Gary's son Sam is learning to drive. Each night, Gary takes Sam out in the family car for driving lessons. Gary notices that Sam improves more in lessons in which Gary is extremely critical. In fact, the more critical Gary is, the more Sam improves. After Sam gets his driver's license, Gary's wife Chrissy tells him that every time Gary was critical of Sam, she took him out so he could improve before his next lesson with his father. What was the problem with Gary's initial interpretation of Sam's improvement?
A)parsimonious problem
B)nonrepresentative sample problem
C)generalizability problem
D)bidirectionality problem
E)third variable problem

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Gary incorrectly attributed Sam's improvement to his own critical feedback, overlooking the third variable in the situation, which was Chrissy's additional lessons. This third variable, Chrissy's intervention, was the actual cause of Sam's improvement, not the critical feedback from Gary.

Gary's Son Sam Is Learning to Drive