Population 100 People, 10 People Per Group

Question 1

Design and describe an experiment to measure the relationship between rehearsal/repetition of a list of words and later recall of that sample of words. In your answer you should formulate a hypothesis and include a description of each of the following:

Hypothesis – The people rehearsing the words 2 minutes, are able to recall more words in the right order.

Population – 100 people, 10 people per group

Subject Selection – 50 women, and 50 men (10, twenty year-olds, 10, 30 year- olds, 10 40 year-olds, 10 50 year-olds 10 60 year-olds of each sex)

Independent Variable – The amount of time given to rehearse the words.

Dependent Variable –The amount of words recalled, in the correct ordered.

Experiment Groups – Group one (Control): women- 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old. Group two (10 seconds to rehearse): Women- 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old. Group Three (30 seconds to rehearse): Women-20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old. Group four (60 seconds to rehearse): Women- 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old. Group Five (120 seconds to rehearse): Women- 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old. Group Six (Control): Men-20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old. Group seven (10 seconds to rehearse): Men-20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old. Group eight (30 seconds to rehearse): Men- 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old Group nine (60 seconds to rehearse): Men- 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old. Group ten (120 seconds to rehearse): Men- 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years old.

Control Group – The people will simply given the list of eight words, asked to look at them, and then tested on how many they cal recall in the same order given

Potential Confounding Variables – Some people may be better at memorizing, or had more years of education. By having groups of males verses females, and having different age groups, we will eliminate bias.

Method To Reduce Experimenter Bias – Have a timer rather than a person, have an objective way to measure memory ex. multiple choice test, double-blinding.

Question 2:

Design and experiment to determine whether a new drug that is supposed to reduce hyperactivity in children actually does. Your essay should include an identification and description of all the components of your experimental design, including sampling, independent and dependent variables, controls, and the method that you would employ to evaluate the outcome.

Preparation: Ask the school for all of the students in one grade that are hyperactive.

Method: Experimental method

Population: Children with hyperactivity in that grade (middle school) Independent: drug

Dependent: level of hyperactivity in children

Control: one group without drug treatment (hyperactive children not treated)

Method of Evaluation: Multiplication tests (number of questions that are correct). See if there is a significant difference in the results for the treatment group and the control group.

Question 3:

Control is often called the hallmark of a good experiment. Describe randomization, group matching, counterbalancing, placebo, and double-blind as control techniques. Briefly develop an example of the way each could be or has been used in an experiment.

Randomization: A deliberately haphazard arrangement of observations so as to stimulate chance. EX: If an experiment compares a new drug against a common one, then the patients should be allocated to either the new drug or to the standard drug control using randomization.

Group matching: To ensure that experimental and control groups are equivalent on some criterions. EX: Divide sample into males and females then randomly assign half of each group to each condition.

Counter balancing: A way to deal with the position effect. When variables are observed, the order in which they are presented can influence the result. Counterbalancing buries the order of experimentation so this can’t influence it.

Placebo: A substance, medicine, or procedure that has no active ingredient. EX: Depression medicine, birth control.

Double blind: Denoting a test or trial, especially of a drug, in which any information about the trial that may influence the behavior of the tester or the subject is withheld until after the test. EX: When asking consumers to compare different brands of a product, like a food, the identities of a product can be concealed in a “blind-taste-test” to both the consumers and the experimenters to prevent bias.

Question 4:

Professor Jackson believes that frustration increases the need for achievement. She decides to test her hypothesis with her introductory psychology class of about 100 students. The first 50 students to arrive for the class one day are taken to a separate room and given a series of easy puzzles to complete. Professor Jackson then asks each student about his or her professional goals. She rates the statement of each student on a 7-point scale for strength of achievement motivation. When they arrive, the remaining students are taken to another room and given a series of difficult puzzles by Professor Jackson’s assistant, Jim. Jim also asks each student about his or her professional goals and, like Professor Jackson, then rates the statement of each on a 7-point scale.

The group given the difficult puzzles has, on average, higher achievement motivation scores than the group given the easy puzzles. Professor Jackson concludes that her hypothesis is supported.

Show how each of the following aspects of Professor Jackson’s experimental design is flawed. Indicate how you would correct each problem.

Sample: There was no random sampling taken of the participants because they only included Jackson’s Psychology class. This does not represent the entire student body. Instead Jackson should have chosen at random a group of kids from the University so a larger body would be represented.

Assignment of participants: The participants were assigned to a group based on when they arrived at the class, so this does not give a fair chance for the last 50 people to take the easy test. The participants should be divided up so that each group has a generally equal age, gender, and intellect level.

Dependent Variable: The rating on the 7-point scale is subjective. Have only one rater, or have more than two raters that look for consistence with the answers given.

Control of experiment bias: Both groups should be given both the easy and the hard puzzle. There should also be only one person that rates the statements of what people want to do because two different people would not grade the same way.

Control of Confounding Variables: The puzzle does not affect what a person may want to achieve for their professional goals. These goals are most likely already decided by the participants, and they know what they want to do. Taking an easy or difficult puzzle would not have any effect on this.

Question 5:

Jack is a second-grade student. He seems to have no interest in learning, often daydreaming in class and frequently disrupting the class by throwing objects at other students. Using the major theoretical perspectives employed by psychologists, give three alternative explanations for Jack’s classroom behavior. In light of these explanations, what steps could be taken to reduce Jack’s disruptive behavior?

Biological- treatment would be to get a prescription drug to help Jack control his actions and not be disruptive. The cause is that Jack was unfortunately born this way and genes play a role in his actions, could be tied to other members of his family.

Behaviorism: treatment would be positive reinforcement to help Jack understand that controlled actions will result in a reward so it’s operant conditioning. The cause may be observational learning from being surrounded with other kids who act out and are also disruptive, he has adapted to the ways of his peers.

Psychoanalytic: the treatment would be therapy or meeting with a counselor at school to be able to express himself and talk about his frustrations. The cause would be past experiences and how Jack has been raised/grown up because it impacts who he is and his personality. Jack is trying to figure out who he is and what he stands for amongst his peers in his class, so the confusion is causing him to act out.