You should present a cogent argument based on your critical analysis of the questions posed, using appropriate psychological ter
minology. It is not enough to answer a question by merely listing facts. REMEMBER SODAS Researchers dropped 200 identical wallets on sidewalks near a large university. Each wallet contained the name and address of the owner and either a photograph of a baby, a photograph of a puppy, a photograph of a young family, a photograph of an older couple, or no photograph. The researchers hypothesized that the type of photograph left in the wallet would influence the rate of return. The wallets with a photograph of the baby and the wallets with a photograph of the puppy were left early in the morning, the wallets with a photograph of the young family were left in the afternoon, and the wallets with either no photograph or a photograph of an older couple were left in the evening. Eighty-four of the 200 wallets (42%) were eventually mailed back to the owner, as shown below.
Type of Photograph Baby Puppy Young family No photograph Older couple
Return Rate 80% 65% 47% 10% 5%
A. Identify the following aspects of the study as described above.
Control condition
Dependent variable
Confounding variable
B. How might cognitive dissonance explain why people returned the wallets?
C. How might individualistic culture explain why people did not return the wallets?
D. How might out-group bias explain the low rate of return for the wallets with the older couple’s photograph?
E. A survey was conducted in which individuals were asked, “Would you return a lost wallet that you found?” Use social desirability bias to explain whether the percentage of individuals who answered “yes” to this survey question would be higher, the same, or lower than the overall return rate (42%) in the study above.
