Just as biology students often do dissections and chemistry students often conduct classic laboratory experiments, psychology students learn about research partly by participating in it.

In psychology, however, where the topics include human cognition, emotion, and behavior, one can learn about research partly by being the subject of it. When you participate in several studies during the quarter, you will see how psychologists collect data and what it feels like to be the ‘object’ of study. You will be able to talk with researchers about what they’re doing and why.

Besides being educational, your participation is very important to researchers — faculty members, doctoral students, and undergraduate honors students — who depend on human participants to advance their research programs. UCD’s Psychology Department has an excellent reputation for research, and this reputation could not be sustained without the help of “human subjects,” as psychologists call their research participants. Members of the Department will be very grateful for your help.