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

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this study is interpersonal attraction. This is the outcome variable that the researcher is measuring based on the different conditions that participants were exposed to in the study. While similarity and social warmth are important variables in understanding interpersonal attraction, they are not the variables that the researcher is measuring as the dependent variable.

A Researcher Is Interested in Interpersonal Attraction and the Factors