Posted: February 10th, 2015

Assignment

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

QUESTION 1 (worth 16 marks)
ASSIGNMENT
1) Let’s suppose that you want to test the effects of three different amounts of a new energy drink called “Blast” on performance on a multiplication task, using the experimental method of research.
1A) Identify the independent and dependent variables.
1B) Provide an operational definition for the dependent variable.
1C) What would the control and experimental groups be?
1D) What is a placebo effect? Is it a concern in this study? Briefly explain.
1E) Identify one control procedure that you might use. In other words, what is one thing that would be important to hold constant across all subjects?
1F) Do you need to use random assignment and random selection of subjects? Explain. 1G) Identify one thing that could theoretically end up acting as a confounding variable and explain why it would be a confounding variable.
1H) What is a double-blind procedure? Comment about whether it should be used in this study.
1I) What type of conclusion can you draw from this method of research? Why?
QUESTION 2 (worth 11 marks)
2A) If you wanted to determine whether there is a relationship between “Blast” and “intelligence” and decided to use the correlation method of research, what might you do? 2B) Suppose you find that these two variables are strongly correlated and that the more Blast a person drinks, the more intelligent they are. Are you able to conclude that Blast consumption is the cause for level of intelligence? Explain your answer.
2C) Give one variable that would likely be positively correlated with the consumption of Blast in university students.
2D) Give one variable that would likely be negatively correlated with the consumption of Blast in university students. (Don’t give the same answer as in 2C)
2E) If the correlation coefficient between Blast and intelligence is r = -.86, describe how these two variables are related.
2F) Draw a scatterplot that would approximately illustrate this correlation.
QUESTION 3 (worth 8 marks)
3) Using a “classical conditioning diagram” (like I used in lecture or as shown in Figure 20.4 on pg 281 of your text) show how a “fear of orange hats” might come about as a result of higher-order conditioning, with “orange hat” being the higher-order CS (sometimes called “second-order” CS). Be sure to show all of the steps involved and label all important components. If any information is missing, you should “make it up”.

QUESTION 4 (worth 15 marks)
Waldo graduated from high school with a 95% average. Harvey, a mutual friend says, “Wow, with grades like that he must be really smart! He can thank genetics for that because his parents are also smart! I want to construct my own IQ test and see how Waldo scores on it.”
4A) Do you agree with Harvey’s belief that Waldo must be smart because of his grades? Explain.
4B) Do you agree that genetics are responsible for Waldo’s intelligence? In your answer, briefly discuss the results of twin and adoptive studies and explain the idea behind reaction range.
4C) Harvey wants to construct his own intelligence test and wants to ensure that it’s a good one. What advice would you give him about test construction?