Everyday Research Methods

Where's your ideal vacation?

Photo credit: L: Stephen Bonk/Shutterstock; R: Tetra Images/Shutterstock

What does your vacation say about your personality? Business Insider reported on a series of studies that demonstrated an association between people's personalities and their preferred places to relax and to live. The journalist sums up the studies: "the landscapes around us match the landscapes within us."

The creative set of studies by researchers Shigehiro Oishi, Thomas Talhelm and Minha Leefound used a variety of methods and measures to document links between introversion-extroversion and the physical environment. The theory they tested can be summarized this way:

Studies have shown that extroverts seek out opportunities for socializing and attention, whereas introverts look for quiet, more solitary situations. ...[but] there’s been little exploration into the role our personalities play in determining the geographical settings we love most. ”We argue that beaches are typically noisier, with more people to watch, talk to, and hang out with than mountains,” they write. “In contrast, mountains offer many secluded places, which facilitate isolation.” Extroverts should be happiest in an open area, then, Oishi hypothesized, whereas introverts should thrive in secluded spots.

Below are short descriptions of three of the studies, as explained by the journalist. For each study,

i) indicate the variables in the study
ii) indicate whether each variable is manipulated or measured
iii) identify the study as correlational or experimental.

Some studies have follow-up questions, too.

a) Study 1:

Oishi and his team asked 921 undergraduates to rate their personality, using a standard questionnaire. The students were then asked whether they prefer the ocean or mountains. Comparing the results, the researchers found that introversion was linked to a preference for mountains, while extroversion was linked to the beach. Mountain-lovers and ocean-lovers had no other significant personality differences, nor did age, gender, or socioeconomic status factor into their preference.

 

b) Study 2:

These findings were confirmed by a visual test. Oishi and his colleagues showed a smaller group of participants six pairs of pictures of oceans and beaches (one such pair is shown above), asking where they’d prefer to visit, cost and time investment being equal. These participants also took the standard personality questionnaire. Controlling for age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status, extroversion was found to be a significant predictor of ocean preference.

iv) in addition to the first three questions, what does it mean to say "controlling for age, race, gender, and SES?"  How might a table of these results look?

 

c) Study 3:

First, to see whether extroverts and introverts cluster geographically, Oishi and his team sought to find out whether residents of more mountainous states become introverted as a result of their surroundings. The researchers compared answers from a nationwide, multi-year personality survey of hundreds of thousands of respondents, with the relative mountainous-ness of each U.S. state.

Controlling for size of the population, they found a strong correlation between elevation and introversion on a state level: the more mountainous a state, the more introverted its population tended to be.

iv) in addition to answering the first three questions, sketch a scatterplot of the main bivariate result. What would a dot represent on your scatterplot?

d) Study 4

Then, to see whether geography actually brings out certain personality traits, the researchers had another group of students take the personality survey. They placed participants in either one of two spots on the UVA campus: a quiet, wooded hill, or a flat, open lawn. Based on how participants engaged in conversations with the researchers before and after placement, the researchers watched to see if the the quiet hill made people more quiet and introverted, and if the flat, open area made them more talkative and social.

While neither environment made participants more extroverted or introverted than they already were, extroverts were found to be happier in the open area, while introverts were happier in the secluded spot.

iv)  Here's a challenge question about Study 4: This study demonstrated a moderator. Given the findings, could you fill in the blanks in this sentence:  "_____ moderated the relationship between ______ and ______."

 

Additional questions: 

e) The researchers did a large number of studies and found the same patterns in all of them. Were these studies exact replications, conceptual replications, or replications-and-extensions? Why was it important to run so many studies?

f) One of the studies they did was described this way:

The researchers asked another sample of students where they’d go for fun, social opportunities versus quiet solitude, between the beach and the mountains. Most respondents said they’d go to the beach if they wanted play-time with friends. Most also said that the mountains were best for alone time, affirming the researchers’ assumptions about how people perceive these geographical spaces.

Why was the above study an important one in the series?

 

Answers to selected questions

 

Study 1

a) i. One variable was level of introversion/extroversion, another was liking for the beach, and another was liking for the mountains.

ii. All three variables were measured, so

iii. This was a correlational study.

 

Study 3

c) i. One variable was level of introversion or extroversion. Another variable was relative mountainous-ness. There were other measured variables, too, such as each state's population.

ii. All variables were measured.

iii. This was a correlational study.

iv. You can see a copy of the actual scatterplot in the story here (scroll down). Each dot represents a state. Does your scatterplot look like this one?

 

Study 4

d) iv. Type of setting (secluded vs. open) moderated the relationship between extroversion and happy mood. View a figure of this moderator here (scroll down to the figure with two scatterplots).

 

Additional questions:

e) These studies are conceptual replications of the core hypothesized relationship--that introverts would prefer mountains and extroverts would prefer the beach. By studying this relationship using questionnaires, photos, state-by-state data, and actual campus settings, they are replicating their core finding at least four different times.

 

f) This study is testing the researchers' theoretical assumption that people see beach areas as more conducive to socializing and mountainous areas more conducive to alone time. This study boosts the construct validity of the other vacation studies, by showing that a choice for the mountains represents a choice to spend time alone.

 

 

 

A mediator in the news! Political party affiliation, self-control, and free will

 

The researchers used a Stroop test like this one to operationalize self-control in their study. Photo: Poornima Venkataraman/Chttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stroop_task.jpg

This story in the Pacific Standard covers an empirical investigation of political conservatism, self-control, and free will. Political conservatism is usually associated in the U.S. with the Republican Party, and is contrasted with liberalism (which is associated with the Democratic Party). Free will is the belief that humans are responsible for our own actions. Self-control is the ability to defer immediate impulses and temptations, often to focus on long-term goals.  Resisting cookies or ice cream requires self-control, as does resisting the urge to roll your eyes at a difficult person, or choosing to study rather than be distracted by a website or video game.

According to the story, correlational research has already established that conservatives endorse a belief in free will more than liberals do. And past research has also established that people who believe in free will have more self-control.  So the researchers tested all three of these concepts together in a single study:

...the study authors had participants complete a version of the Stroop test—a tricky task commonly used to evaluate psychological capabilities—in which the researchers presented the test takers with colored words on background colors that mismatched the words (for example, the word "blue" on a yellow background). The participants had to identify the color described by the word without getting distracted by the background color, and the speed with which they were able to do so gave researchers an idea of how well the participants could maintain focus on the task. The team also assessed the participants’ belief in free will and political ideology. As expected, the study found that, as conservatism increased, so too did belief in free will, and, consequently, measures of self-control improved.

a) What are the three variables in the study described above? For each variable, indicate the possible levels, and state whether each variable is measured or manipulated. 

b) The authors are quoted giving the following interpretation of their findings: he interpretation above fits the description of a mediator (Chapter 9). Sketch a diagram of this mediator, using arrows to connect the three variables (use Figure 9.11 as a model).

“[It] could be that conservatives believe they have greater control over their performance and thus expend greater self-control in their academic pursuits,” the study authors write.

 

Finally, the authors suggest an application of these findings, as follows:

These findings offer a new lens through which to view previous research that found differences between conservatives and liberals—say, the fact that conservative college students tend to get better grades than their liberal counterparts.

c) What other real-world behaviors might be related to self-control? Could you design a study to test correlational hypotheses about political beliefs and these self-control related behaviors?