Imagine that you have been hired to assist in an experiment investigating the verbal abilities of boys and girls. In preparing for the experiment, you read a research study that found higher verbal abilities in girls than boys. If this information about gender leads you somehow to communicate to the girls in the experiment that they should do better than the boys, we say that the ________ effect is operating.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The expectancy effect is operating when the researcher's expectations influence the participants' behavior, in this case, potentially causing girls to perform better due to the communicated expectation.  Expectancy effects occur when a researcher or observer subtly communicates to the participants the behavior he or she expects to find, thereby producing the desired reaction (higher verbal abilities in girls than in boys). The experimenter's expectations (that girls will do better than boys) rather than the independent variable (gender) may actually have triggered the demonstration of higher ability levels in girls.

Imagine That You Have Been Hired to Assist in an Experiment