Essay Golden Ass
Adam Ehmann
January 19, 2012
Research Critique #2
I found the article easy to read and I also had quite a bit of interest in it due to the fact that I have short term memory. I found the method complex for the experiment, though it made sense that it would have to be multiple evaluations of the subjects over different time periods to see the effects of the experiment. I did see a few questionable parts of the article. Over all it was an enjoyable read and was insightful to learn about the manipulation of memory. The experiment was to see if false beliefs and memories can produce changes in a subject’s behavior. The experiment was designed to address the connection between the behavioral and cognitive branches of psychology, specifically memory on short term, and long term behavior. The hypothesis for this experiment is to see the effects of a suggested false memory, in this case that the subject got ill from eating egg salad as a child, would have on the subjects’ behavior in both the short and long term. The method was to take a sample of 180 first-year undergraduates and randomly assign them to a control group or the experimental group. The experimental group was subjected to having the false suggestion that they became ill from eating egg salad in their childhood.
The procedure had multiple sessions to evaluate the subjects’ behavior over time. Each session had a false pretense so as to get true data instead of possible bias data. The study was called “Food and Personality” and the subjects were re-contacted by a different experimenter to participate in a different study. The first session required the subjects to complete a 24-item food-history inventory which had the main event of becoming ill from egg salad during their childhood. They measured all items on a 1 to 8 scale, definitely did not happen to definitely did, respectively. They also had a questionnaire that they had to fill out consisting of 62 different foods, including egg salad and had
January 19, 2012
Research Critique #2
I found the article easy to read and I also had quite a bit of interest in it due to the fact that I have short term memory. I found the method complex for the experiment, though it made sense that it would have to be multiple evaluations of the subjects over different time periods to see the effects of the experiment. I did see a few questionable parts of the article. Over all it was an enjoyable read and was insightful to learn about the manipulation of memory. The experiment was to see if false beliefs and memories can produce changes in a subject’s behavior. The experiment was designed to address the connection between the behavioral and cognitive branches of psychology, specifically memory on short term, and long term behavior. The hypothesis for this experiment is to see the effects of a suggested false memory, in this case that the subject got ill from eating egg salad as a child, would have on the subjects’ behavior in both the short and long term. The method was to take a sample of 180 first-year undergraduates and randomly assign them to a control group or the experimental group. The experimental group was subjected to having the false suggestion that they became ill from eating egg salad in their childhood.
The procedure had multiple sessions to evaluate the subjects’ behavior over time. Each session had a false pretense so as to get true data instead of possible bias data. The study was called “Food and Personality” and the subjects were re-contacted by a different experimenter to participate in a different study. The first session required the subjects to complete a 24-item food-history inventory which had the main event of becoming ill from egg salad during their childhood. They measured all items on a 1 to 8 scale, definitely did not happen to definitely did, respectively. They also had a questionnaire that they had to fill out consisting of 62 different foods, including egg salad and had