W. W. Norton & Company | The Personality Puzzle, 4th ed.

CHOOSE A CHAPTER

Chapter 3: Personality Psychology as Science: Research Methods

Brainstorm a list of ways that psychological research might be biased because the sample for the testing usually consists of college sophomores. Now brainstorm a list of ways that psychological research may be unaffected by using college sophomores as research participants.

Imagine you work for a very large and profitable company that would like to repaint the crosswalk lines and pedestrian-crossing warnings on the street, and they hope that by investing $100 in paint and labor they can avoid an accident. However, the company statistician reports that the effect size for paint on the street is only r = .10, which means 99% of the variance in accidents has nothing to do with crosswalk lines and pedestrian-crossing warnings. How might you argue that $100 is worth the investment?
- Try using the BESD to make an argument in favor of the investment.
- If the BESD is not compelling, think about this issue: Should statistical significance and effect size be the only indicators of the importance of a research finding? Is it possible that a significant result could still be important to implement, even if the effect size is small? In other words, regarding this paint example, since there is an effect r = .10, and the cost to repaint the street is nominal, would saving $100 be worth risking a life? What if your mom, dad, sister, or brother worked for that company and it was their life? See if you can convince your professor or classmates to spend the money.

Ask your parents how the values and beliefs of their generation may have affected their personality as an adult. Brainstorm the ways in which the values, beliefs, and technologies (e.g., the Internet) may be shaping your generation's personality. How might these "cohort effects" affect research results?