Memory Experiment
Seth Dennison and Jenna Snyder
John Bryan
Psychology of Gender 104
10/31/2012
Psychological Gender Experiment
For our psychological gender experiment we chose to focus on the topic of memory differences between genders. At first we wanted to figure out if one gender had a better memory than the other, but then we also wanted to observe whether or not their memory showed better results when the objects were related to their gender. Therefore, the hypothesis we constructed was: If we group together gender related items, then that specific gender will memorize those items more than the other items, furthermore we predict that females will have a better memory than males. The design of our experiment consisted of randomly selecting participants from the ages of 18 and over who were hanging out at a sit down area next to Chipotle and Starbucks in Menifee. The experimental group was split into two parts: the male items and the female items, while the control group had non-specific gender items. For the experiment we used a tray to place the items on, 15 non-specific gender items, 5 female related items and 5 male related items, as well as a towel to cover the items and pens and paper for the participants to write their results on.
The way we assigned groups was by rotating the items after every two participants; in the case of a group of 2 or more people we would switch the items right after. The participants did not know that we would switch the items around and they were not aware that we had a bag full of different items. When we approached the participants we would ask them if they would take part in our project, then we explained the procedure of the ‘memory test’ and if they said yes we would escort them over to our table where they would write down their gender and age at the top of their paper and wait to start. Once the participants stated that they were ready, Seth started the timer while Jenna lifted the towel to display the items. We
John Bryan
Psychology of Gender 104
10/31/2012
Psychological Gender Experiment
For our psychological gender experiment we chose to focus on the topic of memory differences between genders. At first we wanted to figure out if one gender had a better memory than the other, but then we also wanted to observe whether or not their memory showed better results when the objects were related to their gender. Therefore, the hypothesis we constructed was: If we group together gender related items, then that specific gender will memorize those items more than the other items, furthermore we predict that females will have a better memory than males. The design of our experiment consisted of randomly selecting participants from the ages of 18 and over who were hanging out at a sit down area next to Chipotle and Starbucks in Menifee. The experimental group was split into two parts: the male items and the female items, while the control group had non-specific gender items. For the experiment we used a tray to place the items on, 15 non-specific gender items, 5 female related items and 5 male related items, as well as a towel to cover the items and pens and paper for the participants to write their results on.
The way we assigned groups was by rotating the items after every two participants; in the case of a group of 2 or more people we would switch the items right after. The participants did not know that we would switch the items around and they were not aware that we had a bag full of different items. When we approached the participants we would ask them if they would take part in our project, then we explained the procedure of the ‘memory test’ and if they said yes we would escort them over to our table where they would write down their gender and age at the top of their paper and wait to start. Once the participants stated that they were ready, Seth started the timer while Jenna lifted the towel to display the items. We