Verbal Protocols
What are they?
Verbal protocols involve trying to make internal thought processes into public rather than private events. The method involves
asking the participant to think aloud as they carry out a task or experience e something. Verbal protocols are a form of
interview.
The method was developed by cognitive psychologists Allen Newell and Herbert Simon to explore human problem solving
strategies. They would give their participants a problem to solve, for example, a crypt arithmetic problem (see example below),
and ask them to think aloud as they tried to solve the problem. Then they would try to analyze the problem solving strategy,
mapping out the steps as they might be carried out logically by a computer.
Activity
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Creating a verbal protocol in pairs (example: Donald + Gerald = Robert)
Other examples of verbal protocols
MacGuire (2000) asked London cab drivers to think aloud as they imagined driving along a route from one place to another.
They were having their brain scanned at the same time, and the psychologist was able to see which parts of the brain were
active as they carried out the task, giving insight into the brain networks involved in visual memory. The
hippocampus was particularly involved.
Persinger, a Canadian psychologist, has investigated whether increased temporal lobe activity correlates with ‘religious’ and
mystical experiences. Volunteers sit in an acoustic chamber, blindfolded so they concentrate on inner experience and not
external events A helmet is worn that contains electric coils; these generate a magnetic field that amplifies activity in temporal
lobes and stimulates thoughts and sensations produced there. Participants are not told the purpose of the experiment, and are
asked to think aloud about what they are experiencing. Persinger found many people experience thoughts and feelings similar
to those of people reporting intense religious experience.
Evaluation of verbal protocols as a research method:
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The method gives us access to complex internal thought processes that would otherwise be unavailable;
When thinking aloud, we may not say everything that comes into our mind – there are some things not easy to put
into words, and others we may be reluctant to express;
It relies on using participants who are fairly articulate – and these may not be representative of all people; The act of
thinking aloud changes the thought processes, so the data generated is unnatural;
We can be sure the participant is concentrating on the task we have asked them to perform;
It can highlight individual differences in thinking; Overall it is a very useful method for a few specific research
questions, especially ones to do with cognitive processes.
Self or Peer Review Questions for Discussion:
1. Explain what is meant by ‘verbal protocols’ (in your own words).
2. Describe one way verbal protocols might be used in psychological research.
3. Compare verbal protocols (be specific) with an alternative method that might be used for investigating problem
solving.
4. Evaluate verbal protocols as a research tool.