Effect of deception on reactions to a victim.

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Abstract
Used 4 degrees of deception in a partial replication of the M. Lerner and C. Simmons (see pa, vol. 40:11086) study of os' reactions to an "innocent victim." 158 undergraduates watched the videotape sequence of a girl receiving electric shocks that was used in that study. 1/2 the ss were told that the session was live and that they would watch the girl go through a 2nd session (midpoint condition); the other 1/2 were told that they were watching a tape of a complete session carried out earlier (past-event condition). It was predicted and found that only ss completely deceived as to both the purpose of the study (to measure reactions to victims) and the method (that the "victim" was only pretending to receive shocks) would reject the victim more in the midpoint as compared to the past-event condition. Implications for the use of deception and for theory in the area of reactions to victims are discussed. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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