University of Oxford
Department of Experimental Psychology
Project title: Personality and friendships
Dear participant,
you have reached the end of the study!
Initially we told you that we were interested in how friendships develop between people with different personality types. However, our goal was slightly different. We sometimes have to do this in research, so that we do not unwittingly influence your answers, and so that you, perhaps through trying to help us, do not give us the answers you ‘think we want to hear’. We were interested in whether positive experiences with one group (e.g., Group B) can lead to more negative attitudes towards another group (e.g., Group C) when people perceive a conflict between both groups. This would be an important finding for intervention programs that aim to reduce prejudice. These interventions might, for example, help us to reduce prejudice against Muslims but accidently worsen people’s attitudes towards Jews.
Please note that the personality test, the personality groups, your group membership, and the information about a conflict between groups were NOT real. Moreover, you did not interact with a real person. We designed the study in this way so that we could carefully manage what information was shared, and how, in order to conduct a strictly-controlled test of our scientific ideas.
If you have a concern about any aspect of this project, please contact Dr. Tibor Zingora [tibor.zingora@psy.ox.ac.uk], who will do her best to answer your query. The researcher should acknowledge your concern within 10 working days and give you an indication of how they intend to deal with it. If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the relevant Chair of the Research Ethics Committee at the University of Oxford: Chair, Medical Sciences Inter-Divisional Research Ethics Committee; Email: ethics@medsci.ox.ac.uk; Address: Research Services, University of Oxford, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD OR. The Chair will seek to resolve the matter in a reasonably expeditious manner.
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