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Hypothetical Study For This Tutorial

Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to study the effects of verbal descriptions of objects contained in images on perceptions of the attributes of the objects of these images.  More specifically, it explores the effects of written descriptions of the attributes of a person in a photograph (e.g., intelligence) on perceptions of  other attributes of the person in the photograph (e.g., physical attractiveness). This study is called "Effects of Verbal Information On Opinions About Physical Attractiveness."  

Hypotheses:
1.  Participants will tend to rate physically attractive people as more attractive than physically unattractive people.

2.  Physically attractive people described as of only "average intelligence" will be rated the same on physical attractiveness as those described as "highly intelligent.

3.  Physically unattractive people described as "highly intelligent" will be rated higher on physical attractiveness than those described as of "average intelligence". 

Four Group (Condition) Design
This is a typical  between-subjects design with two independent variables (physical attractiveness and descriptions of intelligence) that together create four conditions.  

In the first condition,  a picture of an "attractive person" is presented on a computer screen and this person is described as being of "average Intelligence. " Then participants are asked for their opinions about the physical attractiveness of the person in the picture.  

In the second condition, participants are shown a picture of a "not physically attractive person" and that person is described as being of "high intelligence. " Then, subjects are asked for their opinions about the physical attractiveness of the person in the picture.   

In the third condition, participants are presented the attractive picture with the "high intelligence" description.

In the fourth condition, participants are presented with the unattractive picture and the "average intelligence" description.  As in the other conditions, participants are asked for their opinions about the physical attractiveness of the person in the picture.  

Each participant only experiences one of these four conditions.