THE EXPERIMENT An EXPERIMENT allows researchers to control or manipulate the situation being studied

IMPORTANT! INFORMED CONSENT ALL experiments MUST meet the American Psychological Association’s (APA) code of ethics There must be __________________________ from participants All risks must be presented and no harm can be done to the subject Animals must be treated humanely INFORMED CONSENT

EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES INDEPENDENT VARIABLE __________________________: can be manipulated by the experimenter __________________________: experimenters predict this will be affected by the manipulations of the independent variable (“DEPENDS” on the independent variable) EVERY experiment has at least one of each! DEPENDENT VARIABLE

EXPERIMENTAL REQUIREMENTS To eliminate “chance” in an experiment, a _______________________ is needed Control subjects are not treated the same as those being experimented upon. HOW IS THIS DONE? 1) RANDOM ASSIGNMENT: subjects are randomly assigned to control and experimental groups (to avoid bias) 2) _______________: an inactive substance used as a control in an experiment (not always used) CONTROL CONDITION PLACEBO

GETTING ACCURATE RESULTS SINGLE-BLIND STUDY _____________________________: subjects do NOT know whether they are in an experimental or control group To eliminate any other bias, we might run a… DOUBLE-BLIND STUDY: Neither the experimenter nor the subjects know who is in each group.

Shortcomings of Experimentation Not always representative of population Most volunteers = college students Participants are aware of their actions SOLUTIONS? _____________________: the careful study of behavior conducted in a natural setting outside the lab. Example: Prejudice in offices and schools ↑ FIELD RESEARCH