Dr Treadwell Is Designing a Study to Test the Effectiveness

question 250

Multiple Choice

Dr. Treadwell is designing a study to test the effectiveness of a new memory enhancement technique. He has two research assistants who will be carrying out the research for him and because he is curious, he tells one of the research assistants to expect the technique to significantly improve memory while he tells the other assistant to expect only a moderate improvement. Neither research assistant mentions their expectations to the participants. After the study has been completed, Dr. Treadwell notices that each research assistant obtained results consistent with what they had been led to expect. Participants who were studied by the first research assistant actually showed a significant improvement in memory while participants who were studied by the second research assistant only showed a moderate improvement. This result is most likely an example of

• A)the placebo effect
• B)social desirability bias
• C)experimenter expectancy effects
• D)the double-blind procedure

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Definitions:

Sclera

White, fibrous, outer layer of the eyeball.

Sensory Adaptation

Change in the sensitivity of a receptor that usually makes the receptor less sensitive to its stimulus.

Proprioception

The sense of the relative position of one's own parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement.

Somatic Sensing

Somatic sensing involves the perception of bodily sensations, including touch, temperature, pain, and proprioception, integral to physical experiences.