Since psychopaths account for a quarter of all prisoners in the United States (a
ID: 3183318 • Letter: S
Question
Since psychopaths account for a quarter of all prisoners in the United States (and for as much as 50% of all violent crime) researchers have been examining the personality traits that may play a role in this condition. Two groups of inmates, half diagnosed as psychopathic and the other not so diagnosed were given the IRI (Interpersonal Reactivity Index as a measure of empathy – the higher the score the more empathy one has). The researcher predicts beforehand that Psychopaths will have less empathy than Non-Psychopaths. The test scores, converted to T (standard) scores, were as follows:
Psychopaths: 35,40,28,44,45,48,42,38,40,44.
Non-Psychopaths: 52,60,50,48,55,50,54,55,44,40.
IV =
DV =
State the Ho: using IV and DV terms.
Find and report the means for each group.
Explanation / Answer
H0 : The null hypothesis is that there is no difference in means for psychopath and non-psychopath group.
Dependent variable DV = IRI or a measue of empathy
INdependent varaible = Whether one is psychopath or non-psychopath
Means = 40.4 & 50.8 for both the groups