This summarizes a classic article by Baron & Kenny on "The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research." Since Plot Twisters seeks to use social psychology research to enhance the social-emotional wellbeing of students, mediator vs. moderator variables are generally important to understand for everything we do.
Moderator variables influence the relationship or the strength of the relationship between an independent or dependent variable. They can be qualitative, like race, class, or gender... or quantitative, such as money earned, time spent, etc.
Mediator variables explain how events or moderator variables take internal psychological significance. "Whereas moderator variables specify when certain effects will hold, mediators speak to how or why such effects occur."
Mediator vs Moderator variables
I think it's important to understand the distinction between these two variables, but the language in this article is kind of difficult to understand for me.. It almost makes it more confusing for me, but could just be too dense to comprehend it lmao - rem