Ch. 9 - Social Psychology as a Science

Question 1

Debriefing

Answer 1

The procedure whereby the purpose of the study and exactly what transpired are explained to participants at the end of an experiment.

Question 2

Random Assignment

Answer 2

The process whereby all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment, allowing researchers to be relatively certain that differences in their participants are distributed evenly across conditions.

Question 3

Mundane Realism

Answer 3

The extent to which an experiment is similar to events that frequently happen to people in everyday life.

Question 4

Experimental Realism

Answer 4

When an experiment has an impact on the participants, forces them to take the matter seriously, and involves them in the procedures.

Question 5

Independent Variable

Answer 5

The variable an experimenter changes/varies to see if it has an efect on some other variable.

Question 6

Dependent Variable

Answer 6

In an experiment, the variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable.

Question 7

Cover Story

Answer 7

The setting and scenario of an experiment designed to increase experimental realism by producing a situation in which the participants can behave naturally without being affected by the knowledge of which aspect of their behavior is being studied.

Question 8

Replication

Answer 8

In the scientific method, where original studies are repeated by other investigators in other labs to clarify research and establish which conditions the research’s results apply to.