REVIEW #1 - Intro and Research Methods

1. A researcher is conducting an experiment to determine whether a new drug reduces symptoms of

anxiety. Why is it important to use a double-blind procedure?

(A) To ensure that the sample is randomly selected

(B) To prevent experimenter and participant bias from influencing results
(C) To allow the participants to choose their own treatment condition
(D) To maximize the placebo effect

2. A researcher is observing children at a playground and recording how often they engage in aggressive
behaviors. This type of research is best described as:

(A) Experimental
(B) Correlational
(C) Naturalistic observation
(D) Case study

3. What is the dependent variable in an experiment testing the effects of sleep deprivation on memory
performance?

(A) The number of hours of sleep participants get

(B) The difficulty level of the memory test
(C) The scores participants achieve on the memory test
(D) The age of the participants

4. A study finds that students who listen to music while studying tend to score higher on tests. However,
the researcher fails to consider that students who listen to music may also study for longer periods. This
is an example of:

(A) A placebo effect

(B) Experimenter bias
(C) A confounding variable
(D) A dependent variable

5. A client reports feeling better after taking a sugar pill, believing it to be an actual medication. This
demonstrates:

(A) The hindsight bias

(B) A placebo effect
(C) Dependent variable
(D) Experimenter bias

6. A survey finds a positive correlation between hours spent exercising and reported levels of happiness.
What is the best interpretation of this finding?

(A) Exercising causes people to feel happier

(B) Happiness causes people to exercise more
(C) A third variable, such as overall health, may explain the relationship
(D) There is no relationship between exercise and happiness
7. Dr. Kim designs a study in which participants are unknowingly exposed to a stressful situation. To
meet ethical guidelines, what must Dr. Kim do after the study?

(A) Conduct a debriefing session

(B) Provide informed consent
(C) Repeat the study multiple times
(D) Keep participants’ identities confidential

8. A researcher randomly selects 1,000 students from a large university to participate in a study. This
method allows the researcher to:

(A) Ensure every student at the university has an equal chance of being selected
(B) Establish a cause-and-effect relationship
(C) Control for all confounding variables
(D) Ensure that the sample size is large enough for statistical significance

9. A researcher is conducting a study on memory. She operationally defines memory as "the number of
words correctly recalled from a list of 20 words." Why is an operational definition important?

(A) It allows the study to be replicated by other researchers

(B) It ensures that only participants with strong memory skills are included
(C) It prevents experimenter bias
(D) It guarantees significant results

10. A psychology professor is conducting a study on test anxiety. He asks students to report their stress
levels before an exam and compares them to their exam scores. This study is an example of:

(A) Experimental research

(B) Correlational research
(C) Naturalistic observation
(D) Longitudinal research

11. Which of the following is the best example of random assignment?

(A) Selecting participants who already take the same psychology class
(B) Allowing participants to choose which experimental condition they prefer
(C) Using a lottery system to place participants into control and experimental groups
(D) Choosing participants based on their previous experience with the subject

12. A researcher is studying whether caffeine affects reaction time. What is the independent variable in this
experiment?

(A) The amount of caffeine consumed

(B) The time of day the test is given
(C) The participants' reaction time
(D) The number of participants in the study
13. A researcher is developing a new intelligence test. To determine whether the test produces consistent
results over time, he administers it to the same group of individuals on two separate occasions. Which
aspect of psychological testing is the researcher evaluating?

(A) Reliability
(B) Validity
(C) Standardization
(D) Generalizability

14. A researcher collects the following set of numbers representing students’ scores on a recent quiz: 3, 5,
7, 9, 11, 13, 15. Which of the following represents the median?

(A) 7
(B) 9
(C) 11
(D) 13

15. In a class of students who took a math test, their scores were recorded as follows: 2, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8, 8, 10.
Which of the following best describes the mode?

(A) 4
(B) 6
(C) 8
(D) 10

16. A teacher records the ages of five students in her class: 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 years old. What is the
range of scores?

(A) 6
(B) 12
(C) 24
(D) 36

17. A study examining the correlation between daily screen time and reported sleep quality finds a
coefficient of -0.75. Which conclusion is most accurate?

(A) More screen time is strongly associated with poorer sleep quality
(B) More screen time causes poor sleep quality
(C) There is a weak relationship between screen time and sleep quality
(D) As screen time decreases and sleep quality decreases as well

18. A new personality assessment claims to measure extroversion, but when compared to well-established
personality tests, the results show little correlation with existing extroversion measures. What does this
suggest about the new assessment?

(A) It has high validity

(B) It lacks validity
(C) It has high reliability but low standardization
(D) It is a strong predictor of future behavior
AAQ Practice
A Study Comparing Incentive Theory and Drive Reduction Theory in Motivating
Behavior

Introduction
Motivation plays a central role in guiding human behavior, and several psychological
theories have been developed to understand what drives individuals to act. Two widely
studied theories are Incentive Theory and Drive Reduction Theory. Incentive Theory
suggests that behavior is motivated by the pursuit of external rewards, such as money,
recognition, or other incentives. Drive Reduction Theory, on the other hand, posits that
behavior is motivated by the need to reduce internal physiological drives, such as
hunger or thirst. This study aims to explore how these two theories apply to real-world
behaviors by examining how external rewards (incentives) and biological needs
influence individuals' motivation to engage in a task. A control group will also be
included to measure the impact of these manipulations compared to normal conditions.
The researcher believed that participants who are offered an external incentive (such as
a $50 reward) will perform better on the puzzle-solving task, solving more puzzles and
completing the task faster, compared to participants in other conditions.

Participants
The study involved 250 participants, aged 18 to 35, who were recruited from a local
university. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an incentive
group, a drive reduction group, and a control group. The groups were balanced in terms
of gender, age, and academic background.
Methods
 Incentive Condition: Participants in this group were told they would receive a $50
reward upon completing the puzzle task. The researchers provided clear
information about the incentive, ensuring participants understood the reward.
 Drive Reduction Condition: Participants in this group were asked to fast for 4 hours
prior to the experiment. This created a state of hunger, which is a physiological
drive that the participants would seek to reduce by eating after completing the
task.
 Control Condition: Participants in this group completed the puzzle-solving task
without any external reward or manipulation of physiological needs. They were
simply told to complete the task as part of the study, with no additional incentives
or physiological prompts.
All participants were asked to complete a puzzle-solving task designed to take
approximately 30 minutes. The task involved solving a series of 10 challenging puzzles.
The time taken to complete the task, the number of puzzles solved, and the
participants’ self-reported satisfaction with their performance were recorded. The
researchers anonymized participants’ responses and securely stored their data.
Results
The analysis of the data revealed the following outcomes:

The analysis of the data revealed notable differences between the groups. Participants
in the incentive group, who were offered a $50 reward for completing the puzzle task,
performed the best. On average, they completed the task in 28 minutes and solved 15
puzzles. Their satisfaction with the task was also the highest, with an average rating of
8 out of 10.
Participants in the drive reduction group, who were made to feel hungry by fasting for 4
hours before the task, took longer to complete the task, averaging 32 minutes. They
solved fewer puzzles, with an average of 13 completed, and reported lower satisfaction,
with an average rating of 6.

The control group, who did not receive any external reward or physiological
manipulation, completed the task in 30 minutes on average and solved 12 puzzles.
Their satisfaction rating was 7, which was slightly higher than the drive reduction group
but lower than the incentive group.

Discussion
The findings of this study suggest that external rewards, as outlined in Incentive Theory,
have a significant impact on motivation and task performance. Participants who were
promised a monetary reward for completing the task were able to perform more
efficiently and solve more puzzles, indicating that external incentives were effective in
motivating their behavior.
On the other hand, while Drive Reduction Theory suggests that physiological drives
(such as hunger) should motivate individuals to perform behaviors to reduce discomfort,
the participants in the drive reduction group did not perform as well. This could be
because hunger, while a strong biological drive, may not be as motivating in a non-
survival context, and the discomfort may have hindered their ability to focus on the
task. The participants in the incentive group likely had a clearer and more immediate
goal (the $50 reward), whereas the drive reduction group might not have felt the same
urgency, as food was not immediately available.
The control group performed similarly to the drive reduction group, solving slightly fewer
puzzles and taking slightly less time than the incentive group, suggesting that the task
performance of the control group was impacted by the absence of motivational factors.
These results suggest that both external rewards and internal drives can influence
motivation, but in this context, Incentive Theory appeared to be a stronger predictor of
task performance than Drive Reduction Theory.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that external rewards can be highly motivating, potentially
even more so than physiological drives, in contexts where the reward is clear and
desirable. While Drive Reduction Theory explains behaviors driven by biological needs,
such as eating when hungry, it seems that external incentives can sometimes provide a
more immediate and efficient source of motivation in non-essential tasks. The addition
of a control group helped clarify the effects of the manipulations and revealed that when
no external rewards or physiological drives are introduced, task performance may still
be driven by other factors, but to a lesser extent. These findings suggest that
motivation may be more effectively influenced by external incentives in specific goal-
oriented tasks, while biological drives play a more significant role in behaviors essential
for survival.

A. Identify the research method used in the study.

B. State the operational definition of task performance.

C. Describe the results of the comparison between the incentive

group, drive reduction group, and control group..

D. Identify at least one ethical guideline applied by the

researchers.

E. Explain the extent to which the research findings may or may

not be generalizable using specific and relevant evidence
from the study.
F. Explain how the research findings support or refute the
hypothesis that external incentives lead to higher task
performance compared to physiological drives like hunger.