PSYO 353 MIDTERM QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS
Sewell and Strrassberg (2015) - Answers - NEXT 14 SLIDES
what was the primary goal of the study as stated by the authors - Answers - the study
examined how people define sex
how have previous studied assessed whether a behaviour was considered "having sex"
- Answers - - use of a dichotomous (yes/no) answer choice which resulted in an order
list of behaviours ran from most likely to least likely to be considered as "having sex"
how consistent is the list of behaviours from most to least likely to be considered sex? -
Answers - despite arrangement, the list of behaviours from most to least likely has been
proven to be very consistent, being replicated both within and outside, as well as across
time
is there a gender difference reported? - Answers - - some researcher has found that
there is no difference
- in two studies, men were more likely than women to label less physically intimate
behaviours as sex, where as women are more likely than men to label more inmate
behaviours as sex
how is the concept of motivated definitions related to studies of what constitutes having
sex - Answers - - definitions about whether to label an ambiguous encounter as having
sex seemed to be influence by their perception of consequences of labeling it as much
- there motivated definitions may serve to protect an individual's self-image but cold also
have the negative consequence of justifying sexually risky behaviour
what methodological issues were considered in the introduction? - Answers - -between-
subjects design leaves uncertain whether differences found between groups is a
function of the manipulation or the specific persons in each group
-dichotomous dependent variable does not allow for the possibility of subtlety,
ambiguity, or lack of certainty in participant judgements
-previous studies have examined the effect of variables in interest on each intimate
behaviour individually. helps explain inconsistent findings regarding the nature of the
strength of the effect of some individual difference variables
what is the suggested benefit of using the open-ended questions - Answers - would
allow participants to explain their choices and would provide for an examination of the
factors encompassing participants' definitional discussion making and then underlying
processes involved.
, what are the specific hypotheses that the authors had based on their design? - Answers
- - the order of behaviours from least to most certain that the behaviour is having sex
will correlate significantly with the findings in previous research
- partner vs self order will affect the degree of certainty
-participants will give a higher score when considering behaviours engaged in by their
partner than themselves
-participants will give higher fathers to behaviours involving genital stimulation if at least
one of the two has an orgasm than if neither did
note the demographic characteristics of the participants and the techniques the authors
use to eliminate them as relevant to their variables of interest - Answers - -initial groups
consisted of 300 males and 346 females self-identifying as heterosexual
-52 students who lacked sufficient data for at lest one of the 2 conditions, or lacked
gender information, were excluded
-age range from 18-62
-most participants were caucasian with no other ethnicity amounting to more than 7% of
the sample.
what is the impact of not having a 0 or 'i don't know' option? - Answers - - these options
would provide ambiguity instead of giving definitive answers that can be taken into
consideration
-would be problematic for analysis
how does the wording of the measures influence response ratings - Answers - -
participants were reminded to not consider if partner was cheating nor if they would be
upset if partner engaged in the behaviour with someone else
-this effect might tae out some of the emotional factor behind making the decision as to
if the behaviour would be considered having sex vs. cheating
findings - men vs women - Answers - - examination indicated a consistently strong
effect, with srticipatns rating all behaviours as more like sex when considering a partner
engaging in the behaviour than themselves.
- women expressed greater certainty than men did that stimulation over the computer
counted as sex
what are the three themes that emerged relating to how participants explained
behaviours that fell short in some way of their full definitions of sex? - Answers - 1.
degree of sex
2. sexual stimulation
3. types of sex
what are the four potentially important methodological limitations addressed in the
study? - Answers - 1. utilized a four-item choice scale rather than yes/no (included less
certain options.
2. directly examined the possible effects of presentation order of the manipulations
3, statistically controlled for the likely dependency among multiple dependent measures
ANSWERS
Sewell and Strrassberg (2015) - Answers - NEXT 14 SLIDES
what was the primary goal of the study as stated by the authors - Answers - the study
examined how people define sex
how have previous studied assessed whether a behaviour was considered "having sex"
- Answers - - use of a dichotomous (yes/no) answer choice which resulted in an order
list of behaviours ran from most likely to least likely to be considered as "having sex"
how consistent is the list of behaviours from most to least likely to be considered sex? -
Answers - despite arrangement, the list of behaviours from most to least likely has been
proven to be very consistent, being replicated both within and outside, as well as across
time
is there a gender difference reported? - Answers - - some researcher has found that
there is no difference
- in two studies, men were more likely than women to label less physically intimate
behaviours as sex, where as women are more likely than men to label more inmate
behaviours as sex
how is the concept of motivated definitions related to studies of what constitutes having
sex - Answers - - definitions about whether to label an ambiguous encounter as having
sex seemed to be influence by their perception of consequences of labeling it as much
- there motivated definitions may serve to protect an individual's self-image but cold also
have the negative consequence of justifying sexually risky behaviour
what methodological issues were considered in the introduction? - Answers - -between-
subjects design leaves uncertain whether differences found between groups is a
function of the manipulation or the specific persons in each group
-dichotomous dependent variable does not allow for the possibility of subtlety,
ambiguity, or lack of certainty in participant judgements
-previous studies have examined the effect of variables in interest on each intimate
behaviour individually. helps explain inconsistent findings regarding the nature of the
strength of the effect of some individual difference variables
what is the suggested benefit of using the open-ended questions - Answers - would
allow participants to explain their choices and would provide for an examination of the
factors encompassing participants' definitional discussion making and then underlying
processes involved.
, what are the specific hypotheses that the authors had based on their design? - Answers
- - the order of behaviours from least to most certain that the behaviour is having sex
will correlate significantly with the findings in previous research
- partner vs self order will affect the degree of certainty
-participants will give a higher score when considering behaviours engaged in by their
partner than themselves
-participants will give higher fathers to behaviours involving genital stimulation if at least
one of the two has an orgasm than if neither did
note the demographic characteristics of the participants and the techniques the authors
use to eliminate them as relevant to their variables of interest - Answers - -initial groups
consisted of 300 males and 346 females self-identifying as heterosexual
-52 students who lacked sufficient data for at lest one of the 2 conditions, or lacked
gender information, were excluded
-age range from 18-62
-most participants were caucasian with no other ethnicity amounting to more than 7% of
the sample.
what is the impact of not having a 0 or 'i don't know' option? - Answers - - these options
would provide ambiguity instead of giving definitive answers that can be taken into
consideration
-would be problematic for analysis
how does the wording of the measures influence response ratings - Answers - -
participants were reminded to not consider if partner was cheating nor if they would be
upset if partner engaged in the behaviour with someone else
-this effect might tae out some of the emotional factor behind making the decision as to
if the behaviour would be considered having sex vs. cheating
findings - men vs women - Answers - - examination indicated a consistently strong
effect, with srticipatns rating all behaviours as more like sex when considering a partner
engaging in the behaviour than themselves.
- women expressed greater certainty than men did that stimulation over the computer
counted as sex
what are the three themes that emerged relating to how participants explained
behaviours that fell short in some way of their full definitions of sex? - Answers - 1.
degree of sex
2. sexual stimulation
3. types of sex
what are the four potentially important methodological limitations addressed in the
study? - Answers - 1. utilized a four-item choice scale rather than yes/no (included less
certain options.
2. directly examined the possible effects of presentation order of the manipulations
3, statistically controlled for the likely dependency among multiple dependent measures
