Caffeine Experiment

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Introduction:

Caffeine is one of man’s most successful discoveries dating back to the 13th century. Although its origins are not completely clear, we see the impacts of its use down to the 21st century. From local cafes and restaurants to school and fast food chains, the evidence is relative that coffee is truly everywhere in our society. One of coffees many uses was that it had the ability to make its consumers feel more ready to start the day. However, does caffeine really affect our moods and emotions? The aim of the following investigation is to discover how our emotional state changes when we have had a certain amount of caffeine, compared to when we are caffeine-free. The participants chosen for this experiment were South Australian, year 11 psychology students currently studying at Tension Woods College.

Hypothesis:

With greater caffeine intake there will be increase in energy and happier dispositions. This hypothesis will be proven by the mood questionnaire completed by students who have participated in the investigation.

Proposal: (Group Task)

Caffeine is used by many people and they strongly depend on this stimulant to wake them up and help them continue to keep alert throughout the day. Caffeine is also the third most used mood-affecting drug to nicotine and alcohol.

The effects of caffeine on the body are amazing, as caffeine is a stimulant; it triggers a message similar to a stress reaction in our brain. The bodies’ central nervous system then recognizes the change in the messages sent from the brain, and creates biological changes in the body in relation to the messages, which hence alleviates fatigue and increases our rate of alertness and wakefulness, which can continue to influence your body’s state for a...

... middle of paper ...

...ll number of participants, some of the results got mixed up and some results were disclosed.

The accuracy of the results also needs to be queried. There was also the possibility that the results were ‘fake’. This is known as.... Where student who thought they consumed a large amount of caffeine would start to act more hyperactive and more aware when it is only the mind playing tricks on them.

One ethical principal that was breached during the investigation was voluntary participation. During the experiment, students had the right to choose whether they participate in the experiment or withdraw, however because we were a class of students, we were put into a position where if we did not participate we may not have been able to complete our investigation because of the lack of results. This was a breach of the ethical principal as it was a subtle form of coercion.

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