Kunda, Z., Fong, G. T., Sanitioso, R., & Reber, E. (1993). Directional questions direct self-conceptions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 29(1), 63-86.
Several studies indicate that directional questions influence self-conceptions. For example, subjects asked "are you happy with your social life?" rated themselves as happier than did subjects asked "are you unhappy with your social life?". This occurs because subjects use a positive-test strategy to test directional hypotheses about themselves: Subjects were more likely to search their memories for examples of the hypothesized characteristic than for examples ...