Iatrogenically Created Psychological Phenomena

Dr. Peter Hancock has a paper in the American Psychologist. This is the flagship journal of APA. 

It is entitled, “In Search of Vigilance: The Problem of Iatrogenically Created Psychological Phenomena.”

From the abstract: To what extent are identified psychological processes created in laboratories? The present work addresses this issue with reference to one particular realm of behavior: vigilance. Specifically, I argue that the classic vigilance decrement function can be viewed more realistically and advantageously as an “invigilant” increment function. Rather than characterizing the transient decrease in detection capability that is evident on exposure to enforced monitoring as a diminishment in capacity, it may be more usefully seen as an appropriate scaling by the designated observer to adapt to the nonoptimal circumstances that he or she is forced to endure.

The full paper can be read here.