Effects of no feedback, task-related comments, and grades on intrinsic motivation and performance.

Tested the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation would be maintained after receipt of nonthreatening, task-related evaluation and undermined after repeated nonreceipt of feedback or receipt of controlling normative grades. Nine classes comprising 261 6th-grade pupils were randomly assigned to 1 of these 3 feedback conditions and were given 2 interesting tasks, 1 quantitative and 1 qualitative, on 3 sessions over 2 days. The manipulation was applied after Sessions 1 and 2, and no feedback was expected or received after Session 3. Experimental measures consisted of Session 3 performance scores and of the results of a questionnaire, given after Session 3, that tapped interest and patterns of attribution of success and effort. Results confirm the hypothesis and show significant group differences in intrinsic motivation as reflected in both performance and attitudes. It is suggested that intrinsic motivation is not merely a function of collative stimulus properties but depends on the dynamic interaction between the stimulus and the individual (i.e., on the degree to which a task continues to be perceived as challenging and as providing satisfying increments in one's knowledge about one's competence. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of physical attractiveness on attribution of responsibility.

Previous research has shown that a stereotype favorable to physically attractive individuals seems to exist. The present study examined how this "what is beautiful is good" stereotype influences observers' attributions of responsibility to target persons. Ss were 72 male and 72 female high school students. A significant interaction was found between physical attractiveness and the outcome of the event. Physically attractive women were seen as more responsible for a good outcome than unattractive women, while unattractive females were seen as more responsible for a bad outcome than attractive females. Results are interpreted within a framework of balance theory. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of temporal perspective on the attribution process.

Examined in 4 experiments with 194 undergraduates, whether people's causal analyses of events change with time. It was found that as temporal distance from an event increased, Ss both interpreted their own behavior and outcomes as being more due to situational influences and perceived their behavior to have been more similar to the behavior of others. Also, differences in the attributions of actors and observers narrowed as the temporal distance from the target event increased. Two possible explanations for the tendency of Ss to view their past behavior as being more normative and situationally caused were considered: (a) features of the situation (ground) became more salient or available as temporal distance from the event increased; and (b) the need to see oneself as exercising effective control over situations diminished with time. Results are seen as more consistent with the latter than the former explanation, but the likelihood of multiple influences is emphasized. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meta-analyzing the relationship between grades and job performance.

Employers and academics have differing views on the value of grades for predicting job performance. Employers often believe grades are useful predictors, and they make hiring decisions that are based on them. Many academics believe that grades have little predictive validity. Past meta-analyses of the grades–performance relationship have suffered either from small sample sizes or the inability to correct observed correlations for research artifacts. This study demonstrated the observed correlation between grades and job performance was .16. Correction for research artifacts increased the correlation to the .30s. Several factors were found to moderate the relationship. The most powerful factors were the year of research publication and the time between graduation and performance measurement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of knowledge of criterion groups on actual and expected test performance of Negro and Mexican-American eighth graders.

Examined the effects that knowledge of the criterion group had on the test performance of 102 Negro and 74 Mexican-American 8th graders. There was no evidence that comparison with 1 of 4 norm groups affected performance through either an Aptitude * Treatment interaction or through an overall treatment effect. Data on expected performance indicate a significant aptitude-treatment effect with Negro Ss only. Results suggest that knowledge of a criterion group may not consistently alter the test performance of persons from minority groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity and cognitive style: The relationship between field-dependence-independence, expected evaluation, and creative performance.

This study explored the effects of cognitive style and expected evaluation on creativity. Past research has shown that an expectation of evaluation can have a negative impact on creativity. In addition, those individuals classified as field-independent rather than field-dependent are more likely to have higher creativity scores. Thus, an interaction between expected evaluation and cognitive style was hypothesized, along with main effects for expectation of evaluation and cognitive style. Participants created a collage to measure creativity, either with or without an expectation of evaluation, and then cognitive style was measured using the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). The hypothesis was partially supported. The more field-independent an individual, the higher the creativity score. Despite the results of previous research, evaluation condition did not significantly affect creativity; this finding is discussed in terms of the experimental situation and the conceptualization of motivation. Further investigations of cognitive style and motivational conditions are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of the purpose of rating on accuracy in observing teacher behavior and evaluating teaching performance.

Previous research has suggested that ratings used to make administrative decisions are lenient when compared with ratings obtained for research purposes only. The present study examined the effects of the purpose of rating on multivariate measures of accuracy in observing teacher behavior as well as measures of accuracy in evaluating teaching performance. 45 undergraduates viewed and evaluated videotaped lectures under conditions in which they were informed that their ratings would be used for research only or for making important decisions about those being rated. The purpose of rating did not affect measures of accuracy in rating the frequency with which a number of critical behaviors occurred on each tape. The purpose of rating also did not affect multivariate measures of performance rating accuracy. Purpose did, however, affect the relationship between accuracy in observing teacher behavior and accuracy in evaluating teaching performance. It is suggested that purpose affects the way in which raters process behavioral information without necessarily affecting the general level of rating. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth on the evaluation of college instructors.

Examined the influence of teacher sex, student sex, and teacher warmth as perceived by students and teachers on teacher evaluation. Male and female instructors in the same department were matched on the level of course taught. 22 pairs of courses evaluated by 838 college students were obtained. Twenty Instructional Improvement Questionnaire items that directly evaluate instructor performance were analyzed using a 3-factor analysis of variance and the .0025 level of significance. No interactions between faculty sex, student sex, and teacher warmth were found. When Ss rated their instructor's interest and warmth, teachers who were warmer and primarily interested in students received higher ratings in teaching effectiveness. When teachers rated themselves on warmth and interest, self-ratings interacted with faculty sex. Generally, female teachers received higher effectiveness ratings than did male teachers when they considered themselves low in warmth or interested in course content. Male teachers who rated themselves high in warmth or primarily interested in students received higher ratings than did male teachers who rated themselves low in warmth or primarily interested in course content, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond attribution theory: Cognitive processes in performance appraisal.

Construes performance appraisal as the outcome of a dual-process system of evaluation and decision making whereby attention, categorization, recall, and information integration are carried out through either an automatic or a controlled process. In the automatic process, an employee's behavior is categorized without conscious monitoring unless the decisions involved are problematic; a consciously monitored categorization process would then occur. Subsequent recall of the employee is viewed to be biased by the attributes of prototypes (abstract images) representing categories to which the employee has been assigned. Dispositional and contextual factors influence the availability of categories during both assignment and recall. Although automatic and controlled processes can create accurate employee evaluations, categorization interacting with task type tends to affect subsequent employee information with halo, lenient/stringent, racial, sexual, ethnic, and personality biases. Behavior taxonomies, individual differences in cognitive structure, validation of behavior-sampling techniques, and laboratory studies of appraisal processes are presented as potential topics for research. (93 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of categorization, attribution, and encoding processes on leadership perceptions.

In this study we compared two cognitive processes that are often thought to precede leadership perceptions: causal attributions and categorization. This was done by experimentally manipulating factors relevant to attributions (consensus information) and categorization (stimulus prototypicality). Dependent measures were undergraduate subjects' perceptions of the leadership exhibited by stimulus people, shown on a 12-min videotape of a management group. The interaction of the leader prototypicality and consensus information factors on leadership perceptions was opposite to that predicted by attribution theory. The experimental evidence suggested that the interaction effect was based on subjects' categorization of stimuli in terms of leadership. A methodology developed to measure encoding of on-going leader behavior allowed tests of the social-information-processing sequence involved in forming leadership perceptions. Results support recent propositions of social-information-processing theory and demonstrated the usefulness of the encoding methodology. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustainability of teacher expectation bias effects on long-term student performance.

In this article, we address the relationship between teacher expectation bias and student characteristics, its effect on long-term student performance, and the development of this effect over time. Expectation bias was defined as the difference between observed and predicted teacher expectation. These predicted expectations were estimated from a multilevel model in which teacher expectations of students' future performance in secondary education were regressed on students' prior achievement, IQ, and achievement motivation. Multilevel analyses were performed on a data set of about 11,000 students who entered secondary school in 1999 and who were monitored for 5 years. We found relationships between teacher expectation bias and student characteristics as well as a clear effect of expectation bias on long-term student performance. Teacher expectation bias partly mediated the effects of student characteristics on students' performance. Moreover, its effect was moderated by some of these characteristics. Mediation and moderation effects were the strongest for parents' aspirations. The effects of teacher expectation bias dissipated partly during the first 2 years but afterwards remained stable over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural difference in attribution of performance: An integration-theoretical analysis.

F. Heider's (1958) suggestion that Performance?=?Motivation?×?Ability has been empirically confirmed by N. H. Anderson and C. A. Butzin (1974) and by A. Kum et al (1974), using American students as Ss. This multiplying process failed to appear in the present 3 experiments performed with 56 male Indian college students. Contrary to the predicted linear fan pattern, the plot of Motivation?×?Ability effect displayed clear parallelism. An equal-weight averaging rule was able to account for the results obtained in both group and single-S analyses. Perhaps the integration rules underlying achievement judgments are culture-specific, and Indian college students average motivation and ability information in attribution of future scholastic performance. Results illustrate the potential power that information integration theory provides for the cross-cultural study of social perception and cognition. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of earned and assigned grades on student evaluations of an instructor.

Experimental manipulation of grades assigned to 148 members of an introductory psychology class was performed to determine the effects of actually earned and randomly assigned grades. Earned grade had minor effects on evaluation of the instructor, but assigned grade produced significant modifications in ratings. Less adequate Ss showed greater evaluation rating shifts as a function of manipulations performed. Responses made to attribution questions were consonant with responses to evaluation items. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of situational stress and sex roles on the attribution of psychological disorders.

Studied the effects of situational stress and sex roles on the attribution of psychopathology using a story format with 288 male and 288 female undergraduate judges. The stories contrasted the combination of different kinds of behavioral disorders (aggression, social withdrawal, somatic complaints, and cognitive dissociation) with varying kinds of situational stress (medical school rejection, interpersonal rejection, and competency pressure). Actors in the stories were alternatively identified as male or female. Judgments of disorder, as reflected by pathology ratings and recommendations for professional help, were strongly influenced by the type of stress condition. Stress conditions had different impact for males and females, in keeping with traditionally defined male and female sex-role orientations. Global prejudice against females was not found in the attributions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do teacher standards for assigning grades affect student evaluations of instruction?

Conducted 2 experiments to determine the effects of teacher standards for assigning grades on student ratings of teachers and student achievement. 143 undergraduates participated in Exp 1, in which instructor expressiveness (high, low), lecture content (high, low), and grading standards (B, C+, C) were factorially manipulated. In Exp II with 278 undergraduates, student incentive (high, low), instructor expressiveness (high, low), and grading standards (B+, B, C+, C) were factorially manipulated. Standards failed to affect student achievement in either experiment. Significant effects of standards on ratings were found, but not consistently for all types of ratings, instructors, or differences in standards. The size of the differences are considered to be relatively unimportant when ratings are used to make gross distinctions between teachers. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of perceived etiology attribution similarity on client ratings of counselor credibility.

An experimental design was used to test the hypothesis that clients who perceived their counselors as holding etiology attributions similar to their own would rate their counselors' credibility higher than clients who perceived their counselors as holding dissimilar attributions. 40 undergraduate volunteers participated as clients in counseling role-plays with 11 graduate student counselors. At the end of the 3-session counseling analogue experience, each client was exposed to a mock counselor questionnaire on which the counselor's etiology attributions were manipulated to either agree or disagree with the client's etiology attributions. Results indicated that clients in the similarity of etiology attribution condition rated their counselors to be more credible sources of help than did clients in the dissimilarity of etiology attribution condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of student motivation and the principal's values on teacher directiveness.

40 in-service and preservice teachers were Ss in a simulated organization study. They were led to believe that their principal valued either collaboration with students or control of students; they also interacted with a student who was either motivated or unmotivated to complete an assignment. Ss gave more rewards and higher grades to the motivated students and considered them more responsible than unmotivated students. Contrary to expectations, Ss tended to be more directive in their teaching of motivated as compared to unmotivated students. As expected, Ss with the control principal taught unmotivated students in a more directive manner than did Ss with the collaborative principal. Results support the argument that the values of colleagues can affect a teacher's efforts to control students and his/her commitment to the unilateral control of students. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing of expected and unexpected monetary performance outcomes in healthy older subjects.

The feedback-related negativity (FRN), an event-related potential (ERP) component reflecting feedback processing in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), has consistently been found to be reduced in healthy aging, whereas behavioral findings regarding age-related changes in decision making and feedback-based learning are inconsistent. This study aimed to elucidate similarities and differences between healthy younger and older subjects in the processing of monetary performance feedback focusing on effects of reward expectancy. Eighteen younger and 20 older subjects completed a feedback learning task, in which a rule could be learned to predict the reward probabilities associated with particular stimuli. Older subjects showed evidence of slower learning than younger subjects. In both younger and older subjects, the amplitude difference between nonreward and reward in the FRN time window was larger for unexpected than expected outcomes, driven by modulations of negative feedback ERPs. Consistent with previous findings, the amplitude difference tended to be generally reduced in older subjects. P300 amplitude was larger for reward than nonreward in both groups, and interactions between valence and probability indicated that only the P300 for reward was modulated by expectancy. Despite general changes of outcome-related ERPs in healthy aging, older subjects show evidence of preserved effects of expectancy on the processing of monetary feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)