Awareness of the presence of sexual double entendres within a word association test was investigated with measures of response time, verbal content of responses, and videotaped facial expressions. Subjects characterized as internal-field independent were found to become aware earlier in the task, to test out their developing hypothesis about the list, to become more mirthful, and less puzzled as the task progressed than their more external counterparts. Various interactions often indicated the greatest difference between external-field dependent subjects and all other groups, though other differences were also frequently found. More extensive cognitive processes are therefore attributed to internal individuals, which, in turn, is used to explain their greater independence from social demands. (Author)