A cognitive psychologist has devised a new paradigm to assess empathy in humans

Question

A cognitive psychologist has devised a new paradigm to assess empathy in humans by exposing them to images of other humans in pain and seeing whether this evokes an emotional response in the participants. Among the various aspects of an emotional response is a physiological response, such as variations in normal resting heartrate. It would lend validity to the psychologist's paradigm if exposure to these painful images causes changes in an individual's normal heartrate. As such, the psychologist selects a random sample of n = 10 male undergraduate Psychology students from an overall pool of eligible students. Each participant is exposed to a painful image for 5 seconds and their heartrate is recorded immediately after. The psychologist reports that the average heartrate of the sample was M = 90 beats per minute. Suppose is known that the normal resting heartrate of this population is mu = 70 beats per minute. The distribution of beats per minute is normal with a standard deviation of sigma = 20. a) State the Independent Variable in this research study. b) State the Dependent Variable in this research study. c) What is the appropriate hypothesis test to conduct based on this research design? d) State the null and alternate hypotheses. e) Calculate the appropriate test statistic. f) Determine the critical region for this test at alpha = .01. g) What is the correct decision with respect to your hypotheses? Provide ONE reason why. h) Calculate ONE measure of effect size (r^2, d, OR a confidence interval) i) Interpret (in words) the result of this hypothesis test, including proper statistical notation.

Explanation / Answer

Q-e

As population standard deviation is known and normality is given so

Test statistic z=(M-70)/(/sqrt(n)) = (90-70)/(20/sqrt(10)) =3.16

Q-f

A alpha=0.01, two tailed critical z=±2.58

We reject null hypothesis if z<-2.58 or Z>2.58.

Q-g

As calculated Z=3.16>2.58, we reject the null hypothesis

Q-h

Effect size d=M/ = 90/20 =4.5

Q-i

We have enough evidence toreject the null hypothesis as calculated Z=3.16, critical Z=2.58. Hence, we conclude that normal resting heart rate is significantly different from 70 beats per minute.

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