Desirable responding triggered by affect: Automatic egotism?

Abstract

Two experiments demonstrated an increase in socially desirable responding in the presence of affectladen stimuli. Subjects responded or not me to trait adjectives presented on a microcomputer. Affect was manipulated by pairing each trait adjective with a distractor word presented nearby. Some distractors were affect-laden (e.g., sex, blood); others were innocuous (e.g., station, lake). In Study I, some trait adjectives were positive traits and others were neutral. Results showed that endorsements of positive traits were increased and speeded up by the affective distractors; denials of positive traits were reduced and slowed down by affective distractors. Both claims and denials of neutral traits were slowed by the affective distractors. In Study 2, positive, neutral, and negative traits were presented. The Study 1 results were replicated with parallel results for negative traits: Denials of negative traits were increased and speeded by the affective distractors, whereas claims of negative traits were reduced and slowed. This overall pattern of results was interpreted as a response-potentiation effect; that is, dominant responses were facilitated and subordinate responses were inhibited. Thus the net reaction to the presence of affective distractors was increased desirable responding. The high speed of this process suggests mediation by a fast-rising arousal or an attentional mechanism. The latter model suggests that self-perception automatically becomes more egotistical. This automatic egotism may underlie a variety of self-presentation phenomena, including certain defense mechanisms.