What type of experimental design did this researcher use?
(8 points) A researcher tested whether exposure to images of very thin fashion models causes young women to be dissatisfied with their own body, compared to exposure to athletic body images or neutral (non-body) images. She randomly assigned 120 women from an introductory psychology course to one of three exposure conditions: very thin female images, athletic female images, or neutral images (e.g., household objects). Each condition had 10 images, projected individually on a large screen. The young women participated in small groups. Each image was displayed for 1 minute, for a total of 10 minutes of exposure. After viewing each image, participants wrote for 30 seconds a description of the image (the participants were led to believe their memory was being tested). After viewing the images, the women completed a questionnaire about satisfaction with their body. Negative scores indicate body dissatisfaction and positive scores indicate satisfaction with their body. The mean scores for each condition were as follows:
What type of experimental design did this researcher use?
Describe the independent variable in this study.
Describe the dependent variable in this study.
Someone unfamiliar with research methods criticizes the findings by arguing that women who viewed the very thin images probably were more dissatisfied with their bodies even before participating in the experiment. State whether you agree or disagree with this argument and explain your reasoning.