Eila is participating in a psychological experiment for one of the graduate students at her university. She is pretty confident that she knows the true intent of the study and is trying to answer the questions accordingly. A common pitfall in experiments, Eila is falling prey to
A)intentionality.
B)the Rosenthal effect.
C)observer bias.
D)demand characteristics.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eila is demonstrating demand characteristics, which refers to the tendency of participants to try to figure out the purpose of the study and then behave accordingly. This can compromise the validity of the study's results. The other options are not applicable here - intentionality refers to the purposeful manipulation of independent variables, the Rosenthal effect is a type of experimenter bias, and observer bias refers to the impact of the researcher's own beliefs on their interpretation of data.

Eila Is Participating in a Psychological Experiment for One of the Graduate