Abstract
31 undergraduate English students were asked to evaluate each of the 8 novels they had read on 8 bipolar adjective scales. The top four novels ranked by a student were considered to be novels with positive affect, the other four negative affect. Complexity scores were computed for the two groups of novels using the same method as scoring cognitive complexity for persons. Since it was felt that negative novels do not pose the same kind of threat as do live people, vigilance would not be as much of a factor for careful perception, and the complexity score for both sets of novels should be about the same. If justifying one's dislike for persons results in a more complex perception of these persons, a similar complex perception should be noted in responding to novels one does not like. The results showed that Ss gave more complex rating of the novels eliciting negative affect than those of positive affect, which supports justification as an explanation of complex perception of stimuli with negative affect.
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