Following practice trials, subjects were told that there was another subject in the adjacentroom who would also take part in the experiment (another subject was not actually present in theadjacent room); that they would not see the other person, but the other person would sometimesbe able to view them on a video monitor; that they would always be informed when the monitorwas on and when it was off; and that the other person could not hear them or see the picturestimuli but would attempt to guess their emotions for each block of stimuli. The instructionsfurther explained that when the experiment began, the computer would (a) sometimes asksubjects to enhance their expression of emotion so the observer could more easily guess whatthey were feeling, (b) sometimes ask them to suppress their expression of emotion so theobserver could not easily guess what they were feeling, and (c) sometimes inform them that themonitor was turned off and that the observer would be unable to see them, in which case theyshould behave as they would normally. Subjects were then shown three paragraphs, onedescribing each condition.
The paragraph for the expression condition was as follows:
The monitor is on. Shortly, you will be presented with a set of images. Please view eachimage carefully. While viewing the images, please do your best to express as fully as possiblethe emotions you feel while viewing the images. Remember that the person viewing you on themonitor can only see your head and part of your upper torso, and cannot hear you. It is importantfor the sake of this study that youdo your best to communicate what you are feeling. So pleasedo the best you can to behave in such a way that the person viewing you on a monitor will beable to guess what you are feeling while viewing the images. When you have viewed eachimage, you will be asked to rate the emotional reactions you had to the images.
The suppression condition was described as follows:
The monitor is on. Shortly, you will be presented with a set of images. Please view eachimage carefully. While viewing the images, please do your best to suppress as fully as possibleany expression of the emotions you feel while viewing the images. Remember that the person
viewing you on the monitor can only see your head and part of your upper torso, and cannot hearyou. It is important for the sake of this study that you do your best to conceal what you are
feeling. So please do the best you can to behave in such a way that the person viewing you on amonitor will not be able to guess what you are feeling while viewing the images. When you
have viewed each image, you will be asked to rate the emotional reactions you had to the images.
The third paragraph described the monitor-off condition:
The monitor is off. Shortly, you will be presented with a set of images. Please view eachimage carefully. The person in the other room will not be able to see you while you view thisset of images. Simply view the images in any way you would naturally do so. When you haveviewed each image, you will be asked to rate the emotional reactions you had to the images.
