The study found an association between dog ownership and longevity. Which third variables were controlled for? Which third variables might still be responsible for the relationship? Photo: Shutterstock I can't resist blogging about research on dogs. Here's a story on NPR that summarized several studies that have tested the correlation between longevity and dog ownership. …
Category: Questions and Answers
Racial stereotypes behind how we explain school shootings
Participants and newspapers were more likely to blame video games when a school shooter was white than when he was black. Photo: Richard Levine / Alamy Stock Photo What causes mass shootings? Of course, we have no experimental evidence on this question. Correlational evidence (both within the U.S. and evidence that compares the U.S. to …
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Which Ice Cream Flavor Are You?
Many flavors, many personalities: How could we test whether an ice cream personality test is reliable and valid? Photo credit: Okanmetin/Getty Images At the height of summer, we all start considering the same, timeless question: Can your personality can be accurately summarized by an ice cream flavor? This Buzzfeed poll asks you to answer a …
Claim: Mothers’ friendships are good for babies’ brains
The study showed that moms with larger social support networks had kids with higher cognitive test scores. Photo: Noriko Cooper / Alamy Stock Photo The Washington Post headline reads, "Mothers' friendships may be good for babies' brains." The story is about an empirical study on mothers' social networks. Although it says "babies' brains", the study …
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The science behind sleep
The science on sleep suggests that most of us need more of it! Photo: Carlos Caetano/Shutterstock A Washington Post article recently proposed that lack of sleep might be a "public health crisis." The journalist's story covered several types of empirical studies and made a series of frequency, association, and causal claims. Here are a series …
Reading vs. listening
Photo: Ladida/Getty Images Audiobooks are more popular than ever. Have you ever wondered if there are cognitive differences between reading print books and listening to audiobooks? In this editorial, psychologist Dan Willingham explains some of the research comparing the two formats. Dr. Willingham describes several research findings, most of which come from experimental designs. Here's …
Can puppy pictures help your relationship?
Does pairing this cute puppy with a photo of your partner help improve your relationship?Photo credit: Matanya/Wikimedia Commons Professor James McNulty, a social psychologist who studies relationships, was asked by the Department of Defense to develop an intervention to help couples cope with the separation of a deployment. How can couples stay close when their partner …
A test of dog empathy
Which of the two dependent variables showed that dogs were affected by their owners' sadness? Photo: adogslifephoto/istock/Getty Images Plus Here's a short video with footage from an experiment that tested dogs' empathy. Watch the video with these questions in mind. a) The study was an experiment. What was the independent variable (IV)? b) Was the …
Do kids do better in private schools?
What evidence would it take to convince us that it's the schools, not other factors, that are responsible for the outcomes of private school students? Photo: Image Source / Alamy Stock Photo A large study has compared the outcomes of children who've attended private schools to those who've attended public schools. A journalist summarized the …
Social media effect sizes
Is social media use responsible for depressed mood? Photo: Ian Allenden/Alamy stock Do smartphones harm teenagers? If so, how much? In this blog, I've written before about the quasi-experimental and correlational designs used in research on screen time and well-being in teenagers. In that post you can practice identifying the different designs we can use to …