Bogus Pipeline Research Articles

Twenty years of bogus pipeline research: A critical review and meta-analysis.

Twenty years of bogus pipeline research: A critical review and meta-analysis.

Predictors of smoking prevalence among New York Latino youth.

We examined prevalence rates and risk factors for smoking among Latino adolescents, using a multiethnic sample of sixth- and seventh-grade students (n = 3129) in 47 New York City public and parochial schools. The students completed questionnaires; self-reported smoking data were collected by means of the "bogus pipeline" technique. The largest group of Latino students (43%) was Puerto Rican; 20% were of Dominican background, 7% were Colombian, and 7% were Ecuadorian. "Current smoking" was defined as smoking at least once per month. A series of logistic regression analyses indicated that peer influence was the strongest predictor of smoking. Family influence was important as well. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention.

An Excuse Perspective of the Learned Helplessness Paradigm: The Self-Protective Role of Causal Attribution

To assess the self-protective role of causal attribution in the learned helplessness paradigm, two experiments employed a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design for training feedback (failure vs. no feedback), excuse facilitation (yes/no), and self-awareness (yes/no) and measured self-focused thoughts and task performance. In Experiment 1, self-awareness was operationalized by the use of a bogus pipeline device. In Experiment 2, self-awareness was operationalized by asking subjects to make causal attributions in the presence or absence of a mirror. The findings indicate that (1) subjects exposed to unsolvable problems used causal attribution as an excuse-making strategy, (2) the use of attribution in an excuse-like fashion has beneficial effects on attentional focus and performance, and (3) experimental conditions that increase self-awareness (bogus pipeline, mirror) eliminated and even reversed the beneficial effects of attribution. Results were discussed in terms of excuse theory.

Perceived stress, quitting smoking, and smoking relapse.

Assessed perceptions of stress prior to quitting and at 1, 3, and 6 months following quit date. Self-reported smoking status was augmented by a bogus pipeline procedure at each interview, and abstinence at 6 months was verified by carbon monoxide and saliva cotinine. The analyses provide strong evidence for a relation between changes in stress levels and changes in smoking status. Those who failed to quit smoking for more than 24 hr maintained a relatively high and consistent level of stress over the entire 6-month period. For those remaining continuously abstinent over the course of the study, stress decreased as duration of abstinence increased. Increases in stress with relapse were found across all three panel lags (prequit to 1 month, 1 to 3 months, and 3 to 6 months), and decreases in stress with quitting were found across the two lags where that comparison was possible. The possibility that the relation between smoking and stress is bidirectional is discussed as a possible interpretation of the results.

The role of sympathy and altruistic personality traits in helping: a reexamination.

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the role of social evaluative concerns in the self-report of sympathy and in the relation of sympathy to helping; and (b) to determine the role of "altruistic personality" traits and situationally induced vicarious emotional responses in the intention to help. Dispositional and situational self-reports of sympathy and other vicarious emotional reactions were obtained for persons who also were given the opportunity to assist a needy other. Moreover, dispositional measures of concern with social evaluation and an altruistic orientation were obtained, and a bogus pipeline manipulation was instituted for half the study participants. Both dispositional and situational self-reported sympathy were positively related to helping, as were other personality indices viewed as reflecting altruistic characteristics. The relations for the dispositional indices of sympathy were not due solely to social evaluative concerns or to other egoistic concerns. The effects on intended helping of dispositional sympathy, perspective taking, and the tendency to ascribe responsibility for others to the self appeared to be both direct and mediated by situational sympathetic responding. Finally, situational sadness did not mediate the effects of sympathetic responsiveness.

Effects of choosing a task on interpersonal feeling and appreciation

From the viewpoints of relative deprivation and social comparison jealousy, this article reports on a study that investigated the effects of choice on subsequent appropriate feeling and appreciation for another person who is superior to subjects in the same or different field. A 2 x 2 between-groups design was used to determine the effects of choice (present or absent) and field (same or different). Individual differences were assessed by using three scales: Self-Esteem, Self-Monitoring, and Social Desirability. Forty-one male subjects participated in a task and received negative feedback, and then evaluated a superior on both pencil and paper and bogus-pipeline (BPL) measures. Most importantly a significant Choice x SE interaction was obtained on BPL: It means that through experiencing choice the high Self-Esteem subjects can maintain appropriate feeling and appreciation even on BPL although some self-presentation is inevitable.

Assessing the validity of self-reported adolescent cigarette smoking.

The comparison of adolescent cigarette smoking rates determined by traditional questionnaire, random response questionnaire and carbon monoxide test is reported. Results from 1,160 students in forty classes in seven different schools indicate the random response questionnaire elicited a statistically larger proportion of smokers than the traditional questionnaire. For practical purposes the magnitude of this difference may not warrant the added effort required to administer and interpret random response questionnaire results compared to carefully administered traditional questionnaires. Neither traditional questionnaire nor random response questionnaire results was greatly affected by the bogus pipeline technique.

Patterns and Prevalence of Smokeless Tobacco Use by High School Seniors in New York

Patterns and prevalence of smokeless tobacco use by high school seniors in New York state were identified in this study. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 10% of each senior class in 96 randomly selected public and nonpublic secondary schools in New York; 1,830 students participated. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, and chi-square tests. Comparisons were made by gender, hometown status, concurrent use of smokeless tobacco and cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco use versus cigarette smoking. Results revealed a significant difference existed between males and females and between urban and rural smokeless tobacco use (p = .05). Use of chewing tobacco related significantly to use of cigarettes (p = .05). A significant difference existed between prevalence of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use (p = .05). Smokeless tobacco use by high school seniors in New York is predominantly a habit of rural males. Use of chewing tobacco is related to cigarette smoking, and smokeless tobacco was less prevalent than cigarette smoking in the sample (p = .05). Further research on the relationship between smokeless tobacco and cigarette smoking should be conducted. Use of chemical assays or the bogus pipeline to validate self-reported data is recommended. Identified high-risk groups such as rural males should receive particular attention in future research efforts.

A Reexamination of the Bogus Pipeline

A variant of a technique developed to enhance the validity of self-reports, the generalized bogus pipeline (GBP), was investigated in three experiments reported in this paper. Empirical support for both the construct validity and the efficacy of the GBP was generally supportive for that manipulation. An important serendipitous finding, however, was that the GBP may be unnecessary when respondent anonymity is assured. Empirical support for the construct validity and efficacy of anonymity assuring procedures was much stronger. Meta-analyses across all three experiments suggests that the effect size of anonymity in obtaining more valid self-reports of sensitive behavior was larger than the effect size of the GBP and that the GBP did little to improve the veracity of self-reports beyond the effect of anonymity. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the relative merits of the bogus pipeline paradigm and anonymity procedures with suggestions to increase the validity of self-reports utilizing anonymity assuring procedures.

Adolescent Nonsmokers, Triers, and Regular Smokers' Estimates of Cigarette Smoking Prevalence: When Do Overestimations Occur and by Whom?1

The present study tested three assumptions often made by smoking prevention researchers and practitioners regarding the nature and causes of smoking prevalence estimates. Specifically, it is often assumed that (a) adolescent prevalence estimates of all levels of smoking are inflated, (b) youths at different stages of smoking onset all overestimate smoking prevalence, and (c) the predictors of these estimates are the same for youths at different stages of smoking onset. Measures of smoking behavior based on self‐reports using a bogus pipeline procedure, estimates of cigarette smoking prevalence (trying behavior and weekly use), and reports of smoking in significant others were obtained by the same youths when they were in eighth and ninth grades. Results indicated that, taken over all youths, estimates of trying cigarettes were accurate, whereas estimates of weekly use were inflated. When responders were defined by their stage of smoking onset, either as a nonsmoker, trier, or regular smoker, analyses revealed that triers were accurate regarding prevalence estimates of trying, whereas non‐smokers made gross underestimations and regular smokers made overestimations of trying. All groups of youths overestimated prevalence of weekly smoking. Analyses of variance revealed that both youths' smoking status and interpersonal smoking environment additively predicted prevalence estimates, and estimates of smoking prevalence were relatively higher in youths who began to smoke, or increased their levels of smoking, within the next year. Thus, previous assumptions were partially confirmed. Future research and prevention programming should focus more on regular smoking as the focus of normative smoking distortion effects and correction efforts.

The measurement of substance use among adolescents: When is the ‘bogus pipeline’ method needed?

The use of objective measures to assess cigarette smoking among adolescents has become commonplace in research studies in recent years. This trend is based on evidence that this so called pipeline methodology can increase the disclosure of socially proscribed behaviors in a setting where adolescents might otherwise feel pressure to deny that they smoke. This paper examines the effects of the pipeline methodology alone and in combination with procedures designed to ensure anonymity on the disclosure of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use by young adolescents. The data indicate that the pipeline procedures significantly increase disclosure of tobacco and marijuana use when students are promised confidentiality but not anonymity. However, when anonymity was assured, disclosure of cigarette use was just as high without the pipeline; for marijuana use, disclosure was higher without the pipeline. No effects were observed for alcohol disclosure. These data are interpreted for their implications for prospective and cross sectional studies.

Use of Smokeless Tobacco Among Adolescents

To the Editor.— The recently published American Medical Association report, Tobacco Product Liability, stated that there are no national data on teenage chewing tobacco use. 1 However, there have been several regional reports of adolescent smokeless tobacco use based on self-report data. These have indicated use rates ranging between 10% and 40%. 1-3 Recently, we conducted a study at two senior high schools, one urban and the other suburban, involving a total of 296 students and using a self-report questionnaire. It is known that the self-reporting of smoking is a sensitive subject for high school students and that significant underreporting is common. 4 To overcome this, smoking researchers use validation techniques such as the bogus pipeline. 4,5 In this technique, students are told that their tobacco use responses will be validated by measuring saliva thiocyanate levels. Saliva specimens are then collected but not chemically processed. This is the first reported

Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review

AbstractSocial desirability is one of the most common sources of bias affecting the validity of experimental and survey research findings. From a self‐presentational perspective, social desirability can be regarded as the resultant of two separate factors: self‐deception and other‐deception. Two main modes of coping with social desirability bias are distinguished. The first mode comprises two methods aimed at the detection and measurement of social desirability bias: the use of social desirability scales, and the rating of item desirability. A second category comprises seven methods to prevent or reduce social desirability bias, including the use of forced‐choice items, the randomized response technique, the bogus pipeline, self‐administration of the questionnaire, the selection of interviewers, and the use of proxy subjects. Not one method was found to excel completely and under all conditions in coping with both other‐deceptive and self‐deceptive social desirability bias. A combination of prevention and detection methods offers the best choice available.

The bogus pipeline revisited: The use of the threat of detection as a means of increasing self-reports of tobacco use.

The bogus pipeline revisited: The use of the threat of detection as a means of increasing self-reports of tobacco use.

The bogus pipeline revisited: The use of the threat of detection as a means of increasing self-reports of tobacco use.

The bogus pipeline revisited: The use of the threat of detection as a means of increasing self-reports of tobacco use.

On Attitude Change: Issue-Involvement and Demand Characteristics

The present investigation examined the effects of level of involvement, demand characteristics (via a bogus pipeline procedure) and a persuasive communication on attitude change toward the issue of comprehensive exams for graduating seniors. 107 student participants were randomly assigned to one of eight (2 × 2 × 2) experimental conditions and attitudes were assessed prior to the experimental manipulation and afterwards. Over-all, participants who received a persuasive communication were more agreeable toward the issue than those who received no communication; however, the participants who were highly involved and tested under a bogus pipeline showed minimal change. The same conclusion was reached from an analysis of change scores between attitudes pre- and post-manipulation. The results suggested that demand characteristics may exert a more powerful influence on change in attitude than the level of involvement in the issue.

Response to O'Malley

P. M. O'Malley ( Prev. Med. 13, 421–426, 1984) has stimulated discussion on the issues of self-reported smoking, the use of validation procedures to enhance self-report of smoking behavior, and the question of trends toward increases in underreporting of adolescent smoking. O'Malley's analysis was prompted by an earlier report of data from the Childhood Antecedents of Smoking Study. In response to O'Malley, further analysis comparing data from the Childhood Antecedents of Smoking Study with data from the Monitoring the Future study is presented, and recent evidence on the “bogus pipeline” methodology is reviewed.

Belief discrepant behavior and the bogus pipeline: Impression management or arousal attribution

Based on recent studies impression management theorists conclude that following belief discrepant behavior, persons will feign attitude change on paper measures, but report their “true” beliefs when attached to a lie detector (the bogus pipeline). A dissonance arousal explanation of these bogus pipeline results suggests that subjects may attribute their arousal to the bogus pipeline equipment instead of to dissonance and therefore may not be motivated to change their attitudes. The present study examined these competing interpretations and yielded results which support the dissonance arousal attribution explanation. Subjects who were attached to a (bogus pipeline) lie detector exhibited attitude change if given the opportunity to get accustomed to the equipment (which made attribution of arousal to the equipment less plausible), but showed no attitude change if no habituation experience was provided.

Undermining intrinsic moral motivation: External reward and self-presentation.

Does paying people for helping undermine an important source of intrinsic motivation to help—the internalized sense of moral obligation? Self-perception theory suggests that individuals paid to help will infer that they have engaged in this behavior for the reward and not for reasons intrinsic to helping. Previous research has failed to find an undermining of intrinsic motivation that could be traced to the perception that helping was overjustified. We hypothesized that people's desire to appear morally motivated may have prevented the detection of overjustification effects. We therefore used a bogus pipeline procedure to convince subjects that we could tap their true attitudes, so that they would refrain from socially desirable but inaccurate self-presentation. The design consisted of two measurement conditions (bogus pipeline and pencil and paper) crossed with three activity conditions in which subjects recorded a text either to help a blind student for pay or with no reward, or to provide material for a study of vocal intonations. As predicted, payment for help undermined the sense of moral obligation only in the bogus pipeline condition. Unpaid helpers in this condition showed enhanced intrinsic motivation.

Are Self-Reports of Adolescent Deviance Valid? Biochemical Measures, Randomized Response, and the Bogus Pipeline in Smoking Behavior

Two measures of questionnaire validity were used in a survey of teenage smoking (student respondents in grades 7-12) in a midwest community. Responses to a confidential questionnaire were validated by responses to an anonymous response instrument and a biochemical measure of smoking (salivary thiocyanate). Both measures support the validity of questionnaire responses. The randomized measure is an anonymous self-report check on the accuracy of confidential self-reports, and the biochemical measure provides a strong validity measure that is not subject to the problems of deliberate faking. The validity of responses was not significantly affected by the introduction of a bogus pipeline condition. In sociological research the standard technique of obtaining self-reports of behavior faces a standard problem, the possible or probable discrepancy between the actual behavior and the report of it. The validity of oral or written reports of behavior is at issue regardless of the behavior measured, but it is especially salient if the information asked for in the interview or survey questionnaire is sensitive, potentially incriminating, or embarrassing. 1 For this reason, the self-report technique was considered inapplicable to studies of deviant behavior until self-report studies of delinquency in the 1950s and early 1960s (Akers; Clark and Wenninger; Short and Nye). Since then, self-report has become the most frequently applied measure of *The research reported here was supported by Grant #HD 00376 of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R. W. Lauer and R. L. Akers, Co-principal Investigators), and by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Grant #HL 14230 (SCOR in Atherosclerosis), and Grant #HLRO1-20124 (R. M. Lauer, Principal Investigator). ? 1983 The University of North Carolina Press