The Effects of Threat of Surveillance and Actual Surveillance on Expressed Opinions toward Marijuana

Summary Two social-psychological theories can be applied to the effect of potentially aversive surveillance on opinion inhibition. The deindividuation position predicts that people will avoid opinion expression, while the reactance position predicts opinion assertion and/or attack upon threatening agents. To test these notions, 41 female and 35 male undergraduate students were recruited from introductory psychology courses at the University of California, Los Angeles, for a study ostensibly dealing with student movements. Ss were told to prepare a statement of their opinions on marijuana. The threat of surveillance (videotaping of marijuana opinions which would be sent to the FBI) was orthogonally crossed with actual surveillance. Content analyses of opinions and a factor analysis of mood ratings substantially support the deindividuation position although, unexpectedly, those Ss both threatened and actually videotaped were most antigovernment and antimarijuana. None of these effects were attributable to the mere act of videotaping.