A laboratory study of the effects of goal specificity on the relationship between probability of success and performance.

175 male undergraduates solved arithmetic problems under 1 of 3 experimental conditions of objective probability of task success and 1 of 2 conditions of goal specificity. The relationship between objective probability of task success and performance was curvilinear in both goal conditions such that maximum performance occurred at the intermediate probability level. There was also an overall linear and positive relationship between Ss' expressed subjective probabilities of success and performance. Results point to the possibility that the relationship between probability of success and performance depends on whether trait or state components are represented in the probability measure. When both trait and state components are represented, the relationship seems to depend on whether Ss have access to cues informing them how close they are to achieving their goal during task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of goal setting on group performance: A meta-analysis.

Updating and extending the work of O'Leary-Kelly, Martocchio, and Frink (1994), with this meta-analysis on goal setting and group performance we show that specific difficult goals yield considerably higher group performance compared with nonspecific goals (d = 0.80 ± 0.35, k = 23 effect sizes). Moderately difficult and easy goals were also associated with performance benefits relative to nonspecific goals, but these effects were smaller. The overall effect size for all group goals was d = 0.56 ± 0.19 (k = 49). Unexpectedly, task interdependence, task complexity, and participation did not moderate the effect of group goals. Our inventory of multilevel goals in interdependent groups indicated that the effect of individual goals in groups on group performance was contingent upon the focus of the goal: “Egocentric” individual goals, aimed at maximizing individual performance, yielded a particularly negative group-performance effect (d = –1.75 ± 0.60, k = 6), whereas “groupcentric” goals, aimed at maximizing the individual contribution to the group's performance, showed a positive effect (d = 1.20 ± 1.03, k = 4). These findings demonstrate that group goals have a robust effect on group performance. Individual goals can also promote group performance but should be used with caution in interdependent groups. Future research might explore the role of multilevel goals for group performance in more detail. The striking lack of recent field studies in organizational settings that emerged from our brief review of trends in group goal-setting research should be taken into account when designing future studies in this domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Projection: A test of the psychoanalytic hypothesis.

Investigated classical Freudian projection with 83 male and 105 female college students. After completing the Sexual Defensiveness Scale, Ss selected a most unfavorable other from a group of photographs. The experimental Ss then examined a portfolio containing pornographic material. Following this, all Ss described an unfavorable other and themselves according to a standard list of trait rating scales. Results show that higher sexually defensive experimental Ss denied being sexually aroused and, in accordance with the psychoanalytic hypothesis, projected the highest amounts of arousal (the trait lustful) onto an unfavorable other. This effect was significantly increased when the unfavorable other was a male target and was further increased when female Ss rated male targets. Findings offer support for the concept of classical projection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of sex differences in aggressive response to hypothetical conflict situations.

Administered the response hierarchy (RH), developed by A. D. Leifer and D. F. Roberts (1972) and revised by J. M. Reinisch (see record 1982-00859-001), to 289 male and 268 female college students. The RH provides a retrospective estimate of where physical and verbal aggression reside in an individual's hierarchy of possible behavioral responses to hypothetical conflict situations in adolescence. Results indicate that the RH consistently demonstrated sex differences among Ss in retrospectively reported preference for choosing physical aggression vs other coping strategies as a response to hypothetical interpersonal conflict situations of adolescence. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Objective measurement of fear of success and fear of failure: A factor analytic approach.

Several objectively scored measures of fear of success and fear of failure have been designed in recent years, but there is little evidence that they measure 2 distinct, unidimensional constructs. The present study was undertaken primarily to determine if fear of success and fear of failure are operationally distinct and if all fear of success measures tap a single unidimensional construct. Eight Fear of Success and Fear of Failure scales (e.g., Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale and Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test) were administered to 415 male and female undergraduates, and the scores were intercorrelated. Results indicate that fear of success is not a unidimensional construct and that some of the measures of fear of success and fear of failure are highly related. Next, each scale was factor analyzed, and 37 new variables were created. These were in turn factor analyzed, and 5 highly stable orthogonal factors were obtained. One of these factors appears to be fear of success; another is clearly test anxiety (called fear of failure in the literature on achievement motivation). A 3rd factor is concerned with sex-role-related attitudes toward success in medical school. A 4th seems to reflect neurotic insecurity, and the 5th has to do with the value of success. Indices of psychological well-being and psychosomatic illness related differently to each of the 5 factors. Implications and further questions are discussed briefly. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of sex differences in the effects of unilateral brain damage on intelligence test results.

Linear regression analyses were used to examine 16 studies on the effect of unilateral brain damage on WAIS IQ. Although only 2 of these studies had originally been designed to investigate sex differences, analyses revealed that the proportions of males and females tested had affected the overall outcome. A greater preponderance of men in either the left- or right-lesion groups was associated with larger test-specific deficits in the Verbal and the Performance Scales, respectively. Left-lesioned women showed an impairment on both scales, perhaps because women may use left-hemisphere processing to solve both verbal and ostensibly nonverbal problems. (French abstract) (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familial correlational analyses, sex differences, and the X-linked gene hypothesis.

The primary basis for evaluating the tenability of the X-linked hypothesis as an explanation for persistently observed sex differences on some tests has been to compare the ordering of Pearson familial test score correlations (e.g., mother–daughter, father–son) with the corresponding genetic correlations generated by an X-linked Mendelian model. Recent failures to find such a correspondence have caused the X-linked hypothesis to fall into disfavor. There are serious and apparently unrecognized problems associated with this strategy because there is no conceptual justification for it. A 4-component bivariate mixture model is proposed as a framework within which to view familial sample correlation coefficients. The expected values of the sample correlation coefficients under the model reflect other influences such as environmental determinants, not X-linked effects, even if the X-linked influences are substantial. Furthermore, the expected values of the correlation coefficients are not, in general, monotonically related to the genetic correlations. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of stress on goal setting behavior.

The disorganization often induced by stress may be avoided when the organism can modify the situation, as for example, in setting a new goal after failure to reach the first goal. The performance of adolescent boys on a modified form of the Rotter Aspiration Board shows that level of aspiration varies with conditions of stress. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2FH80R. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences and self-report of fear: A psychophysiological assessment.

Hypothesized that, because of differential social learning, females would report fear of spiders more frequently than males would but that males selected for equal self-report of fear would show greater autonomic responsivity than females to slides of spiders. Four groups of 10 undergraduates each (male and female fearful and nonfearful) were assembled. They were told to wait quietly for 10 min, after which they would see slides of tarantulas. Skin conductance level was measured during the anticipatory period and in response to each of the slides. Results confirm the hypothesis that more women would report fear than men but failed to confirm the hypothesis that there would be differential autonomic responding. Fearful Ss, irrespective of sex, showed prolonged autonomic arousal during the entire anticipatory period, whereas nonfearful Ss showed increasing autonomic arousal as the time for the 1st slide presentation approached. This finding is discussed in terms of coping theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of age and test situation on reinstatement of fear.

Compared young with adult rats for reinstatement of fear. Ss were 72 hooded rats, 25 or 70 days old, randomly assigned to each of 3 treatments in groups of 12. Ss received 30 shocks in a black compartment; or this treatment plus single reinstatement shocks at 3 weekely intervals; or reinstatement shocks alone. 1 wk. after the last reinstatement, fear was measured by observing time spent in the shock compartment vs. time in an accessible (nonshock) white compartment. Groups of Ss were tested for active or passive avoidance by placing them 1st either in the shock or in the safe compartment. A reinstatement of fear effect occurred, but only for those Ss treated with original shock plus reinstatement, and then tested in the passive avoidance situation. Although all adults displayed greater fear under all conditions of treatment and test, both adult and young Ss were affected in the same way by these conditions. Results suggest that reinstatement is a somewhat fragile phenomenon and that its importance in the retention of prior experience does not vary with age. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive affect: A test of behavioral hypothesis.

Behavioral hypotheses about depression suggest that depression is a function of rate of reinforcement. Initial level of depression and locus of control were hypothesized to enhance this effect. 96 normal volunteer female Ss (62 nursing students and 34 high school students) were separated into groups on the basis of median splits on MMPI D and Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale scores, and were given either 80 or 20% positive reinforcement on a pseudosocial intelligence task. The lower rate of reinforcement resulted in more depressive behavior as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, self-confidence ratings, and response latencies. Partial support was obtained for the enhancement of the reinforcement effect with initially more depressed Ss. No locus of control effects were found. Ss who were more depressed initially underestimated the amount of positive feedback they received. Results are discussed in terms of behavioral accounts of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the declining interest hypothesis.

Responds to the comment by A. Rowan and K. J. Shapiro (see record 1997-07159-001) on H. A. Herzog's (see record 1996-13937-001) examination of media coverage of the animal rights movement. Herzog agrees with Rowan and Shapiro's assessment of the movement's impact on popular culture and contemporary attitudes toward the treatment of animals. Herzog states that the amount of coverage in print media represents a fairly crude reflection of the cultural status of a grassroots social movement. However, he offers the meager turnout for the 1996 "March for the Animals" as an excellent test of the "declining interest hypothesis." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student assessment of teacher masculinity and femininity: A test of the sex role congruency hypothesis on student attitudes toward learning.

This study expanded the traditional research on teacher sex differences and student outcomes. We examined the impact of teacher and student sex differences and student assessment of teacher sex role orientation on student attitudes toward learning and found no interaction effects to support the sex role congruency hypothesis. Rather we found only a main effect for sex role orientation with androgynous teachers (those who show warmth and concern plus are assertive and dominant), who produced the most positive student attitudes toward affective, cognitive, and behavioral intent learning. Students, whether male or female, were more affected by overall teacher qualities than by whether the teacher was male or female. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hierarchical representation of motives in goal setting.

The authors developed a framework for thinking about motives in goal setting. The reasons for choosing a particular goal are represented in a hierarchical network of motives. To uncover context-specific motives and their interconnections, the authors propose a procedure based on the elicitation of justifications for one's goal. The authors applied the procedure to the motivation of volunteering to join the Italian Army by officers (N = 151) and 3 groups of enlisted soldiers (Garibaldi Brigade, N = 141; Folgore Brigade, N = 144; and volunteers in training, N = 150). The resulting idiographic motives and linkages between motives were validated by regressing attitudes, intentions to reenlist, and commitment toward the army on motives and linkages between motives. A heuristic nomothetic summary of goals, arranged in an interconnected hierarchy, was derived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance of supportive relationships in goal setting.

Investigated the importance of supportive behavior by an authority figure when setting goals, using a brainstorming task. 90 college students were randomly assigned in a 2?×?3 design to a supportive or nonsupportive condition and to 1 of 3 goal-setting conditions (assigned, participative, and "do your best"). Goal difficulty was held constant between the assigned and the participative conditions. Supportive behavior resulted in higher goals being set than nonsupportive behavior. Participation appears to be important in that it increases understanding of task requirements. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A historical footnote on sex differences research.

Discusses the debate between J. Jastrow (1891, 1896) and M. W. Calkins (1896) regarding cognitive sex differences, and A. Tanner's (1896) suggestions for clarifying such differences. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the complementarity hypothesis in A-B research.

Results of a study with 48 male undergraduates fail to support J. Berzin and E. Seidman's (see record 1969-13028-001) complementarity hypothesis, which predicts that it would be more beneficial to pair therapists with patients on the basis of dissimilar reactions to stress. Rather, the data tend to support the notion of greater effectiveness of "A" therapists, or the "super-A" hypothesis of G. M. Chartier and W. Weiss (see record 1974-28173-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)