1. The Transmogrifying Experimenter The study of Proulx & Heine (2008):Proulx & Heine (2008): Based on the meaning maintenance model (Heine et al., 2006), the authors predicted that a perceptual anomaly leads to arousal and to affirmation of moral beliefs.Heine et al., 2006 The perceptual anomaly which is a threat to schemas was a change of the experimenter in the middle of the experiment. Contributor© POSbase 2009

2. The Transmogrifying Experimenter The experimenter went to a filing cabinet to get the next questionnaire. In the control condition, the same experimenter came back. In the changing-experimenter condition, a different experimenter came back to the experiment. In the mortality-salience condition, participants answered two questions about their own death (Rosenblatt, 1989). © POSbase 2009

3. The Transmogrifying Experimenter After the manipulation, participants were confronted with a hypothetical case about the arrest of a prostitute. The participants were asked to set a bail bond if they were acting as a judge reviewing the case. The amount in $ served as dependent variable. © POSbase 2009

4. The Transmogrifying Experimenter The bond set by the changing-experimenter group and the mortality-salience group was significantly higher than the bond set by the control group. The changing-experimenter group and the mortality- salience group did not significantly differ. Moreover, participants in the changing-experimenter group did not have more death-related thoughts than the control group, suggesting that changing the experimenter did not influence mortality salience. © POSbase 2009

5. The Transmogrifying Experimenter The next experiment tested whether misattribution of arousal led to the results. The rationale behind this manipulation: If changing the experimenter increases arousal, and high arousal increases the reported bond, then giving a placebo substance and tell people that it may increase arousal makes participants misattribute arousal to the substance. As a consequence, the reported bond should be lower than in a group that does not attribute heightened arousal to the substance. © POSbase 2009

6. The Transmogrifying Experimenter The experimenter gave participants what they called „Salin“, allegedly a herbal extract – actually food coloring – and gave participants different information. In the no-misattribution condition, participants were informed that Salin has no side effects. In the misattribution condition, participants were informed that Salin has the common side effect of mild arousal and anxiety. © POSbase 2009

7. The Transmogrifying Experimenter Indeed, participants who could explain their arousal stemming from changing the experimenter with the effect of the „herbal extract“ set a lower bond than participants who were informed that the substance did not have any side effects. As predicted by the meaning maintenance model, these experiments showed that people respond to a perceptual anomaly by affirming an unrelated schema, here moral beliefs. © POSbase 2009