Effects of experimenter behaviors on participants' mood

This study investigated whether experimenter behaviors affected self-reported levels of state and trait anxiety, emotional valence memory, and projective interpretations of ambiguous stimuli. I hypothesized that participants exposed to anxious experimenters would report higher levels of state anxiety, recall more negative words, and render more negative interpretations while warm experimenters would lead participants to report lower levels of state anxiety, recall more positive words, and produce more positive interpretations. Participants (N = 98) were randomly assigned to either an anxious, flat, or warm experimenter condition and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger et al., 1983), heard a list of 32 emotionally salient or neutral words, responded to ten Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) cards in a free-response format, completed an open recall of the previously read word list, retook the STAI, and evaluated their experimenter’s performance. Participants in all conditions reported significantly higher levels of state anxiety at the end of the study but did not significantly differ between conditions. Participants in the flat condition recalled significantly more negative words compared to those in the warm and anxious conditions, and the difference between the average number of positive and negative words recalled significantly differed by condition. Participant’s TAT responses were coded using the Linguistic Inquiry & Word Count (LIWC-22) software. Their responses were highly negative in tone but did not differ by experimenter condition. My primary hypotheses were not supported, and the flat experimenter exerted the most direct influence on participants. The laboratory environment appeared generally unsettling, suggesting further research on test anxiety and evaluative settings is necessary.