This semester, I’ve begun work in one of Pomona’s Psychology labs (Social Cognition and Interaction.) As a Philosophy major interested in Experimental Philosophy, this has (thus far) proven to be relevant yet completely new. Here are some of the things I’ve learned so far:
1) Psychology experiments are super-secret. If information lands in the hands of a participant (dun dun dun!), their bias might interfere with their results. Because of this, when we’re discussing our experiments, a door is always being shut and voices always become a little more hushed. Part of me suddenly identifies with the spy within myself (if she exists).
2) Pomona has really beautiful Psychology labs. SCI lab has a lot of awesome technology (which I probably shouldn’t rattle off in consideration of No. 1), and I’m amazed at how well-equipped our lab space is. I almost question how I, a lowly undergraduate Philosophy major, should be allowed to work with this stuff, but fortunately, I’ve been well-trained.
3) The non-academic aspects of the lab. Although I always see flyers asking for participants around the academic buildings, I never imagined myself scurrying about Lincoln-Edmonds to hang them up. However, I’ve found myself doing just that, and must admit proper placement is an art form. My heart welled the morning after I posted some flyers, only to find several of my tabs had already been ripped away, so much so that I snapped a picture and sent it off to my lab mates.
4) Lab space is a perfect study spot. At night, when there isn’t a lot of experiment-traffic in the building, we’ve all taken full advantage of the quiet, out-of-the-way homework palace that is our lab.