepresenting an experiment’s potential risks and
benefits.

Discuss the ethical problem raised by the use of cover stories.

Since cover stories are a form of deception, they should only be used when
needed to protect internal validity. Experimenters should fully debrief subjects after
their participation in the study.

10. Why is it important that an experimenter behave in the same way toward all
subjects in the experiment?

Rosenthal’s research documented the risk of experimenter bias. Failure of an

experimenter to behave the same way toward all subjects could confound an
experiment and prevent drawing causal conclusions.

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What precautions can be taken to ensure that he or she does this?

A double-blind experiment controls for experimenter bias since neither the subjects
nor the experimenter know the treatment the subjects are receiving.

11. In what ways are volunteer subjects different from nonvolunteers?

Volunteer subjects are more sociable and score higher in social desirability than
nonvolunteers. They hold more liberal social and political attitudes, tend to be less
authoritarian, and score higher on intelligence tests than nonvolunteers.

What difference does it make?

These differences could limit the external validity of social psychological and
cognitive studies that may be affected by these subject variables.

12. Find out the names of several experiments that are being conducted in your
department this term. Evaluate each name in terms of its potential to bias the
sample.

The answers will depend on study availability and advertising (class

announcements, e-mail, newspaper ads, sign-up boards, and web sign-up).

13. Think of two things an experimenter could do to safeguard against fatigue effects
during the course of the experiment.

Experimenters who run long or numerous experimental sessions risk fatigue.

Precautions against fatigue effects include short experimental sessions, breaks
between sessions, use of multiple experimenters distributed equally across
treatment conditions, and minimizing face-to-face contact with subjects.

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Test Questions

Multiple Choice

1. (F) Physical Variables

____ are aspects of the testing conditions that need to be controlled.
a. Context variables
b. Demand characteristics
* c. Physical variables
d. Social variables

2. (F) Physical Variables

Which of these could be a physical variable in an experiment?
a. level of illumination
b. temperature
c. time of day
* d. all of these

3. (A) Physical Variables

When Heather ran all the subjects in condition A on Thursday and those in
condition B on Friday, she confounded her experiment with a ____ variable.
a. context
b. personality
* c. physical
d. social

4. (A) Physical Variables

Tim prevented noise from distracting his subjects by testing them in a
soundproof room. This illustrates the control technique called
a. balancing.
b. constancy of conditions.
* c. elimination.
d. isolation.

5. (F) Physical Variables

Experimenters remove potentially confounding extraneous variables when
they employ
a. balancing.
b. constancy of conditions.
c. counterbalancing.
* d. elimination.

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6. (C) Physical Variables

Sometimes physical variables like ____ cannot be controlled through
elimination.
a. a blinking fluorescent light
b. noise from a custodian’s vacuum
c. seeing classmates walk by a window
* d. the weather

7. (F) Physical Variables

In ____, an experimenter controls physical variables by keeping all aspects of
treatment conditions as nearly similar as possible.
a. balancing
* b. constancy of conditions
c. elimination
d. isolation

8. (C) Physical Variables

Which of these should be controlled using constancy of conditions instead of
elimination?
a. a poster for a controversial speaker
* b. bright room lighting
c. interruptions by students opening the door
d. visual distraction by classmates outside the room

9. (A) Physical Variables

Michele ran all treatment conditions during the evening to control for the effect
of time of day. Which control technique did she use?
a. balancing
* b. constancy of conditions
c. elimination
d. isolation

10. (A) Physical Variables

Lindsay videotaped instructions for subjects to ensure that all subjects in each
condition receive the same information. This illustrates the control procedure
of
a. balancing.
* b. constancy of conditions.
c. counterbalancing.
d. elimination.

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11. (C) Physical Variables

Sometimes we cannot remove physical variables and it is impractical to hold
them steady. In these cases, we can control them using
* a. balancing.
b. constancy of conditions.
c. elimination.
d. isolation.

12. (F) Physical Variables

Balancing is a control procedure that
* a. distributes the effect of physical variables equally across the treatment
conditions.
b. distributes the effect of the independent variable equally across all of the
treatment conditions.
c. ensures that subjects in all conditions experience nearly identical physical
variables.
d. removes potentially confounding physical variables from the testing
situation.

13. (A) Physical Variables

Although James wanted to run all the subjects in his experiment by himself,
he realized that he couldn’t complete the experiment in time without a second
experimenter. To control for experimenter personality, he ran half the subjects
in each condition and his roommate ran the other half. This strategy is called
* a. balancing.
b. constancy of conditions.
c. elimination.
d. isolation.

14. (C) Physical Variables

When an extraneous variable systematically changes across treatments,
a. the extraneous variable has the same value in the control and
experimental conditions.
* b. the extraneous variable has one value in the control condition and a
different value in the experimental condition.
c. the independent variable has no effect on the dependent variable.
d. this presents a lower risk of confounding than when it changes randomly.

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15. (C) Physical Variables

By randomly assigning subjects to treatment conditions, many extraneous
variables are automatically ____ across conditions.
* a. balanced
b. eliminated
c. isolated
d. kept constant

16. (A) Physical Variables

Chase is designing an experiment that requires intense concentration and is
concerned about confounding by outside noise. If he can use any of the
control techniques discussed in this chapter, his first choice should be
a. balancing.
b. constancy of conditions.
* c. elimination.
d. isolation.

17. (F) Social Variables

Which of these are social variables?
a. demand characteristics
b. experimenter biases
c. response sets
* d. demand characteristics and experimenter bias

18. (F) Social Variables

The demand characteristics of an experiment may result in a subject
a. following his/her own interpretation of the experimenter’s directions.
b. trying to confirm the experimental hypothesis.
c. trying to guess the experimental hypothesis.
* d. all of these

19. (A) Social Variables

Anna participates in a social psychological experiment in which she observes
pairs of lights that are briefly turned on and off in a completely darkened
room. Although the distance between each pair of lights in the Hex paradigm
is always identical, the experimenter asks, “Is the first pair of lights farther
apart or closer together than the second pair?” This question, which implies
that Anna should perceive different spacing, illustrates the concept of a
* a. demand characteristic.
b. physical variable.
c. placebo effect.
d. Rosenthal effect.

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20. (F) Social Variables

Experimenters generally want subjects to be as naïve as possible concerning
the experimental hypothesis to reduce confounding by
a. context variables.
* b. demand characteristics.
c. experimenter bias.
d. response sets.

21. (C) Social Variables

In Orne and Scheibe’s (1964) sensory deprivation experiment, the
“Emergency Tray” and alarm button in the experimental condition were
* a. demand characteristics.
b. extraneous variables.
c. latent cues.
d. placebos.

22. (F) Social Variables

In single-blind experiments,
a. experimenters are unaware of the treatments given to subjects.
b. experimenters encourage subjects to guess the experimental hypothesis.
* c. subjects do not know which treatment they are receiving.
d. subjects do not receive feedback on their performance.

23. (F) Social Variables

Single-blind experiments only control for
a. context variables.
* b. demand characteristics.
c. experimenter bias.
d. response set.

24. (A) Social Variables

Russ suffers from social anxiety and participated in a 6-month study of a drug
developed to treat this disorder. While the physician who provided his
medication knew that Russ was in the experimental group, he did not disclose
this information to Russ until the study was completed. Russ participated in
a(n)
a. double-blind experiment.
b. ex post facto study.
c. quasi-experiment.
* d. single-blind experiment.

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25. (C) Social Variables

Placebo effects in drug trials are due to
* a. demand characteristics.
b. experimenter bias.
c. maturation threat.
d. response set.

26. (F) Social Variables

Which of these techniques to control demand characteristics involves
deception?
* a. cover story
b. double-blind experiment
c. quasi-experiment
d. single-blind experiment

27. (C) Social Variables

Hannover and Kuhnan (2002) informed their subjects were that they would be
participating in a study of eye-witness identification and that they would be
part of a “police line-up.” This constituted a ____ to disguise the experimental
hypothesis.
* a. cover story
b. double-blind experiment
c. quasi-experiment
d. single-blind experiment

28. (C) Social Variables

Researchers should not routinely employ cover stories because they
a. are a departure from fully-informed consent.
b. can confound a study with demand characteristics.
c. involve deception.
* d. are a departure from fully-informed consent and involve deception.

29. (F) Social Variables

____ is a form of confounding due to an experimenter providing implicit or
explicit cues to subjects to respond in a particular way.
* a. Experimenter bias
b. History threat
c. Response set
d. Response style

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30. (A) Social Variables

Tammy’s experiment compared the effectiveness of videotape and textbook
presentation of a history lesson. Unexpectedly, her demeanor changed with
each treatment condition. She appeared worried during the videotape
condition because the audiovisual equipment periodically broke down. In
contrast, she seemed relaxed in the textbook condition during which subjects
read from a book. Which problem does this illustrate?
a. confounding by a context variable
* b. experimenter bias
c. history threat
d. selection threat

31. (A) Social Variables

Graduate students who were told their rats were either “maze-bright” or
“stupid” observed dramatic differences in maze performance. The “maze-
bright” rats quickly learned to run the maze while the “stupid” rats did poorly.
What do these results illustrate?
a. experimenter bias
b. selection threat
c. the Rosenthal effect
* d. experimenter bias and the Rosenthal effect

32. (F) Social Variables

In animal studies, experimenters should not handle animals in treatment
conditions differently than those in control conditions since this would be a
form of
a. demand characteristic.
* b. experimenter bias.
c. history threat.
d. the Rosenthal effect.

33. (A) Social Variables

A swimming instructor, who was told his athletes had outstanding motor
coordination and the potential to become excellent swimmers, coached them
so well that they became excellent swimmers even though their motor skills
were really about average. These results illustrate
a. experimenter bias.
b. selection threat.
c. the placebo effect.
* d. the Rosenthal effect.

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34. (C) Social Variables

Experimenters sometimes make errors in recording data that tend to favor the
experimental hypothesis. This is an example of
a. demand characteristics.
* b. experimenter bias.
c. the Rosenthal effect.
d. demand characteristics and experimenter bias.

35. (F) Social Variables

Rosenthal proposed all of these explanations of how “special” teacher
expectations affected student performance on IQ tests except
a. teachers gave “bloomers” more feedback.
b. teachers gave “bloomers” more chances to ask questions.
* c. teachers rewarded “bloomers” with increased privileges.
d. teachers taught “bloomers” more challenging material.

36. (F) Social Variables

In a double-blind experiment,
a. control and experimental subjects are told cover stories.
b. experimenters do not know which treatment the subjects are receiving.
c. subjects do not know which treatment they are receiving.
* d. neither the subjects nor the experimenter know which treatment the
subjects are receiving.

37. (A) Social Variables

Researchers implanted electrical devices into patients diagnosed with
congestive heart failure. They randomly assigned patients to either an
experimental condition (device turned on) or control condition (device turned
off) for 6 months. Neither the subjects nor the supervising physicians knew
their treatment condition until the study ended. Which design did these
researchers use?
* a. double-blind experiment
b. ex post facto study
c. pretest/posttest
d. single-blind experiment

38. (C) Social Variables

What does a double-blind experiment control?
a. demand characteristics
b. experimenter bias
c. confounding by context variables
* d. demand characteristics and experimenter bias

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39. (F) Social Variables

Wasson and colleagues’ (1984) study of outpatient health care in elderly men
kept both the patients and health-care providers from knowing
a. the medication administered to the patient.
b. the patient’s admitting diagnosis.
c. the patient’s prognosis.
* d. whether the patient was assigned to only one health-care provider.

40. (C) Social Variables

A double-blind experiment is not possible in studies like the hypothetical
investigation of cartoons and children’s art described in this chapter. Instead,
an experimenter can take precautions like keeping the person who scores
their drawings “blind” to their treatment condition, and standardizing testing
and scoring procedures. These steps help control confounding due to
a. context variables.
* b. experimenter bias.
c. Rosenthal effects.
d. subject selection threat.

41. (F) Personality Variables

Rosenthal reported that when an experimenter acts in a friendly manner,
subjects sometimes
a. achieve higher scores on adjustment tests.
b. achieve higher scores on intelligence tests.
c. learn better.
* d. all of these

42. (F) Personality Variables

All of these describe experimenters who score high on the social desirability
scale except
a. they are more enthusiastic.
b. they are more friendly.
* c. they obtain more “I don’t know” answers from respondents.
d. they smile more at their subjects.

43. (F) Personality Variables

____ interviewers often obtain the best data and the most usable responses.
a. Aggressive
b. Authoritarian
c. Hostile
* d. Likeable

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44. (F) Personality Variables

Experimenters who have a ____ demeanor obtain the most natural subject
behavior.
a. distant
b. hostile
* c. pleasant
d. warm

45. (A) Personality Variables

Zack is excited about how experimenter personality can positively influence
subject performance. He says, “This is so cool! I’m going to smile at all my
experimental subjects and they’re going to perform like Pavlov’s dog for me.”
What issue has Zack overlooked?
a. external validity
* b. internal validity
c. selection threat
d. selection-interaction threat

46. (A) Personality Variables

Pat’s relationship with his girlfriend during the 3 weeks he ran subjects
resembled a very scary roller coaster ride. Their frequent fights and making
up affected his performance in the lab. Some days he was angry and
withdrawn while on others he was happy and outgoing. His inconsistent
demeanor in both treatment conditions probably
a. increased statistical power.
b. made it harder to detect the effect of the IV.
c. made subject responses more variable.
* d. made it harder to detect the effect of the IV and made subject responses
more variable.

47. (A) Personality Variables

Keesha’s study involved deception. She was supposed to truthfully inform
control subjects that they might not have time to solve a difficult puzzle and lie
to experimental subjects that previous subjects completed the same puzzle
with time to spare. Sadly, she has no talent for lying. While she was relaxed in
the control condition, she was visibly anxious in the experimental condition.
This systematic change in her emotional state
* a. confounded her experiment.
b. made it easier to detect the effect of the IV.
c. made subject responses in each condition more variable.
d. made it easier to detect the effect of the IV and made subject responses
in each condition more variable.

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48. (F) Personality Variables

When you are the only experimenter, the best way to control the effect of your
personality on subject performance is to
a. adjust experimental procedures to each subject’s personality.
b. adjust your demeanor to each subject’s personality.
* c. minimize face-to-face contact.
d. adjust experimental procedures and your demeanor to each subject’s
personality.

49. (F) Personality Variables

Volunteer subjects may differ from nonvolunteers in that volunteers may be
a. less authoritarian.
b. more politically and socially liberal.
c. more intelligent.
* d. all of these

50. (C) Personality Variables

McNemar’s (1946) statement that “The existing science of human behavior is
largely the science of the behavior of sophomores” challenged the ____ of
academic research.
a. demand characteristics
b. experimenter bias
* c. external validity
d. internal validity

51. (F) Context Variables

All of these are context variables except
a. experiment selection by subjects.
b. how experimenters assign subjects to conditions.
c. how experimenters recruit subjects.
* d. how experimenters score data.

52. (C) Context Variables

When subjects sign up for studies that are scheduled at a convenient time or
have an exciting title, this can
* a. bias the sample.
b. confound the experiment.
c. reduce internal validity.
d. result in selection threat.

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53. (A) Context Variables

Cat was concerned that she might have difficulty obtaining subjects because
it was late in the semester. She brainstormed with her teammates and then
said, “Most of the experiments advertised this semester have totally boring
titles like ‘The Attribution Experiment.’ If we select an exciting title like ‘The
Extreme Sports Study,’ we’ll recruit hundreds of subjects.” The problem with
Cat’s solution is that it could
a. confound her experiment.
* b. reduce external validity.
c. reduce internal validity.
d. result in selection threat.

54. (A) Context Variables

Select the title that best follows the authors’ suggestions for obtaining an
unbiased sample.
a. “The Extreme Body Art Study”
b. “The Heavy Metal Music Experiment”
c. “The Sexual Practices Survey”
* d. “The Social Attribution Experiment”

55. (A) Context Variables

Timothy is a shy undergraduate who was pressured by his roommate to help
run a field experiment where he had to ask mall shoppers a large or small
favor. Since he found most subjects intimidating, he only approached
grandmothers and stray children in the large favor condition, and impatient
shoppers in the small favor condition. Timothy’s behavior
* a. confounded the experiment.
b. illustrated the Rosenthal effect.
c. introduced a demand characteristic.
d. was ethically inappropriate.

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Short Answer/Essay

1. Suppose you are trying to conduct your experiment, but the room has an
annoying noise. Describe the three strategies for controlling physical variables
that you should use to fix the problem.

2. Which of the three strategies for controlling physical variables is the best?
Second best? Why isn’t the best of the three strategies used all the time?

3. What are physical variables? How can they be controlled? Give an example.

4. What does it mean to “balance” an extraneous variable? Is it a good idea to

balance them? Why or why not?

5. What are social variables? Describe the two principal types of social variables.

6. What are demand characteristics? Identify a demand characteristic in the room

you are sitting in.

7. Participants in experiments often try to guess the hypothesis. Why is this a

problem?

8. State two ways you can control for demand characteristics.

9. Give an example of the placebo effect. What can be done about this problem?

10. What is meant by a cover story in research? What is its purpose? Why not
always use one?

11. What is experimenter bias? Give an example. What can be done about
experimenter bias?

12. What is the Rosenthal effect? How might this threaten an experiment? Explain.

13. What are people blind to in a “blind” experiment? Who is blind in a double-blind
experiment?

14. Give an example in which a personality variable endangers a study. What can be
done to reduce the effects of personality variables?

15. Which is more likely to affect the results of an experiment: the personality of the
researcher or the personalities of the participants? Justify your answer.

16. What are context variables? How are they different from other types of
extraneous variables?

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17. Why is it a problem when subjects select the experiments in which they
participate?

18. Give an example of a problem created by a researcher selecting his or her own
participants.

19. Name and describe four categories of extraneous variables.

20. Give an example of an experiment in which there is a social variable that is not
confounding and another example in which there is a physical variable that is
confounding. You may combine the two problems into one experiment if you
wish.

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