INTRODUCTION: It should provide a short description of the psychological phenome

INTRODUCTION: It should provide a short description of the psychological phenomena covered in class
lecture or the text. For example, if you were doing a study on conservation your introduction would involve
a description on the preoperational stage and an in-depth examination of what a conservation task is as well
as the expected results.
METHOD: This section should be a brief explanation of the method you followed in investigating that
phenomenon. In each of the 3 studies I have provided you with a specific method to follow – DO NOT VARY
FROM THIS METHOD. Describe 3 primary areas of information:
1. subject information – age, gender, race, and where you found the subjects
2. materials used
3. procedure – what EXACTALY did you do?
RESULTS: This section is a description of your results. Here you should include a table that summarizes
your results and briefly discuss what you found.
DISCUSSION: This is a conclusion in which you discuss what you found as well as an application of the
research or theory in your introduction to the observation described in your results. For example, if you
hypothesized in your introduction that based on Piagetian theory five-year-olds cannot complete a
conservation task, and in your study the five-year-olds indeed could not, then your results would support
that. If you made no hypothesis about age effects and you got them, you would talk about why that could
be.
 All papers must be approximately 4 pages, typed and double-spaced. Each paper must be on the specific
topics described below but should be exemplified and interpreted by each individual student. If you
have any questions as to whether your specific ‘spin’ on this topic is appropriate, please feel free to
contact me.
Essay 1: Conservation of Number
Try this with children between the ages of 4 and 7 years of age (preferably at least two children). Take
five marbles (or buttons, or crackers, etc.) and place them in a row in front of the child. From a set of
marbles, ask the child to make another row of marbles that match up with the row that you made, as below:
X X X X X
O O O O O
Ask the child if he or she believes that there are the same number of marbles in each row. After an
affirmative response, move the marbles in one row, as the child watches, so the rows now look like this:
X X X X X
O O O O O
Now ask the child if the rows still have the same number of marbles in them, and why he/she thinks they do
or do not.