SOME recent findings indicated that a simple personality scale could be used to predict response to a mild tranquilizer and a placebo.1,2 The present paper concerns a replication and extension of the drug-personality interaction findings.
The personality variable was measured by an abbreviated Bass Social Acquiescence Scale.3 Scores on the scale indicate degree of agreement with 35 trite generalizations or truisms. A report by Schutz and Foster4 and unpublished work by this laboratory suggest that the scale does not measure behavioral conformity or social acquiescence as purported. The same researchers found no more than a mild-to-moderate relation to the acquiescent or "yea-saying" response set measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and similar tests.5 Therefore, even though we labeled our experimental groups as High Acquiescers (HA) and Low Acquiescers (LA) on the basis of Bass scores, we prefer at this time