Dr. zilstein examines the effect of fear (low or high) on a college student's desire to affiliate with others. some students are told they will receive a very painful electrical shock, others a very mild shock. the intensity of the electrical shock the students are to receive is the of the fear variable.

a. hypothetical construct
b. operational definition
c. mediating definition
d. conceptual definition

b. operational definition

Explanation:

Operational definition is the expression of procedure used to define the nature of an event or situation especially used during data collection. In this question, the sentence subject used is 'the intensity of the electrical shock the students are to receive'. Which mean it is asking specifically on the subject of the intensity of the electrical shock.

Option A, hypothetical construct is not it since hypothetical construct is a variable which could be explained but hardly observed. In this case, hypothetical construct is more suitable to the degree of pain (extremely painful, mild shock and other)

Option C, mediating definition is the mediator variable between a dependent and an independent variables; in this case is not applicable

While Option D, conceptual definition give the definition of a certain concept. For example the definition of concept of pain.

Therefore the best answer for this is B, operational definition since it focus on how to measure the intensity of the electrical shock

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