To utilize the scientific method in psychology, researchers must operationally d

To utilize the scientific method in psychology, researchers must operationally define their variables in order to collect reliable and valid measurements.
From the textbook:
“An operational definition is a description of how we will measure our variables, and it is important in allowing others understand exactly how and what a researcher measures in a particular experiment. In operationalizing violent behavior, we might choose to count only physical acts like kicking or punching as instances of this behavior, or we also may choose to include angry verbal exchanges. Whatever we determine, it is important that we operationalize violent behavior in such a way that anyone who hears about our study for the first time knows exactly what we mean by violence. This aids peoples’ ability to interpret our data as well as their capacity to repeat our experiment should they choose to do so” (p. 53).
You may agree that it is important to study human thought and behavior, but many human characteristics are abstract and complex. For instance, if a researcher wanted to study “happiness” they might operationally define it as the “number of times someone smiles per day” and therefore if one person smiles 5 times per day and another person smiles 6 times per day, the researcher can make reliable comparisons in their levels of happiness… Surely, the second person is happier, right?! No. A potential criticism of this operational definition is that we don’t always smile when we’re happy and sometimes we smile when we’re not happy (e.g., when we’re nervous)! Therefore, the conclusions about happiness in this study may not be valid.
Essentially, it is difficult to create operational definitions that are reliable and valid, but for this discussion assignment you are going to give it your best shot. Trying is what matters here people.
Choose any one of the following variables, and write an operational definition:
happiness
love
stress
power
hunger
There is no word limit for this initial post.