Role playing and affect

Abstract

The present work investigated whether untrained people can encode and decode "happiness" and "depression" within a social context by developing a role playing method. It also examined personality variables of the encoders and the effects of encoding on their self-ratings of affect. Forty-three female students served as role playing subjects (encoders). They were divided into three groups on the basis of their scores on the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. Subjects were individually interviewed three times. The first interview served as its own control. The interviewer asked about the subjects' school work, family, and friends for about three minutes. The second and third interviews involved subjects' role playing under "happy" and "depressed" instructions. Subjects were told to remember a time when they felt very "depressed" or "happy" and act as if very "depressed" or "happy" while being interviewed. The order of role playing was counterbalanced. The design of the study was a 3 X 2 X 2 (Zung SDS group, role playing condition, order of role playing) factorial design with repeated measures across role playing conditions. Immediately after each interview, subjects rated themselves on the four S-point affect scales: "happy," "depressed," "pleasant," and "anxious." Scores on these self-rating dependent measures in each role playing condition were converted to change scores from baseline to each role playing condition and they were entered into four separate analyses of variance. The results indicated that role playing subjects' self-report on three of the four dependent measures changed significantly (p < .001) according to their role enactment under "happy" and "depressed" instructions. Subsequent tests revealed that the changes were in the predicted directions. There was no significant effect of the Zung group. These results support the hypothesis that untrained people can act "happy" and "depressed" and these enactments have a significant impact on self-reported ratings of affect. Videotape segments of subjects' baseline and their role playing under "happy" and "depressed" instructions were made and randomized in order. They were subjected to an independent validation by 9 groups of untrained observer-judges (N = 108 females). Observer-judges rated subjects' baseline and their role playing under "happy" and "depressed" instructions on 9 affect scales. For the purpose of the present work the four scales which corresponded to the self-ratings ("happy," "depressed," "anxious," and "pleasant") were examined and the scores were entered into four separate analyses of variance using the same design as that of role playing subjects. The results indicated that the ratings made by observer-judges of the subjects in the three independent conditions of baseline, "happy" and "depressed" were significantly different at p < .001. Subsequent tests revealed that the differences were in the predicted direction. These results offered a strong validation of the subjects' role playing by observer-judges independent of the subjects' self-report and supported the hypothesis that untrained people can decode "happiness" and "depression." Personality measures, such as the Zung Scale, Beck Inventory for Measuring Depression, Taylor MAS, and Pullman Facilitation-Inhibition Scale, were most significantly correlated to subjects' baseline but not to scores in role playing conditions. When the situation changed from baseline to role playing "happy" and "depressed," the personality measures were not consistent. The present study demonstrated that untrained people can communicate affect via overt behavior within a social context. Role playing has a significant effect upon self-ratings of affect. The results also indicated that within the population sampled there is a social consensus on what behaviors are considered as "happy" and "depressed." It remains to be studied what specific behaviors communicate "happiness" and "depression" among people at large.