Measures of Performance

During the first week of the course, when the requirement of serving in experiments was announced and explained to the students, the instructor also told them about a study that the psychology department was conducting. He explained that, since they were required to serve in experiments, the department was con- ducting a study to evaluate these experiments in order to be able to improve them in the future. They were told that a sample of students would be interviewed after having served as 5s. They were urged to cooperate in these interviews by being completely frank and honest. The importance of this announce- ment will become clear shortly. It enabled us to measure the opinions of our 5s in a context not directly connected with our experiment and in which we could reasonably expect frank and honest expressions of opinion.

When the S arrived for the experiment on “Measures of Performance” he had to wait for a few minutes in the secretary’s office. The experimenter (E) then came in, introduced himself to the 5 and, together, they walked into the laboratory room where the E said:

This experiment usually takes a little over an hour but, of course, we had to schedule it for two hours. Since we have that extra time, the introductory psy- chology people asked if they could interview some of our subjects. [Offhand and conversationally.] Did they announce that in class? I gather that they’re interview- ing some people who have been In experiments. I don’t know much about it. Anyhow, they may want to inter- view you when you’re through here.

With no further introduction or explanation the S was shown the first task, which involved putting 12 spools onto a tray, emptying the tray, refilling it with spools, and so on. He was told to use one hand and to work at his own speed. He did this for one-half hour. The E then removed the tray and spools and placed in front of the S a board containing 48 square pegs. His task was to turn each peg a quarter turn clockwise, then another quarter turn, and so on. He was told again to use one hand and to work at his own speed. The 5 worked at this task for another half hour.