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Assessing Subjects’ Construal of the Laboratory Situation

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Handbook of Research Methods in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

The manner in which subjects in laboratory research perceive, understand, and respond to the situations created for them has been a topic of widespread interest and great controversy throughout the history of psychology. One could argue, in fact, that no serious examination of human behavior can escape considering the subjects’ understanding of the situations in which they are studied: Regardless of whether people have an accurate understanding of their world, they base their actions (at least in part) on the world as they understand it (see Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1967, 1973; Kelly, 1955; Jones & Davis, 1965). Laboratory research is, of course, an attempt to create a highly controlled, well-specified situation in order to test propositions about subjects’ responses to that situation. This chapter will emphasize that a complete understanding of a subject’s actions in the laboratory requires a careful assessment of the subject’s perceptions of that situation, and also that careful attention be given to a number of potential pitfalls.* Both the essential nature of assessing the subject’s psychological state, and the dangers lurking in such assessment, can be demonstrated by considering as our starting point the role of the manipulation check in experimental research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130, USA

    Michael J. Strube

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  1. Michael J. Strube
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  1. University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

    Neil Schneiderman

  2. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Stephen M. Weiss  & Peter G. Kaufmann  & 

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Strube, M.J. (1989). Assessing Subjects’ Construal of the Laboratory Situation. In: Schneiderman, N., Weiss, S.M., Kaufmann, P.G. (eds) Handbook of Research Methods in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine. The Springer Series in Behavioral Psychophysiology and Medicine. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0906-0_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0906-0_33

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