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Participant skepticism: If you can't beat it, model it

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2001

Craig R. M. McKenzie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0109 cmckenzie@ucsd.edujwixted@ucsd.edu www.psy.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie www.psy.ucsd.edu/~jwixted
John T. Wixted
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0109 cmckenzie@ucsd.edujwixted@ucsd.edu www.psy.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie www.psy.ucsd.edu/~jwixted

Abstract

For a variety of reasons, including the common use of deception in psychology experiments, participants often disbelieve experimenters' assertions about important task parameters. This can lead researchers to conclude incorrectly that participants are behaving non- normatively. The problem can be overcome by deriving and testing normative models that do not assume full belief in key task parameters. A real experimental example is discussed.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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