Propose an original study

Assignment 2

[NOTE: This example assignment 2 is based on the paper from example 1, assignment 1: Gray, K. (2010). Moral Transformation: Good and Evil Turn the Weak Into the Mighty. Social Psychological and Personality Science,1(3), 253-258. Please see Blackboard for a copy of this paper.]

Do not copy/paste any portions of these answers for your own assignment. Doing so violates the academic integrity expectations for this course, and suspected violations will be reported to the Center for Student Learning and Success (CLASS).

1. The study I propose further examines the relationship between moral behavior and personal strength. The purpose of this study is to expand upon previous research by (1) comparing the effects of good (moral) versus bad (amoral) acts on personal strength, and (2) investigating a different component of personal strength: cognitive capacity. The previous work I read about found that people who do either a good act or and bad act become more physically more powerful. I want to know which type of act (good or bad) leads to greater strength. I am also curious if people might become more mentally powerful in addition to becoming more physically powerful. Thus, I am proposing a study that compares the effects of these different types of acts on cognitive strength, which is something that the previous study did not test.

2. I expect that doing a good act leads to greater cognitive strength compared to doing a bad act.

3. The independent variable in the experiment I propose is the type of act that participants perform. In particular, some participants will be asked to do a good act, while others will be asked to do a bad act. The dependent measure is cognitive strength. The type of act (IV) will be operationalized in a way similar to the original experiment I read about with some modifications. Specifically, participants will be asked to either donate money to charity (good act), or write down insulting remarks about a passerby (bad act). Cognitive strength (DV) will be measured via a word-recall memory test. This memory test asks participants to view a list of 60 words for 30 seconds and then to recall as many words as they can in one-minute.

4A. The previous study I read about tested participants at one busy subway station. In order to increase the likelihood of obtaining a more diverse sample, I want to test adults in a number of public venues in Syracuse: People leaving the SU bookstore, the mall, the train station, and the airport.

4B. The study I propose uses an experimental design to test the effect of bad versus good acts on cognitive strength. First, using an experimental design is conducive to testing the question I am interested in. I am interested in whether or not moral behavior causes increased cognitive strength, and an experiment tests this causal connection. Further, the design I am proposing is particularly advantageous because it will be conducted in real-world settings rather than in a lab. This increases the external validity of the study, making findings more generalizable.

5. Experimenters conducting this study will recruit participants leaving the SU bookstore, the mall, train station, and the airport. Participants will first read and sign the consent form if they agree to participate in the study. Participants will then be given a pre-test measure of their cognitive strength. Specifically, they will complete a word-recall memory test; performance on this test will in establish a baseline for cognitive strength. The experimenter will explain to participants that they will have 30 seconds to study a list of 60 words, and will then be asked to write as many words as they can remember in one-minute. After completing the memory test, the experimenter will then flip a coin in order to randomly assign participants to one of two possible conditions: (1) a “morally good” condition where they will be asked to donate $1 (given to them by the experimenter) to charity, or (2) a “morally bad” condition where they were instructed by the experimenter to write down 2 insults about a passerby. Next, the experimenter will give participants the same word-recall memory test (same test, but different words) to obtain a post cognitive strength measure. Finally, participants will be debriefed about the study’s purpose and given $5 compensation for their participation.