Do Now

What do correlations tell us? What can they NOT tell us? What is an illusory correlation?

Random Events and Cause & Effect

AP PsychologyMs. Desgrosellier10.1.2009

Perceiving Order in Random Events Illusory correlations come from our natural

eagerness to make sense of our world Even given random data, we look for order, for

meaningful patterns Random sequences often don’t look random,

and therefore get over-interpreted

Perceiving Order in Random Events For example, flipping a

coin usually comes out to 50-50 (you could see HHHHHH or TTTTTT or HHHTTT or HTHTHT or HTTHTH - they are all equally likely.)

Despite the seeming patterns in these data, the outcome of one toss gives no clue to the outcome of the next toss

Perceiving Order in Random Events With a large enough

sample, any outrageous thing is likely to happen

An event that happens 1 in a billion people every day occurs about six times a day, 2000 times a year

Find your birthday in pi

http://angio.net/pi/piquery

Experimentation:

Helps psychologists understand human behavior

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html

Exploring Cause and Effect

Psychologists have to statistically control for other factors to isolate cause and effect

Control means to remove differences

Age, gender, education, intelligence, income, etc.

Experiment

a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors

They allow a researcher to focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by manipulating the factors of interest holding constant (controlling) other factors

Experiment

No single experiment is conclusive Control eliminates alternative explanations

and supports conclusions If a behavior changes when we vary an

experimental factor, then we know the factor is having an effect

Experiment

Bottom line: unlike correlational studies, which uncover naturally occurring relationships, an experiment manipulates a factor to determine its effect

Understanding experimentation is key to thinking critically with psychological science.

““I’m looking for a gift”: The I’m looking for a gift”: The influence of store qualityinfluence of store quality

and customer dress on the and customer dress on the helpfulness of sales associateshelpfulness of sales associates

Kristen Bennett, Nikki Desgrosellier, Kristen Bennett, Nikki Desgrosellier,

Suzanne Gardiner, and Shannon SandersSuzanne Gardiner, and Shannon Sanders

Introduction

Research Question• Are sales associates at high-end stores

more helpful than those at low-end stores, and does a formally dressed customer receive more help than a casually dressed customer?

Introduction

• IV#1: Type of dress• IV#2: Type of store• DV: Time sales associate spent with

customer (researcher)

• Why is this relevant?- We are all consumers who experience customer service

- May make people more aware of stereotypes

- Companies training their employees in customer service etiquette

Introduction

Past research:Mallozi, McDermott, and Kayson (1990): Stranded motorist situation - Formal vs. Casual dress

- Female vs. Male - Rural vs. suburban or urban location -Interaction… Kim and Lennon (2005): Observed

customer-associate interactions Well-dressed vs. Poorly-dressed customers: - Received more friendly service - Were helped more quickly

Method• Subjects

– 48 female sales associates in Bellis Fair Mall, between the ages of 18 – 40•24 from a “high-end” clothing store

– Macy’s, the Gap or American Eagle, and Hollister

•24 from a “discount” clothing store– Kohl’s, Sears, and JC Penney

Method

• Materials– Casual Outfit: loose,

blue sweatpants, black flip-flops, a plain, white T-shirt, hair in a ponytail, and no makeup

Method

• Materials– Formal Outfit: black

slacks, a black and/or white shirt, flat black shoes, hair down and styled straight, and eyeliner and mascara.

– Cell phone stopwatch

Method

• The experimenter and confederate walked separately into the women’s or junior’s department

• The experimenter asked for help while a confederate started timing the interaction

• The timer stopped when the interaction was over

Method

Questions from clerk: Responses:

When approaching the saleswoman “Hi, I’m looking for a gift for my sister’s birthday/cousin’s graduation.”

How old is your sister/cousin? “She’s turning 28/18.”

What’s her favorite color? “Pink/purple/green/blue.”

What’s her style? “Dressy-casual/trendy-classic.”

What’s your budget? “I don’t know”/ “It doesn’t matter”/ “Mid-range”

What are you looking for? “I don’t really know, but I was thinking about a shirt/sweatshirt.”

Why are you buying the present, i.e. if you don’t know what you want, why are you here?

“My mom/aunt asked me to buy the present.”

What do you think about this? “That’s nice.” or “That’s okay.”

Do you think she’d like this? “Yeah, maybe.” or “I guess…”

Exit strategy (timing confederate will greet the other researcher):

“Hi (name here)! How are you?”

Shopping researcher: “Sorry, I have to talk to my friend. Thanks for your help!”

Scripts A and B

Method

• Collection– Data was collected over 4 evenings (6 –

8 p.m.)– Two researchers dressed up and played

the shoppers– The other two researchers timed the

interactions

Discussion

• There is a general trend for type of dress such that the better dressed you are the longer you are helped

• You are helped the longest in high-end stores when wearing dressy attire and are helped the shortest when shopping in discount stores dressed casually

Problems…•Suspicious sales associates•Limited types of stores•Needed more data points

Unexpected results…•Why didn’t we get a significant interaction?•Significant main effect for store but not

for dress- Associates in discount stores might be more comfortable with casually dressed customers.

Discussion

Interesting issues:•Sweatshirts are out-of-season•Some employees were apathetic and directed us to other stores.

Discussion