When I signed up to take Psychology 1 at Cal, I figured I couldn’t go wrong for a first semester class. The professor had high ratings, the class itself sounded fascinating and the grade distribution was encouraging. Halfway through the semester, I’m quite happy with the choice and psych has become my most interesting lecture to attend by far. There is one small unexpected part of the class I didn’t come across in my research however, and that would be the requirement that each student participates in graduate student research.
On the day this was announced, my initial reaction was...wait, really? Is that even legal? My mind filled with every image of “psychological research” I’d been exposed to through movies and TV over the years. Bright clinical rooms that smelled of bleach, terrifying metal chairs with heavy wrist and ankle restraints, strait jackets, padded walls, solitary confinement, wires coming out of every available bodily surface. I looked around to see if anyone else was sharing in my horror. Much to my surprise, my friends were grinning and talking excitedly about seeing the inside of labs and meeting the graduate students. People under 18 that couldn’t participate were actually sad about not being able to be guinea pigs.
I filled out the initial survey and forgot about the whole thing for a few weeks until the professor reminded us we should be starting to sign up as we all would have to do around four studies to get the maximum amount of credit. I sighed and began to browse the website. Most of the ones listed were already full and I was about to shrug and give up for the time being until I spied one at the bottom with one condition: you had to be white. Well, check. I was a tad suspicious of why race would matter, but the description of the study seemed simple enough: watch a video and answer some questions. No wires and no ankle straps, so I should be safe.
I was already comfortable getting to the psychology building after having my discussion for the class there, but I quickly realized the rest of the building was a lot more intimidating than the basement conference room I was used to. I rode the silent elevator with a bunch of labcoat-wearing, clipboard-toting researchers and cautiously wandered around the maze of hallways that looked like they were plucked straight out of a mental hospital. After finally locating the lab I was supposed to be at, I stared at the huge metal door locked with a keypad instead of a knob and took a deep breath. This should be...interesting.
The study ended up being just as simplistic as advertised. No tricks, just a strangely boring video and about 25 minutes worth of extensive, exhausting questionnaires inquiring as to whether I strongly, partially, or slightly agreed or disagreed with a myriad of statements. It became quite apparent that the main aim of this study boiled down to “are you racist?!?”, which explained the have-to-be-Caucasian caveat.
A few weeks later, I’ve now participated in two more studies and am one credit away from fulfilling the requirement. The psychology building doesn’t get any less confusing or clinical but I am getting a much better picture of what psychological studies really look like. While there certainly are some scary wire-filled experiments going on, the majority of research being done is a lot more mundane. The second study involved elements of virtual reality and the third included a video game. While these were both substantially more engaging than the first study, each ended with probing and extensive questionnaires that effectively cancelled out any fun that had occurred.
My preconceived notions about psychological research have certainly been shattered and I’m grateful to my professor for having us participate in something relatively cool I would never have sought out on my own. While the realities of endless surveys aren’t quite as flashy and interesting as many people in my class were hoping when the requirement was announced, it’s still a pretty cool opportunity to be able to participate in real research.
