Summaries, Handouts, and Reading Tips for Selected Articles

• Chapter 1and 2 articles
  • Bushman and Anderson's 2001 American Psychologist article complaining about the media distorting the research on television violence.
  • The introduction of an article that talks about political bias in the media and looks at the effects of media bias on sexism.
  • A short article showing a case where intuition underestimates the power of a situational (experimental) variable while overestimating the importance of personality
  • APA's one-paragraph summary of the research on facilitated communication and a list of 15 relevant references.
  • A short article that, using research on the Greenhouse effect as an example, emphasizes the importance of critically reading research rather than putting complete faith in peer review or press accounts of research.
  • Skeptical Inquirer article illustrating problems with popular press articles, focusing on subliminal perception.
• Chapter 3 articles
  • To understand the importance of theory, to understand the importance of grounding research ideas in past research, or to help students write introductions, you could have the students read the introduction of any article listed below. However, if you want to stress theory, you might want to start with
    • this classic article that helped launch cognitive dissonance theory
    • this article on terror management theory and its implications for the November 2004 U. S. presidential elections
    • this short article that introduces students to the Prisoner's Dilemma game and shows them a case in which, counter to intuition, a situational (experimental) variable is much more powerful in predicting behavior than a personality variable
  • To give students confidence in their ability to read an article, to show them how reading research can help them generate research ideas, and to show students that "trait" variables can be manipulated, assign this article that manipulates loneliness to look at the impact of loneliness on religiosity.
  • This abridged version of a fascinating article (on guns, testosterone, and aggression) is great for helping students understand research involving mediating variables. Note that there are also some other activities you can do with this article because the authors have provided their data in this Excel file. For example,
    • If you are covering Chapter 7, you could have students use Excel to calculate the same Pearson r values that the original researchers did. If you want to get more elaborate, you could
      • Have them use Excel to compute regressions (e.g., see how condition [gun or game] and testosterone level together predict aggression)
      • Have them use Kristopher Preacher's online Sobel Test calculator and this handout to compute the same Sobel test that the authors did.
    • If you are covering Chapter 10, you could have students do a t test to see whether the gun manipulation increased aggression.
    • If you are covering  Chapter 11, you could have students do an F test to see whether the gun manipulation increased aggression--and then have them compare the results of the t test analysis to the F test analysis. That comparison might help them see that the tests are related.
   
• Chapter 4 articles
  • To have students understand the importance of reading primary sources, have students read any of the articles listed under Chapter 1.
  • Most of the articles listed under Chapter 3 are also appropriate
  • To help students understand how to critique articles (and to emphasize that not all articles are perfect), have students read the following article that critiques the scientific evidence for the claims made about full-spectrum lamps.
• Chapter 5 and 6 articles
  • Measuring prejudice
  • Measuring emotional intelligence
  • A reaction time measure of personality
• Chapter 7 articles
  • Personality test scores correlating with observation of behavior
  • Archival research involving political bias in the media and sexism.
  • Archival research involving chess expertise
  • A reaction time measure of personality and its correlation with happiness (note that this article is also listed under Chapters 4, 5, and 10)
  • Archival research involving height and earnings (also relevant to survey research)
• Chapter 8 articles
  • Transmission of fear of failure from parents to children
  • Mate poaching
  • Survey research involving height and earnings (also relevant to archival research)
• Chapter 10 articles
  • Interesting simple experiments dealing with how subtle changes in wording can have powerful effects
  • An extremely short and easy-to-read simple experiment  (a study on "positive momentum" by Markman and Guenther)
  • A simple experiment showing that rejection leads people to lose self-control when it comes to eating
  • Neat experiment showing that people do worse when they think the audience is a friend than when they think the audience is a stranger
  • An easy-to-read article about an experiment that manipulates loneliness to see its effect on religiosity
  • Neat series of studies on incidental similarity and compliance. Note that (a) only Study 1 is a simple experiment (the others are three-group experiments) and note that (b) the researchers use chi-square, rather than t tests, to analyze the data from Study 1.
  • Interesting series of studies suggesting that having many choices can make people less satisfied with their choices. The first two studies are simple experiments.
  • A short article that uses a single independent variable . Note that the article is easy to understand even though it uses chi-square and ANOVA.
  • Two, 2-group, pre-post designs that could be interpreted as (and are primarily analyzed as) a simple experiment that look at the effects of television on mood.
  • Study 1 of this article dealing with the relationship between terror management theory and George Bush's popularity
  • A simple experiment looking at the effects of gun on aggression (This article could be used for Chapter 4 as well).
    Actual data from that study, in an Excel spreadsheet, so students can do a t test to see whether guns increased aggression.

     

• Chapter 11 articles
  • Classics
    • The three-group experiment that helped launch cognitive dissonance theory. The handout points out that writing standards, ethical standards, and statistical standards (the authors used t tests to analyze their data) are different now than they were in 1959).
    • Milgram, Bickman, and Berkowitz's field experiment on conformity (the "crowd looking up at a window" study)
  • Recent Studies
    • Experiment suggesting that the threat of social rejection decreases willpower
    • Recent series of studies on incidental similarity and compliance. Note that (a) Study 1 is a simple experiment, (b) Studies 2-4 are three-group experiments, and that the researchers use chi-square, rather than t tests, to analyze the data from Study 3.
    • A three-group experiment that suggests that mood manipulations do not affect how fast a person is at categorizing events as unpleasant (Only the fourth study of this article is an experiment; the other studies are relevant to Chapters 4, 5, and 6.)
    • Interesting series of studies suggesting that having many choices can make people less satisfied with their choices. The first two studies are simple experiments; the third is a three-group experiment.
    • Experiment 3 of an article that looks at why people watch television (first two studies are mixed designs)
    • Article that has some interesting political implications. Although the article discusses a study that uses a hybrid design, the study has five levels of a single experimental factor
    • Studies 2 and 3 of this article dealing with the relationship between terror management theory and George Bush's popularity. Students may find Experiment 2 especially interesting because it uses subliminal priming.
    • Two, three-group experiments about how to learn names
• Chapter 12 articles
  • A 2 X 2 factorial experiment that has interesting implications for people using negative ads
  • Article using a hybrid design (in this case, a simple experiment crossed with gender) to look at how subtle changes in wording can have potent effects
  • A hybrid design that has interesting political implications and may help students understand interactions
  • Studies 3 and 4 of this article dealing with the relationship between terror management theory and George Bush's popularity.
  • A short article describing a study that uses two predictors: one true independent variable and one personality variable . However, because there are no effects involving the personality variable, the study is analyzed much like a simple experiment.
• Chapter 13 articles
  • An experiment using a mixed design that suggests that writing about traumatic experiences may help one feel better.
  • Two interesting experiments that use mixed designs suggesting that just being seen near an overweight person may make people judge you unfavorably
  • Interesting studies on why people like to watch television
  • An easy-to-read article about a repeated measures experiment that is analyzed like a simple experiment (the authors subtract pretest scores from posttest scores rather than using time of testing as a within-subjects variable) and that manipulates loneliness to see its effect on religiosity
  • An experiment using a mixed design to determine whether music lessons enhance IQ
  • The sample article (Appendix C) in Research design explained.
• Chapter 14 article
  • Skinner's 1948 article on superstition in the pigeon
  • Sample research proposal for a single-n study looking at the effects of peer tutoring
• Chapter 15 articles
  • Most of the articles listed above could be used for Chapter 15.

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