Short Answer

A health psychologist wants to study how people judge their own healthy eating habits. Apply the experimental design of Schwarz and colleagues' assertiveness study to this new topic. Describe the two experimental conditions and state the specific prediction that would support the ease-of-retrieval theory.

Question: A health psychologist wants to study how people judge their own healthy eating habits. Apply the experimental design of Schwarz and colleagues' assertiveness study to this new topic. Describe the two experimental conditions and state the specific prediction that would support the ease-of-retrieval theory.

Sample answer: The psychologist would ask one group of participants to recall 66 instances of eating healthily (an easy task) and another group to recall 1212 instances (a difficult task). The prediction supporting the ease-of-retrieval theory is that participants in the 66-example condition will judge their eating habits as healthier than those in the 1212-example condition, because the ease of recalling fewer examples suggests they eat healthily more naturally.

Key points:

  • Establishes two experimental groups based on recalling a small versus a large number of healthy eating examples.
  • Predicts that the group recalling fewer examples will judge themselves as healthier.
  • Applies ease-of-retrieval theory by attributing the higher self-judgment to the subjective ease of the task.

Feedback: The answer should describe two conditions (recalling a low number like 66 healthy eating behaviors versus a high number like 1212) and predict that the low-number group will rate their eating habits as healthier because the recall process felt easier.

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Updated 2026-05-27

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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