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Introduction

Muhammad Kermali AQA A level psychology coursework Abstract In the 1900's J Ridley Stroop demonstrated that if someone was reading information, and other conflicting inputs were added, the rate at which the person read would slow down. The aim of this investigation is to see whether it takes the participants longer to read a list of colours typed in black ink, or whether it takes the participants longer to read the list of colours typed in coloured ink. The hypothesis I have for this investigation is that it will take the participants longer to read the list of colours typed in coloured ink than it will take the participants to read the list of colours typed in black ink. My target population will be 6th Form students at Graveney School, and my sampling method will be opportunity sampling. Introduction In the early 1900's, the Stroop effect was discovered by J.Ridley Stroop. Two cognitive processes are involved with this theory. These are controlled and automatic processing. In the standard stroop task, participants are often exposed to three conditions: congruent, incongruent and neutral. In the congruent condition, colour words (such as red or blue) are presented in consistent ink colours. (eg the word blue printed in blue). In the incongruent condition, colour words are presented in inconsistent ink colours. (eg the word blue printed in red)both of theses conditions are compared with a neutral condition in which the participants name the colour of a non-colour word or row of Xs. When the task is to name the printed colour of the word, and the word is inconsistent with the colour it is printed in (incongruent conditions), participants are slower to name the colour of that word compared with the neutral condition. This is called the Stroop Effect. Two cognitive processes are involved in the Stroop effect. These are controlled and automatic processing This was put forward by Schneider and Shiffrin in 1977. ...read more.

Middle

The participant struggled on a few of the colour words since they were not distinctively clear of to which colour it was. Also the participant found it hard to scroll down two different columns on the same A4 paper of the two lists. After the pilot study, a new pair of lists was made with more common colours and each of the lists in one column of the paper. Also a stop watch was used to measure the time taken for each participant to successfully complete the two lists. This was measured in milliseconds at first but either rounded down or up into whole seconds. Procedures: Instructions were given to all the participants. These were standardised to make sure participants did not hear anything incorrect which will affect their understanding. Inaccurate results could occur because of this and can question the validity of the experiment. The full standardised instructions can be seen in (Appendix 2) Different candidates were asked if they wished to participate in the experiment. A briefing was given to explain the study and for any questions to be asked. A consent form was also filled out. Assure the participants that intelligence is not being measured and that the participants can withdraw any time. After completion of the task a debriefing must take place informing the participant about the true nature of the study. The first five participants were selected. They had to name the nouns words first and then the colour words and the other five had to name the colour words first and then the noun words. This made sure counterbalancing was used to minimise order affects. To view the two lists in full (see appendix two). When the stopwatch was ready I asked them to start naming the colour of the ink on both lists. One word at a time was revealed to them and if they named the wrong ink colour then the next word would not be revealed to them until they responded correctly. ...read more.

Conclusion

They researcher will say "go" and will start the stopwatch. One word will be revealed at a time and each time a successful response is given, another word would be revealed. The next word would not be revealed until a correct response is given. After completion of the first list, the time will be recorded and the same will happen with list two. Any questions Appendix 3 Time taken to read out the two lists Person No. Noun Words (seconds) Colour Words (seconds) Participant 1 29 33 Participant 2 34 44 Participant 3 30 32 Participant 4 32 36 Participant 5 31 34 Participant 6 27 28 Participant 7 28 33 Participant 8 28 41 Participant 9 25 32 Participant 10 23 25 Mean Time (seconds) 29 34 Appendix 4 Noun word list Participant Time (seconds) Mean time (seconds) (time - mean) (time - mean)� 1 29 29 0 0 2 34 29 5 25 3 30 29 1 1 4 32 29 3 9 5 31 29 2 4 6 27 29 -2 4 7 28 29 -1 1 8 28 29 -1 1 9 25 29 -4 16 10 23 29 -6 36 ?(t - m)� = 97 (?(t - m)�)/n-1 = 11 standrd deviation 3 Colour word list Participant Time (seconds) Mean time (seconds) (time - mean) (time - mean)� 1 33 34 -1 1 2 44 34 10 100 3 32 34 -2 4 4 36 34 2 4 5 34 34 0 0 6 28 34 -6 36 7 33 34 -1 1 8 41 34 7 49 9 32 34 -2 4 10 25 34 -9 81 ?(t - m)� = 280 (?(t - m)�)/n-1 = 31 standrd deviation 6 Appendix 5 Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Sign Rank Test Number Noun Words (sec) Colour Words (sec) d Rankings 1 29 33 -4 5.5 2 34 44 -10 9 3 30 32 -2 2.5 4 32 36 -4 5.5 5 31 34 -3 4 6 27 28 -1 1 7 28 33 -5 7 8 28 41 -13 10 9 25 32 -7 8 10 23 25 -2 2. ...read more.

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