When Experimenters Have a Vested Interest in Confirming Their Hypotheses

question 61

Multiple Choice

When experimenters have a vested interest in confirming their hypotheses, we sometimes see that

• A) researchers can subtly, unintentionally influence participants' performances.
• B) the evidence doesn't actually support their hypotheses.
• C) data analysis changes the way the hypothesis is framed.
• D) subjects try harder to mess up the data.

---

Definitions:

Semantic System

A cognitive system responsible for storing information about words, their meanings, and the relationships between them.

Basal Ganglia

A group of structures in the brain involved in coordinating movement and reward.

Procedural Memory

A skill memory or the memory of a highly practiced behavior.

Interference

A phenomenon in which the learning of new information hampers the retrieval of older information.