A total of 171 volunteer students participated in an experim

A total of 171 volunteer students participated in an experiment studying the effect of guilt emotion on how a decision maker focuses on a problem, where each was randomly assigned to one of three emotional states (guilt, anger, or neutral) through a reading/writing task. Immediately after the task, students were presented with a decision problem where the stated option had predominantly negative features (e.g., spending money on repairing a very old car). The results (number responding in each category) are summarized in the accompanying table. Is there sufficient evidence (at = .10) to claim that the option choice depended on emotional state? Use the data saved to answer the question.

Emotional

State

Choose

Stated Option

Do Not Choose

Stated Option

Totals

Guilt

45

12

57

Anger

8

50

58

Neutral

7

49

56

Totals

60

111

171

Solution

Doing an Expected Value Chart,          
          
20       37  
20.35087719   37.64912281
19.64912281   36.35087719

Using chi^2 = Sum[(O - E)^2/E],          
          
chi^2 =    72.23375466      
          
With df = (a - 1)(b - 1), where a and b are the number of categories of each variable,          
          
a =    2      
b =    3      
          
df =    2      
          
Thus, the critical value is          
          
significance level =    0.1      
          
chi^2(critical) =    4.605170186      
          
Also, the p value is          
          
P =    2.06367E-16      
          
Thus, comparing chi^2 and chi^2(crit) [or, p and significance level], we   REJECT THE NULL HYPOTHESIS.      
Thus, there is significant evidence that the option choice depended on emotional state at 0.10 significance. [CONCLUSION]