Trier social stress test
ALTERNATION
The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) [Although the “greeter” who interacted with the participant was always the same sex as the participant, the TSST judges were either of the same or the opposite sex as the participant, in alternation. Therefore, female participants were assigned to interact with either two same-sex TSST judges (a female “talking judge” and a female “timing judge”), or two opposite-sex TSST judges (a male “talking judge” and a male “timing judge”). Likewise, male participants were assigned to interact with either two same-sex TSST judges (a male “talking judge” and a male “timing judge”), or two opposite-sex judges (a female “talking judge” and a female “timing judge”). The semi-random assignment of the judges was based on availability of the research assistants but was also counter-balanced as much as possible. Over the fourteen months of data collection, judges and greeters were assigned based on availability from a team of eighteen different undergraduate research assistants (age range 18–27; 46.7% female).Participants who were assigned to the control condition and who did not participate in the TSST simply sat by themselves for 10 minutes until their original experimental “greeter” returned to let them know they could continue moving forward in the study.