Subjects Wanted

Many students come to Harvard in order to discover who they really are. The process takes four long years (for some, even longer) and is often frustrating, disheartening and sometimes shocking. Is there any way to speed up this arduous task of finding one's elusive inner child? Some students look to personality tests and questionnaires for them. But the students who participate in psychology experiments advertised in William James Hall have already found out that such methods don't help.

Yet droves of students still huddle around the "Subjects Wanted and Colloquia" board in the lobby of WJH, eyes darting around sign-up sheets asking "Are you Caucasian?" or "Do you experience Panic Attacks?" The motivation for willingly agreeing to endure an array of mind-probing and often bizarre experiments is readily apparent. As one popular sign proclaims "Are You Interested in Quick $$$?"

Students are attracted by the earnings (ranging from $5 to $100) that they can make less strenuously than by being on Dorm Crew. Being a subject is also a fast and easy way to balance out a limited (or absent) source of income. Brent D. Zettel '01 explains, "Basically, I need some cash flow. I got spanked by my last credit card bill, and these experiments are a fun way to earn it back." And what exactly is Zettel expected to do? "For one of them it says I sleep in their sleep lab for a night, and they wake me up a couple of times and ask me some questions. Why am I doing it? They'll pay me $40 to sleep." Zettel will also be paid $50 to let them "take magnetic pictures of my head" and learn to meditate at $10 an hour. He's not afraid of any repercussions of these experiments. "I got an MRI before and it wasn't really that bad," he claims. Most experiments are more mundane, paying students to take tests on a computer, name pictures, or fill out a questionnaire.

Seems safe, right? But sometimes being a subject can have its difficulties. Although Credell L. M. Coleman '00 explains most experiments "are quite educational and not dangerous at all," she describes one incident where "the experimenter was running really late and I had another experiment lined up right after, so he was holding me up. I sat in this office for 15 minutes and he never came to get me."

For many studies, any student is qualified to become a subject, but some have specific requirements. Signs ask for certain races, native speakers of foreign languages, or subjects with no history of psychological or neurological disorders. One sign-up sheet has even more specific guidelines: only students who answer questions appropriately (including "It scares me when I feel shaky, when I feel faint, when my heart beats rapidly or when I become short of breath")--and are righthanded--are qualified to participate.

Several studies require participation of both a subject and another partner, such as a roommate or friend. (Double the fun!) Jeannette Soriano '01, who also goes by "Professional Experiment Subject," and "Jeannette Soriano: International Subject of Mystery!" signs up for many experiments, explaining that "I'm interested to know what kind of things people in William James study." As a regular subject, she recalls, "One of the most fun ones had me watch some educational videos and then work with a partner to try to make a bridge out of straws, pipe cleaners, Styrofoam cups, and popsicle sticks that was 'aesthetically pleasing and that could hold a weighted clip' at the end. We lost, but then when they had me work on my own to make the tallest structure possible, I did a pretty good job. That was fun because it was like I was a little kid again, being creative and getting paid for it!"

So if many experiments are actually entertaining, and the only criticism may be having to wait in line, is there any reason to be suspicious of these "Psych Studies"? Despite having taken a number of tests, Soriano is still a little wary, adding, "I'm glad that I haven't found anything too weird going on... at least not yet." Zettel jokingly describes one possible extreme scenario: "First they stripped me naked and laid me down on a hard table. Then the lights went out and these experimenters in leather came out with whips. One of them said, 'Hey big boy, we're gonna get into your head one way or another...'" But outside of Zettel's fevered imagination, the experiments at WJH are pretty harmless, and volunteering time to be a subject is usually easy and profitable. After all, experimenters who buy their leather at a discount have plenty of cash left over to pay for willing subjects.