Eric is conducting a study in which he compares people who are over 60 to people who are 40 to people who are in their 20s.He compares them on their level of narcissism.He finds that younger people are more narcissistic, and concludes that narcissism weakens as a person ages.A colleague points out to him that perhaps the younger people are more narcissistic not because of their age, but because they were surrounded by social media as they grew up, and that exposure to things like Facebook might be what promotes narcissism rather than youth.The older participants were not exposed to Facebook in their early years.Eric's colleague is raising the possibility of a(n) _____ effect.

Question

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Eric's colleague is suggesting that the difference in levels of narcissism between the age groups is not due to their age, but to the different cohorts they belong to (those who grew up with social media vs. those who did not). This is known as a cohort effect. A placebo effect occurs when a participant's response is influenced by their belief in the treatment rather than the treatment itself. An experimental effect refers to the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. A longitudinal study is one that collects data over a period of time.

Eric Is Conducting a Study in Which He Compares People