For my Introductory Psychology class (PSY 1001), my professor, David Sitt has required that we participate in 5 hours worth (1 hour=1 credit) of psychological studies. These studies range from participating in online surveys to being a part of an experiment in a lab setting. Participating in these studies are vital to the development of my budding career because not only do they allow me to contribute to the field that I intend to become part of by being a direct test subject but they also allow me to better understand the experiments, surveys, and more that I may one day find myself organizing.
The surveys themselves typically aren’t that interesting but occasionally approach interesting hypothetical situations. They are mostly related to business (as to be expected from Psychologists graduating from a business school), but could also be related to situations that aren’t necessarily related to business. For example, one of the surveys mentioned groups which, while found in a business setting, are also found outside of business and jobs. The survey itself explored my general background and thoughts as well as how much I appreciated the most recent group I worked with. Another survey explored how we make decisions on who to be leader and who to be part of a group based only on their age, experience, and gender. The survey featured you dragging “Leader” to 1 out of 6 boxes and “Group Member” to 1 out of 6 boxes 3 different times.
Besides the surveys, there is also lab experiments. While I have yet to participate in a lab experiment myself, I have signed up for one and expect to attend it for 4 hours this Monday (11/27/17). The requirements for the experiment was for me to have normal (or corrected to normal) vision and no existing addictive disorders. I am personally excited to participate in and find out what this experiment is about.