The presence of others has been shown to influence individual behavior in a number of ways, including improved performance on basic or familiar tasks and inhibited performance on more complex tasks. In a study, researchers hypothesized that individual attitudes would also be influenced by the presence of others, even when there was no direct communication between the individual and those surrounding them. Participants were randomly assigned to complete a simple card-sorting task administered by a male or female research assistant. Half of the participants were administered the card-sorting task alone, while the other half were administered the task at a table along with other participants. The administrator of the card-sorting task displayed a positive (smiling, consistent eye contact, and pleasant tone of voice) or negative (scowling, poor eye contact, impatient foot tapping) attitude by using a variety of nonverbal cues toward half of the participants in each condition. Therefore, participants were in one of four treatment conditions: negative administrator alone, positive administrator alone, negative administrator with others, and positive administrator with others. After completion of the task, participants were asked to independently complete a questionnaire about demographic variables (such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity) and to rate their attitude toward the administrator of the card-sorting task (0 = extremely negative; 10 = extremely positive). Figure 1 shows the average attitude ratings that participants of the study assigned to the administrator in each experimental condition. Participant ratings of administrator 10T 9+ 8+ 5 2- 1 Alone With others Grouping condition positive administr attitude negative administ attitude Figure 1 Participant attitude toward administrator based on grouping condition Adapted from S. L. Thomas, L. J. Skitka, S. Christen, and M. Jurgena. ©2002 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. If participants in the study rated the administrator's attitude more inconsistently in the "Alone" condition than in the "With Others" condition, then: O A. the mean in the "Alone" condition would be higher than in the "With Others" condition. OB. the mode in the "Alone" condition would be higher than in the "With Others" condition. OC. the median in the "Alone" condition would be higher than in the "With Others" condition. OD. the standard deviation in the "Alone" condition would be higher than in the "With Others" condition.