Abstract
We examine the assumptions that are generally made when it is argued that a set of experimental findings is due to the subjects' compliance to demand characteristics. There is little evidence supporting many of these assumptions: that many experimental subjects disbelieve the cover story given them, that they are eager to search for clues revealing the study's actual purpose, that they are highly sophisticated in making inferences on the basis of any cues they detect, and that they are motivated to confirm the experimenter's hypothesis, whether to aid science or to make their participation meaningful. Our argument is applied to studies contending that results obtained with the Velten mood induction procedure are substantially affected by demand compliance. In particular, we question an assumption often made by these studies and point out the following: A demonstration that subjects can accurately mimic the reactions of participants given the Velten statements when they are explicitly asked to do so, or when they are instructed how to simulate these reactions, does not necessarily mean that subjects will voluntarily engage in such accurate play-acting when they are not asked to engage in this make-believe. Research has also noted that a number of Velten-induced reactions are probably too subtle to have been deliberately faked.
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Berkowitz, L., Troccoli, B.T. An examination of the assumptions in the demand characteristics thesis: With special reference to the Velten mood induction procedure. Motiv Emot 10, 337–349 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992108
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992108