Psychology Experiment

Are you looking for a fun experiment that you can perform for a psychology class? This experiment on gender and memory is relatively quick and easy to perform, which is a bonus if you are short on time and resources.

Could gender differences play a role in short-term memory? We often hear women complain that their husbands can't remember important dates like anniversaries or birthdays, but could this phenomenon be due to something like memory differences between men and women. Some previous research has found a significant relationship between gender and memory, while other studies have no such relationship between memory and test scores.

Key Terms and Definitions

Hypothesis
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Short-term Memory
Long-term Memory
Possible Research Questions

Could one gender be better on specific types of memory tests? For example, might girls be better at memory for stories and boy be better at memory for object recall?

Is one gender better than the other at remembering words or numbers?
Develop Your Hypothesis

Once you have formulated a good research question, the next step is to develop your hypothesis. Remember, your hypothesis is a specific statement about what you expect to find in your experiment. For example, your hypothesis might sound like one of the following statements:

Female participants will score higher on tests for memory of stories than male participants.

Male participants will score higher on tests for memory of numbers than female participants.
Plan Your Experiment

Now that you have a hypothesis, the next step is to carefully plan your experiment. Where will you find participants? What materials do you need? In many cases, your classmates might be willing and able to serve as the participants for your study. If that isn't possible, you might need to look for volunteers from you school or community.

It is a good idea to talk to your instructor at this point. He or she might have specific