Suppose one of your friends is taking an introductory psychology class this semester, and she is describing to you over

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Suppose One Of Your Friends Is Taking An Introductory Psychology Class This Semester And She Is Describing To You Over 1 (98.21 KiB) Viewed 229 times

Suppose one of your friends is taking an introductory psychology class this semester, and she is describing to you over lunch her reactions to what happened in her class that morning. The topic for the day's class was adult development, and the professor described two research studies related to marriage and divorce. The professor emphasized that both studies represented excellent research that had been done by leading experts in the field. The fi rst study involved a large sample of married couples that had been randomly selected from a well-defined population. The results of this study indicated that slightly more than half of marriages end in divorce and that factors such as persistent conflict between spouses and a family history of divorce were reliable predictors of divorce. The professor highlighted statistical analyses that confirmed the reliability of these predictors. The second study was a lengthy narrative description of a couple's experiences in therapy with a marriage and family counselor. The case study described how the couple entered therapy seriously considering divorce, but they decided after a year in therapy to stay married. The professor described several specific techniques the therapist used while working with the couple to help them understand and deal with issues such as conflict in their marriage and a family history of divorce that put them at risk for divorce. The class period ended before the professor had a chance to describe how the findings of these two studies were related and what conclusions about divorce could be drawn from them. How would you respond to the questions and concerns your friend had after this class? Q3 One of your friend's questions is how she can decide which study's results to believe. The first study seems to say that marital conflict and a history of divorce lead to divorce, but the second study indicates that these factors need not lead to divorce. Your friend describes that she is inclined to believe the results of the second study. She finds the personal examples the professor described from the second study more compelling than the numbers used to support the fi ndings of the first study. What do you think?