Question

Rachel noticed that people are generally less patient when tired. She studied how sleep deprivation affects patience while driving. She predicted that people who have had less than eight hours of sleep will honk their horn in anger more frequently than people who have had eight or more hours of sleep. She designed an experiment that used driving simulators to allow different people to be exposed to the same driving experiences, and looked at the honking behaviours of the different groups of sleepers. Rachel's work is an example as ________.

1) the psychoanalytic approach.
2) the scientific method.
3) pseudoscience.
4) introspection.

Answer 1

Rachel's study of how sleep deprivation affects driving patience exemplifies the use of the scientific method in psychology, as it utilizes a controlled, systematic, and empirical approach to testing a clear hypothesis.

Step-by-step explanation:

Rachel's work, where she studies how sleep deprivation affects patience while driving, particularly looking at honking behaviors in relation to hours of sleep, is an example of the scientific method. By using driving simulators to maintain consistency across testing conditions and by examining behaviors of two distinct groups differentiated by hours of sleep, Rachel is engaging in a systematic, controlled, and empirical investigation. She has a clear hypothesis, an experimental design that seeks to test that hypothesis, and a way to measure the results objectively, all of which are hallmarks of the scientific method employed in psychology research.