A researcher is interested in the social behavior of mice. He hypothesizes that mice from Strain A will be more social than mice from Strain B, and Strain B will be significantly more social than mice from Strain C. Mice from each of the three different strains (20 mice in each strain) are raised in a laboratory. The mice are group housed with members of its own strain. All the mice receive the exact same amount of food, water, and light over the first 10 weeks of life. At 11 weeks of age, each mouse is placed in a cage with a novel mouse from his own strain. The mouse's investigatory behavior toward the other mouse is timed for 10 minutes.
The researcher then decided to run the experiment again. This time mice of each strain were singly housed, isolated from members of their own strain for the 11 weeks. Now she finds that p = .048. This suggests
A) isolation reduces social interaction.
B) the researcher's original hypothesis was correct.
C) isolation might bring about strain differences in investigatory behavior.
D) mice enjoy isolation.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that there was a significant difference in investigatory behavior between strains when the mice were isolated suggests that isolation may bring about strain differences in social behavior. This contradicts the researcher's original hypothesis that strain differences in social behavior are due solely to genetic factors.

A Researcher Is Interested in the Social Behavior of Mice