During the last week of school last semester, I participated in a mandatory experiment for PSY 103 that involved me working with a teammate in order to “accomplish a goal”. Saliva samples were taken before and after the experiment in order to record my initial and post hormonal levels. After the experiment was over, the examiner revealed to me that my “partner” was testing me the entire time. My “partner” was a researcher who was African American, testing if my hormonal levels changed around a man of different race. I was completely fooled and boggled after this news was dropped on me. However, the underlying point is that these researchers at Stony Brook University take enough initiative, time, and effort to make their experiments so diverse, convincing, and worthwhile.
For the first time in my life, I know what it feels like to be an experiment. Graduate students take my actions and thoughts serious enough to record them, analyze them and present them in order to better a case study on a given topic. Some experiments were more interesting than others, but all accomplished the overall goal of adding data to a case study in order to validate an experiment. However, I still feel dooped and deceived.
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