For this class discussion in your initial post describe a brief social situation. The video posted in this module about how people stand in an elevator is an example of a social situation. You should then write a hypothesis about why you think people behave however they are behaving in this social situation. Please post this by the 4th day of Module 1. Next, select two of your classmates’ posts. Respond to them and describe what you think the independent and dependent variables are in these hypotheses. Please do this by the 6th day of Module 1. At the end of this exercise, each person should have two responses. I will make comments on these responses when people post their IVs and DVs. In the Module Overview I have also posted a brief video explaining independent and dependent variables. These concepts are also explained in Chapter 1.
Here is an example related to behavior on an elevator. (You cannot use this example!) The social situation is that when people get onto an elevator, they turn around and face the door. I hypothesize that if someone gets on the elevator and faces the back, the person already on the elevator will look at the floor. In this case, the IV is whether or not the new person entering the elevator faces the front or the back. The DV is whether or not the person already on the elevator looks down at the floor or looks straight ahead.
The purpose of this assignment is to get more practice creating hypotheses and identifying independent and dependent variables.
Below are links to two videos which are optional to watch. The first video describes independent and dependent variables. Feel free to watch this if it would be helpful! The second video is a brief clip of a social situation: what happens when people get on an elevator. This is an example of an everyday social situation.
