Introduction to the Experiment – Script
Good morning, everyone. Today is the day when our adventure into the experimental psychology field will begin. In our first experiment to study research methods, we will attempt to examine the mysterious relationship between gender and adjective descriptors and the likability rating of individuals. Your involvement in the research process will provide valuable information on the opinion-forming process and its influence by those factors. In this way, you will be randomly placed into one of the four experimental groups, ensuring the following study’s validity and objectivity. Your task is simple yet crucial: based on the provided descriptions, evaluate the people’s likability. In this way, we will be able to identify trends and intricacies in human judgment, and as a result, we will have a deeper understanding of social cognition (Asch, 1946). Your contribution to this experiment is immeasurable, and I’m glad to be on this journey of discovery with you. Through this experiment, we will discover this intriguing information.
Random Assignment to Experimental Conditions
After the instructor’s presentation, the students are randomly placed in one of four experimental conditions by tossing a double coin. This, therefore, maintains unbiased allocation and proper representation of our findings. Here’s how it works:
Participants will be divided into pairs, and a coin that each participant will use will be assigned to each pair while the instructor flips two coins at the same time for each pair. If both coins turn heads, the participant will be given Condition 1, Michael’s description of warm. If the two coins are tails, the participant will be put in Condition 2, where Michael is described as cold. However, if one of the coins ends in heads and the other in tails, the participant will be placed in the third scenario, describing Michelle as warm. When one coin gives its tails side up and the other its heads, the participant will be put into Condition 4, where Michelle is introduced as cold. This approach guarantees each participant a fair opportunity to be allocated in any of the four conditions. Therefore, we will be confident with the results we receive because any potential biases have been minimized.
Here is a summary of the experiment conditions:
- Condition 1: Michael is described as warm.
- Condition 2: Michael is described as cold.
- Condition 3: Michelle is described as friendly.
- Condition 4: Michelle is described as cruel.
Completing the experiment
The participants are then instructed on the conditions they are assigned to and asked to complete the likability rating task based on the descriptions provided. Each participant will use a 6-point Likert scale, where 0 signifies the “not at all” likable level and 6 indicates “very” nice. The attitude assessment includes evaluating the likely feelings about the individuals described in their assigned situations, considering the specific qualities denoted to them. During this period, the instructor is committed to achieving a peaceful environment in the lab to reduce the number of distractions and to keep the participants engaged in the task at hand (Lammers et al., 2016). This is very important for getting the correct data and allows the participants to give the individuals a likable personality. The instructor can gently urge students to be silent and focused and help create an environment that is friendly to accurate answers (Asch, 1946). Through a well-structured and non-stressful learning environment, individuals can entirely focus and get involved in the exercise, thus improving how the data has been collected.
Packet Collection and Shuffling
After the experiment, students can return their data packets to the instructor. Collecting all data is one of the most essential parts of this process to avoid delays and provide correct information. First, the instructor contains all the packets and then mixes them well before beginning the next step. Shuffling is performed, taking all measures to protect individuals’ privacy and prevent data biases. The shuffling of the packets will enable the researcher to ensure that the order in which participants complete the experiment will not affect the following analysis data (Lammers et al., 2016). This way of randomizing the order of the packets creates a packet processing system where the systematic errors and biases that it would have in the case where it would observe all items in a sequential order are minimized (Asch, 1946). Also, shuffling makes it anonymous because no one knows who the participants are when they have given their responses. Generally, a data packet collection and shuffling procedure is an inevitable step in the experimental process, as it is an input to the reliability and integrity of the data collected. These procedures are aligned with the principles of fairness and impartiality in data analysis, thus improving the validity of experimentation results.
Data packet distribution is vital for data entry.
When all the packets have been shuffled, the instructor rearranges them and provides them to the students in the laboratory. Following that, each student is led through the data entry process, where the likability ratings provided by the participants are input into the provided dataset to be analyzed. This stage guarantees that all the mentioned data is well preserved and ready for deeper analysis (Cohen, 1961). As students are being taught to input the likability ratings systematically, they are required to be careful with the details to such an extent as to prevent any mistake or inconsistency. The instructor will give direction and advice where needed to ensure that nothing hinders smooth progress. Data entry plays a vital role in the experiment as the raw data gathered throughout the process gets validated for further statistical analysis (Cohen, 1961). The degree of likeability ratings fed into the dataset is the students’ responsibility, which plays a crucial role in the reliability and integrity of the research findings.
Post-Experiment Lab Plan: Providing an opportunity to gain self-knowledge through reflection and group discussion.
Students are prompted to do reflective writing before getting into the specific details of the task. This writing focuses on students’ individual experiences and interpretations of the assigned task. This way, students are very likely to develop the skills of active dialogue and staying analytical while going over the experiment before debating its results (Lammers et al., 2016).
Covering Experimental Procedure and Design: Small Group Analysis
Students are further divided into small groups to examine the proposed experimental procedure in depth. During such groups, the participants are told to write out each experiment step and provide the IV and DV, then end by formulating their hypotheses. This joint effort combines a holistic review of the experimental design from varying perspectives. A fifth step is taken after the small group chats, where the whole lab works together to compare notes and combine information. The instructor facilitates the discussion, ensures that everyone understands each element of the technique well, and gives importance to the warm/cold single-factor design compared to the rest of the experiment (Rougier et al., 2023). Students are actively engaged with the topic, and they can grasp the research methods during this session.
Anticipating Results of Warm/Cold Manipulation
In pairs, students put forth their idea of the varying effects of the warm/cold manipulation on the likability ratings by writing them in x-y form to demonstrate the expected levels of likability based on the manipulation. This joint activity allows the students to analyze the possible alternatives and think about how the warmth or the coldness could affect their perception of someone’s appeal. The class gets a chance to listen to the presentations delivered by each small group, and they have to participate in the discussion with the rest of the class. The instructor moderates the discussion, summarizing the relevant information and describing the implications that emerged from the different groups’ decisions (Rougier et al., 2023). Through this process, working together in this analysis gives a chance to gain a holistic understanding of the effects of warm/cold manipulation on likability ratings. After that, the students briefly discuss whether warmth or cold might influence likability and other variables that can be mediated into it: target characteristics, participant sample, judgment dimension, and manipulation technique. This open discussion will concentrate on how human judgments are multifaceted and the interrelationships between the many experimental factors.
References
Asch, S. E. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41(3), 258.
Cohen, A. R. (1961). Cognitive tuning as a factor affecting impression formation. Journal of Personality.
Lammers, W. J., Davis, S., Davidson, O., & Hogue, K. (2016). Impact of Positive, Negative, and No Personality Descriptors on the Attractiveness Halo Effect. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 21(1).
Rougier, M., De Houwer, J., Richetin, J., Hughes, S., & Perugini, M. (2023). From halo to conditioning and back again: Exploring the links between impression formation and learning. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1).
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