Great Psychology Experiment Ideas to Explore

Are you looking for an experiment idea for your psychology assignment? Listed below are some ideas. Before you choose your experiment idea, make sure you have the time you need to perform the experiment and analyze your results. You should also discuss your idea with your instructor before beginning your experiment—particularly if your research involves human participants.

1. The Effect of Music on Mood

• Hypothesis: Listening to upbeat music will improve mood more than listening to neutral or sad music.
• Procedure:
  • Recruit participants and randomly assign them to one of three conditions: upbeat music, neutral music, or sad music.
  • Have participants listen to the music for a period of time (e.g., 10 minutes).
  • Measure participants' mood before and after listening to the music.
• Expected Results:
  • Participants who listen to upbeat music will report a more positive mood than participants who listen to neutral or sad music.

2. The Effect of Color on Attention

• Hypothesis: People will pay more attention to objects that are brightly colored than objects that are dull-colored.
• Procedure:
  • Recruit participants and show them a series of images.
  • Some of the images will be brightly colored, while others will be dull-colored.
  • Measure how long participants look at each image.
• Expected Results:
  • Participants will look at the brightly colored images for longer than they look at the dull-colored images.

3. The Effect of Sleep on Memory

• Hypothesis: People who get a good night's sleep will remember information better than people who do not get a good night's sleep.
• Procedure:
  • Recruit participants and randomly assign them to one of two conditions: a good night's sleep (8 hours) or a bad night's sleep (4 hours).
  • Have participants learn a list of words.
  • Test participants' memory for the words the next day.
• Expected Results:
  • Participants who get a good night's sleep will remember more words than participants who do not get a good night's sleep.

4. The Effect of Social Media on Self-Esteem

• Hypothesis: People who spend a lot of time on social media will have lower self-esteem than people who spend less time on social media.
• Procedure:
  • Recruit participants and ask them to complete a survey about their social media use.
  • Also ask participants to complete a survey about their self-esteem.
• Expected Results:
  • Participants who spend a lot of time on social media will have lower self-esteem than participants who spend less time on social media.

5. The Effect of Exercise on Mood

• Hypothesis: People who exercise regularly will have a more positive mood than people who do not exercise regularly.
• Procedure:
  • Recruit participants and randomly assign them to one of two conditions: an exercise group or a control group.
  • Have the exercise group participate in a regular exercise program for a period of time (e.g., 12 weeks).
  • Have the control group maintain their current activity level.
  • Measure participants' mood at the beginning and end of the study.
• Expected Results:
  • Participants in the exercise group will report a more positive mood than participants in the control group.

These are just a few ideas for psychology experiments that you can explore. With a little creativity, you can come up with many other interesting and informative experiments to conduct.