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*8-PICTURE STORY EXERCISE*
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Script Author: O. Schultheiss
last updated: 01-19-2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Millisecond Software thanks Dr. Schultheiss for sharing this script!
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BACKGROUND INFO
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This script implements a Picture Story Exercise (PSE) based on:
Pang, J. S., & Schultheiss, O. C. (2005). Assessing implicit motives in U.S. College students:
Effects of picture type and position, gender and ethnicity, and cross-cultural comparisons. Journal of
Personality Assessment, 85(3), 280-294.
and on:
Schultheiss, O. C., Liening, S., & Schad, D. (2008). The reliability of a Picture Story Exercise measure
of implicit motives: Estimates of internal consistency, retest reliability, and ipsative stability. Journal of
Research in Personality, 42, 1560-1571
For more information on the PSE, see:
Schultheiss, O. C., & Pang, J. S. (2007). Measuring implicit motives. In R. W. Robins, R. C. Fraley & R. Krueger (Eds.),
Handbook of Research Methods in Personality Psychology (pp. 322-344). New York: Guilford.
All sources are available for download from the website of the Human Motivation & Affective Neuroscience Lab at
http://www.psych2.phil.uni-erlangen.de/~oschult/humanlab/index.htm
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TASK DESCRIPTION
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Participants are asked to do 8 picture story exercises. Each exercise presents a picture for 10s
and then asks the participant to write a complete story about the picture. Participants have
5 minutes for each story.
Note (by Millisecond Software):
By default this script allows participants to move onto the next stimuli before the maximum
time limit is up (but only after parameters.minstorytime). To change that setting so that
all participants have to wait until the maximum time limit is up, go to TRIALS-> openended.story
and follow further instructions.
In general: Once the maximum time limit is up, the current story page closes and the next trial is started.
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DURATION
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the default set-up of the script takes appr. 35 minutes to complete
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DATA FILE INFORMATION
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The default data stored in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'picturestoryexercise_raw*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
build: The specific Inquisit version used (the 'build') that was run
computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android)
date, time: date and time script was run
subject, group: with the current subject/groupnumber
session: with the current session id
blockcode, blocknum: the name and number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable)
trialcode, trialnum: the name and number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable)
Note: trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run; even those
that do not store data to the data file such as feedback trials. Thus, trialnum
may not reflect the number of main trials run per block.
essay: stores the essay number (= picture itemnumber)
stimulusitem: the presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
response: the participant's response (openended response)
latency: the response latency in ms; measured from onset of textbox
(2) Summary data file: 'picturestoryexercise_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
inquisit.version: Inquisit version run
computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android)
startDate: date script was run
startTime: time script was started
subjectid: assigned subject id number
groupid: assigned group id number
sessionid: assigned session id number
elapsedTime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script
completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted);
1 = script was completed (all conditions run)
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EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
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* 8 pictures - order is determined randomly
* pictures are presented for 10s
* Then a textbox appears in which participants can enter the story
* Participants have 5 minutes for each pic (warning are given shortly before participants are moved onto the next picture)
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STIMULI
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can be edited under section Editable Stimuli
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INSTRUCTIONS
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Instructions are based on the original ones by. They are provided by Millisecond Software
as htm/html pages and can be edited by changing the provided htm/html files.
To edit htm/html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac)
or Notepad (Windows).
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EDITABLE CODE
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check below for (relatively) easily editable parameters, stimuli, instructions etc.
Keep in mind that you can use this script as a template and therefore always "mess" with the entire code to further
customize your experiment.
The parameters you can change are:
/pictureduration: duration the pictures are presented in ms (default: 10000ms)
/firstreminder: first reminder that clock is ticking in ms (default: 180000ms => 3min)
/firstwarning: first warning that time is almost up in ms (default: 220000ms => 3 2/3 min)
/secondwarning: second warning that time is up in ms (default: 240000ms => 4min)
/maxstorytime: the maximum time allowed for each picture in ms; after parameters.maxstorytime is up
computer moves participant to next picture (default: 300000 => 5min)
Note: added by Millisecond Software (not present in original script)
/minstorytime: the minimum time that participants have to stay on a picture in ms
Note: added by Millisecond Software (not present in original script)
