Researchers believe that experiencing strong negative emotions such as fear or anxiety will increase people's need to affiliate. To test this idea, the researchers randomly assigned participants to one of two small groups

Members of Group 1 were left for 10 minutes in a room with no windows. While waiting, the lights went out for a brief period of time and the participants could hear screams from another room. Members of Group 2 were likewise left for 10 minutes in a room with no windows, but the lights were left on and no screams were heard. Researchers observed how frequently members of each group started conversations with other members of their group on non-experiment related topics. In this experiment, the hypothesis is that ________. a) brief periods of darkness will cause negative emotions
b) strong negative emotions will increase people's need to affiliate with others
c) people's need to affiliate will cause people to start more conversations
d) members of small groups will affiliate with each other quickly

b