When researching the effects of fear on people's tendency to affiliate with others, researchers wanted to verify that their fear induction manipulation actually made half of their participants more afraid during the study, so they wrote the following item, "how afraid do you feel right now," and mixed it in with other items on affective states. This item is:
A) an independent variable
B) a dependent variable
C) a moderator variable
D) a manipulation check

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The item "how afraid do you feel right now" is a manipulation check used to verify that the fear induction manipulation was successful. Therefore, it is not an independent variable because it was not deliberately manipulated by the researchers. It is not a dependent variable because it is not being measured as an outcome of the study. It is not a moderator variable because it is not being tested for its effect on the relationship between two other variables. Therefore, the best choice is D, a manipulation check.

When Researching the Effects of Fear on People's Tendency to Affiliate