Fall 2001 -- results of experiments.
E.T. -- My study was called The Effects of Gender, Attitudes Toward Women and Dating Status on The Future Career Goals of Male and Female College Students. Previous research stated that all of these variables would affect college students career goals, so my hypotheses were that women, those with more traditional views of women and those involved in more serious relationships would be more likely to favor beginning a family over beginning a career. I administered 2 tests and then ran several correlations between the variables. None of my hypotheses were supported by my results. I did however find that males tended to be more traditional in their views toward women. In order to get more significant results, I would try to recruit more participants, have more of a balance between male and female participants, and even possibly test older or nontraditional students.
A.H. -- My study examined the effects of television viewing on women’s body image. Participants viewed either an experimental or control television program and then completed a questionnaire. The experimental television program was Friends, and the control program was The Andy Griffith Show. This study found that women who viewed the television show containing thin, beautiful women experienced higher body satisfaction than women who viewed the television show not containing thin, beautiful women. The results indicate that television programs containing thin, beautiful women positively affect women’s body image.
J.G. -- My research project examined, The Effects of Aromatherapy on Mood. Participants in the control group were exposed to no aroma of lavender oil, while participants in the experimental group were exposed to this scent, which was diffused into the air. The participants were assessed through an Anxiety Self-Inventory. The results of this study were not significant. Even though, the results of this study did not support my hypothesis that the aroma would indeed have an effect on mood, one should not assume that aroma does not affect mood based solely on this study.
C.M. -- My experiment, The Effects of Teacher Appearance on Students’ Attitudes, looked at whether the way a teacher dressed effected students’ attitudes toward them. Although previous research was mixed, female teachers dressed professionally were usually rated higher than other conditions, and male appearance did not seem to affect ratings. I hypothesized that the students would rate professionally dressed females and casually dressed males as most effective. Participants read a statement and saw a photograph, then were asked to fill out an evaluation form on the teacher. The results of this experiment found that the participants preferred the casually dressed female teacher to the other teacher conditions. These results may have been affected by the fact that the participants were students in Dr. Evey’s Intro Psych class, and were used to a casually dressed female teacher.
T.M. -- Color and Emotion: There were three colors and emotions that were preferred differently between females and males. They were red/anger, yellow/surprise, and green/jealousy. Statistically there was no effects, but when adding the amount of times one color was chosen over another the three above stood out. I also compared psychology students vs. communication students, the only differences, was the amount of time each took to complete the questions, communication students took longer.
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