This is my Psychology IA written for IB. Completed spring 2020.
The role that words play in our everyday lives is something that is inarguably important. If successful priming can occur with as little trigger as reading words that we associate with old, then the role of words can be more important in peoples’ lives than we would assume. And if there is any effect on our behavior then research in this field is relevant.
The psychological theory that the experiment is based on is priming, described as “the incidental activation of knowledge structures, such as trait concepts and stereotypes, by the current situational context.”(Bargh et al), which in theory will affect the behavior of participants. The original study, where this definition is pulled from, was looking at how participants were affected by various types of priming, including the elderly priming used in this project. The experiment was the same as ours, where two groups were subjected to priming through a task, and their walking speeds were recorded.
The Bargh et al (1996) study looked at the effect of priming on the walking speed. This was done by having participants complete a word puzzle that contained words that had connotations with age and elderliness (with a control with non connotated words.). The study found that there was an effect on the walking speed of participants when primed (Bargh et al).
This investigation was meant to see how the effect of priming, in this case priming agedness, affected the walking speeds of participants. The age priming was the independent variable which affected the walking speeds of participants which is the recorded independent variable. Having no priming was the control. The target population is high school students 16 to 18 years of age. The hypothesis of this study is that when participants are subjected to the priming stimuli they will have a slower walking speed in seconds compared to participants who were given the control task. The theoretical prediction of the study is to find that priming has an effect on behavior, specifically the behavior of walking.
The null hypothesis is that there is no significant difference between the walking speeds of the control group and the primed group.
Participants were designated control or experimental groups with independent measures, where the paper that was given to them (which contained the word puzzle that they would solve) was shuffled randomly. This system was used to eliminate any potential biases that the researchers would exhibit that might interfere with the priming task or lack thereof, possibly affecting the data. The interference of researcher bias was unlikely, as a standardized script was used to interact with all participants, but an extra level of uncertainty for the researchers allowed no possible bias between the researchers and the control and experimental participants. One problem with this system is that there are a different number of control and experimental data points, so there could be some issue due to the differing size of the data.
We chose to do opportunity sampling with students from our school. Students ages ranged from 16 to 18 years of age. Sex, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background were not recorded. These students were chosen by opportunity, from a sl psychology class, a study hall class, and a few people in the halls with an unknown class. The psychology students were not aware of this study beforehand. The control and independent variables were equally mixed in every class, no class had only control participants or only experimental participants.
Consent Forms (Appendix IV)
Stopwatch
A stopwatch on a laptop was used in order for the timing to be inconspicuous.
Word search for control group
A word search was made out of a standardized list of words.
Word search for experimental group
A word search was made out of a standardized list of words.
Pencils
A brown colored pencil was provided for each participant to complete the task with.
In this study two word puzzles are used (see appendices III and IV) one is for the experimental group and the other is for the control group. The list of experimental words was brainstormed by the researchers, but a few words are shared with the original study. The control words were randomly generated.
Participants were given consent forms and were given basic information regarding how to participate (see appendix V ). On each consent form was a number from one to thirty three. Once all participants had given consent and filled out their forms participants were called one by one out to the hallway to be given the task. They would walk down the hallway as instructed by the researchers to a table where the test was to be administered. This walk was timed by a confederate who posed as a student sitting quietly in the hall. An initial time was taken which started when the confederate saw the participant leave the classroom, and ended when they got to the table at the other end of the hallway. If the participant stalled, be it talking to someone in the hallway or another confounding event, the confederate would make sure to mark the participant’s times and their data would be thrown out. A researcher administered the test when the participant got to the table, which consisted of a crossword puzzle. Because of time constraints these tests were limited to four minutes, and the participants were not pressured to complete the test as fast as possible. Once they were done, their sheet was given to the researcher and they would walk back to class, again being timed by the confederate. Once they had come back the next participant would be called and the procedure would be repeated. Once all participants had gone through the experiment, they were debriefed en masse (see appendix VI).
As is visible in the graph, there is a change between the initial and second walking times in both the control and experimental groups. The change in the control group was 0.08 seconds from 14.78 to 14.70 seconds. And for the experimental group there is a change of 0.38 seconds from 13.12 to 12.74 seconds. For the most part the standard deviation is not to variable. One to three seconds difference between the participants is more tightly compact then expected, except for the second walk control group, which had a deviation of the mean of 8 seconds, which goes from 11 seconds to 20. It is not too bad, but it could have skewed the control data, which is important for finding context for the data.
For the type of data used a chi square test was conducted. After calculating the p value, it was determined that it was not significant, with a p value of .656542. Therefore the null hypothesis is retained. There is no significant difference in walking speed with relations to being primed or the control.
The results found do not concur with the study it replicated. In the original Bargh et al (1996) study there was an increase in time while walking after the age priming. In this study there is a decrease in the time it took. This study's results do not fit the priming theory. This could be because of confounding variables in the study or a study that disproves the theory all together. There are many possible answers to why the theory and the results don’t concur.
The strengths of this study are in the limitation of controllable confounding variables. Having a script is a good way to get rid of researcher bias, and having the confederate being able to see the person and be able to throw out bad data is good to limit outliers.
There are limitations with conducting this study, mainly that being held in a hallway that can have people in it could be interfering with the behavior of the participant. Possibly having the participant read a poster could greatly impact the time in which they got back, or that they had a rock in their shoe or something else that has no way of being accounted for without a larger sample size.
The amount of participants is also a limitation to the credibility of this study. With little time to conduct this experiment and a lack of participants, this study only has 23 pieces of data. With what little resources this study was able to use and with big time constraints this could be something that could affect the end result. The participants themselves were chosen based on how convenient it was to conduct the study with them, so there was not much in the way of specially chosen participants.
Future modifications can include a more solitary and plain walking path. The hallway had posters and students loitering around, so having a space that doesn’t have that would have less potential confounding variables. Sample size is another thing that could be improved, having more data points will make the data truer. Finally having more time to allow participants to be primed would be a good Independent Variable, as in this study it was kept constant because of time constraints.
In this study there is not evidence for a significant difference in behavior between being primed or not with regards to walking speed. The P value was .656542 which has no significance. Therefore we cannot disprove the null hypothesis.
Bargh et al, ”Automaticity of Social Behavior: Direct Effects of Trait Construct and Stereotype Activation on Action”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1996. Vol. 71, No. 2. 230-244, https://www.thinkib.net/files/psychology/files/barghprime.pdf
TeachersCorner, “Word Search Maker” The Teacher's Corner, 2020. https://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/word-search/
Random Lists, “Random Word Generator” Randomlists.com, https://www.randomlists.com/random-words
Random.com, “List Randomizer”, Random.com, 2020, https://www.random.org/lists/
Today we will be conducting a study using word puzzles for our psychology IA. It should take about five minutes to complete.
If you agree to participate, please keep in mind that you can withdraw at any time. All data collected will be kept anonymous. Our findings can be shared with you if you wish. You will be debriefed after the experiment should you choose to participate.
In agreeing to participate in today’s experiment, I acknowledge that I understand the below conditions.
I can withdraw from the experiment at any time.
I am 16 or above.
All data collected will be kept anonymous.
The experiment uses one activity and includes a debriefing statement at the end or when I chose to withdraw after beginning the experiment.
Grade: Age: Signature:
Email(optional, only for results):
We recreated the Bargh et al (1996) study, which looked at the effect of priming on a person’s actions. We used two word puzzles that used different words to see if they had any effect on your walking speed. One test had a set of words that were meant to remind the test taker of stereotypically “elderly” things, such as Florida and knitting. The other, our control, had a set of neutral and unrelated words. We timed your walking speed going to and from the test area.
Now the experiment is over, and your data will be used for our IAs. If you want any information, such as results of our or Bargh’s study, or anything else, feel free to email us.
[researcher@email.com]
Thank you all for your time.
Hello, we are running a quick experiment for our psychology class. It will take about five minutes. If you are willing to participate and are above the age of 16, please raise your hand. We will hand out a consent form. Please fill out the information as best you can. Raise your hand if you have any questions. Please hold onto your consent forms. The number at the top is the order in which we will call you out.
[name] at the end of the hall will give you your task.
Go ahead and have a seat. Your task is here. Please write your participant number but not your name on the line inside, you may begin. I will take your paper now, thank you, you may head back to class. You will be debriefed towards the end of the class period.