Variables play a pivotal role in the psychology therapy process. It can be altered or changed like a value or characteristic. In the psychology experiment, experts use variables to determine whether a change in one thing causes a change in another. It is an effective way to understand cause-and-effect relationships. First, we will highlight some widely used variables in psychology research.
Prominent Variables of the Psychology Therapy
Often students report that they encounter problems while identifying the dependent and independent variables in an experiment. However, with the increasing number of complexities with the variables, it becomes challenging to complete the task in a psychological experiment. Here is a list of different variables used in psychology therapy.
Dependent and Independent Variables
The dependent variable is something that the experimenter generally measures. For instance, in an experiment on the effect of sleep deprivation on test performance, the measure of the test performance is the dependent variable. While on the other hand, sleep deprivation is the independent variable. So, here we can declare that the experimenter manipulates the independent variable.
Intervening Variables
Another name for the intervening variables is the mediator or intermediate variables. In psychology therapy or experiment, the importance of this variable is vast. It is a functional method to find out how much sleep an individual should get, further determining their overall productivity.
Extraneous Variables
The dependent and independent variables are not the only variable in psychology research. Experts also use extraneous variables in a few cases, which affect the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.
For instance, in the previous example of sleep deprivation, factors such as gender, age, and academic background may affect the outcome. In such circumstances, the experimenter notes down all the values of the extraneous variables to control the effects.
However, there are two types of extraneous variables: participant and situational variables.
Participant Variables
This kind of variable relates to the individual characteristics of every study participant that may affect how they respond. For example, the factors may include awareness, intelligence, background differences, anxiety, mood, and other characteristics unique to every individual.
Situational Variables
These are other popular variables in psychology therapy that determine how the participants will respond. For instance, when a candidate is sitting for a test in an AC room, the cool temperature will be the extraneous variable. Some candidates will feel completely okay with the temperature, but others will not be comfortable!
Controlled Variables
A controlled variable is something constant throughout the experiment. It is crucial to note that there is a difference between the control group and the controlled variables. A control group is a study group that does not accept change or treatment in the independent variable. Using the controlled variables implies that when any change occurs, the experimenter can ensure that the changes happen due to specific manipulation of independent variables.
Confounding Variables
When the experimenter cannot control a specific variable, it becomes a confounding variable. It is a variable that can affect the dependent variable, making it challenging to determine the results. In addition, it means the experimenter will be unable to understand whether the results occur due to the dependent variable’s influence or the interaction between confounding and dependent variables.
Conclusion
Understanding several variables in psychology therapy is crucial if you wish to conduct a psychology experiment. The variables benefit individuals who choose to understand the meaning of the psychology research results. In addition, it helps them to become a more informed individual with psychological information.
