Question

A pair of psychologists are interested in the effects of mood in helping (based on Isen & Levin, 1972). They give participants free tickets to a happy movie. They then have a confederate drop papers in front of the people who just got out of the movie, and people who are only walking by and have not just seen a happy movie for free. The researchers watch to see if the participants help pick up the dropped papers.

Reference: Isen, A. M., & Levin, P. F. (1972). Effect of feeling good on helping: Cookies and kindness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21(3), 384–388.
a) What is the research method employed in this study? (Highlight the correct answer)
A. Observational
B. Correlational
C. Experimental
D. Phenomenological
E. Case Study
If a quantitative study,
b) What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?
c) What is the hypothesis for this study?
If a qualitative study,
d) What is the concept or phenomenon of interest being explored?

Answer 1

a). The research method that is used in this research or experiment is Experimental method of research. In this study, the experimenter does have a control group of people who do not watch movie for free and also an experimental group who did watched a free happy movie. The effect of the mood was seen on helping the behavior when the people try or they do not try helping in picking up the dropped papers.

b). The dependent variable in this study is the helping behavior of the group of people while the independent variable is he happy mood.

c). The null hypothesis of this study is that there are no significant effect of the mood on the helping behavior.

d). The concept of interest in this study is the changes in the helping behavior that is being explored due to the mood. The mood here is assumed as positive because the group were given a free tickets for the movies.