EXPERIMENT NO.

NAME: SCORE:_______
DAY/TIME: MTH / 7:30 – 12:00 DATE: 06 / 19 /14

TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTATION

ABSTRACT:

Introduction to experimentation aims to familiarize the students with some of the logic of

research. The materials used are pencil and paper, stop watch with second hand. The procedure

of the experiment was: The experimenter (E) instructed the subject (S) to write the alphabet

backward (from Z to A) as rapidly as possible. There will be 5 trials of 30 seconds each with a

one-minute rest between trials. After the first trial S’s reported orally the number of letters

written and to estimate the number expected in the second trial. After the second, third and fourth

trials S’s reported the number estimated, the number achieved and the number estimated for the

next trial. After the fifth trial only the estimated and achieved scores were reported. The subject

was female, 18 years old and BS-Psychology Major. It was found out that the participant has a

rise and fall achieved score while in the group mean revealed that the majority of the respondents

got perfect achieved score in the fifth trial. It was concluded that practicing, conditioning and

focusing influence the learning processes of an individual and the Subject has maintained the

chunks of memory in writing the alphabet in a backward manner.

INTRODUCTION:

An experiment is an orderly procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, refuting, or

establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Controlled experiments provide insight into cause-and-

effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. A child

may carry out basic experiments to understand the nature of gravity, while teams of scientists

may take years of systematic investigation to advance the understanding of a phenomenon.

Experiments can vary from personal and informal natural comparisons (e.g. tasting a range of

chocolates to find a favorite), to highly controlled (e.g. tests requiring complex apparatus

overseen by many scientists that hope to discover information about subatomic particles). In the

scientific method, an experiment is an empirical method that arbitrates between competing

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models orhypotheses. Experimentation is also used to test existing theories or new hypotheses in

order to support them or disprove them. According to some Philosophies of science, an

experiment can never "prove" a hypothesis, it can only add support. Similarly, an experiment that

provides a counterexample can disprove a theory or hypothesis. An experiment must also control

the possible confounding factors—any factors that would mark the accuracy or repeatability of

the experiment or the ability to interpret the results. Confounding is commonly eliminated

through scientific control and/or, inrandomized experiments, through random assignment. In

engineering and other physical sciences, experiments are a primary component of the scientific

method. They are used to test theories and hypotheses about how physical processes work under

particular conditions (e.g., whether a particular engineering process can produce a desired

chemical compound). Typically, experiments in these fields will focus onreplication of identical

procedures in hopes of producing identical results in each replication. Random assignment is

uncommon. In medicine and the social sciences, the prevalence of experimental research varies

widely across disciplines. When used, however, experiments typically follow the form of the

clinical trial, where experimental units (usually individual human beings) are randomly assigned

to a treatment or control condition where one or more outcomes are assessed. In contrast to

norms in the physical sciences, the focus is typically on the average treatment effect (the

difference in outcomes between the treatment and control groups) or another test statistic

produced by the experiment. A single study will typically not involve replications of the

experiment, but separate studies may be aggregated through systematic review and meta-

analysis. Of course, these differences between experimental practices in each of the branches of

science have exceptions. For example, agricultural research frequently uses randomized

experiments (e.g., to test the comparative effectiveness of different fertilizers). Similarly,

experimental economics often involves experimental tests of theorized human behaviors without

relying on random assignment of individuals to treatment and control conditions.

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment)

Many people seem to misunderstand what an experiment is, which is unfortunate as

experimentation is the foundation of the scientific method. The stereotypical experiment involves

a lab and test tubes, but experiments certainly aren't limited to the lab. An experiment involves

controlling one 'input' variable, holding all others constant (to the best of your ability) and
 3

measuring the effect on an output variable of a change in the control variable. The 'quality' of an

experiment depends in part on how well you can control the other variables. By this standard, the

lowest quality experiments are the 'natural experiments' frequently used in biology due to

restrictions imposed by budget or ethics. For example, you cannot perform an experiment that

involves killing people, but you can look for naturally arising situations that are similar except

for the 'control' variable and see how it effects survival.

(http://www.ozpolitic.com/evolution/what-is-experiment.html)

The question of the meaning of experimentation is brought repeatedly before us,

if we read any criticisms of method by the scientific investigators themselves, or, indeed,

if we stop to consider the reason for the terms and subdivisions of the different sciences

and to ask why experiment plays so large a part in some

and is so little used in others. Such phrases as 'the treacherous

path of speculation instead of the safe way of observation

and experiment" or as 'those experimental investigations

upon which the growth of science depends, 2 and the sad

note in the statements made by a distinguished geologist

that 'there has been during the last few years a large

accumulation of geological evidence, a little new

speculation, but practically no new experimental work, '3 and that geology is 'only

beginning to enter the experimental stage' ;4 -these, and the many other similar references

to be met with, all suggest that for some reason the ideal of science is to build on

experiment primarily if not entirely.

Rousmaniere(2005), When we ask what experimentation is or what an experiment

is, and much more when we ask how it is that experiment achieves its result, the answers

are not so easy to find as we might hope, particularly if we turn for them to the

scientific investigators themselves. Experimentation and observation together make up our

means of

appeal to the

external

world. That is
 4

clear. They connect us in some way with the phenomena there, make us master in part of that

world of fact that yet we never feel as within our control

Experimental psychology is an area of psychology that utilizes scientific methods to

research the mind and behavior. While students are often required to take experimental

psychology courses during undergraduate and graduate school, you should really think of this

subject as a methodology rather than a singular area within psychology.

What Do Experimental Psychologists Do? Experimental psychologists work in a wide

variety of settings including colleges, universities, research centers, government and private

businesses. Some of these professionals may focus on teaching experimental methods to

students, while others conduct research on cognitive processes, animal behavior, neuroscience,

personality and many other subject areas. Those who work in academic settings often teach

psychology courses in addition to performing research and publishing their findings in

professional journals. Other experimental psychologists work with businesses to discover ways

to make employees more productive or to create a safer workplace, a specialty area known as

human factors psychology. (http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/a/what-is-

experimental-psychology.htm)

An experiment usually tests a hypothesis, which is an expectation about how a particular

process or phenomenon works. However, an experiment may also aim to answer a "what-if"

question, without a specific expectation about what the experiment will reveal, or to confirm

prior results. If an experiment is carefully conducted, the results usually either support or

disprove the hypothesis.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_psychology)

Psychology originally had its earliest roots in philosophy and physiology. According to

most psychology histories, it was the establishment of the very first experimental psychology lab

that officially marked psychology's beginnings as a separate and distinct discipline. So when

exactly was the first psychology lab formed and who was responsible for this important event in

psychology history? Wilhelm Wundt, a German doctor and psychologist, was responsible for

creating the world's first experimental psychology lab. This lab was established in 1879 at the

University of Leipzig in Germany. By creating an academic laboratory devoted to the study of

experimental psychology, Wundt officially took psychology from a sub-discipline of philosophy

 5

and biology to a unique scientific discipline.In 1883, Wundt's student G. Stanley Hall created the

first experimental psychology lab in the United States at John Hopkins University.

The History of Experimental Psychology

1874 - Wilhelm Wundt published the first experimental

psychology textbook, Grundzüge der physiologischen

Psychologie (Principles of Physiological Psychology).

1875 - William James opened a psychology lab in the

United States. The lab was created for the purpose of class

demonstrations, rather than to perform original experimental

research.

1879 - The first experimental psychology lab was

founded in Leipzig, Germany. Modern experimental psychology dates back to the establishment

of the very first psychology laboratory by pioneering psychologist Wilhelm Wundt during the

late nineteenth century.

1883 - G. Stanley Hall opened the first experimental psychology lab in the United States

at John Hopkins University.

1885 - Herman Ebbinghaus published his famous Über das Gedächtnis ("On Memory"),

which was later translated to English as Memory. A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.

In the work, he described his learning and memory experiments that he conducted on himself.

1887 - George Truball Ladd published his textbook Elements of Physiological

Psychology, the first American book to include a significant amount of information on

experimental psychology.

1887 - James McKeen Cattell established the world's third experimental psychology lab

at University of Pennsylvania.

1890 - William James published his classic textbook, The Principles of Psychology.
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1891 - Mary Whiton Calkins established an experimental psychology lab at Wellesley

College, becoming the first woman to form a psychology lab.

1893 - G. Stanley Hall established the American Psychological Association, the largest

professional and scientific organization of psychologists in

the United States.

1920 - John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted

their now famous Little Albert Experiment, in which they

demonstrated that emotional reactions could be classically

conditioned in people.

1929 - Edwin Boring's book A History of

Experimental Psychology was published. Boring was an

influential experimental psychologist who was devoted to the use of experimental methods in

psychology research.

1955 - Lee Chronbach published Construct Validity in Psychological Tests, which

popularized the use of the construct validity in psychological research.

1958 - Harry Harlow published The Nature of Love, which described his experiments

with rhesus monkey's on attachment and love.

1961 - Albert Bandura conducted his now-famous Bobo doll experiment, which

demonstrated the effects of observation on aggressive behavior.

(http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/first-psychology-lab.htm)

Cherry (2005) The Methods Used in Experimental Psychology: Experimental

psychologists use a variety of different research methods and tools to investigate human

behavior. Experimentation remains the basic standard, but other techniques such as case studies,

correlational research and naturalistic observation are frequently utilized in psychological

research.The basics of conducting a psychology experiment involve randomly assigning

participants to groups, operationally defining variables, developing a hypothesis, manipulating

the independent variables and measuring the depending variables.

The experimental method is usually taken to be the most scientific of all methods, the

'method of choice'. The main problem with all the non-experimental methods is lack of control

over the situation. The experimental method is a means of trying to overcome this problem. The
 7

experiment is sometimes described as the cornerstone of psychology: This is partly due to the

central role experiments play in many of the physical sciences and also to psychology's historical

view of itself as a science. A considerable amount of psychological research uses the

experimental method.

An experiment is a study of cause and effect. It differs from non-experimental methods

in that it involves the deliberate manipulation of one variable, while trying to keep all other

variables constant.

Experiments in the Laboratory: In psychological experiments (like experiments in other

fields) we try to keep all aspects of the situation constant except one - the one we are looking at.

For example, suppose we want to investigate which of two methods is more successful at

teaching children to read. The aspect that we vary is called the independent variable (IV) and we

change this in a very precise way. In this example the teaching method is the independent

variable. We call the factor which we then measure, in our example it would be some measure of

the children’s reading ability, the dependent variable (DV), because, if our ideas are correct, it

depends on the independent variable. In our example, the children’s reading ability depends on

the teaching method used.

The variable which is being manipulated by the researcher is therefore called the

independent variable and the dependent variable is the change in behavior measured by the

researcher. All other variables which might affect the results and therefore give us a false set of

results are called confounding variables (also referred to as random variables). Examples of

confounding variables in the example given might include the following

Differences in the instructions given by an experimenter or in the stimulus materials

being used (which could be overcome by standardizing instructions and materials for all those

taking part)Differences between participants, e.g. in their age (which could be eliminated as a

variable by using a single age group, or alternatively it could be made more constant by ensuring

that the age structure of each of the groups taking part in the experiment is very similar).By

changing one variable (the IV) while measuring another (the DV) while we control all others, as

far as possible, then the experimental method allows us to draw conclusions with far more

certainty than any non-experimental method. If the IV is the only thing that is changed then it

must be responsible for any change in the dependent variable.

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Probably the commonest way to design an experiment in psychology is to divide the

participants into 2 groups, the experimental group and the control group, and then introduce a

change for the experimental group and not the control group. Suppose we wish to see if people

sit at a library table for a shorter time if someone comes and sits at the same table than if they

remain alone. First we must measure the average amount of time people sit when they are alone.

This is the control condition and it gives us a baseline against which to judge our results. Then

we send a confederate to sit at the same table and we measure the average amount of time the

person sits there. This is the experimental condition.A control group, then, is a group for whom

the experimenter does not change the IV. The experimental and control groups must be matched

on all important characteristics, e.g. age, sex, experience etc.

Advantages of laboratory experiments: 1.Experiments is the only means by which cause

and effect can be established. It has already been noted that an experiment differs from non-

experimental methods in that it enables us to study cause and effect because it involves the

deliberate manipulation of one variable, while trying to keep all other variables constant.

Sometimes the independent variable (IV) is thought of as the cause and the dependent variable

(DV) as the effect. 2. It allows for precise control of variables. The purpose of control is to

enable the experimenter to isolate the one key variable which has been selected (the IV), in order

to

observe its effect on some other variable (the DV); control is intended to allow us to conclude

that it is the IV, and nothing else, which is influencing the DV. 3. Experiments can be replicated.

We cannot generalize from the results of a single experiment. The more often an experiment is

repeated, with the same results obtained, the more confident we can be that the theory being

tested is valid. The experimental method consists of standardized procedures and measures

which allow it to be easily repeated. 4. It is also worth noting that an experiment yields

quantitative data (numerical amounts of something) which can be analyzed using inferential

statistical tests. These tests permit statements to be made about how likely the results are to have

occurred through chance.

 9

Limitations of laboratory experiments: 1.Artificiality: The experiment is not typical of

real life situations. Most experiments are conducted in laboratories - strange and contrived

environments in which people are asked to perform unusual or even bizarre tasks. The

artificiality of the lab, together with the 'unnatural' things that the subjects may be asked to do,

jointly produces a distortion of behavior. Therefore it should be difficult to generalize findings

from experiments because they are not ecologically valid (true to real life). 2. Behavior in the

laboratory is very narrow in its range. By controlling the situation so precisely, behavior may be

very limited. 3. A major difficulty with the experimental method is demand characteristics.

Some of the many confounding variables in a psychology experiment stem from the fact that a

psychology experiment is a social situation in which neither the Subjects nor the Experimenters

are passive, inanimate objects but are active, thinking human beings. Imagine you’ve been asked

to take part in a psychology experiment. Even if you didn’t study psychology, you would be

trying to work out what the experimenter expected to find out. Experimenters too have

expectations about what their results are likely to be. Demand characteristics are all the cues

which convey to the participant the purpose of the experiment. 4. The experimental method as

used in psychology has a history of using biased or unrepresentative sampling. George Miller

(1962) estimated that 90% of U.S. experiments have used college students (who are accessible

and 'cheap') and yet the results still tend to be generalized to the U.S. population as a whole, and

often beyond that to Britain, Western Europe, etc. But there is no reason to believe that U.S.

college students are typical of any other group in terms of gender, age, personality, social class

background or any other subject variable which can influence how subjects will perform in any

experimental situation. What's more, these students are often psychology students who are

required to participate in research as a course requirement! 5. It has already been noted that

strength of the experimental method is the amount of control which experimenters have over

variables. However it must also be noted that it is not possible to completely control all

variables. There may be other variables at work which the experimenter is unaware of. In

particular, it is impossible to completely control the mental world of people taking part in a

study. 6. A very major problem with the experimental method concerns ethics. For example,

experiments nearly always involve deceiving participants to some extent and the very term

'subject' implies that the participant is being treated as something less than a person. Recently the
 10

use of the experimental method has come under considerable criticism for the way that

researchers often break ethical guidelines. It is also important to recognize that there are very

many areas of human life which cannot be studied using the experimental method because it

would be simply too unethical to do so. 7. Another issue is to do with normative data. Some

researchers consider that an important advantage which experiments have over, say,

observational techniques is the random assignment of research participants to experimental

conditions. This helps to reduce the problems of analysis caused by systematic differences

between people. Other psychologists, however, argue that grouping people together in this way,

and trying to cancel out individual differences so that we only look at a group norm, is limited in

how much it can tell us because it ignores what

is special about people.

(http://www.holah.karoo.net/

experimental_method)

Experimental research involves

manipulating the independent variable in some

type of controlled situation (preferably a

laboratory) so that precise measurements can be

taken. It is used to advance our knowledge to

give us a better understanding of behavior. Psychological experiments do not discover, prove, or

disprove cause-effect relationships. Psychological experiments are used to test hypotheses. If by

common sense we believe something is true, we can use psychological experiments to test and

retest those hunches. If the results can be replicated, we become more confident about what we

believe to be true. In other words, psychological experiments can tell us how accurate our beliefs

are.

(http://www.personal.psu.edu/~j5j/psy002/P002-96/experi6.htm)

Why do people act the way they do? Psychologists have been pondering this question

since ancient times. Much of the knowledge we have about the human mind today has come

from psychology experiments conducted within the last century. From Asch’s Conformity

Experiment to Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment, the psychologists in this list of some
 11

Intriguing Psychology Experiments have helped gather new information and provide insight into

the otherwise chaotic trends in human thought and behavior. Like the Marshmallow Test, Can

deferred gratification be an indicator of future success? This is what Walter Mischel of Stanford

University sought to determine in his 1972 Marshmallow Experiment. Children age’s four to six

were taken into a room where a marshmallow was placed on the table in front of them. Before

leaving each of the children alone in the room, the examiner told them they would receive a

second marshmallow if the first was still on the table after 15 minutes. The examiner recorded

how long each child resisted eating the marshmallow and later noted whether it correlated with

the child’s success in adulthood. A minority of the 600 children ate the marshmallow

immediately and one-third deferred gratification long enough to receive the second

marshmallow. In follow-up studies, Mischel found that those who deferred gratification were

significantly more competent and received

higher SAT scores than their peers, meaning that

this characteristic likely remains with a person

for life.

Another one is theBobo Doll Experiment,

During the 1960s, much debate arose about how

genetics, environmental factors, or social

learning shaped children’s development. Albert

Bandura conducted the Bobo Doll Experiment in 1961 to prove that human behavior stemmed

from social imitation rather than inherited genetic factors. He set up three groups: one was

exposed to adults showing aggressive behavior towards a Bobo doll, another was exposed to a

passive adult playing with the Bobodoll, and the third formed a control group. The results

showed that children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to exhibit aggressive

behavior towards the doll themselves, while the other groups showed little imitative aggressive

behavior.
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Also, The Little Albert experiment is like the human equivalent of Pavlov’s dogs.

Probably one of the most unethical psychological studies of all time, this experiment conducted

in 1920 by John B. Watson and his partner Rosalie Rayner at Johns Hopkins University

conditioned a nine-month-old boy to develop

irrational fears. Watson began by placing a

white rat in front of the infant, who showed

no fear at first. He then produced a loud

sound by striking a steel bar with a hammer

every time little Albert touched the rat. After

a while, the boy began to cry and exhibit

signs of fear every time the rat appeared in

the room. Watson also created similar

conditioned reflexes with other common

animals and objects until Albert feared them all, proving that classical conditioning works on

humans.

(http://list25.com/25-intriguing-psychology-experiments/?view=all)

Criticism of Experimental Psychology

There have been several criticisms of experimental psychology. Frankfurt school, Herbert

Marcuse, Theodore Adorno, Jürgen Habermas, Karl Popper and Alasdair MacIntyre

One school opposed to experimental psychology has been associated with the Frankfurt School,

which calls its ideas "Critical Theory." Critical psychologists claim that experimental psychology

approaches humans as entities independent of the cultural, economic, and historical context in

which they exist. These contexts of human mental processes and behavior are neglected,

according to critical psychologists, like Herbert Marcuse. In so doing, experimental

psychologists paint an inaccurate portrait of human nature while lending tacit support to the
 13

prevailing social order, according to critical theorists like Theodor Adorno and Jürgen Habermas

(in their essays in The Positivist Debate in German Sociology).

Critical theory has itself been criticized, however. While the philosopher Karl Popper

"never took their methodology (whatever that may mean) seriously", Popper wrote counter-

criticism to reduce the "'irrationalist' and 'intelligence-destroying'" "political influence" of critical

theorists on students (Karl Popper pages 288–300 in [The Positivist Debate in German

Sociology]). The critical theorists Adorno and Marcuse have been severely criticized by Alasdair

MacIntyre in Herbert Marcuse: An Exposition and Polemic. Like Popper, MacIntyre attacked

critical theorists like Adorno and especially Marcuse as obscurantists pontificating dogma in the

authoritarian fashion of German professors of philosophy of their era—before World War II—

(page 11); Popper made a similar criticism of critical theory's rhetoric, which reflected the

culture of Hegelian social studies in German universities (pp. 293–94). Furthermore, MacIntyre

ridiculed Marcuse as being a senile revival of the young Hegelian tradition criticized by Marx

and Engels (pp. 18–19, 41, and 101); similarly, "critical theory"'s revival of young Hegelianism

and its criticism by Karl Marx was noted by Popper (p. 293). Marcuse's support for the political

re-education camps of Maoist China was also criticized as totalitarian by MacIntyre (pp. 101–

05). More recently, the Critical Theory of Adorno and Marcuse has been criticized as being a

degeneration of the original Frankfurt school, particularly the work of empirical psychologist

Erich Fromm, who did surveys and experiments to study the development of personality in

response to economic stress and social change (Michael Macoby's Preface to Fromm's Social

Character in a Mexican Village).

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_psychology)

APPARATUSES / MATERIALS:

Pencil and paper, timer with second hand

DESIGN AND PROCEDURE:

The experimenter (E) instructs the subject (S) to write the alphabet backward (from Z to

A) as rapidly as possible. There will be 5 trials of 30 seconds each with a one-minute rest

between trials. After the first trial S’s are to report orally the number of letters written and to
 14

estimate the number expected in the second trial. After the second, third and fourth trials S’s

report the number estimated, the number achieved and the number estimated for the next trial.

After the fifth trial only the estimated and achieved scores are reported.

SUBJECT:

The subject is female, 18 years of age and a BS – Psychology Major.

RESULTS:

Table 1 and figure1 represent the subject’s estimated and achieved scores in writing the
alphabet backward.

Table 1
The estimated and achieved scores of the respondent
in writing the alphabet backward

Trial Estimated Score Achieved Score

1 - 15
2 18 25
3 20 23
4 22 26
5 26 26

The table above shows that the respondent got the highest estimated score and achieved

score at the 5th trial with a score of 26. Moreover, the subject got 26 in achieved score and 22 in

estimated score at the 4th trial; 23 in achieved score and 20 in estimates score at the 3 rd trial; and

at the 2nd trial the subject got 25 achieved score and 18 estimated score. However, the respondent

got a low achieved score of 15 at the first trial.

 15

30

Estimated Score

Achieved Score

25

20

15

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Fig. 1 The estimated and achieved score of the respondent in writing alphabet
backward

There was a decrease and increase of score in every trial made in the experiment.

Nevertheless, with the 2nd until to the 4th trial the respondent surpassed the estimated score and

reached the estimated score at the last trial with the highest achieved score. It is because the

Respondent underwent conditioning and practicing with the same stimuli given at many number
 16

of times or trials. Likewise, the respondent has retained the memory in writing the alphabet

backward as the trials were made.

Table 2 and figure2 illustrate the Group achieved scores, frequencies and percentile in
writing the alphabet backward.

Table 2
Group Achieved scores in writing the alphabet backward

Intervals F Mean
24 – 29 34 0.67
18 – 23 7 0.14
12 – 17 6 0.12
6 – 11 1 0.02
0–5 3 0.06
Total 51 1.01
Mean Score = 0.20

The table above illustrate that in the achieved score 24 – 29 has the highest frequency

with a score of 24 and a mean of 0.67. Furthermore, the group got a mean of 0.14 in the achieved

score of 18 – 23 with a frequency of 7; In the achieved score of 12 – 17 there was a frequency of

6 with a mean of 0.12. However, the group got a frequency of 3 and a mean of 0.06 in the

achieved score of 0 – 5 and at the achieved score 6 – 11 the clients got the lowest mean of 0.92

with a frequency of 1.

It shows that the mean score of the interval of 24 – 29 is greater than the group mean and

it only implies that many in the group experienced easiness at the 5 th trial of writing the alphabet

backward since the subjects have gone through conditioning practiced the stimuli and have

retained chunks of memory.

 17

40

f
35 Mean

30

25

20

15

10

0
24 - 29 18 - 23 12 - 17 6 - 11 0-5

Fig. 2 Group Achieved scores in writing the alphabet backward

DISCUSSION:

Based on the experiment conducted, it was observed that the individual has a rise and fall

achieved score within the five trials. The rise of the scores in the 2 nd, 4th and 5th trials is caused by

conditioning wherein the client was given the same stimuli in many times or trials.
 18

Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, Bem, &Koeksem (2005) The Classical conditioning is a

learning process in which a previous neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus

through repeated pairing with that stimulus.

Classical conditioning can explain the rise of the scores. The subject was given many

trials in writing the alphabet backward. The client learned or the client was conditioned in

writing the alphabet in backward manner. At the first trial the activity was presented to the

subject as a neutral stimulus. Then the client answered it and that was the unconditioned

response to the neutral stimulus. After a minute the activity was presented again to the

participant, that time it was already an unconditioned stimulus and the client answered or wrote

the alphabet backward and that was the unconditioned response to the unconditioned stimulus

made the participant. At the third trial given a minute of rest, the activity was presented to the

client again and this time as a conditioned stimulus. Then the subject wrote the alphabet in a

reverse manner and that time it was already a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus

made by the individual. Same goes to the 4th and 5th trials.

A study made by Bjork, Hays and Kornell about Unsuccessful Retrieval Attempts

Enhance Subsequent Learning: Are the Effects of an Unsuccessful Test Positive or Negative?

(2009) There is extensive evidence that successful retrieval is a “memory modifier” (Bjork,

1975). What, though, is the effect of an unsuccessful retrieval attempt? If successful tests

enhance learning, do unsuccessful tests impede learning— or do they also enhance learning? The

literature supports predictions of either outcome. The foremost reason to expect unsuccessful

tests to have negative consequences is the idea of errorless learning—that is, the idea that

learning is most effective when errors are minimized. Errorless learning has had a long and

influential history in psychology (e.g., Guthrie, 1952; Skinner, 1958). Although it is an idea that

derives mainly from findings in studies of nonhuman animal learning, it has influenced

suggestions about best practices for educators as well (for a discussion, see Pashler, Zarow, &

Triplett,2003), and it is used frequently and successfully in patient populations (e.g., Evans et al.,

2000). A related finding is that when students make an error on a multiple-choice test, that error

tends to persist on a later test (Marsh, Roediger, Bjork, & Bjork, 2007; Roediger & Marsh,

2005), although the overall effect of such tests appears to be positive. Moreover, there is direct
 19

empirical evidence that a brief, unsuccessful cued-recall test followed by a presentation can

hinder memory, versus a presentation not preceded by a test (Cunningham & Anderson, 1968).

The increase of the score is a caused by the enhanced learning through the failure to

retrieve the alphabet in backward. The subject failed to retrieve some letters in the alphabet in

the third trial. Obviously, the learning has enhanced and so the result. At the fourth trial the

subject has wrote the alphabet backward perfectly and the learning retained up to the last trial.

The increase of the score can be also explained by another associative learning, the

Multiple Response Learning. Kahayon, &Berba (2005) said that the Multiple – Response

Learning was the acquiring patterns or sequences or response in mastering a task, e. g. , in

learning a skill or memorizing a poem involving sensorimotor task and rote memorization. It is

a kind of learning involving more than just identifiable act, with the order of events usually fitted

by demands of the situation.

Like in the experiment, the participant can write the alphabet in reverse manner with the

learning acquired through patterns or sequences. Sequences like the song of the alphabet, first

letters to be sung are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, then paused. The second sequence of letters is H, I, J,

K, L, M, N, O, P, then another pause and continued with the sequence of letters, Q, R, S, T, U,

V, W, X, Y, Z. With these sequences it is easy to remember what is next to letter Q when you

write it backward or what is letter comes first in a backward manner, is it the S or the R. Some

letters served as a cue so an individual can recall what the three next letters are.

However, the sudden fall of score in the 3rd trial was seen evidently. The subject failed to

retain it in the short term memory because the alphabet in reverse manner is hard to remember.

Also, it can be that the subject failed to use inner voice to remember or to retain the information

inside of the mind until another trial will be done after a minute of rest.

Miranda (2008) The Information is held in short term memory for about 15 to 25 second

unless it is rehearsed. The deliberate repetition of information intended to maintain it in short

term memory as rote rehearsal or maintenance. Rehearsal for example if you look at a telephone

number in a directory and then have to walk across a room to get a phone, you will probably

repeat it in your mind using an “inner voice” to maintain the number in the short term memory
 20

until you can make it to the phone. Another feature of the short term memory is that it has a very

limited capacity according to Miller (1956) (cited by Miranda, 2008), the limit is 7 + 2 items.

Since in every trial made there was a minute of interval or rest.

Distraction can also cause a falling result of the experiment. Distraction-conflict (also

distraction/conflict) is a term used in social psychology. Distraction-conflict is an alternative to

the first tenet in Zajonc’s theory of social facilitation. This first tenet currently seems to be more

widely supported than the distraction-conflict model. Zajonc formulates that the presence of an

individual generates arousal, and this arousal facilitates well-learned tasks and inhibits complex

tasks. The distraction-conflict model states, "in the presence of others there is a conflict between

attending to the person and attending to the task". The distraction-conflict model calls this

attentional conflict, and says that it is responsible for the arousal of the subject.

An attentional conflict occurs between multiple stimuli when the subject is interested in

paying attention to each stimulus. The task unrelated to the subject’s primary goal is referred to

as the distraction. This conflict only occurs when the pressure to attend to each input is equal and

the individual’s cognitive capacities to do so are inadequate.

It has been argued that the distraction-attention theory suggests that "distraction during a

simple task will improve performance if it triggers attentional conflict". As with Zajonc’s theory

of social facilitation, the distraction-conflict theory observes that an individual’s performance on

simple tasks is facilitated by arousal, whereas an individual’s performance on complex tasks is

hindered by this same arousal. For this to occur, the level of distraction must be related to

performance so that benefits of increased drive outweigh the costs of disruption. Distraction-

conflict, as well as social uncertainty and self-attention, may "provoke resource overload because

they absorb attentional capacity".

This model more broadly predicts that any attentional conflict will produce drive.

Distraction-conflict has been supported by several studies which have produced results showing

that "distractions, such as noise or flashing lights, have the same drivelike effects on task

performance that audiences do". This is because "our attention is divided between the task at

hand and observing the reactions of the people in the audience" in much the same way how one
 21

is distracted from the task at hand by sounds or flashing lights. The effects of distraction-conflict

are also shown to be the strongest when there is a sense of urgency.

The individual lose concentration when given a minute break. Also the noise inside the

room adds as a factor for the individual to be distracted. Evidently observed, the subject has been

losing attention to the activity as the trials were continued and the outside stimulus affecting the

concentration of the client, like calling friends, cellphone, cameras and the likes resulting to the

falling result and failure to write the alphabet backward.

Learning the Alphabet Backwards if you are

reading this, and then you know all the letters of the

alphabet. You've probably been reading and writing

with letters for many years. So, it should be a trivial

exercise for you to recite the alphabet. Now try it

backwards. The reason this is so much harder is

because you memorized the alphabet using serial-

learning. In other words, each letter is a cue for the

next letter. This little exercise will teach you how to recite the alphabet backwards. Learn this

and impress your friends.To do this, you should be familiar with the Peg Mnemonic System and

in particular, the Alphabet Pegwords which will be reproduced below. Now, start with the word

for the last letter in the alphabet, "zucchini," and associate it with the letter before it - "yo-yo."

Perhaps you will imagine a zucchini on the end of a string. Then associate "yo-yo" with "x-ray."

Once you have made all 25 associations, you should be able to quickly recite the alphabet

backwards by recalling each association in order. Apple Boy Cat Dog Egg Foot Goat Hat Ice

Juice Kite Log Monkey Nut Owl Pig Quilt Rock Sock Tie Umbrella Vampire Wig X-ray Yo-yo

Zucchini

(http://www.braingle.com/mind/183/learning-the-alphabet-backwards.html)

The subject may do some practice to completely grasp the sequence of the alphabet

backward. Several practices may lead to a better result. Likewise, the participant may use the

inner voice to memorize the sequence while resting for a minute. Furthermore, an individual’s

result may become better if distractions have been avoided. Focusing and concentrating to the
 22

activity can cause a more positive result. This is not a legitimate conclusion yet because the

experiment only gave five trials to the subject. The experiment is not yet enough or adequate to

draw the clients personality or generalize the likes of the results. This task was not suitable to

draw the subject’s personality. Just like in Psychological Testing, test administrator should give

the client a battery of test before drawing a conclusion that can lead to understanding and

concluding the client’s personality. Another thing is the validity of the concluded personality

based from the result; it is not yet validated since it requires comparison with the results of other

tests and requires the norm and statistical approach.

The group table showed that many of the respondents out of the whole group got a high

score in the 5th trial of the experiment. The graph displayed positive slope or acceleration since

the scores are rising. Compare to the individual curve of the client, it has a better result and

curve. And the result only implies that the greater number of respondents got a rising slope in the

individual curvature. The individual mean has surpassed the group mean; the individual mean is

greater than the group mean.

CONCLUSION:

It was concluded in the experiment that practicing, conditioning and focusing play an

important role in every learning processes and these influence directly the learning achievement

of an individual, the subject was practiced and conditioned to write the alphabet in backward

manner within five trials. Likewise, majority of the population of the group mean have

conditioned and learned.

 23

REFERENCES:

Books

Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson, R. C., Smith, E. E., Bem, D. J., &Hoeksem, S. N., 2005.

Hilgard’s Introduction To Psychology 13th Edition. Manila, Philippines. Thomson

 24

Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

Kahayon, &Berba . 2005. Psychology Towards New Millenium. Mandaluyong City,

Philippines. National Bookstore

Miranda, N. C. 2008. Psychology Essentials to understanding behavior. Mandaluyong City,

Philippines. National Bookstore

Article in Journal

Bjork R. A., Hays M. J., and Kornell N., 2009. Unsuccessful Retrieval Attempts Enhance

Subsequent Learning. University of California, Los Angeles. USA. American

Psychological Association

Rousmaniere, F. H. (2005). A Definition of Experimentation.The Journal of Philosophy, and

Scientific Methods: Journal of Philosophy, Inc

Article in Web

Cherry, K. (2005). What is Experimental Psychology. About.Com Psychology. U.S.A

Websites

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distraction-conflict)

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment)

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_psychology)

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning)

(http://list25.com/25-intriguing-psychology-experiments/?view=all

(http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/a/what-is-experimental-psychology.ht

(http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/f/first-psychology-lab.htm)

(http://www.braingle.com/mind/183/learning-the-alphabet-backwards.html)

(http://www.holah.karoo.net/experimental_method)

(http://www.ozpolitic.com/evolution/what-is-experiment.html)

(http://www.personal.psu.edu/~j5j/psy002/P002-96/experi6.htm)