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This paper describes the novel use of parallel student teams from a research methods course to perform a replication study, and suggests that this approach offers pedagogical benefits for both students and teachers, as well as potentially contributing to a resolution of the replication crisis in psychology today. Four teams, of five undergraduates each, independently attempted exact replications of Study 8 by Gailliot et al. (2007), which reported that participants' self-control is enhanced by consuming a glucose drink. In a 2 × 2 independent groups design, participants (N = 306) first consumed a glucose drink or a placebo, and then wrote about death, intended to deplete their self-control, or dental pain as a control condition. Absolute levels of self-control were lower here than in the target article (shown by more items left unsolved in a word puzzle), but its main result was replicated, since self-control overall was raised by the glucose drink. Also, the teams reliably reported similar effects for the experimental treatments (ICC = 0.928). Two differences from the target study results were noted: the glucose effect occurred only with female participants, and no effect was found from the writing scenario used.

It is suggested that replication projects may be valuable in teaching research methods, and also address the current need in psychology for more independent verification of published studies. Their use in an undergraduate methods course is described, involving student teams who performed direct replications of four well-known experiments, yielding results which were subsequently published online. Illustrative data are given for the one successful replication and three failures obtained, and practical suggestions are given for incorporating replication projects into a methods course as an alternative to the usual term project. It is also noted that the published success rates of replication attempts appear to be higher for those studies that were performed as class projects.

Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott-Read-Solso (DRMRS) procedure in which list items are shown that are semantically related to a central theme that is not presented, undergraduates (N = 61) studied either short or long lists in the form of auditory words alone, pictures alone, or pictures accompanied by auditory words. Correct recall and correct recognition scores were similar in all three conditions. However, false memory (reporting the non-presented central theme) was reduced with pictures alone compared to words alone for the recall task, and for the recognition task with short lists. Confidence was higher for correct recall and correct recognition than for false recall and false recognition, but people who were higher or lower in confidence did not differ on any memory measure. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed., Author(s): Sarah R. Benmergui [sup.1] , Stuart J. McKelvie [sup.1] , Lionel G. Standing [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) 0000 0004 1936 842Xgrid.253135.3Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, J1M 1Z7, Sherbrooke, QC, [...]

Four experiments (N = 164) on context-dependent memory were performed to explore the effects on verbal memory of incidental cues during the test session which replicated specific features of the learning session. These features involved (1) bystanders, (2) the clothing of the experimenter, (3) background music, and (4) the arousal level of the subject. Social contextual cues (bystanders or experimenter clothing) improved verbal recall or recognition. However, recall decreased when the contextual cue was a different stimulus taken from the same conceptual category (piano music by Chopin) that was heard during learning. Memory was unaffected by congruent internal cues, produced by the same physiological arousal level (low, moderate, or high heart rate) during the learning and test sessions. However, recall increased with the level of arousal across the three congruent conditions. The results emphasize the effectiveness as retrieval cues of stimuli which are socially salient, concrete, and external.

The effect of size changes (8:1 or 1:8) between learning and recognition sessions upon item and size recognition was tested, using either pictures or words as stimuli. Participants (N=34) viewed color photographs of everyday objects or the corresponding printed words and then performed 160 trials of a recognition task, including 50% new stimuli, for which they had to indicate whether each item had been seen before and whether its size had changed. Item recognition, for pictures only, was improved by size congruency between the learning and test sessions. In contrast, size recognition was raised by learning/test-size congruency for both pictures and words. Both word- and picture-learning stimuli produced higher item and size recognition when large in area rather than small. The data are interpreted as showing the stronger role of spatial coding with pictorial than with verbal stimuli.

Based on previous research by Goldstein and Chance in which poor recognition memory for abstract visual patterns was reported, this study compared recognition memory for pictures of everyday concrete objects, regular abstract stimuli as employed by Goldstein and Chance, and diverse abstract stimuli. A (3) x 2 design (stimulus type x test order) analysis of variance design was used. The subjects (N = 31) first viewed 30 target stimuli, followed by an immediate recognition test in which for 30 paired target and distractor stimuli shown they indicated which one they had seen previously. Concrete pictures were recognized with near perfect accuracy, and above the level for diverse abstract pictures; these in turn were better identified than regular abstract items, on which performance resembled that found by Goldstein and Chance. It is concluded that stimulus discriminability, rather than representational meaningfulness, may be crucial in picture recognition.

Business and economics majors (N = 146) were tested on the D'Amore Test of Elementary Arithmetic, which employs third-grade test items from 1932. Only 40% of the subjects passed the test by answering 10 out of 10 items correctly. Self-predicted scores were a good predictor of actual scores, but performance was not associated with demographic variables, grades in calculus courses, liking for science or computers, or mathematics anxiety. Scores decreased over the subjects' initial years on campus. The hardest test item, with an error rate of 23%, required the subject to evaluate (36 x 7) + (33 x 7). The results are similar to those of Standing in 2006, despite methodological changes intended to maximize performance.

Extracts from the eighteenth century writings of Joseph Addison are presented to show his empirical, deductive approach to the study of animal behavior. The topics examined by Addison include the experimental distinction between instinctive and learned behavior, internal and external control of behavior, the survival value of instinct, parental behavior, animal societies, communication, the relationship between behavior patterns and body structures, species-specific releasing mechanisms, the ethogram, and the existence of a comprehensive phylogenetic scale. Addison's conceptual framework, save that it does not recognize evolutionary change, includes many major concepts of mid-twentieth century ethology.

54 undergraduates' reports indicated that the amount of alcohol consumed per week did not differ among university athletes, intramural athletes, and non-athletes, but it was positively related to male gender and to reported smoking.

This study explored predictions made from Lucille Iremonger's Phaeton theory (1970), which argues that individuals who show exceptional personal achievement in certain fields frequently have experienced childhoods that were marked by parental loss through death and desertion. Three groups were examined: eminent American writers, presidents of the USA, and the 100 Americans who were judged by Life magazine to have been the most influential in 20th century society. Bereavement was common in the childhoods of these outstanding individuals, but was also high, or even higher, for those individuals who achieved somewhat less eminence (less successful writers, and presidential also-rans). More than half the total set of the presidents and also-rans were orphans. Eminent Americans showed substantial although lower levels of parental loss, and nearly three-quarters had experienced difficult childhoods that were marked by some form of loss. Eminent Americans, like the presidents, tended to be first-borns; they also showed elevated levels of divorce, suicide, and name changing. The results provide support for the Phaeton theory, but suggest that the child's struggle to overcome other losses than bereavement may also promote eminence, as may the presence of significant mentors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research in the field of embodied cognition has found that temperature can prime subjects' emotions concerning social inclusion, so that physical warmth and coldness trigger feelings of social warmth and rejection, respectively. The aim of this study (N = 90) was to determine whether brief tactile and visual stimuli, involving hot or cold temperatures, would affect subjects' self-reported levels of loneliness after they viewed a subsequent video clip depicting ostracism. A 2 x 3 between-subjects design (warm/cold prime x tactile/visual/ combined modalities) was used. The cold tactile, and cold combined (visual plus tactile), conditions were found to increase the subjects' reported loneliness, compared to warm tactile and warm combined conditions; the effect size was medium. Visual warmth versus cold had no significant effect on loneliness, however. These data replicate the finding by Bargh and Shalev (2012) that a warm stimulus can reduce loneliness, in accordance with the general theory of embodied cognition, but suggest that the stimulus must be tactile rather than visual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which tests the idea that preparing participants with a positive example of a minority group reduces their implicit prejudice. It highlights the use of Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure the implicit prejudice made known by most people towards other groups. The study revealed counterintuitive results which indicate an increase instead of reduction in their implicit racial prejudice.

The article presents a study which examines the performance of female undergraduates based on the D'Amore Test of elementary arithmetic and the Wonderlic intelligence quotient (IQ) Test. It notes that 67.5 percent among the test subject have failed in D'Amore Test while no effect was noted on math scores and no consistent correlation of D'Amore score with IQ scores was found. Moreover, it was found out the emotional or cognitive ability factors are not responsible for failures on D'Amore Test.

The article discusses the study that looked into the effects of suppression in verbal memory ensued by viewing of a series of pictorial stimuli such as concrete words, abstract works and nonsense syllables. It notes that the recall for concrete words were reduced by pro-active interference from various types of suppressed prior materials including pictures, shaded drawings and line drawings.

Four experiments (N= 164) on context-dependent memory were performed to explore the effects on verbal memory of incidental cues during the test session which replicated specific features of the learning session. These features involved (1) bystanders, (2) the clothing of the experimenter, (3) background music, and (4) the arousal level of the subject. Social contextual cues (bystanders or experimenter clothing) improved verbal recall or recognition. However, recall decreased when the contextual cue was a different stimulus taken from the same conceptual category (piano music by Chopin) that was heard during learning. Memory was unaffected by congruent internal cues, produced by the same physiological arousal level (low, moderate, or high heart rate) during the learning and test sessions. However, recall increased with the level of arousal across the three congruent conditions. The results emphasize the effectiveness as retrieval cues of stimuli which are socially salient, concrete, and external. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that explores the accuracy of judgments of liquid volume as a function of the actual stimulus volume. The study is to determine the ability of subjects to estimate the volume of a liquid stimulus which they had drunk or poured. The analysis of variance showed that subjects overestimated volume when drinking, but underestimated volume in the pouring task. It further revealed that alcohol preloading nor weight cues had a substantial effect upon volume judgments.

This study explored predictions made from Lucille Iremonger's Phaeton theory (1970), which argues that individuals who show exceptional personal achievement in certain fields frequently have experienced childhoods that were marked by parental loss through death and desertion. Three groups were examined: eminent American writers, presidents of the USA, and the 100 Americans who were judged by Life magazine to have been the most influential in 20th century society. Bereavement was common in the childhoods of these outstanding individuals, but was also high, or even higher, for those individuals who achieved somewhat less eminence (less successful writers, and presidential also-rans). More than half the total set of the presidents and also-rans were orphans. Eminent Americans showed substantial although lower levels of parental loss, and nearly three-quarters had experienced difficult childhoods that were marked by some form of loss. Eminent Americans, like the presidents, tended to be first-borns; they also showed elevated levels of divorce, suicide, and name changing. The results provide support for the Phaeton theory, but suggest that the child's struggle to overcome other losses than bereavement may also promote eminence, as may the presence of significant mentors.