Novelty of first-time survey participation raises arousal and defensive answering

Evidence

The reasons for this seem rather straightforward. One’s first psychology experiment may be fairly arousing (“Oh my God! What are they going to find out about me?”), especially if it catches you in your first month at university. Students may accordingly answer somewhat defensively, with a weather eye cocked toward social desirability. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 864