In this Reflection, my thought experiment will focus on a research design exploring the very early stages of human development. I remember being three years old when I first watched a scary movie, and I was indeed terrified of sleeping that night. Would flashing a scary doll such as “Chucky”, or a “Scream Mask”, in front of a toddler scare it and cause it to cry?
The variables or concepts I will be looking to observe would be the baby`s immediate reaction to the “Chucky” doll. In this experiment, I would also be trying to manipulate the baby`s behavior and emotions.
An experimental design would best suit this research question because it is the only way to actually get an answer for your hypothesis. This would include independent and dependent variables and random assignments of participants to control and experimental groups.
I would use naturalistic observation to conduct this experiment. I would observe and record the behavior of the baby.
Independent Variable: Chucky Doll
Dependent Variable: Baby`s behavior
Confounding Variable: Baby may be crying due to separation anxiety from its mother.
My hypothesis is the baby would cry and be frightened of a scary doll because it is at a Preoperational Stage. ( around age 2) It has developed animistic thinking and believes inanimate objects are alive. This would cause the amygalda in the babys brain to make it scared.
Behavioral psychologists as well as biological psychologists, and mothers would benefit from this study.
The challenges faced in this experiment would be the vast amounts of confounding variables and experimenter expectancy effects. By expecting the baby to be scared and cry, I would assume its because the scary doll.
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