It looks like Rosenthal may have done the experiment with rats himself
before applying his theory to the classroom. The Psychological Reports
article by Rosenthal and Jacobson that appears in the Sources: Notable
Selections in Psychology, cites two studies in which "Es led to believe that
their rat Ss has been bred for superiour learining ability obtained
performance superior to that obtained by Es led to belive that their rats
had been bred for inferior learning ability." The references for those
studies are:
Rosenthal, R. & Fode, K.L. (1963). The effect of experimenter bias on the
performance of the albino rat. Behavioral Science, 8, 183-189.
Rosenthal, R. & Lawson, R. (1964). A lontitudinal study of the effects of
experimenter bias on the operant learning of laboratory rats. Journal of
Psychiatric Research, 2, 61-72.
Ann Calhoun-Sauls
Belmont Abbey College
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Allaway [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 8:06 AM
To: TIPS
Subject: Help Needed: Reference?
In the dusty recesses of my grey matter I (think I) recall a
"Rosenthal Effect" study done with rats: psych students were led to
believe that the rats they were training (in mazes) were descendants of
Tryon's "maze-bright" or "maze-dull" strains, and the animals, of
course, performed accordingly.
Can anyone guide me to the reference?
