Judgment and judgment latency for freedom and responsibility relatedness as a function of subtle linguistic variations.
The goal of this study was to determine whether differential response formats to covariation problems influence corresponding response latencies. The authors provided participants with 3 trials of 16 statements addressing positive and negative relations between freedom and responsibility. The authors framed half of the items around responsibility given freedom and the other half around freedom given responsibility. Response formats comprised true-false, agree-disagree, and yes-no answers as a between-participants factor. Results indicated that the manipulation of response format did not affect latencies. However, latencies differed according to the framing of the items. For items framed around freedom given responsibility, latencies were shorter. In addition, participants were more likely to report a positive relation between freedom and responsibility when items were framed around freedom given responsibility. The authors discuss implications relative to previous research in this area and give recommendations for future research.
Wilkerson
Keith
K
University of Louisiana at Monroe, Department of Psychology, 700 University Avenue, Suite 314, Strauss Hall, Monroe, LA 71209, USA. kwilkerson13@comcast.net
McGahan
Joseph R
JR
Stevens
Rick
R
Williamson
David
D
Low
Jean
J
D005260:Female; D005610:Freedom; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008037:Linguistics; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012941:Social Responsibility