SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

Smith, G., James, L., Varnum, M., & Oyserman, D. (2014) Give up or get going?
Productive uncertainty in uncertain times, Self & Identity, , 13, 681-700
UNCERTAINTY WORD COMPLETION TASK
Manipulation Check in Study 1
Please complete the word by filling in the missing letters and write the word in the space
next to the word. If there is more than one possible word, just fill in the first one that
comes to mind.
For instance, if you see ' _ e _ r a'
You could write 'zebra'
Please work quickly and do not spend too much time on any one stem. If you cannot think
of a word, move on. Please return this page to the experimenter when you are finished.

p u _ _ l _ (puzzle)
mi______
d o _ _ _ (doubt)
u n _ _ _ _ (unsure)
_ n p r _ _ _ _ t a b l e (unpredictable)
c o n _ _ _ _ _ (confused)
st_d_um
_ _ _ k y (murky)
_int_r
u n _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (uncertain)

h _ _ _ f u l (hopeful)
s h _ _ y (shady)

Participants did not see the completed word in parentheses and all word stems were
presented in black ink, however, for ease, the three filler words are marked in red
(e.g., Michigan, stadium, winter) and the completions that would be coded as
uncertainty-certainty are presented in parentheses at the end of stem. Filler stems
did not have an uncertainty-certainty completion. The other words could have an
uncertainty-certainty completion or not. The completion that was coded as
uncertainty-certainty is noted in parenthesis. Note that some of these stems could
also be completed by words that are not related to certainty-uncertainty (e.g. do_ _
_ could be completed as doubt or as donut, the former would be coded as certaintyuncertainty, the latter would not. The same is true for h_ _ _ ful which could be
completed as hopeful or as helpful, the former would be coded as certaintyuncertainty, the latter would not).