GENERALITY OF THE NEGATIVE SUGGESTION EFFECT IN OBJECTIVE TESTS

Previous research has demonstrated that exposure to false information on a true-false test increases individuals' confidence that the information is true when they later encounter a verbatim repetition of the test item (the negative suggestion effect). To investigate the generality of this effect, we had 160 college students read text passages and take an objective test on their material. After a week, they rated the validity of a series of statements, including some that had appeared on the initial test. The results indicated that subjects were more likely to believe that objectively false statements were true if they had appeared on the earlier test. This effect occurred regardless of whether items were repeated verbatim or in paraphrased form, and regardless of whether the initial test employed a true-false or a multiple-choice format. The findings suggest that the negative suggestion effect in actual test use may be widespread.