Tutorial 2 - Embodying Emotion Flashcards
What are demand characteristics, and why are they a concern in psychological studies?
They are cues that might influence participants to guess the aim of the study and change their behavior, which can confound the results.
How can researchers reduce the risk of demand characteristics?
By using a convincing cover story to disguise the true purpose of the study.
What was the cover story used in the original 1988 study?
That the study was about psychometric coordination and performing tasks using different parts of the body.
What cover story was used in the newer version of the study you participated in?
That the study was testing whether fidgeting and chewing affects simple everyday tasks like reading.
Why is it difficult to control for task difficulty in studies like this?
Because if a task is harder, it may reduce participants’ likelihood of finding something funny, affecting the results.
What was the aim of the replication study shown in the image?
To investigate whether chewing and/or fidgeting affects how funny participants rate jokes.
What were the two independent variables (IVs) in the study?
1) Chewing gum vs. not chewing
2) Fidgeting with a stress ball vs. not fidgeting
What was the dependent variable (DV) in the study?
How funny participants rated a series of jokes.
What were the four conditions in the 2x2 factorial design?
1) Chewing only
2) Fidgeting only
3) Chewing and fidgeting
4) Control (neither chewing nor fidgeting)
What was the proposed cover story to reduce demand characteristics in the replication study?
That the study was testing the effects of fidgeting and chewing on simple everyday tasks like reading.
Why is demand characteristics a potential limitation in this study?
If participants guess the true purpose of the study, it may influence their behavior and bias the results.
Why might controlling for difficulty of the jokes be important?
If jokes are more difficult to understand, participants may rate them as less funny, which could confound the results.
