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Example of Causal Limitations: Private Body Consciousness and Moral Judgments
The study by Schnall and colleagues illustrates the causal limitations of non-manipulated variables. While researchers could conclude that the manipulated variable of disgust affected the harshness of moral judgments, they could not make the same causal claim about private body consciousness. Because private body consciousness was only measured and not manipulated, any association with moral judgments might be caused by an unmeasured third variable, such as neuroticism, that independently increases both bodily awareness and moral strictness.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Example of Causal Limitations: Private Body Consciousness and Moral Judgments
Example of Causal Limitations in a Non-Experimental Factorial Design
Why are findings related to a non-manipulated independent variable, such as a personality trait, considered strictly correlational even when included in an experimental study?
In a psychology study that includes both manipulated and non-manipulated factors, the conclusions a researcher can draw depend on how each variable is handled. Match each concept with its role in determining whether a relationship is causal or correlational.
A researcher conducts an experiment where participants are randomly assigned to either a 'caffeine' or 'placebo' group to test reaction time. They also measure each participant's 'typical hours of sleep.' The results show that caffeine improves reaction time and that people who sleep more also have faster reaction times. Based on this study, the researcher is justified in concluding that getting more sleep caused the faster reaction times.
A researcher conducts a study and finds that participants with high 'Trait Anxiety' (a non-manipulated variable) report significantly higher levels of social stress. To evaluate the causal status of this finding, arrange the following analytical steps in the correct logical order, from the initial observation to the final determination of causal validity.
In experiments that utilize both manipulated and non-manipulated independent variables, researchers can draw causal conclusions regarding both variables as long as they are studied within the same experimental design.
In an experiment that includes both a manipulated independent variable and a non-manipulated independent variable, why must researchers restrict their causal conclusions strictly to the manipulated factor?
A researcher investigates how 'Caffeine Intake' (a manipulated factor) and 'Introversion' (a non-manipulated participant variable) affect memory performance. The researcher concludes that being an introvert 'caused' the participants to remember more words. To evaluate the scientific validity of this causal claim, a peer reviewer must identify that the relationship between the participant variable and memory is strictly _____ because the researcher did not utilize random assignment for that factor.
A researcher designs a factorial study in which participants are randomly assigned to either a clean or a messy room (manipulated variable) and are also grouped by their private body consciousness score from a self-report questionnaire (non-manipulated variable). Both factors are used to predict the harshness of participants' moral judgments. Apply the principle of causal limitations by matching each element of this study to its correct methodological role or permitted conclusion.
A researcher runs a factorial experiment in which participants are randomly assigned to either a distracting or a quiet work environment (manipulated independent variable), and each participant's level of trait anxiety is measured with a validated questionnaire before the task begins (non-manipulated independent variable). After analyzing the results, the researcher observes that high-trait-anxiety participants performed significantly worse on the task than low-trait-anxiety participants. A classmate reviewing the study correctly argues: 'Even though the anxiety difference in performance is statistically significant, the researcher is not justified in concluding that trait anxiety _____ task performance, because participants were not randomly assigned to anxiety levels, and an unmeasured third variable could account for both the higher anxiety scores and the lower performance scores.'
A researcher publishes a factorial study in which participants are randomly assigned to receive either positive or neutral performance feedback (manipulated), and their scores on a 'need for cognition' scale are used to classify them as high or low (non-manipulated). The study finds that high-need-for-cognition participants generated significantly more creative solutions than low-need-for-cognition participants. The researcher concludes: 'Need for cognition caused greater creative output.' Arrange the following steps in the order a critical peer reviewer should apply them to evaluate the validity of that causal claim.
In experiments that utilize both manipulated and non-manipulated independent variables, why are researchers restricted to drawing causal conclusions only about the manipulated variable? Describe the primary methodological reason and the resulting nature of the findings for the non-manipulated variable.
Analyze this research scenario to explain which findings can support causal claims and which cannot. Justify your answer by explaining the differences in participant assignment and control between the two independent variables.
An experimenter tests whether a new memory-training technique (manipulated, with random assignment) and a participant's age (non-manipulated) affect recall ability. They discover that older participants perform worse on the recall task. Can they conclude that aging causes a decline in recall ability based on this study? Explain in one to three sentences.
Learn After
In a study on disgust and moral judgments, researchers manipulated feelings of disgust and also measured participants' level of private body consciousness (awareness of internal bodily sensations). Why were the researchers unable to make a causal claim about private body consciousness and moral judgments?
In Schnall and colleagues' study on disgust and morality, researchers found that different research components provided different levels of evidence for causality. Match each component of the study with the statement that best describes its role or limitation in establishing a causal claim about moral judgments.
Researchers found that while manipulated disgust levels influenced moral judgments, the association between measured private body consciousness and those same judgments could not be claimed as causal. Arrange the steps of the logical analysis that leads to the conclusion that this relationship is limited by a third-variable problem.
A researcher argues that the study by Schnall and colleagues provides sufficient evidence to conclude that private body consciousness causes harsher moral judgments because the researchers found a significant association between the two. This researcher's evaluation of the study's causal evidence is scientifically sound.
In the study by Schnall and colleagues, the researchers were able to rule out the third-variable problem for private body consciousness because they statistically controlled for all potentially confounding personality traits like neuroticism.
A researcher finds that individuals who score high on a 'private body consciousness' scale also tend to make harsher moral judgments. According to the causal logic illustrated by Schnall and colleagues, the researcher cannot conclude that body awareness causes these judgments because the relationship might be driven by a(n) _____ variable, such as neuroticism.
In the study by Schnall and colleagues, the researchers suggested that the correlation between private body consciousness and moral strictness might be caused by an unmeasured third variable such as _____.
A researcher measures participants' daily screen time and assesses their sleep quality using a questionnaire. They find a statistically significant association: higher screen time predicts poorer sleep quality. Applying the causal logic illustrated by Schnall and colleagues' study on disgust and moral judgments, which conclusion is BEST supported by this finding?
In Schnall and colleagues' study on disgust and moral judgments, several distinct methodological features each carry specific implications for causal inference. Match each feature to the conclusion it supports or the limitation it creates.
A student reads the Schnall et al. study and wants to evaluate whether the claim 'private body consciousness causes harsher moral judgments' is scientifically justified. Arrange the following evaluation steps in the order that produces the most logically rigorous assessment, from first to last.
Based on the study by Schnall and colleagues, identify which variable was manipulated and which was only measured. Then, explain why the researchers could not make a causal claim about the relationship between the measured variable and moral judgments, specifically recalling the potential third variable they suggested.
Evaluate the student's causal claims. Based on the logic of research design and causal limitations discussed in the text, explain why the claim regarding disgust is justified while the claim regarding private body consciousness is not, and describe how an unmeasured third variable could explain the latter finding.
A researcher finds a correlation between participants' measured level of self-reflection and their strictness on moral judgments, and concludes that self-reflection causes moral strictness. Apply the causal limitation principles from the Schnall et al. study to write a brief two-sentence critique of this conclusion and state what must be done to the variable to establish causality.