Psychology Student Research Conference Program
Fall 1998
 
 
 
Students enrolled in Experimental Psychology at Dordt College design and conduct original experiments,
write a professional research paper, and publicly present their findings
to the campus community. Abstracts from their papers are reprinted below;
for more information, e-mail Dr. Sherri Lantinga.
 
 

Does Doodling Work?  An Investigation of Pictorial Notetaking and Information Recall -- Wendy S. Van Dyk
Is doodling effective as a memory aid?  Research shows that pictures tend to be remembered better than words (Paivio, 1973; Nelson, 1976; Weldon & Coyote, 1996).  This study was designed to determine whether this phenomenon can be applied to note-taking techniques.  Participants (N=55) took notes, doodled, or merely listened to a brief lecture.  The ext day they took a test over the information.  Results indicated that the doodlers and notetakers had similar recall scores, hile those who merely listened scored significantly lower. These findings can be related to education, business, and many ther fields where people are expected to learn from a lecture or presentation format.

 
The Effects of Heat on the Evaluation of Visual Stimuli -- Joel Feekes and Sarah Pluim
The aim of this study was to investigate heat and the effects it has on evaluating visual stimuli. College students (N = 30) evaluated five pieces of art work. The participants were randomly divided into two groups so that one group evaluated the art in a room with an unusually hot temperature and the other group evaluated the art in a room of normal temperature. A principle components analysis revealed two interpretable components which were described as Negative Mood and Evaluation. There was no significant difference between the two heat groups for Negative mood; however, the Hot condition was found to evaluate the art pieces more negatively than the Normal condition, which was a significant difference for Evaluation.

Measuring Fitness Attitudes: The Influence of Social Desirability -- Lamont Bos and Jonathan Frump
This study was designed to test whether attitudes toward fitness in general and one’s own personal fitness would be influenced by the presence of a physically fit member of the opposite sex.  This study used a 3 (proctor: physically fit, average build, none) x 2 (participant gender: male, female) between-subjects random groups design. Results showed that college students’ attitudes were not significantly influenced by proctor condition or gender.  Discussion focuses on implications and suggestions for future research.

Effects of Helpers’ Gender on Willingness to Ask for Help -- Jason Pausma and Randall Eilders
The purpose of this study was to find out if the gender of the instructor in a given situation would affect the number of questions asked by the participant.  It was hypothesized that the female instructor would be asked more questions than the male instructor.  Participants first watched an instruction video showing how to wrap an ankle.  Then the instructors recorded the number of questions that each participant asked him or her while wrapping an ankle.  No significant differences were found in the number of questions asked based on the instructor's gender.  In the future more research could be done to answer other questions concerning help-seeking behavior and gender differences.

Food Consumption and Anxiety Levels in Women -- Heather Bajema and Beth Jansma
Earlier studies have suggested that internal processes contribute to the amount of food intake in people. This study examines the relationship between food consumption and levels of anxiety in women. College age women (N = 27) were randomly assigned to either the low anxiety or high anxiety group.  It was hypothesized that the high anxiety group would have higher food consumption than the low anxiety group.  Even though anxiety was successfully induced, no relationship was found between food consumption and anxiety. Further studies should examine the effects of food aroma, ethnicity of the participant, and self-consciousness in relationship to eating behaviors.
Effects of Music on Brain Processing: Mozart and the Bilateral Field Advantage Task -- Heidi Petersen and
       Joshua Meendering
Music is a complex task that may effect brain functioning. The "Mozart Effect" (Rauscher & Shaw, 1998) is found when spatial-temporal reasoning is enhanced by listening to Mozart. The present study tested the relationship between the Mozart Effect and another measure of brain functioning: interhemispheric efficiency. Thirty students, 15 in a Music condition and 15 in a No Music condition, completed a computerized matching task. The task measured their reaction times to stimuli presented bilaterally and unilaterally and compared the two to determine the presence or absence of a Bilateral Field Advantage (BFA). Although a significant difference was not found between the groups in terms of their mean BFA scores, the reaction times of the students in the Music condition were generally faster than the reaction times of the students in the No Music condition. The results suggest that there may be physiological benefits to musical training and exposure.

Active Listening Effects on Sermon Retention -- Julie C. Droog and Kris A. Van Engen
The effects of active listening on auditory retention were tested.  College students (N = 47) were divided into three groups (sermon guide, note-taking, control) and listened to a 30-minute sermon.  The following day they completed a test to determine the amount of information retained from the sermon. The sermon-guide group had the highest average score on the post test followed by the note-taking group and lastly, the control group.  These results suggest that active listening plays a significant role in retention of auditory information.