Deck 3: Experiments and Experimental Designs in Psychology

Question 1

In order to support the theory that children will model adult aggressive behaviour, 20 children were shown a film in which several adults acted quite aggressively. The children were then allowed to play on a bouncy castle. They were observed and the number of aggressive responses they produced was counted. A second group of 20 children served as controls and were shown a non-violent nature film. They also played on the bouncy castle. Children were allocated to conditions at random. It was predicted that the children seeing the aggressive film would produce more aggressive responses than those seeing the nature film and this was found to be the case.
-1) In the study described above, the independent variable is:

A) The bouncy castle
B) The nature of the film shown
C) The number of aggressive responses observed
D) The adults

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In order to support the theory that children will model adult aggressive behaviour, 20 children were shown a film in which several adults acted quite aggressively. The children were then allowed to play on a bouncy castle. They were observed and the number of aggressive responses they produced was counted. A second group of 20 children served as controls and were shown a non-violent nature film. They also played on the bouncy castle. Children were allocated to conditions at random. It was predicted that the children seeing the aggressive film would produce more aggressive responses than those seeing the nature film and this was found to be the case.
-2) The dependent variable in the study described above is:

A) The bouncy castle
B) The nature of the film shown
C) The number of aggressive responses observed
D) The adults

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In order to support the theory that children will model adult aggressive behaviour, 20 children were shown a film in which several adults acted quite aggressively. The children were then allowed to play on a bouncy castle. They were observed and the number of aggressive responses they produced was counted. A second group of 20 children served as controls and were shown a non-violent nature film. They also played on the bouncy castle. Children were allocated to conditions at random. It was predicted that the children seeing the aggressive film would produce more aggressive responses than those seeing the nature film and this was found to be the case.
-3) The experimental design used in the study described above is:

A) Repeated measures
B) Independent samples
C) Matched pairs
D) Single case

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In order to support the theory that children will model adult aggressive behaviour, 20 children were shown a film in which several adults acted quite aggressively. The children were then allowed to play on a bouncy castle. They were observed and the number of aggressive responses they produced was counted. A second group of 20 children served as controls and were shown a non-violent nature film. They also played on the bouncy castle. Children were allocated to conditions at random. It was predicted that the children seeing the aggressive film would produce more aggressive responses than those seeing the nature film and this was found to be the case.
-4) Random allocation is used in the study described above to deal with the problem of:

A) Non-randomly organised stimuli
B) Demand characteristics
C) Non-equivalent groups
D) Order effects

Question 5

5) One major strength of the experimental method over other methods is that it:

A) Can isolate cause and effect relationships between variables
B) Involves participant reactivity
C) Can create artificial conditions because variables are tightly defined and controlled
D) Permits participants to express themselves freely

Question 6

6) In a repeated measures experimental design one way to avoid order effects is to:

A) Allocate participants to groups at random
B) Counterbalance conditions
C) Use a placebo group
D) Ask participants to forget all about the first condition of their experiment

Question 7

7) In a matched pairs design:

A) Each participant is paired with any other participant in the sample group and the two are randomly allocated one to each condition
B) Each participant is paired with someone they choose to be paired with and the two are allocated one to each condition
C) Each participant is paired with someone of similar age and the two are allocated one to each condition
D) Each participant is paired with someone who is at the same level on the variables identified for matching and the two are randomly allocated one to each condition

Question 8

8) One major disadvantage of the independent samples experimental design is:

A) The possibility of order effects
B) The need to counterbalance conditions
C) The difficulty of creating equivalent stimuli for each condition
D) The creation of non-equivalent groups

Question 9

9) One way to lessen the probability of non-equivalent groups is:

A) To randomly allocate all participants to conditions
B) To counterbalance conditions
C) To put participants who arrive early into one condition and later arrivals into the other
D) To make sure each group has the same average level of IQ

Question 10

10) One disadvantage of the experimental method in psychology is that:

A) Only one independent variable can be tested at a time
B) Tight control of variables can make the experimental situation rather artificial for participants
C) Measurement of people's performance is always rather difficult
D) The method of observation cannot be used