. . . . . . . .

Information Sheet for Non-Medical Research Internet - Motivation to Change yourself You are asked to participate in a research study conducted by Dr Lickel Ph.D. and Mathew Curtis, B.Sc. This study has been approved by the University of Southern California institutional review board. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because you opened this web page. A total of 500 subjects will participate in this study. Your participation is voluntary. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY We are asking you to take part in a research study because we are trying to learn more about situations in which people are motivated to change an aspect of themselves, such as an aspect of their personality or behavior. In this study, you will be asked to think and write about a time in your life when you were motivated to change an aspect of yourself. Completion and return of the questionnaire or response to the interview questions will constitute consent to participate in this research project. PROCEDURES You will be asked to do the following things: Recall an event from your past and write descriptions of what you were thinking and doing during that experience. Make ratings of that experience (using a survey). Ratings will examine how you remember feeling at the time of the event and what you think about the event now. The average time it takes to complete the entire experiment is about 40 minutes. When we have collected complete data from 500 participants, we will conduct a lottery and notify the winner by e-mail. After the winner responds, we will send a check, payable to the winner, to the winner's mailing address. If we e-mail a winning participant and do not receive a response, we will send two additional messages after 72 hours, and if we do not receive any response to those messages, the winner forfeits the prize and the lottery will be conducted again among the remaining participants. In order for us to be able to notify and pay the lottery winner, all participants have to enter their e-mail address, name, and mailing address in the fields below, before beginning the study. If you do not submit your e-mail address, name, and mailing address, you cannot participate in this study. After a prize has been awarded, we will destroy all records of all participants' email addresses, names, and mailing addresses. POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS There are no risks associated with this research. POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO SUBJECTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY It is not expected that you will receive direct benefits by participating in this research. However, it is hoped that it will be an interesting experience and will allow you to learn more about how psychological research is conducted. It is expected that this research will advance our scientific understanding of social judgments, and this has considerable value. PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION You will receive an entry in a lottery for a $200 cash prize for completing the study. We are collecting a total of 500 participants and therefore the odds of winning are one in 500. CONFIDENTIALITY Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission or as required by law. Only Dr. Lickel and research assistants working under his direction will have access to the materials you complete today. Materials you complete today will be maintained for five years after the date that the resulting research is published in a scientific journal (approximately 7 years from today). After this time, these materials will be destroyed. Your responses to items in the experiment will be saved in a separate file from your registration information (e-mail address, name, and mailing address), and it will be possible to cross reference the files by your subject number. The file with your responses to items in the study will be used for data analysis and to conduct the lottery, but the file with your registration information will only be used to notify you and mail your check, if you win the lottery. Thus, during data analysis and when we conduct the lottery, your data set will be identified only by your subject number. After the lottery winner is contacted, all identifying information will be destroyed. Only the researchers will have access to registration and data files. Participants should be aware, however, that the experiment is not being run from a "secure" https server of the kind typically used to handle credit card transactions, so there is a small possibility that responses could be viewed by unauthorized third parties (e.g., computer hackers). PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL You can choose whether to be in this study or not. If you volunteer to be in this study, you may withdraw at any time without consequences of any kind (that is, you still keep your lottery entry; even if you do not participate in the experiment). You may also refuse to answer any questions you don't want to answer and still remain in the study. The investigator may withdraw you from the analysis of this research if circumstances arise which warrant doing so. IDENTIFICATION OF INVESTIGATORS If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Dr Lickel at (213) 821-1481 at the Department of Psychology, USC; or email socialpsychologyusc@yahoo.com. RIGHTS OF RESEARCH SUBJECTS You may withdraw your consent at any time and discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of your participation in this research study. If you have questions regarding your rights as a research subject, contact the University Park IRB, Office of the Vice Provost for Research, Grace Ford Salvatori Building, Room 226, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1695, (213) 821-5272 or upirb@usc.edu.