Designing and Reporting a Simple Experimental Study: Students receive 8 hypotheses from social psychology and design an experimental study to test one of the hypotheses. They speculate on the potential results but do not actually collect data. The task asks them to identify the purpose and hypothesis, method, subject selection and assignment, and conditions and variables of the study. Students will produce a short APA style report no longer than 6 pages including title and references. Assignment: Social psychology studies how we think about, relate to, and are influenced by other people, or how the social context shapes our behavior. This assignment asks you to come up with an experimental design to test one of eight hypotheses from social psychology listed below. Each hypothesis is a prediction that could be supported or not supported by evidence. Your task is to choose one hypothesis from those listed and design an experiment to test that hypothesis. Note: your study should not be a survey, a case study, or a correlational study, but an actual experiment as described in the research methods chapter of our text and discussions. You will need to describe in detail how you would set up the study, who you would use for subjects and how you would select them, what the experimental and control conditions would be, what the independent and dependent variables would be, and what the expected outcome would be. The hypotheses are as follows: 1. People in noisy environments are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, anxiety, and feelings of helplessness. 2. If people are told that an infant is “John,” they are more likely to see “him” as bigger and stronger than if the same infant is called “Joan.” 3. Witnesses of simulated crime scenes remember less information if the “robber” has a gun than if he does not. 4. The larger the size of a group of people engaging in odd behavior, the more likely others will conform that behavior. 5. Single, elderly individuals are happier and healthier if they have a dog or a cat as a pet. 6. People are more likely to become aggressive if they experience frustration. 7. People are less likely to offer help to a stranger if other bystanders are present. 8. People are more likely to help female strangers than male strangers with an obvious problem. (attached is a template and an example paper)
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