Reply #6: I Would Actually Like to See Blind Polls

[On the Road]

using anonymous ballots. I bet the result would be different on a lot of questions.

A lot of people don't want to say, out loud, to some else that they don't support an American war. Even if they don't know the person and will never see them again. Response variable.

*             *           *

In college, I did a senior project in college on "perceptual defense." When a word is briefly flashed before people's eyes, they are less likely to identify it if it a "dirty" word. This supposedly showed that the brain recognizes the word subconciously but witholds that knowledge from the conscious mind.

Problem was, it was extremely difficult to distinguish this effect, if it exists, from response variables. Meaning that if you see something you THINK might be a dirty word, you are less likely to identify it to the experimenter because you'll feel stupid if you are wrong. Social feelings intrude into these situations, and they are difficult to disentangle.