Book Drop
Recently I have conducted an experiment on loud, sudden noises. During class while everyone was working and doing their own thing I would drop a book onto the table to create a quite large noise. The drop was excellent due to the fact that no one was expecting it. There were gasps and looks and jumping just as expected. On the second drop only 3 minutes later about half the class jumped, suggesting these subjects learn quickly. However, on the third drop the results were surprisingly more vibrant that the first. This is where I began to ponder on the idea that its not whether they know its coming or they know how loud it might but timing by thought. On the third drop literally everyone jumped, even the teacher whom I had consulted this with. But also on the third drop, literally everyone was doing something.
I repeated the test with extremely similar results and have come to the conclusion that it’s not the necessarily the noise that scares them but what they are doing and thinking when it happens.
Please comment on why you might think this is or any ideas on how to further this research.
By: Toby McAlister
May 25th, 2010 at 10:46 am
As a student in the room when you were conducting that particular experiment, I can offer an insight that you might not have gotten as the one conducting the experiment: because I was so on edge due to the droping of the book, I was not at all able to concentrate. Every time I would get too into my work, I couldn’t help but pull myself out of it in fear of the possibility that when you dropped the book, it would startle me and cause me to react in an embarassing way. This resulted in my work being less in quality on the days you conducted those experiments.
I hope this benefits you in some way (although I must confess, I’m rather annoyed even remebering this experiment as it was extremely aggravating to the “subjects)