Page 72 - Your Leader Within Introduction
P. 72
Stimulus
A picture would appear on the screen. Each picture was selected at random from 25 universally accepted emotionally provocative pictures, of which 15 were emotionally calming (scenic views, flowers, etc.) and 10 of which were emotionally painful (auto accident, people getting stabbed, etc.).
Prior to the testing, standards had been set for the various bodily responses for the two groups of pictures. In other words, people would be actually shown the pictures and, when they saw them, their bodily responses were measured. Again, this was prior to the testing.
Post-Stimulus
The screen would then go blank for another several seconds.
After this, the next event was initiated.
Experiment Results
During the pre-stimulus six second period, the heart would either speed up or slow down depending on which picture was coming up. Consciously, the participant could not know which type of picture was coming up. Not even the computer knew which type of picture was being selected.
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