Sociometric choice: a study in pupillary response.

Pupillary dilatation has recently been reported as a physiological measure of degree of attention paid to environmental stimuli (Hess & Polt, 1960, 1964). Hess and Polt's research has operationally defined one variable and has provided data that allows researchers to speculate about several others. This variable is interest-disinterest. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the relationship between sociometric choice patterns and pupillary behavior. Eighteen sixth grade Ss completed a sociometric questionnaire in which they indicated three friendship and three nonfriendship choices. Black and white photographs of each S were made and served as the experimental stimuli. The stimuli were arranged and shown to each S according to their responses to the sociometric questionnaire. No significant differences in pupillary dilatation patterns were found among Ss when viewing stimuli depicting friendship choice as opposed to nonfriendship choices. Pupillary dilatation to pictures of friends was, on the average, not significantly different from dilatation patterns to pictures of nonfriends. Results were discussed in terms of a) theoretical issues relevant to sociometric choice patterns and b) the interpretation of pupillary response patterns and their relationship to inquiry in the social sciences. Sociometric Choice: A Study in Pupillary Response by Robert H. Koff Thomas H. Hawkes Stanford University InterAmerican Educational Center Factors classically described as involved in the regulation of pupillary behavior include: accommodation, the light reflex and autonomic nervous activity (Loewenfeld, 1958). /n a synthesis of the literature on mechanisms which regulate pupil size, Lowenstein and Loewenfeld (1962) concluded that during various cognitive and emotional states, regulatory mechanisms involving cortico-thalmo-hypothalamic systems also participate in the regulation of pupil size. Pupil diameter has recently been reported as a physiological measure of degree of attention paid to environmental stimuli (Hess, 1965; Hess & Polt, 1960, 1964, 1966; Hess, Seltzer & Shlien, 1965). This line of research has operationally defined one variable and has provided data that allows researchers to speculate about several others. This variable is interest-disinterest, Hess & Polt (1960) have postulated that the pupil dilates in response to positive affects or "interests" and constricts with negative affects or "interests". Other investigators have subsequently confirmed the dilation response to positive stimuli, but have been unable to observe a constriction response to negative stimuli (Woodmansee, 1967; Pavio & Simpson, 1966: Peavler & MtLaughlin, 1967). Numerous other studies have shown that increase in pupil diameter is significantly related to attending to sensory stimuli (Hakerem & Sutton, 1966), autonomic fatigue in functional psychosis, (Rubin, 1960), and the amount of mental effort involved in storing information for report (Kahneman & Beatty, 1966).