Psychology homework

Question

Chocolate & Self-control

What is self-control? Is it a type of knowledge? Is it a skill? Does practicing self-control make it stronger? Does exercising self-control make a person fatigued? Can a person’s self-control be altered—made stronger or weaker?

Psychological researchers have pondered such questions about self-control for years. A group of

researchers at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, conducted an experiment that attempted to answer some of the questions about self-control. Chocolate, one area in which many people have difficulty exercising self-control, figured prominently in their experiment. The CWRU researchers reported on their work and its conclusions at the American Psychological Association in Toronto, Canada, in August 1996.

The elements of their experiment were as follows:

1. Establish a pool of participants composed of 67 undergraduate students who had not eaten in three hours.
2. Divide participants into three groups.
3. Expose two groups to the aroma of chocolate chip cookies baking.
4. Place plates containing chocolate chip cookies and plates containing radishes before the two groups.
5. Have one group eat only chocolate chip cookies, and have the other group eat only radishes.
6. Allow five minutes of unsupervised time for eating.
7. Do not expose the third group to the aroma of chocolate chip cookies baking, and do not give them anything to eat.
8. Assign all three groups the boring task of tracing geometric figures.
9. Tell the groups to stop when they become tired or feel unable to continue.
10. Monitor the three groups to determine how long each group perseveres in performing the boring assignment.

Can you guess what happened and what the experiment revealed? The result of the experiment was that the group allowed to eat only radishes gave up tracing the geometric figures earlier on average than the other two groups. Thus, the CWRU researchers judged that the effort of exercising self-control and not eating the chocolate chip cookies reduced the radish eaters’ strength for the tracing assignment.

Directions: Using the study above, cite an example of each term listed below. The hypothesis is shown as a model. After you have done that answer the 3 reflection questions

Hypothesis: Exerting self-control causes fatigue.

1.Experimental group:

2.Control group:

3.Independent variable:

4.Dependent variable:

5.Conclusion:

6.What are the advantages of a controlled experiment?

7.What are the disadvantages of a controlled experiment?

8.Do you think that other scientists use this technique?Why?

Answer 1

Experimental Group: The groups that ate either cookies or radishes.

Control Group: The group not exposed to the aroma and not given anything to eat.

Independent variable: The cookies and radishes, specifically whether each group receives them or not and which one they receive.

Dependent Variable: The length of time that each group endures performing the task of tracing geometric figures.

Conclusion: Exercising self-control takes energy, which can cause one to be less ready to perform other tasks.

The control in an experiment is specifically done to ensure internal validity, or a cause-and-effect in an experiment that cannot be explained by other factors. With internal validity, the dependent variable is brought about as a result of the independent variable, and not as a result of an extraneous variable. For example, if the experiment was only done with a group allowed to eat cookies and another group allowed to eat radishes, and the radish group gave up earlier, it could potentially be a sugar rush from the cookies that is the true cause of the cookie group persevering longer. So they had a third group not given cookies or allowed to smell the aroma- in other words, a group that is not required to practice self-control, and is not exposed to sugar. Thus, if the cookie and control group gave similar results and persevered longer than the radish group, the conclusion that exercising self-control takes mental energy can thus be drawn from the research, whereas if the two groups are substantially different, the conclusion cannot be drawn and the experiment must be modified or discarded. Put Simply, the advantage of a controlled experiment is to ensure that the results are from what is being tested.

The disadvantage to a controlled experiment is that controlling variables takes more time and requires more effort, but the results will be infinitely better. That being said, it is not always easy to predict every variable and sometimes one may be caught off guard. In addition, because real life has no control, then controlled experiments may have little or no resemblance to real world scenarios- thus they have low external validity, or the degree to which the results can be generalized to broad populations and settings.

Ideally, all scientists use this testing method to ensure that experiments bring about the best results that can be studied and replicated. Of course, scientists are human and subject to their own biases, and they make mistakes too, so it is never 100% perfect. This is why experiments should never be performed just once by one scientist or group, but by many different scientists.