Langer and Rodin - Effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility on the aged Flashcards
Procedures
The study was conducted in a nursing home in Connecticut that was rated as one of the finest.
There were 4 floors of the home of which two were selected in terms of physical and mental health, they had been there similar lengths of time and they had come from a similar background.
One floor was the responsibility induced group and the other was the comparison group.
Both floors were given plants, the RIG group was allowed to care for it as they wanted and the control group had their plants cared for by the nurses.
Two questionnaires were used one after the briefing to establish a basline the other after 3 weeks. One was administered by a research assistant with no idea over the control they had to rate happiness and alertness on a 0-8 scale.
The other was done by nurses who made notes on general behaviour.
Context and aims
Many lab experiements had found links between pain and stress
e.g Langer found that people that felt they had a greater sense of control requested fewer pain killers.
Langer and Rodin aimed to see whether enhanced personal responsibility and choice had beneficial effects.
Findings
Self-report: Residents in the RIG group reported much more happiness
48% reported feeling happier in the RIG group compared to 25% in the control group.
Interviewer rating: Rig group > happiness
Nurses rating: The RIG group spent much more time being sociable and less passive
Conclusions
The findings clearly support the fact that increased control results in an improvement.
Methodology
Field experiment
Reliable as there was a high correlation between both nurses
Good validity
Groups were similar in size and gender spread
did not have fully informed consent
Cg group 2x more likely to die than RIG group
Alternative evidence
Follow up - Re-evaluated the residents 18 months later and found that the benefits had been sustained.
Cohen - Gave one group nasal drops containing the common cold, and another harmless drops. Then gave them a questionnaire to find perceived stress. Positive correlation found.
Shulz - Randomly assigned institutionalised elderly people into on of four groups. Group 1 could decide when and how long they would be visited. Group 2 was given a schedule of when they would be visited. Group 3 were visited at random times and group 4 were a control and weren’t visited. Found a positive impact on patients when they could predict and control the visits.
