City
Epaper

Under time pressure, people tell us what we want to hear: Study

By ANI | Updated: October 12, 2019 22:45 IST

Researchers claims that answer to quick and impulsive questions are favoured instead of honest due to time pressure.

Open in App

Researchers claims that answer to quick and impulsive questions are favoured instead of honest due to time pressure.

The findings, published in -- Psychological Science -- raised questions about a time-honoured experimental technique, said John Protzko, a University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) cognitive scientist who co-led the study with colleague Claire Zedelius.

"The method of 'answer quickly and without thinking', a long staple in psychological research, may be doing many things, but one thing it does is make people lie to you and tell you what they think you want to hear," Protzko said.

"This may mean we have to revisit the interpretation of a lot of research findings that use the 'answer quickly' technique. The idea has always been that we have a divided mind -- an intuitive, malistic type and a more rational type," he continued.

"And the more rational type is assumed to always be constraining the lower order mind. If you ask people to answer quickly and without thinking, it's supposed to give you sort of secret access to that lower-order mind," he said.

To test this assumption, Protzko, Zedelius and their UCSB colleague Jonathan Schooler devised a test of 10 simple yes-or-no questions, such as "I sometimes feel resentful when I don't get my way," and "No matter who I'm talking to, I'm always a good listener."

Through a survey, respondents were asked to take fewer than 11 seconds, or alternatively, more than 11 seconds to answer each question.

They found that the fast-answering group was more likely to give socially-desirable answers, while the slow answerers and the ones who were not given any time constraints (fast or slow) were less likely to do so, Protzko said.

In a subsequent experiment, the researchers set out to learn whether people tend to give socially acceptable responses under time pressure because they view themselves as genuinely virtuous -- a phenomenon referred to as the good-true-self bias.

The researchers had another group of participants respond to the questions under varying time restrictions. The respondents then participated in a social-judgment task designed to assess the degree to which they ascribe morally good and bad behaviour to the true self.

Those who scored lower on the good-true-self bias scale (i.e., they thought people were more a mix of good and bad qualities) should presumably be less prone to give socially desirable responses under time pressure.

However, what the researchers found was that individuals scoring high on the good-true-self measure gave highly socially desirable answers in general, but especially so when they were given ample time to deliberate.

In contrast, it was low scorers who adjusted their responses by responding in a more socially desirable way under time pressure.

( With inputs from ANI )

Tags: UcsbJonathan SchoolerUniversity Of California
Open in App

Related Stories

InternationalUS Campus Protest: Many Injured as Violent Clashes Erupt at UCLA Between Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel Activists, Visuals Emerge

InternationalMarco Troper: 19-Year-Old Son of Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Found Dead at US University

BusinessHyderabad teen brings pride to the city, making waves in medical sciences

TechnologyClimate change likely led to violence in early Andean populations: Research

EntertainmentAl Pacino, girlfriend Noor Alfallah welcome baby boy, reveal the name of child

Lifestyle Realted Stories

LifestyleBollywood Actresses Who Pulled Off Corset-Styled Outfits With Flair

LifestylePastels to Neons: 5 Times Mithila Palkar Pulled Off Traditional Outfit Looks

LifestyleFrom Mango to Coconut: 5 Must-Try Healthy Halwa Recipes for the Summer Season

LifestyleConstant Gas and Acidity? Follow These 3 Ayurveda Remedies

NationalGold Rate on April 28, 2025: Prices Drop Ahead of Akshaya Tritiya; Check Rates in Metro Cities