A 2 × 2 factorial design was employed to study the influence on laboratory animal conditioning of student-experimenters' grade point average (GPA) and preference for type of rat (live vs computer). Analysis of data from research methods classes showed significant main effects of type of rat on conditioning scores. Preference for live rats was associated with better conditioning scores when working with live rats than when working with computer rats. It is suggested that experimenters' characteristics such as expectancy and personal preference for type of laboratory animal are important variables in laboratory conditioning studies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonM.HornbyP.OsberM. (1990) Journey: Interactive software for psychology. New York: HarperCollins.
2.
BarberT. X. (1976) Pitfalls in human research. New York: Pergamon.
3.
BrogdenW. J. (1962) The experimenter as a factor in animal conditioning. Psychological Reports, 11, 239–242.
4.
CohenL.HollidayM. (1982) Statistics for social scientists. New York: Harper & Row.
5.
GallupG. G.EddyT. J. (1990) Animal facilities survey. American Psychologist, 45, 400–401.
6.
HazelriggP. J.CooperH.StrathmanA. J. (1991) Personality moderators of the experimenter expectancy effect: A reexamination of five hypotheses. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 569–579.
7.
OrneM. T. (1969) Demand characteristics and the concept of quasi-controls. In RosenthalR.RosnowR. L. (Eds.), Artifact in behavioral research. New York: Academic Press. Pp. 143–179.
8.
PfungstO. (1911) Clever Hans (the horse of Mr. von Osten): A contribution to experimental, animal, and human psychology. (RahnC. L., Trans.) New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (Reprinted 1965)
9.
RosenthalR. (1976) Experimenter effects in behavioral research. (Enl. ed.) New York: Irvington.
10.
RosenthalR.FodeK. L. (1963) The effects of experimenter bias on the performance of the albino rat. Behavioral Science, 8, 183–189.
11.
RosenthalR.LawsonR. (1964) A longitudinal study of the effects of experimenter bias on the operant learning of rats. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2, 61–72.
12.
RosenthalR.RubinD. B. (1978) Interpersonal expectancy effects: The first 345 studies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 377–386.
