OBSERVATIONAL EXERCISE

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to learn how to develop your observational skills as a psychological researcher. You are not conducting a Naturalistic Observation (a type of study), rather you are observing individuals to generate potential research topics based on the behaviors that you see. Many ideas for future studies come from observing the world around us.

Empirical Examples

Haber, 1980 investigated how students react in the classroom when another student is sitting in ‘their’ seat that they have sat in all semester.

McAndrew, Ryckman, Horr and Solomon, 1978 observed how people in a library react when they leave their personal materials and then return to find them moved.

Pennebaker, 1979 examined if Mickey Gilley’s country song “Don’t the girls all get prettier at closing time” played out in real life by examining judgments of attractiveness.

Popazol and Clore, 1973 examined how likely either a female or male confederate was if they were at the side of a road changing a tire.

Ruback, Pape and Doriot, 1989 examined if individuals take a longer time on a pay phone if there are others waiting to use it.

Can you think why the above study questions were informative to put to the test?

Method

Your instructor will inform you how much time you will have to walk around campus and unobtrusively observe individuals’ behaviors. That is, you are to observe people in such a manner that they do not know that they are being watched. The areas of campus should be public so that the privacy of the individual is not violated (i.e., do not go into a locker room or bathroom where people assume they have privacy, do not disturb a class or meeting in session). Note: if you are in a lab group, you must stay together as a group.

Activity

As you observe individual’s behaviors, develop a minimum of two experimental questions which, in your opinion, would be worthwhile for a behavioral scientist to investigate. In your own words, write them in the space provided below along with a short justification of why each is a worthwhile question.

1. First Experimental Question

2. Why is the above an interesting question to investigate, what is the importance of the topic, what are possible social implications of trying to answer the proposed question. Remember you cannot answer it today, you are simply trying to convince your instructor of the importance of studying your proposed question.

3. Second Experimental Question

4. Why is the above an interesting question to investigate, what is the importance of the topic, what are possible social implications of trying to answer the proposed question.