Answer the following short-answer questions. All answers should be in complete sentences and free from proofreading errors. You should not need more than a paragraph to answer each question. Remember that more isn’t necessarily better.Do not include the homework questions in your submission. Just give the question number and your answer. All sentences and ideas are assumed to be your own unless you cite your source. Using someone else’s work without attribution is plagiarism and will result in an F in the course. Please note that artificial intelligence is not permitted for this assignment. See the “Artificial Intelligence” section for more details.
Questions1. We have all engaged in mind wandering. Yet, for most of psychology’s history, psychologists did not view mind wandering as worthy of study. In an influential paper, Smallwood and Schooler (2006) argued that, given its ubiquity in everyday life, psychologists should study mind wandering. In their article, Smallwood and Schooler defined mind wandering as “a situation inwhich [the focus of attention] shifts away from a primary task to the processing of personal goals” (p. 946). While this qualifies as a conceptual definition it does not qualify as an operational definition. Why not? Make sure your answer clearly explains the difference between conceptual and operational definitions.
2. Rhona is a health psychologist with expertise in pain perception. She is interested in the relationship between mindfulness meditation and pain tolerance. She recruits 300 participants and administers a survey assessing their familiarity with and use of mindfulness meditation. From these 300 participants, she takes the 30 with the highest familiarity with mindfulness meditation and the 30 with the least familiarity with mindfulness meditation. These 60 participants then undergo a pain-tolerance test. They are asked to submerge their nondominant hand in ice water for as long as possible. Results show that participants familiar with mindfulness meditation kept their hands in the ice water significantly longer than participants who were not familiar with mindfulness meditation. Rhona’s study does not allow her to draw a causal inference. Explain why not, with reference to the criteria for causation. Be specific. Some of the criteria may have been met while others were not. State which criteria weremet and which were not, providing an explanation for each. Please note that answers that do not discuss the criteria for causation will not earn any points for this question.
3. Oskar—an expert in statistics and methodology—makes the following claim: “Construct validity is more important than external, internal, or statistical validity.” Why is Oskar’s statement correct?