Murray G. Millar

The Effects of Cognitive Capacity and Suspicion on Truth Bias

This study investigated the effects of cognitive capacity and suspicion on veracity judgments. It was hypothesized that under low suspicion conditions, truth bias would be more pronounced when participants had low cognitive capacity than when participants had high cognitive capacity. One hundred and seven participants viewed presentations of people either truthfully or deceptively describing a series of pictures. Prior to the presentations, a short description designed to increase suspicion was read to half the participants. Participants viewed half of the presentations while working on arithmetic problems (low capacity) and the other half while not working on arithmetic problems (high capacity). Following each presentation, the participants were required to evaluate the communicators performance on a number of scales and indicate whether the communicator was actually describing the picture. The results partially supported the hypothesis.

The effects of a threatening life event on behavior sequences and intrusive thought: A self-disruption explanation

A model is presented to explain the occurrence of intrusive thought subsequent to threatening life experiences. The self hypothesized to be partly composed of a number of behavior sequences representing important aspects of the self. Threatening life events disrupt the self by interrupting one or more of these sequences. This interruption is threatening to the self because it creates an incompleteness. To the extent that no instrumental means is available to complete the self, an attempt is made to symbolically complete the self through rumination. Severty-six female freshmen, in their first few weeks of college, provided information about activities performed with a close person and a nonclose person at home, as well as the extent to which these activities were continued at school. Using a modified version of Horowitzs (1976) Impact of Event Scale, a number of hypotheses were tested regarding the occurrence of intrusive thought and emotion. The more activities performed with a close person at home, the more intrusive thought subsequent to behavioral sequence interruption. However, if behavior sequences were continued by instrumental means, less intrusive thought occurred about the close person. Results have implications for lessening the impact of a threatening life experience.

Effects of a Guilt Induction and Guilt Reduction on Door in the Face

The present study explored the role of guilt in the door-in-the-face procedure. Drawing on the guilt-based explanation of door-in-the-face effect, it was hypothesized that the greatest amount of compliance would occur when the rejection of the initial request produced high levels of guilt and the acceptance of the small request allowed participants to anticipate a large reduction in guilt. This hypothesis was tested by presenting participants with an initial large request. Statements accompanying the request were designed to produce either high levels of guilt or low levels of guilt when the request was rejected. After the initial request, participants were presented with a second smaller request that was accompanied by statements that would make compliance with the request either more effective or less effective at guilt reduction. Compliance with the second request was recorded, and the results supported the hypothesis.