Using Hypothetical P-O-X Situations in Studies of Balance: The Problem of N"Misconstrual"

Abstract

Each of 48 subjects was presented with four hypothetical situations involving two persons, P and 0, and an impersonal attitude object, X, and asked to make up stories about them. Each situation described P and 0 as either liking or disliking one another and as having either positive or negative attitudes toward X. The stories that subjects made up revealed that they sometimes "misconstrued" the situations. In particular, their stories about situations involving agreement between P and 0 in their attitudes toward X often depicted P and 0 as being in disagreement or conflict with one another, especially when the situations also involved disliking between P and 0. These "misconstruals" represent a discrepancy between the way in which subjects actually interpret hypothetical P-O-X situations of the kind frequently used in studies of balance, and the way in which researchers intend for subjects to interpret the situations. When such misconstruals occur, it is difficult to make sense of the results of research on balance.