Final answer:
To determine if providing individuals with puppies increases happiness levels beyond a mean of 10, a sample mean of 11.49 suggests a possible positive effect. The empirical rule is referenced for assessing the significance of the sample mean as it falls within two standard deviations of the mean. A full hypothesis test would require more information, such as sample size.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of this question is determining whether providing a group of individuals with puppies leads to a higher happiness level than the mean happiness level of 10, given that happiness scores are normally distributed with a population mean (μ) of 10 and a standard deviation (σ) of 2.3. If we turn to the provided information, which mentions a sample mean of 11.49, we can begin to address this question by considering if this sample mean is significantly greater than the population mean of 10. To determine this, we would normally conduct a hypothesis test.
However, to perform a full hypothesis test, we would also need the sample size. Since this is not provided and the question doesn't ask for a hypothesis test directly, we can still make a preliminary assessment based on the empirical rule. The empirical rule states that for a normally distributed set of data, about 95% of the data falls within two standard deviations of the mean. In this case, two standard deviations from the mean would be 10 ± (2*2.3) = [5.4, 14.6]. Since the sample mean of 11.49 is within this range but higher than the population mean, it suggests that the puppies may have had a positive effect on happiness levels, but without further statistics, we cannot say for certain.