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• Learn to control for aspects of the physical

Chapter 8 Chapter Objectives environment

SOLVING PROBLEMS: • Understand demand characteristics and

experimenter bias and how to control for their
CONTROLLING
effects
EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES
• LEarn how an experimenter's personality can
Christelle Ann S Jimenez, RPm, MA (cand) influence experiments
Psychology Department
Institute of Arts and Sciences • Learn how volunteers differ from nonvolunteers
Far Eastern University • Understand how to control for speial problems
created by the experimental context

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Types of extraneous
• Physical Variables
variables • PHYSICAL VARIABLES
Situation:
• SOCIAL VARIABLES
Poor Emily was trying to run a memory experiment that required a lot
• PERSONALITY VARIABLES
of concentration. On Thursday, her first day of teseting, Emily
• CONTEXT VARIABLES
recruited subjects in the library and tested them in a quiet reading
room. The next day she came back to run the rest of the experiment.
To her dismay, Emily found that the reading room closed early on
Fridays. The only place she could test her subjects the building's
lobby.

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• Physical Variables • Physical Variables

It was fairly quiet there, but people walked by now and then, laughing and talking The A group was tested under quiet conditions in one setting; the B gorup was
about plans for the weekend. Emily cried, "What a dummy I am! These testing tested in a different place with more noise and distractions. Clearly, there was a
conditions will confound my experiment! Why did I run all of my subjects getting ocnfounding in Emiy's experiment because the testing conditions changed along
treatment A yesterday?" with the independent variable. She could have avoided her problems by using one
The day of the week, the testing.room, the noise, the distractions are all physical of the three general techniques for controlling physical variables"
variables, aspects of the testing conditions that need to be controlled. Emily's • Elimination
experiment was in real trouble because she ran all subjects getting treatment A on • Constancy of conditions
a Thursday and all of those getting Treatment B on a Friday - and we all know that • Balancing
Fridays are different!

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Physical Variables:
Three techniques
Elimination Constancy of conditions Balancing
Removing of extraneous Keeping all aspects of Distributing the effects of an
variables in an experiment. treatment conditions as nearly extraneous variable across the
Example/s: noise, dirt, etc similar as possible. different treatment conditions
Example/s: paint, lighting, of the experiment
chairs, mustiness of drapes,

mechanics of testing
procedures, location, etc

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Social Variables Social Variables

Controlling Demand
Controlling Demand
Characteristics:
Characteristics: Single-Blind Cover Stories
Experiment
Experimenter Bias
Demand Characteristics An experiment in which
aspects of the experimental subjects do not know which A plausible but false The experimenter does something that

situation that demand people treatment they are getting explanation for the procedures creates confounding in the experiment

Example: Giving cues to respond in a

to behave in a particular way Blind about one thing: they do used in the study. Told to
certain way
example: Elevator example not know which treatment they disguise the actual research
Rosenthal/Pygmalion effect = high
are getting hypothesis so that subjects will
expectations lead to improvement in
not guess what it is.
performance

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Controlling Experimenter Bias Controlling Experimenter Bias

Double-blind Experiments Double-blind Experiments

• One in which the subjects do not know which • Study of cartoons and children's art
treatment they are receiving, and the ⚬ Children who watched cartoon will draw
experimenter does not know either more abstract pictures than who have just
• Experimenter does not know so he/she cannot watched a filmed version of the same story
bias the responses in a systematic way • Triazolam
• Third person or none

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Personality Variables Context Variables

Experimenters Volunteer subjects
People who volunteer tend to:
• Personality variables
• hold more liberal social • Are those that come about from procedures
⚬ an experimenter brings
and political attitudes than
to the experimental
less authoritarian created by the environment
setting
volunteers
• Social Desirability
• more sociable
• high in social desirability
• higher on intelligence test

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Context Variables
Some Folklore About
When the Subjects Select When Experimenter Selects the
Subjects
the Experiment Subjects

• Tip: Use people you do not • Students who sign up late

Things to consider:
know in the term might be less
• Am I free at at time when
• Could result in deviance of motivated to participate
subjects are needed?
procedure than those who volunteer
• And what kind of
• Can reduce generalizability early
experiment is it?

• Bias due to preference

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