book chapter 2 (2)

Question 1

perfectly controlled experiment

Answer 1

Experimenters perform an appropriate intervention on an independent variable and then measure the effect of this intervention on the dependent variable

Question 2

operational definition

Answer 2

A specification of the conditions when some concept applies, enabling measurement or other kinds of precision

Question 3

Clustor indicators

Answer 3

Identify several markers of some variable in order to more precisely measure it while not oversimplifying it

Question 4

direct variable control

Answer 4

when all extraneous variables are held at constant values during an intervention

Question 5

indirect variable control

Answer 5

To allow extraneous variables to vary in a way that is independent from the intervention

Question 6

experimental group

Answer 6

Receives the intervention to the independent variable

Question 7

Control group

Answer 7

Experience the default other value(s) of the independent variable

Question 8

Randomization (indirect variable control)

Answer 8

the indiscriminate assignment of experimental entities to either the experimental group or the control group

Question 9

sample size

Answer 9

Refers to the number of individual sources of data in a study

Question 10

blind experiment

Answer 10

an experiment that is designed so that not even the researcher knows which subjects are in the control group and which are in the experimental group

This way researchers expectations can affect the results

Question 11

Double blind experiment

Answer 11

The possibility that both researchers and subjects are unaware of which subjects are in which group

Question 12

Placebo effect

Answer 12

If participants or experimenters expect a particular medicine to be effective, then that expectation can directly lead to improved health

Question 13

Deception (control for participants expectation)

Answer 13

actively misinforming participants to interfere with how their expectations influence their behavior

Question 14

milgram experiment

Answer 14

Milgram’s experiment involved three roles: learner, experimenter, and teacher.
Each subject waited in a lounge with another person whom they were led to
believe was a second subject. In fact, the second person was a confederate —an
actor pretending to be a subject—who was to play the role of learner. A third
person—yet another confederate—played the role of authoritative experimenter.
This person briefl y and vaguely gave a contrived explanation of the experiment
(not the real experiment). The supposed experimenter then pretended to randomly
assign the other two individuals to play the roles of teacher and learner. In
fact, the assignment was rigged; the naïve subject was always assigned to play
the role of teacher, and the second ‘subject’—Milgram’s confederate—was
always assigned to be the learner. The experimenter accompanied both individuals into a staged laboratory setting, using heavy restraints to strap in the
learner to what appeared to be an electrifi ed chair apparatus. To ensure that
the naïve subject believed that the chair was actually operative, the experimenter
delivered a real but mild shock.
The experimenter then led the subject to a separate room with what appeared
to be an electric shock generator. The machine had an instrument panel, consisting
of 30 horizontal switches, each labeled by voltage, or strength of electric current.
The labeled voltage ranged from 15 to 450 volts. Switches were grouped into
eight categories of shock: slight, moderate, strong, very strong, intense, extreme
intensity, danger: severe shock, and, fi nally, just ‘XXX’. A switch was fl ipped, then
a red light turned on, an electric buzzing was heard, and the voltage meter would
fl uctuate. The experimenter pretended to have the teacher (the naïve subject)
administer a learning task of four word pairs, which the learner was supposed
to learn. The experimenter instructed the subject to fl ip a switch for each wrong
answer, starting from 15 volt shocks and increasing for each error until the learner
had learned all the pairs correctly.
The dependent variable of the real experiment was the maximum shock
subjects were willing to administer before refusing to continue. What results
do you think Milgram obtained? Out of, say, 100 subjects, how many do you
think would have administered shocks up to the highest level when instructed
to do so? In Milgram’s fi rst study, he found that, although many displayed
deep discomfort at doing so, a full 65% of subjects administered the highest
level of shock, marked ‘XXX’.

Question 15

confederate

Answer 15

An actor pretending to be a subject