Callie Is Interested in Whether Men Are More Likely to Make

question 35

Essay

Callie is interested in whether men are more likely to make eye contact with a male conversation partner than a female partner. She is also interested in whether the topic of conversation (masculine topic vs feminine topic) affects the amount of eye contact men make with their conversation partner. She randomly assigns 200 male participants to interact with either a male or female conversation partner (played by a research assistant) and to either discuss a masculine (sports) or feminine (childcare) topic for 5 mins. Research assistants then time eye contact duration for each participant over the 5 min window. Identify each of the following: The general method used by the researcher, the independent and dependent variables, the number of conditions or study groups, and whether or not Callie can make causal inferences from her results. Why or why not can Callie infer causality from this design? Are there any possible interaction effects and how do you know?

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Definitions:

Natural Selection

The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring, a core concept of evolutionary theory.

Genetic Evolution

The changes in allele frequencies within a population over time, due to mechanisms such as natural selection and genetic drift.

Behavioral Evolution

The study of how behavior changes over time in response to environmental pressures, driven by the process of natural selection.

Highly Stereotyped

describes behaviors, actions, or characteristics oversimplified and generalized across a group without individual differentiation.