Coping with Medical Diagnosis: The Effects of At-Risk Versus Disease Labels Over Time1

We randomly assigned college students to conditions in which they learned that they had gum disease, were at risk of having gum disease, or did not have gum disease. Then we examined their coping responses both immediately after the diagnosis and 2 days later. Students that told they had gum disease saw the disease as more prevalent than students in the other conditions; students identified as at risk saw the disease as more common than students who were told they had no disease. In addition, disease and at-risk diagnosis subjects believed that the disease was less serious but, during the 2-day interval between tests, they reported experiencing more bleeding–a symptom of gum disease. All of these responses to diagnosis were similar immediately after diagnosis and 2 days later. The data support a model of how persons react to illness signs (Ditto, Jemmott, & Darley, 1988) and have practical implications for dental professionals involved in diagnosing gum disease.     

DETECTING DECEPTION: THE RELATIONSHIP OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION TO JUDGMENTAL ACCURACY IN INITIAL ENCOUNTERS

The research examined the relationship of available and used nonverbal and total information when observers make deception attributions during initial exposure. Twelve interviewees underwent a procedure designed to induce deception; this yielded six deceitful and six truthful interviewees, as reflected in behavior exhibited during a postprocedure interview. Eight coders estimated the amount of available nonverbal and total information. Eighty observers made judgments as to the veracity of the interviewees and reported the amount of nonverbal and total information used in making these judgments. Comparison of available information and used information models indicates inconsistencies in total information estimates and an inability to predict accuracy of judgments based on these estimates.