How Grounded Is Your Love Life?
In a recent experiment, psychologists at University ofPittsburgh and the University of Waterloo in Canada decided toexamine stability, turbulence and love. The researchers focused onstability because it is a term that has both literal and abstractmeanings. Our bodies can be physically stable or they can bewobbly, and so can our intimate relationships. The studyparticipants were 40 college students who reported being involvedin a committed relationship that had lasted for at least a year.The researchers randomly assigned half of their volunteers to sitat a normal desk and the other half to sit at a workstation thathad been subtly altered so that both the chair and the desk wiggledslightly. The volunteers individually completed questionnairesabout their lives and romantic relationships, including whetherthey felt the relationship would last. The volunteers were alone inthe room when they completed the questionnaire and were instructedto not put their name on the questionnaire. The ratings ofperceived stability ranged from 1- 7 (1 = not at all likely to lastto 7 = certain this relationship will last). A participant couldreport any number between 1 and 7 on that scale. The students whohad been seated at the unstable workstations were much more likelyto perceive instability in their love lives (mean = 4.17) than werethe students whose chairs and work spaces didn’t waver (mean =4.93). There is a statistically significant difference betweenthese means (t(38) = 3.64; p<0.05).
PART A
1. Name the Predictor / Independent Variable
2. Give the operational definition of the Predictor /Independent Variable.
3. Evaluate the construct validity of the Predictor /Independent Variable PLEASE INCLUDE/EXPLAIN ALL THEASPECTS!!: (Be sure to consider face, method, andprocedural aspects though not all aspects willnecessarily need to be discussed; point out strengths andweaknesses of this measure.)
PART B
1. Name the Outcome / Dependent Variable
2. Give the operational definition of the Outcome / DependentVariable.
3. Evaluate the construct validity of the operational definitionfor the Outcome / Dependent Variable. PLEASEINCLUDE/EXPLAIN ALL THE ASPECTS!!: (Be sure to considerface, method, and procedural aspects though not allaspects will necessarily need to be discussed; point outstrengths and weaknesses of this measure.)
