A researcher was interested in the effects of mood on aggression. She decided to see how receiving an insult or a compliment affects aggression, and she measured aggression by having participants administer small shocks to another participant. The researcher found that participants in the insult condition were more aggressive than those in the compliment condition. One of her colleagues reads about this research and voices concern that people in the insult condition may have been more naturally aggressive than people in the compliment condition, causing the differences observed by the researcher. This concern about pre-existing differences between participants in the two conditions would only be valid if

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Random assignment to conditions is necessary to ensure that any pre-existing differences between participants are evenly distributed among the groups. If participants were not randomly assigned, then it is possible that the groups could differ on variables that are unrelated to the insult or compliment manipulation, and this could confound the results. The other options are not relevant to the concern raised by the colleague.

A Researcher Was Interested in the Effects of Mood on Aggression