A pair of social psychologists are interested in the effects of mood on helping

Question

A pair of social psychologists are interested in the effects of mood on helping (based on Isen & Levin, 1972). They give patricipants free tickets to a feel good movie. They then have a confederate drop papers on front of people who just got out of the movie and people who are just walking by who have not just seen a happy movie for free. The reserchers watch to see if the participants help pick up the dropped papers. What are the variables, (independant and dependant) ? and What is the hypothesis?

Explanation / Answer

The independent variable is the variable which is manipulated by the researcher and its effect is seen on the dependent variable. In the given study, the independent variable will be- mood and the dependent variable is – helping behavior of the individuals. Mood is independent variable as it is manipulated by the researchers in the form of giving free movie tickets to some of the respondents of the study. There will be two groups of people- one who are getting free movie tickets and the other one who will not be getting movie tickets. In this manner the mood states of individuals have been manipulated. The dependent variable is helping, the confederates are dropping paper and will be seeing how much help a person offers when he/she is in a good mood state.

The hypothesis is a conjecture given beforehand of conducting a study. In the given research, hypothesis will be-

There will be a significant positive effect of good mood on helping behavior of an individual.

The hypothesis will be directional in the given research study.

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