The article reports that the effect of chronic stress on social decisions According to Ceccato et al. (2018), there were cognitive effects of chronic stress on decision making which had not been investigated. As a result, Ceccato et al. (2018) deem it essential in studying the impacts of stress on one's social decision. Ceccato et al. (2018) used the experimental design and procedures to study both genders. Economic task decision making, as well as stress systems and responses, varied depending on one's gender which eventually had an impact on the level of stress (Ceccato et al. 2018). Therefore, the method of study made possible to study how chronic stress impacts social decision-making and at the same time brought out variations in gender (Ceccato et al. 2018). Also, Ceccato et al. (2018) aimed at significantly controlling the gender pairing and gender driven decision-making distinctions.
Ceccato et al. (2018) gathered information by using an anonymous dictator game. This is a common experimental tool in economics and psychology, derived from the ultimantum game. This refers to an economics experiment that provides insight into the human psyche and demonstrates how people react to stress. The game involved the use of four variables: the hypothetical of the reward, the frame, gender of the recipient, and the gender of the sender (Ceccato et al. 2018). The researchers assigned the participants into two distinct rooms, one with hypothetical dictators and the other playing with real money (Ceccato et al.2018). Something is hypothetical if it is based on possible situations rather than real ones (Ceccato et al. 2018). Hypothetical dictator subjects indicated what they would offer, though no actual money was exchanged (Ceccato et al. 2018). In addition to, the chronic stress measured in individuals took place through the use of Trier Inventory for chronic stress with questionnaires that needed a maximum of 15 minutes to complete (Ceccato et al., 2018). The surveys aimed at participants’ experiences with their past three months (Ceccato et al. 2018).
Summary/Review
The initial sample of the study comprised of 376 adults who were elected from the pool of participants through Online Recruitment Software for Economic Experiments (Ceccato et al. 2018). The Online Recruitment Software for Economic Experiments tool is software that allows studies to plan sessions of experiments and select research subjects (Ceccato et al. 2018). It tracks participation in surveys and offers information regarding the study pools a well as the selection procedure of a survey (Ceccato et al. 2018). Sixteen respondents were excluded since they had taken medication prescribed for psychiatric conditions while six participants did not qualify because they failed to complete chronic stress questionnaires (Ceccato et al. 2018). Two respondents misunderstood the activity, and five others fell in a higher age bracket (Ceccato et al. 2018). The final sample comprised of 348 respondents aged between 18 and 33 while their mean age was 22.7. Fifty-point-three percent of the sample represented women while men constituted 49.7% (Ceccato et al. 2018). Other properties of the sample such as religious affiliation, income level and level of education on transfers were kept in a working document (Ceccato et al. 2018).
The experiment was performed in 33 time-periods immediately after university exams in February, April, and June 2013(Ceccato et al. 2018). Hence, the entire process of exam preparation and taking was taken as a natural chronic stressor (Ceccato et al. 2018). Since this condition of stress was more limited in comparison to the period indicated initially in the measurement tool, the authors revealed that they adapted the questionnaires period reference to the final month only (Ceccato et al. 2018). The research was done at in Germany at AWI Laboratory of the University of Heidelberg (Ceccato, Kettner, Kudielka, Schwieren" Voss, 2018). In their literature review, the authors clearly stated two significant hypotheses (Ceccato et al. 2018). The first hypothesis was that chronic stress had a positive relationship with real money transferred within the dictator game, an outcome that was strong in the manipulations of frame and gender pairing (Ceccato et al. 2018). The second stronger bias was that since there was no cause to presume that hypothetical and real money transfer varies in one particular direction, the authors expected that chronic stress also had a positive relationship with hypothetical money transfers within the dictator game. Consequently, this result was seen to be influential in manipulating frame and gender-pairing (Ceccato et al. 2018). Furthermore, they expected females to show a stronger bias towards hypothetical transfers (Ceccato et al. 2018). The research method used in the experiment as described in the article is Regression or Correlation Analysis (Ceccato et al. 2018). It was a quantitative analysis of the relationship strengths between two or many variables (Ceccato et al. 2018).
The authors described the link between self-disclosed chronic stress and behaviorally shown as well as self-reported social preferences (Ceccato et al. 2018). The research design used in the study as described in the article is Experimental (Ceccato et al. 2018). As observed, the researchers actively tried to alter the experience by manipulating the participants, leading to a change in outcomes or behavior for the study participants (Ceccato et al. 2018). The researchers randomly assigned respondents to different variables of interest and tried to check for confounding variables (Ceccato et al. 2018). Hence, the experiment was highly established even before the start of data collection as all the treatments were similar in all aspects excluding the independent variable. Furthermore, the results were representative of the concept being tested. Ceccato et al. (2018) reported that they planned to examine how perceived chronic stress was linked to social preferences within an unspecified dictator game in which the experimenters as well other respondents failed to relate the decision to the identity of a participant. Four variables that were manipulated comprised the sender’s gender, the recipient’s gender, the frame, and the type of the award (Ceccato et al. 2018). Perceived chronic stress was measured using the Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress which was an approved German questionnaire that needed nearly 15 minutes to complete (Ceccato et al. 2018). The study tool comprised 57 answerable questions on a –pointed Likert scale marker ‘never’ and very often at opposite ends (Ceccato et al. 2018). To control for likely confounded, psychometric and demographic data were also collected. Further, information about variables likely to impede with chronic stress was obtained (Ceccato et al. 2018). Visual Analogue Scale was used to measure emotional activation and acute stress, while the validated German Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale were used to control depression (Ceccato et al. 2018). According to Ceccato, Kettner, Kudielka, Schwieren" Voss (2018), in decisions of the monetarily rewarded dictator, perceived chronic stress had no significant link to social preferences for both genders. Nonetheless, it was reported that women’s expressed preferences for hypothetical awards were negatively related to chronic levels of stress (Ceccato et al. 2018).
Furthermore, more significant chronic stress among women was linked to less significant speculative transfers and not changed actual behavior in comparison to women who had no pressure (Ceccato et al. 2018). For men, such effects were not observed (Ceccato et al. 2018). Generally, the results indicated that there was no significant correlation between chronic stress and real transferred and that chronic stress was negatively and significantly linked to possible transfers (Ceccato et al. 2018). Hence, the outcome refuted the two hypotheses (Ceccato et al. 2018). However, the authors noted that so far they had only conducted pair-testing and that they intended to test their hypotheses more carefully in a regression study involving the variables gathered (Ceccato et al. 2018).
Critical Analysis
The scientific method involves the systematic way of learning the world around us and coming up with answers to questions. Scientific method of research differs from other ways of knowledge acquiring in the way it forms a hypothesis and then testing it with an experiment. The research followed the scientific method of research because of the following reasons. The focus of this research was on the relationship between behavioural shown social preferences and self-reported chronic stress. The proposed hypotheses which is an important step in any scientific research. The study records observations and even goes ahead to analyze the meaning of data. This has been made successfully by the data table that the author prepare. The study is vitally educative and informative and finds relevance to the psychological filed.
References
Ceccato, S., Kettner, S. E., Kudielka, B. M., Schwieren, C., " Voss, A. (2018). Social preferences under chronic stress. Plos One, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199528
