In the research we did in our lab we had to be very careful about that phenomenon. Its known as the good subject confound. Intro psych students (the most studied animal on earth aside from rats) want to be very pleasing and cooperative - sort of like puppies y'know. Accordingly they are very good at guessing what the experiment's purpose is, and respond in such a way that confirms the perceived purpose of the study.
We would go all out to ensure that there was no direct connection to our hypnosis research, soliciting people for the questionnaire aspects of the study separately, using different researchers for different parts of the study etc. It makes sense in a way if you think about it. If you're up for a well paying job you're more likely to respond to any personality test differently than if you were just reading it in a magazine, or on the internet, or any other situation. larry On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 10:00:15 -0600, Deanna Schneider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > These tests are often administered in an environment with a very > distinct power structure. In other words, if I'm at work, and we all > take some personality test, and management tells us it's important to > remember what someone's label is in order to work with them more > effeciently, well then, by god, I'd better remember it. And, I'd best > treat that person accordingly. > > My personal experience with it was with the "True Colors" program, > where everyone receives a ranking of 4 colors (Blue, Gold, Orange, > Green). But, what people remember is your "top" color. I was young > when I took that job, and came out as an Orange-Green-Blue-Gold. My > coworker was a Gold-Green-Blue-Orange. (Note that the two ends are > opposites.) I kid you not, whenever we would disagree with each other, > he would throw up his arms in disgust and say, "You're so orange!" > *sigh* I always felt like responding, "And you're so asshole!" > > But, when management got involved, they actually supported the idea > that our "colors" were the root cause of our issues. Ee gads. > > > > > On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 09:44:46 -0600, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Kevin wrote: > > > Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because > > > they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I > > > don't work so hard. > > > > Speaking of Huxley, didn't Stanford do this exact experiment with 5 > > year olds? I thought they did and found that the kids begin to > > conform to the definitions including discriminating against others > > based on the arbitrary assignments. > > > > Why do you think people fall for the labels then? I would postulate > > that it's because we're all descendants of humans that grouped > > together to gather food and defend themselves. Part of that natural > > selection was humans that were wired to fall for the arbitrary "us > > good, them bad." That means we all like labels (well most of us) that > > differentiate us. > > > > which brings us back to politics ... > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:134864 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
