RISKY SHIFT: INTRODUCTION Week 5 Practical

WEEK 5 PRACTICALRISKY SHIFT WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8 WEEK 9 WEEK 10 LECTUREPRACTICAL NONPARAMETRICS 11 ST PRACTICAL NONPARAMETRICS 21 ST ANALYSIS IN SPSS SAMPLING DISTRIBUTIONS 1 ST ANALYSIS BY HAND HYPOTHESIS TESTING 2 ND PRACTICAL RELATED T-TEST 2 ND ANALYSIS IN SPSS INDEPENDENT T-TEST INDEPENDENT ANOVA DEPENDENT ANOVA 2 ND ANALYSIS BY HAND 3 RD PRACTICAL 3 RD ANALYSIS IN SPSS NO PRACTICAL NO LECTURENO PRACTICAL

Begin to explore the downloaded data set with respect to testing the experimental hypotheses. Appreciate the way in which the study was carried out and the hypotheses the study is testing. Conduct the Risky Shift practical and understand the rationale behind the experiment. BY THE END OF THE SESSION, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO: Make a start on writing up your INTRODUCTION and METHOD sections for your lab report. WEEK 5 PRACTICALRISKY SHIFT

Work alone, making sure you have a handout and something to write with. Read the PRE questionnaire instructions before filling out the questionnaire itself. When you have finished the PRE questionnaire, wait for further instructions. You will have 10 minutes to answer the questionnaire, so think carefully! RISKY SHIFTPART 1

EXPERIMENT RISKY SHIFT

Take a seat in the group that has been assigned to you. Discuss each of the five situations and reach a unanimous decision for each one. After reaching your decisions, complete the GROUP questionnaire and wait for further instructions. You will have 10 minutes to do this, so discuss carefully (2 minutes on each). RISKY SHIFTPART 2

EXPERIMENT RISKY SHIFT

Work alone again, making sure you have a handout and something to write with. Please complete the POST questionnaire. When you have finished the POST questionnaire, wait for further instructions. You will have 10 minutes to answer the questionnaire, so think carefully again! RISKY SHIFTPART 1

EXPERIMENT RISKY SHIFT

INTRODUCTION (Kenrick, Neuberg and Cialdini, 2002) When discussions lead group members to make riskier decisions than they would as individuals. THE RISKY SHIFT RISKY SHIFT Post decisions also tend to be riskier than the pre decisions. Risky shift was evident 2-6 weeks after the group discussion. (Stoner, 1961; Wallach, Kogan and Bem, 1962) One possible explanation is diffusion of responsibility: each group member dilutes personal responsibility for acting by spreading it among all the other group members. People feel less responsible about the decisions taken and, if things go wrong, attribute blame to the decisions made in group.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS Our current experiment raises three research questions (after Wallach et al., 1962), on which you should base your hypotheses: METHOD Q3: Is the average level of risk recorded in the POST assessment different from the risk recorded in the PRE assessment? Q2: Is the average level of risk recorded in the PRE assessment different from the risk recorded in the GROUP assessment? DESIGN We have ratings collected from a within-subjects design using 3 levels. RISKY SHIFT PREGROUPPOST Q1: Is the average level of risk different across the PRE, GROUP and POST assessments?

PARTICIPANTS We’ve already collected the data for you! METHOD Here is some demographic information that might be useful. DOWNLOAD AND SAVE THE FILE ‘RISKYSHIFTDATANEW.SAV’ RISKY SHIFT [This an opportunity sample of students at the University of Sussex.] 24 female, 24 male; Age range: years; Mean: 24 years; S.D.: 2.8 years Participants were divided up into 8 groups of 6 and an equal number of males and females were allocated to each group. DOWNLOAD AND SAVE THE FILE ‘RISKYSHIFTDEBRIEF’

DESIGN You’ll notice some neat things about the design of the questionnaire: METHODRISKY SHIFT Ratings are scores 1 to 11, with 1 being the most risky and 11 the least risky. The order in which the options are presented is reversed for 3 of the 5 of the items RISK SCORE

RESULTS The first 2 columns show subject id and group membership. These columns show mean risk score at PRE, GROUP and POST. RISKY SHIFT You will also find average risk scores for each example collapsed over PRE, GROUP and POST.

RISKY SHIFTDATA TYPES Nominal “Name” E.g. Gender Ratio “Real zero” E.g. Height Interval “Imaginary zero” E.g. Temperature Ordinal “Order” E.g. Horse racing

RISKY SHIFTWHAT TEST TO USE? THE FLOW CHART

NOTES FOR WRITE UP INTRODUCTION METHOD Like a funnel- all roads should lead to the rationale for the experiment. What were the previous studies that lead up to the current one? What were the important psychological concepts and / or distinctions? What was the outline of the current study and what were the hypotheses? Must include enough detail for someone else to replicate the experiment. Standard structure: Participants / Materials / Design / Procedure. Refer the reader to appendices if including lengthy materials (hint hint). Avoid bullet points or lists because the method section is prose too. RISKY SHIFT

Begin to explore the downloaded data set with respect to testing the experimental hypotheses using an appropriate test. Appreciate the way in which the study was carried out and the hypotheses the study is testing. Conduct the Risky Shift practical and understand the rationale behind the experiment. BY THE END OF THE SESSION, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO: Make a start on writing up your INTRODUCTION and METHOD sections for your lab report. WEEK 5 PRACTICALRISKY SHIFT

DISCUSSION GET TOGETHER IN GROUPS OF THREE OR FOUR AND REFLECT ON TODAY’S EXPERIENCE USING THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS Apart from diffusion of responsibility, what else could cause a risky shift? If you were to carry out the experiment again, what would you change? Could you overhear other groups? Were there other problems in the way the experiment was carried out? RISKY SHIFT