The Word Association Implications Test: do poor judges of implications read too little or too much between the lines?

The Word Association Implications Test (WAIT) is an experimental analogue f or studying the processes by which novice clinicians learn 'to read between the lines' of psychological data. This research explored the illogic used by poor judges on the WAIT. In a qualitative pilot study, 37 college studen ts used a think-aloud methodology to generate 36 statements as they reasone d about the WAIT judgments. In the main study, 71 new participants rated th eir agreement with these logical and illogical arguments to assess which we re endorsed by good and poor judges. Results suggested that poor judges on the WAIT overgeneralize, make arbitrary inferences and overinterpret diagno stic signs in a pseudo-psychological manner. Thus, poor judges do indeed se em to read too much between the lines. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.