Learn Before
Eysenck's 1952 Psychotherapy Effectiveness Study
In a classic 1952 article, researcher Hans Eysenck challenged the assumed effectiveness of psychotherapy by evaluating the results of existing pretest-posttest designs. Although the original clinical studies showed patient improvement after receiving therapy, Eysenck compared these results to archival data from state hospitals and insurance companies for untreated patients. He found that both the treated and untreated groups recovered at similar rates. This highlighted that the improvements observed in the treated group were likely due to spontaneous remission rather than the psychotherapy itself, underscoring the absolute necessity of including a proper control group to accurately measure treatment efficacy.
0
1
Tags
KPU
Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
Related
A researcher wants to test if a new 'mind-mapping' study technique improves exam scores. They recruit 50 students, have them all use the mind-mapping technique for one week, and then measure their scores on a final exam. The researcher concludes that since the average score was 85%, the technique is effective. What is the most significant flaw in this research design?
Eysenck's 1952 Psychotherapy Effectiveness Study
What is the primary purpose of a control group in an experimental study?
Because they serve as a baseline for comparison, participants in a clinical control group should not be offered the experimental treatment, even after the study has concluded and the treatment is found to be highly beneficial.
A researcher conducts a study to determine if a new 'Focus Meditation' audio track improves exam performance. She assigns half the students to listen to the meditation (Group A) and the other half to listen to unrelated nature sounds (Group B). After finding that Group A scored significantly higher, she provides the meditation track to Group B. Match the elements of this study to the conceptual roles they fulfill.
A researcher is testing a new relaxation technique to reduce stress. Arrange the steps of the research process in the correct logical order to demonstrate how a control group allows for the analysis of the technique's effectiveness and ensures ethical fairness.
Match each term related to experimental design and ethics with its correct definition based on the concept of a control group.
In a psychological study testing a new intervention, which of the following best describes the scientific function of the control group and the ethical obligation that follows if the study is successful?
When evaluating whether a researcher has treated participants fairly after a successful clinical trial, a key criterion is whether the beneficial intervention was eventually offered to the _____ group.
A researcher tests whether a mindfulness smartphone app reduces test anxiety. Participants in Group A use the app for 8 weeks, while participants in Group B continue their normal routines without any mindfulness practice. After the study, Group A showed significantly lower anxiety than Group B. In this experiment, Group A is the control group because its outcomes serve as the standard against which Group B's results are measured.
A key analytical advantage of including a control group is that both the experimental and control participants are equally exposed to background threats such as history, maturation, and repeated testing over the course of a study. Because these threats affect both groups equally, any meaningful difference in outcomes between the two groups can more confidently be attributed to the _____ rather than to these confounding factors.
A researcher has completed a clinical study testing a new psychotherapy for social anxiety and must now evaluate both the scientific quality of the design and whether all ethical obligations were fulfilled. Arrange the following evaluative steps in the correct logical order.
Posternak and Miller's 2001 Spontaneous Remission Study
Control Group in Pretest-Posttest Designs
Wait-List Control Condition
Eysenck's 1952 Psychotherapy Effectiveness Study
Example of Spontaneous Remission
In psychological research, what does the term 'spontaneous remission' refer to?
Arrange the following stages to demonstrate how spontaneous remission can act as a confounding variable in a study that tracks only one group of participants.
A researcher finds that a group of patients with mild depression show significant improvement after 10 weeks of 'nature walking' therapy. If the researcher concludes the therapy was effective based on a study that lacked a control group, they are failing to account for the possibility of spontaneous remission.
A psychologist is evaluating a new therapy for anxiety and must account for spontaneous remission in their analysis. Match each experimental component to the logical role it plays in distinguishing the therapy's effect from natural recovery.
Spontaneous remission refers to the natural tendency for many medical and psychological conditions to improve over time without any formal treatment or intervention.
When evaluating a treatment using a one-group pretest-posttest design, how does spontaneous remission specifically threaten the study's internal validity?
When evaluating the results of a study that lacks a comparison group, a researcher who attributes a patient's improvement solely to a specific therapy may be making a flawed judgment by failing to rule out _____, which is the natural tendency for conditions to improve over time without any intervention.
A clinical trial evaluates a new therapy for depression using a one-group pretest-posttest design. Match each scenario component to the correct psychological research concept it represents.
When analyzing the internal validity of a clinical study that lacks a control group, a researcher realizes that participants' symptoms would have naturally improved on their own over time. In psychological research, this natural improvement without formal treatment is called _____.
A researcher claims a new mindfulness app reduces anxiety because a group of users reported lower anxiety after 4 weeks. Evaluate the validity of this claim by ordering the steps required to determine if spontaneous remission is a confound.
Learn After
Smith, Glass, and Miller's 1980 Psychotherapy Effectiveness Study
What did Hans Eysenck's 1952 study conclude was the likely reason for the observed improvements in both psychotherapy patients and untreated individuals?
In Eysenck's 1952 investigation of psychotherapy outcomes, the fact that treated patients showed measurable improvement after therapy was sufficient evidence to conclude that psychotherapy was effective.
A researcher wants to evaluate the effectiveness of a new 'Stress-Reduction Workshop' using the logical framework Hans Eysenck applied in his 1952 study. Arrange the following steps in the correct sequence to determine if the workshop truly causes improvement.
Hans Eysenck’s 1952 critique of psychotherapy effectiveness relied on a specific logical structure. Match each component of his analysis with its scientific role in his argument.
Imagine you are a clinical researcher tasked with generating a validation protocol for a new 'Anxiety-Reduction Seminar'. To ensure your design is resilient against the specific critique leveled by Hans Eysenck in his analysis of psychotherapy, which of the following research plans should you create to prove that the seminar—and not just the natural passage of time—is responsible for participant improvement?
Hans Eysenck's 1952 study on psychotherapy effectiveness is a classic example of an experiment in which the researcher randomly assigned new clinical patients to either a psychotherapy group or an untreated control group.
A researcher concludes that a new 'Stress-Reduction Workshop' is effective because 70% of participants improved after the session. According to the logic of Hans Eysenck's 1952 study, this conclusion is scientifically insufficient for evaluating efficacy because the study design fails to include a(n) _____.
A research team is investigating the efficacy of a new online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program. To apply the methodology and logic of Hans Eysenck's 1952 psychotherapy study, match each component of this new investigation to its corresponding methodological role or concept.
By comparing clinical outcomes to archival records of untreated patients and finding similar recovery rates, Eysenck demonstrated that the pretest-posttest designs used in the original clinical studies were flawed because they lacked a _____, making it impossible to rule out spontaneous remission as the cause of improvement.
To evaluate the validity of a clinical claim using the methodological critique established by Hans Eysenck in 1952, a researcher must logically order the steps of the evaluation process. Sequence the steps a researcher must follow to determine if a therapy's observed benefits are truly due to the treatment itself rather than natural recovery.