Two groups of 13 college students selected on the basis of combined extreme scores from the 16 PFT were exposed to a list of 18 tachistoscopically presented words, 7 of which were “taboo” and 11 of which were “neutral.” The words were matched for frequency from the Thorndike-Lorge count (1944). Several variables were investigated, but only the familiarity dimension was found to be significant. Methodological implications for further research are discussed in this exploratory study.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BrunerJ. S.PostmanL.Emotional selectivity in perception and reaction. J. Pers., 1947, 16, 69–77.
2.
CattellR. B.EberH. W.Supplement of norms for Forms A and B of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. Champaign, Ill.: Institute for Personality & Ability Testing, 1956.
3.
ChodorkoffB.Anxiety, threat and defensive reactions. J. gen. Psychol., 1956, 54, 191–196.
4.
DorfmanD. D.GrossbergJ. M.KroekerL.Recognition of taboo stimuli as a function of exposure time. J. Pers. soc. Psychol., 1965, 2, 552–562.
5.
ForrestD.GordonN.TaylorA.Generalization of perceptual defense: An interpretation in terms of set. J. Pers. soc. Psychol., 1965, 2, 137–141.
6.
LindquistE. F.Statistical analysis in educational research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940.
7.
MinardJ. G.BaileyD. E.WertheimerM.Measurement and conditioning of perceptual defense, response bias, and emotionally biased recognition. J. Pers. soc. Psychol., 1965, 2, 661–668.
8.
PostmanL.SolomonR. C.Frequency of usage as a determinant of recognition threshold for words. J. exp. Psychol., 1952, 43, 195–201.
9.
ThorndikeE. L.LorgeI.The teacher's word book of 30,000 words. New York: Columbia Univer. Press, 1944.
10.
ZajoncR. B.Response suppression in perceptual defense. J. exp. Psychol., 1962, 64, 206–214.