Analogue Methods

Introduction

Analogue behavioural observation (ABO) involves a situation designed by, manipulated by, or constrained by an assessor that elicits a measured behaviour of interest. Observed behaviours comprise both verbal and non-verbal emissions (e.g. motor actions, verbalized attributions, observable facial reactions).

ABO exists on a continuum of naturalism, ranging from highly contrived situations (e.g. How quickly do people walk down the hallway after being exposed to subconsciously presented words about ageing? Bargh et al., 1996) to naturalistic situations arranged in unnatural ways or settings (e.g. How do couples talk with one another when asked to discuss their top problem topic? Heyman, 2001) to naturalistic situations with some (but minimal) experimenter-dictated restrictions (e.g. family observations in the home; Reid, 1978).

Why Use Abo?

ABO is used as a hypothesis-testing tool for ...