Download Slate 1: Kay, AC, Laurin, K., Fitzsimons, GM

August 18, 2014
Slate 1: Kay, A. C., Laurin, K., Fitzsimons, G. M., & Landau, M. J. (2013) Study 2
General translation instructions:
-Please translate below the English text paragraph by paragraph, so we know what
belongs where.
-Red text does not need to be translated.
-Some instructions MAY be in the “comments” feature of Microsoft Word – make sure
your word processor can view those comments.
Instructions specific to this study:
-none
Identical instructions:
In this survey, we are interested in how people’s reading styles relate with their daily
activities. First, you will read some paragraphs of text about nature. Then we will ask you
questions about your daily activities.
Before you read the paragraphs, though, we would like to ask you about one of your
long-term goals. For example, you might have goals pertaining your career, you might
have things you’d like to change about your health or fitness, or you might have a goal to
save up enough money to purchase something you want or need. Many of the goals are
goals that people can work toward incrementally – that is, goals that people can work
toward little by little, on a daily basis.
Please think of an important long-term goal that you have, that is one you could choose to
work toward incrementally on a daily basis. List it below
Identical filler task:
Have you ever thought about the stars in the sky and what they’re made of? A star is a
massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. After they have existed for
a long time, stars can also contain some other dense, compressed materials. After a
certain point in their evolution, stars usually turn into neutron stars, white dwarfs, or
brown dwarfs. Historically, prominent stars have been given proper names; these include
the nearest star to Earth, which is the Sun. The sun is the source of most of the energy on
Earth. Other stars can be seen from Earth during the night, when they are not hidden by
other things in the sky such as clouds. Stars are immense, but they appear to us as tiny
dots of light because they are extremely far away. In fact, even though light travels at
speeds which we consider on earth to be nearly instantaneous, the light from many of the
stars we see takes over 100 years to reach us.
Because we are interested in reading comprehension, we have some questions for you:
1. What holds stars together?
2. What can stars turn into, after a certain point in their development?
3. Why can it take over 100 years for a star’s light to reach earth?
Order Condition:
Have you ever looked closely at a tree full of leaves? The next time you do, you might
notice the patterns that the leaves grow in. The way trees produce leaves is one of the
many examples of the orderly patterns created by nature. Scientists have studied how
each tree structures its leaf patterns, and have documented how each species of tree
differs in this regard. What unites them all, though, is that they each have their own
intricate patterns of symmetry. Every species of tree grows its leaves in identifiable
patterns, with a system of laws describing the relationships between the leaves in terms of
position, size, and time of growth. The fact that nature seems to produce its beauty by
obeying systematic laws is truly remarkable!
For this article we have only a single question for you:
1. What is the take-home message of this article?
Random Condition:
Have you ever looked closely at a tree full of leaves? The next time you do, you might
notice the completely disordered way in which the leaves grow. The way trees produce
leaves is one of the many examples of the natural randomness that surrounds us.
Scientists have studied how each species of trees grows its leaves, and have documented
how completely haphazard the process is. What unites all the species, though, is that they
each produce leaves in a way that follows no systematic pattern. There seems to be no
identifiable pattern, no system of laws describing the relationships between the leaves in
terms of position, size, or time of growth. The fact that nature seems to produce its beauty
through purely random processes is truly remarkable!
For this article we have only a single question for you:
1. What is the take-home message of this article?
Questionaire:
In this portion of the survey, we would like to ask you about your daily activities. Think
back to the long-term goal you listed at the beginning of the survey
Please answer the questions using the scale provided:
How happy would you be to achieve this goal?
1. Not very happy 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. Extremely happy 7
Think about the work you will have to do in order to achieve this goal. How interested
are you in doing this work?
8. Not very interested 1
9. 2
10. 3
11. 4
12. 5
13. 6
14. Extremely interested 7
Think about the temptations you will have to resist in order to achieve this goal. How
interested are you in resisting these temptations?
15. Not very interested 1
16. 2
17. 3
18. 4
19. 5
20. 6
21. Extremely interested 7