Understanding Experimental Design in Psychology

1. Chapter 2.2:Problems and Solutions in Research Mr. McCormick Psychology

2. Do-Now:(Discussion) Discussion: • A psychologist wishes to test the effects of listening to classical music on studying/retaining information. To do so, she creates an experiment in which 100 students study a list of 40 terms to be memorized and later tested. 50 participants must listen to classical music while studying, while 50 participants may not. Identify the following: • Hypothesis • Independent Variable • Dependent Variable • Experimental Group • Control Group

3. Problems and Solutions in Research • Turn to Pg. 42 “Problems and Solutions in Research” • In what way did the woman in this story experience a “self-fulfilling prophecy?” • Have you ever experienced a “self-fulfilling prophecy?”

4. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: • Researcher’s expectations influence his/her own behavior, and thereby influence the participant’s behavior (e.g. thinking a subject will respond in a certain way, and unassumingly acting in a manner that will cause the subject to then do so)

5. Avoiding a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Single-Blind Experiment: • Participants are unaware of which participants received the treatment (e.g. participants do not know which participants received “Red Bull”) • Double-Blind Experiment: • Participants and experimenter(s) are unaware of which participants received the treatment (e.g. participants and experimenter(s) do not know which participants received “Red Bull”)

6. Avoiding a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • In what way do single-blind and double-blind experiments help avoid self-fulfilling prophecies on behalf of the experimenterand participants?

7. Placebo Effect • Placebo Effect: • A change in a participant’s behavior that results from a belief that the treatment will have an effect, rather than the actual treatment (e.g. participant thinks he is receiving “Red Bull,” but instead receives non-caffeinated soda, and still “feels energized”)

8. Placebo Effect

9. Review • What is a self-fulfilling prophecy in psychological research? • Identify two ways in which researchers can avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy on behalf of the researcher(s) and participant(s)? • What is a placebo effect? • Complete “Vocabulary Activity 2-2” (# 1-8)