Running head: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First Impressions of People Vary by Personality Type: You Can Bank on It
Boomer A. Bear
Missouri State University
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS
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Abstract
The Abstract is a 1-paragraph summary of the report. It is in block style; that
means the first line is not indented. Follow the order of presentation of
material that is used in the report, and use key words that will help others find
this report in PsycINFO and other abstract services. An abstract of an empirical
study is not a teaser; it should include the problem under investigation, the
participants, the number of participants, the essential features of the method,
the findings, and the conclusions. It should be no longer than 180 words or less
than 1 page. Use Arabic numerals for all numbers in the Abstract except those
that begin sentences.
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Your Title is Repeated Here
The Introduction section contains an introduction to the research that
helps the reader understand the general nature of what is to be presented, the
hypothesis, and the prediction that was tested. It should be written using the
past tense. In order to introduce the research, it is usually necessary to mention
the variables. The variables should be referred to by their correct names, such
as, independent variable, quasi-independent variable, dependent variable,
predictor variable, or criterion variable. The design of the study is also
mentioned in the Introduction. If the readers would not understand the name
of the design, a description of the design would be appropriate.
The following paragraphs are from the handout.
This experiment investigates how a college student who was taking a
course in experimental psychology combined two different types of
information, information about a person’s personality and information about a
person’s profession, to form an impression of how much she or he liked that
person. The hypothesis was a person would be liked more when the person is
described with positive adjectives and has a socially respected profession.
Two variables were manipulated in this experiment. The first variable was
the personality of the person to be rated; the adjectives used on the stimuli
sheet describe positive, moderate, or negative personality traits. The second
variable that was manipulated was the profession of the person who was rated:
bank president, bank teller, or bank robber. This study had a 3 x 3 (Personality
x Profession) factorial, single-participant, experimental design. The prediction
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was the professions of bank president and bank teller would be rated higher
than the profession of bank robber when those professions are described with
positive adjectives, but the president and teller would not be rated higher than
the robber when they are described with negative adjectives.
The participant read and signed the informed consent form.
Then the participant read the directions and the 45 groups of words on
the page that contained the stimuli. Each group of words was a different
combination of two adjectives and a noun that described personality and
profession. After reading each group of words, the participant rated how much
she or he would like the person who was described. The rating were made using
a 10-point equal-interval scale ranging from 1 (dislike very much) to 10 (like
very much). All of the rating scores were recorded on the stimuli sheet.
Method
Participants
The number of participants should be given in this subsection. The
methods used to get the sample of participants may be described in this
subsection or the procedure subsection.
Materials
If only paper and pencil tests were used, this subsection may be labeled
the Materials subsection. If the levels of the independent variables were
different conditions or arrangements of the materials, the operational
definitions of the independent variables should be given in this subsection. If
the independent variables were described in the Introduction section, describe
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them again in this section but in more detail. The Method section must contain
the operational definitions of all variables.
Procedure
The procedure subsection includes a complete description of the
conditions to which the participants were exposed. Regardless of how well
variables were described in the Introduction section, they must be operationally
defined in the Method section. The dependent variable is usually operationally
defined in this subsection also.
Results
The rating scores were analyzed with a two-way analysis of variance for a
factorial design (ANOVA). An alpha level of .05 was used for the cutoff to
decide whether there was a reliable difference between groups for all statistical
tests.
The ANOVA showed that there was a significant main effect of
personality, F(2, 36) = 541.88, MSE = 0.37, p = .002. The magnitude of the main
effect (R2) of personality was .27, which means 27% of the variation in the
scores was due to the main effect of personality. The means of the rating scores
for the three levels of personality, positive, moderate, and negative were 8.80,
6.75, and 3.20, respectively. The Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsch Multiple Range Test
(REGW) (df = 36) for personality showed . . .
The ANOVA showed that there was a significant main effect of
profession, F(2, 36) = 43.71, p = .03, R² = .18. The means of the rating scores for
the three levels of profession, president, robber, and teller were . . . The REGW
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(df = 36) for profession . . .
The ANOVA showed that there was a significant interaction effect of
personality and profession, F(4, 36) = 31.61, p < .001, R² = .03. Figure 1 shows
the means of the interaction of personality and profession. The REGW (df = 12)
for positive personality adjectives showed the president and teller were not
rated significantly different, but they both were rated higher than the robber.
The REGW (df = 12) for moderate personality adjectives showed . . . The REGW
(df = 12) for negative personality adjectives showed . . . The REGW (df = 12) for
the profession of bank president showed . . . The REGW (df = 12) for the
profession of bank robber showed . . . The REGW (df = 12) for the profession of
bank teller showed . . .
Discussion
The results show that there was a significant main effect of personality.
The rating scores for the three levels of personality adjectives, positive,
moderate, and negative, showed that each level of personality was significantly
different from the other two. (This is from paragraph two of the Results section.)
The results show that there was (was not) a significant main effect of
profession. The rating scores . . .
(from paragraph three of the Results section)
¶
Interaction effect of personality and profession? (from paragraph four)
¶
Prediction supported? Please explain. Hypothesis supported? Please
explain. (from paragraph four)
¶
R2 results?
second largest?)
(Which effect had the largest influence on the dependent variable, the
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Figure 1. Your caption that explains what is shown in the figure.
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