Project #UR123
Project Number: UR123
Project Title: Emotion and Decision Making
Faculty Sponsor: Eric Freedman
Department: Psychology
Telephone: 810.762.3481
E-Mail: freedman@umflint.edu
Proposed Starting Date: 01/15/2012
Proposed Ending Date: 12/31/2012
Student in mind: Yes
Number of hours to work per week: 7-10 hours
Project Description: The present study investigated how individual differences in impulsivity (as measured by the BIS-11) affected performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) with explicit or implicit instructional goals. The IGT required deciding between advantageous (low immediate gains/better long term gains) and disadvantageous (higher immediate gains/larger long-term losses) choices. Explicit goals resulted in (1) more advantageous choices & (2) a relatively greater increase in the number of advantageous choices with succeeding blocks than with implicit goals. Whereas low impulsive individuals did well with both explicit and implicit goals, high impulsivity was associated with lower advantageous choices especially when implicit goals were provided. In early blocks, participants had longer decision times than in later blocks. Thus, providing explicit goals is important for high impulsive individuals to form associations between choices and outcomes necessary to make future advantageous decisions.
Student Tasks & Responsibilities: 1. Run particapants 2. Analyze data 3. Enter Data in Stats programs 4. Familiarize with centrally-relevant research 5. Participate in research team meetings 6. other tasks as mutually agreed upon.
Minimum Student Qualifications: 1. Psychology major or interest in psychological research.
2. Background course work in relevant areas of psychology and/or in methodology and statistics 3. Motivated, reliable, and willingness to follow directions.