This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Langer, E. J. Articles by Newman, H. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Langer, E. J. Articles by Newman, H. M. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Role of Mindlessness in a Typical Social Psychological Experiment

Department of Psychology and Social Relations, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Helen M. Newman

Department of Communications, Hunter College, C.U.N.Y., New York City.

An experiment, offered as a methodological prototype, was conducted to assess whether subjects in a typical, successful social psychological experiment pick up cues planted by experimenters and then proceed relatively mindlessly with the task at hand. The Asch/Kelley experiment was used to test this hypothesis. Subjects were tested on recall of information they had just been given. As predicted, subjects who were mindless with respect to this information were more likely to confirm the Asch/Kelley prediction than disconfirm it, while there was no difference in confirmation for the mindful group. The implications of these results for our ability to generalize our findings from the laboratory to the nonlaboratory world were discussed.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E.-J. Lee When Placebic Information Differs From Real Information: Cognitive and Motivational Bases of Mindful Reactions to Informational Social Influence Communication Research, October 1, 2005; 32(5): 615 - 645. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. D. Green and C. Sedikides Affect and Self-Focused Attention Revisited: The Role of Affect Orientation Pers Soc Psychol Bull, January 1, 1999; 25(1): 104 - 119. [Abstract] [PDF]

				N. L. Kerr, J. Garst, D. A. Lewandowski, and S. E. Harris That Still, Small Voice: Commitment to Cooperate as an Internalized Versus a Social Norm Pers Soc Psychol Bull, December 1, 1997; 23(12): 1300 - 1311. [Abstract]

				B. E. Ashforth and Y. Fried The Mindlessness of Organizational Behaviors Human Relations, April 1, 1988; 41(4): 305 - 329. [Abstract] [PDF]

				H. Newman Communication within Ongoing Intimate Relationships: An Attributional Perspective Pers Soc Psychol Bull, March 1, 1981; 7(1): 59 - 70. [Abstract]