** https://opl.apa.org/OPL-Student/index.html?#/StudentExperimenthttps://opl.apa
Place your order now for a similar assignment and have exceptional work written by our team of experts, At affordable rates
For This or a Similar Paper Click To Order Now
** https://opl.apa.org/OPL-Student/index.html?#/StudentExperimenthttps://opl.apa.org/OPL-Student/index.html?#/StudentExperimenthttps://opl.apa.org/OPL-Student/index.html?#/StudentExperiment
** ^ Link used for reference
Author: Ken McGraw, University of Mississippi
Editors: Leanne Boucher, Nova Southeastern University; James Collins, Middle Georgia State University
Introduction
The ‘First Impressions’ experiment is a computer-based version of a classic study conducted by Hamilton and Gifford (1976, Study 1). Jay Jackson (2000) provides a succinct explanation of the significance of this research:
‘Research has demonstrated that people pay special attention to distinctive or rare events and recall such events with relative ease (Hamilton & Gifford, 1976; Hamilton & Sherman, 1996). . . .When two distinctive or rare events co-occur, people tend to notice that relation more readily, encode the information more effectively, and recall such relations with greater ease (Matthews, 1996). Consequently, . . . people often subjectively overestimate how often two distinctive events occur together. This tendency has been dubbed the illusory correlation because it involves perceiving a relation that does not exist or is weaker in reality than perceived (Garcia-Marques & Hamilton, 1996). This cognitive process can influence the content of stereotypes. For example, it partly explains why many White Americans overestimate the rate at which African Americans engage in criminal activity (both are distinct or rare events)” (pp. 273-274).
Design
The current experiment is faithful to the original (Hamilton & Gifford, 1976) in its primary details. Participants read about people who belong to either a majority or minority group, with twice the number of majority members (n=26) as minority members (n=13). The information conveyed about each of the people describes a desirable or an undesirable behavior. The ratio of desirable to undesirable behaviors is 9:4 in both groups, but because both minority members and undesirable behaviors are rare events, participants should form illusory correlations and judge the minority members less favorably than majority group members.
Method
The stimulus materials are 39 photographs of male and female adults differing in age and race. The task for participants is to learn something about the people whose faces make up the task stimuli. They do so by clicking on each face in the 39-face set. When a face is clicked, a text balloon pops up with information about the person. The 39 statements are given in Appendix A. The information designates the person as either an Alpha or a Beta and describes a positive or a negative act or attribute of the person. The pairing of the face with information about the face is structured so that there are 26 Alphas to 13 Betas and that there are 18 positive and 8 negative acts by Alphas and 9 positive and 4 negative acts by Betas. The information produced by a mouse click remains on the screen until the mouse is released. This permits people to read and process the information at their own pace. Once the mouse is released, the face is greyed out, and the information about the face cannot be re-displayed.
Once all 39 faces are clicked, a set of 7-pt Likert scales appear on the screen. Participants indicate their impressions of Alphas and Betas using these rating scales. The ratings are made for the three positive attributes (popular, honest, and helpful) and three negative attributes (lazy, unhappy, and irresponsible). Scores from these separate scales are available in the data output along with a composite measure of the ratings on positive attributes and negative attributes. A final dependent measure is the participant’s rating of the percent of negative behaviors revealed in the statements made by the Alphas and Betas.
Data Format and Download
New column included in data reports!
There is a Profile ID included in new data reports. This is specific to each user. The User ID shown in old reports is now called Experiment Results ID. If a user takes an experiment multiple times, the Experiment Results ID will be different each time but the Profile ID will be consistent. To access the original data formats with User ID, use the OLD DATA files. The image below is not an exact representation of the XLS download. For more information, see our FAQs.
Data are downloadable in several formats (Microsoft Excel, CSV, XML, JSON). Figure 1 shows an excerpt from a sample Excel spreadsheet. Definitional information for each of the labeled columns appears in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Positive and negative attribute ratings (on a 7-pt Likert scale) for Alphas and Betas are calculated as both composite scores and as six separate ratings (three for positive attributes of popular, honest, and helpful; three for negative attributes of lazy, unhappy, and irresponsible). In addition, there is the participant’s estimation of the proportion of negative statements about the Alphas and Betas. Students wishing to perform inferential analyses on the data have several options.
One can conduct a repeated measures 2×2 ANOVA on the composite scores to determine if there is a difference between group membership and/or attribute valence. Planned comparison t-tests can be used to compare the composite positive rating for Alphas (ASumofPositive) to the composite positive rating for Betas (BSumofPositive); the same can be done for the composite negative rating for Alphas (ASumofNegative) and the composite negative rating for Betas (BSumofNegative). If Alphas are found to have higher composite positive ratings and Betas are found to have higher composite negative ratings, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that illusory correlation contributes to stereotype formation.
A one-way repeated measures ANOVA followed by planned comparisons of Alphas and Betas on each of the six attributes will reveal whether there were differences between the ratings of Alphas and Betas on the six attributes. If Alphas are found to be rated more highly on positive attributes and Betas more highly on negative attributes, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that illusory correlation contributes to stereotype formation.
The second measure of interest is the estimates participants made for the percent of negative statements that the members of the Alpha and Beta groups made about themselves. These are labeled ‘ApercentofNegative’ and ‘BPercentofNegative’ in the data. A repeated measures t-test can also be conducted on the participants’ estimations of the proportion of negative statements that were made by the Alphas and Betas. A significant difference reflecting higher estimates for Betas (the minority group) is consistent with the illusory correlation phenomenon that is hypothesized to contribute to stereotype formation.
In addition, since we know that the actual percent of negative statements is 31% for both groups (26/8 for Alphas and 13/4 for Betas), a one-sample t test can be conducted to determine if the participants rated the percent of negative statements made as more or less frequent than in actuality (31%). The result of these tests will indicate whether participants tend to overestimate the proportion of negative statements due, perhaps, to greater salience for negative than positive statements.
Applications/Extensions
This study allows participants to experience the formation of initial impressions and the roles minority/majority status and positive/negative attributes play in that formation process. Further comparisons can be made to the Implicit Association Test study also available here in the Online Psychology Laboratory.
References
Garcia-Marques, L., & Hamilton D.L. (1996). Resolving the apparent discrepancy between the congruency effect and the expectancy-based illusory correlation effect. The TRAP model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 845-860.doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.71.5.845
Hamilton, D.L., & Gifford, R.K. (1976). Illusory correlation in interpersonal perception: A cognitive basis of stereotypic judgments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 392-407. doi: 10.1016/S0022-1031(76)80006-6
Hamilton, D.L., & Sherman, S.J. (1996). Perceiving persons and groups. Psychological Review, 103, 336-355.doi: 10.1016/S0022-1031(76)80006-6
Jackson, J.W. (2000). Demonstrating the concept of illusory correlation. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 273-276.
Matthews, R.A. (1996). Base-rate errors and rain forecasts. Nature, 382, 766. doi:10.1038/382766a0
Appendix A
Statements by Alphas
I volunteer with Meals on Wheels.
I visited a sick friend in the hospital today.
I am rarely late for work.
I planted seedlings in the park
I helped a lost child in the supermarket yesterday.
I donated clothes to charity.
I volunteered to tutor needy students.
I drive my elderly neighbor to the grocery store.
I work out to keep in shape.
I received a promotion at work.
I sing in the church choir.
I took a hurt stray dog to the vet.
I helped a friend move to a new apartment.
I take the neighborhood kids swimming.
I volunteer in an after-school reading program.
I give blood to the Red Cross regularly.
I earned a community service award from the Chamber of Commerce.
I used vacation time to work with Habitat for Humanity.
I cheated on last year’s federal taxes.
I am self absorbed to a fault.
I kicked a dog for no good reason.
I ran a red light.
I failed to show up for a scheduled job interview.
I have crude table manners.
I stole the neighbor’s newspaper one morning.
I rarely wash my car.
I donated clothes to charity.
Statements by Betas
I helped a needy child.
I went out of my way to return a lost wallet to its owner.
I am well liked by my colleagues.
I converse easily with strangers.
I learned how to fly an airplane.
I am recognized as an excellent musician.
I helped paint my neighbor’s house.
I organized a birthday party for a co-worker.
I am considered to be a very dependable person.
I dented the fender of a parked car and did not leave my name.
I never return library books on time.
I yelled at a little boy who was bothering me.
I often tailgate when driving.
Place your order now for a similar assignment and have exceptional work written by our team of experts, At affordable rates