We Need You!
The Department of Psychology has been able to produce field-defining scholarship because of a large, diverse pool or research study participants. Whether you are a student, staff member, or member of the community (from infancy to retirment), you play a critical role in the work we do. If fact, the study you participate in could very well have real world impact.
Student and Young Adult Programs (18+)
There are two ways to participate in the psychological research studies conducted in the Department of Psychology:
Study Pool
Students may opt to participate in research studies through the department study pool. The study pool is a listhost utilized by faculty and graduate students for the purpose of recruiting participants for research studies. Students signed up to receive emails from the study pool listhost receive ongoing notification of studies seeking to recruit participants. Emails consist of a brief description of the particular research study, as well a contact information for the appropriate graduate student or PI.
Research Participation System
Students may opt to participate in research studies by registering directly with the experiment management system, which is an online systems designed for online recruitment of research participants. Also with the study pool. The Research Participation System is utilized by faculty and graduate students for the express purpose of participant recruitment. Unlike the study pool, students who are registered with the Research Participation System will NOT receive ongoing notification of open research studies. It will be up to the individual student to check the listings of available studies.
New experiments are posted at various times throughout the semester, depending on when individual experimenter are ready to begin their data collection. if no sessions are available when you register for the Research Participation System, then please make sure to check back at a later time.
Signing up for a study can be done easily with the click of a mouse. If you have questions about registering on the Research Participation System or signing up for studies on the web, FIRST use the help functions on the website. Many common problems or frequently asked questions are addressed there. If you still are having problems, please contact the subject pool coordinator, Mr. Ray Weathers, at rweather@uchicago.edu.
Experiments run throughout each quarter. Students are encouraged to sign up and participate early! Waiting until the last minute may result in the availability of fewer experiments or ones that are no longer available.
If you have questions about how many hours or credit or extra credit are needed for your class, please refer to your syllabus of contact your instructor. Please note: Students are often reimbursed for the time it takes to participate in a given research study and may be asked to choose between a cash reimbursement and participation credit for an applicable course.
Infant and Child Studies
At the Center for Early Childhood Research, we conduct cutting edge research exploring the development of cognition, action, and perception during infancy and childhood. Our research focuses on space, number, language, social understanding, empathy, and moral reasoning.
Older Adult Studies (60+)
Researchers in the Memory Research Lab in the Department of Psychology are interested in successful aging, as well as age-related changes in the brain that can affect psychological processing in a variety of domains (e.g., cognitive, emotional, personality, social). If you are an older adult (e.g., aged 60 years or older), please consider volunteering an hour or two of your time to participate as a research subject in one of our ongoing research studies. In addition to the intellectual contribution to science, our studies typically compensate for time and transportation. Tell your friends, too! If you are interested in learning more about the aging studies conducted in the Department of Psychology, please visit:
As a research participant, you have a right to be informed about any risks involved in the studies in which you participate. Most psychology studies have minimal risk, and all studies listed on this site have been reviewed and approved by a University of Chicago Institutional Review Board, a group dedicated to protecting the welfare of human subjects. However, it you have further questions about your rights as research participants, you may contact the Social and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Board at sbsirb@uchicago.edu• (773) 702-2915 • Room 418, 1155 E. 60th St • Chicago, IL 60637