Level of aspiration in coalition bargaining.

Although some theories of coalition formation are quite accurate and promising, they are unable to explain the large variability of coalition outcomes. It is hypothesized that the variability of outcomes can be attributed to the variability of subjects' aspiration levels in coalition experiments. A bargainer with high aspirations is likely to make high demands and is likely to be rejected as a coalition partner. To manipulate aspiration level, the points-to-money conversion scales of subjects (105 college students) were systematically varied in three-person coalition games. As hypothesized, the results indicate that bargainers who have high aspirations (relative to other bargainers) are more likely to be excluded from coalitions. The implications of these results for current theories of coalition formation and for the development of a process theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in outcomes in coalition bargaining.

Examined the results of earlier coalition experiments that concluded that the coalition with the largest payoff per member occurs most frequently and the reward division is close to an equal split (except for frequent deviations from equal share payoffs). The present authors hypothesized that inconsistencies in previous research were due to differences in experimental procedure and to Ss' familiarity with coalition games. In the present study, 240 male undergraduates played a 4-person multivalued apex game for 6 trials. Three games and 2 procedures were used. The 2 procedures differed in the number of rounds of offers and counteroffers required to form a coalition. As hypothesized, results indicate that deviations from equal shares increased over trials of the game and were greater with the procedure that required more rounds of bargaining. Findings regarding payoff divisions are in the direction predicted by the bargaining theory and equal excess model of coalition formation, but findings regarding frequencies of coalitions are contrary to the predictions of both theories. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The functions of resources in coalition bargaining.

An important factor that distinguishes theories of coalition formation is their assumptions regarding the role of "resources" (Rs) in coalition bargaining. Two basic functions of Rs are hypothesized: a normative function, in which Rs provide a norm or frame of reference for a fair (equitable) division of rewards, and a strategic function, in which Rs affect the number and size of winning coalitions. It is shown that minimum R theory is based entirely on the normative function; minimum power and weighted probability models are based entirely on the strategic function; and bargaining theory and equal excess model are based on both functions. An experiment was conducted with 200 male undergraduates to contrast these theories in terms of the 2 functions of Rs. Results provide the greatest support for bargaining theory and equal excess model, and it is hypothesized that a theory that ignores one or the other function is not likely to yield accurate predictions. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of group size and communication availability on coalition bargaining in a veto game.

Examined the effects of manipulating the size of groups of 250 male undergraduate negotiators and their ability to communicate with one another in a game in which 1 player held veto power (i.e., had to be included in any winning coalition). The predictions of 3 models (core, value, and weighted probability) were tested. The game, in which the veto player could form a winning coalition with any other single player, was repeated for a series of 10 winning coalitions (trials). The effects for group size indicate significant differences between 3-person groups and 4-, 5-, and 6-person groups, and between all of these groups and 7-person groups. The increasing payoffs over trials were significant in the no-communication conditions, but no significant increases occurred in the conditions in which communication was available. The increasing payoffs for the veto player when communication opportunities were not available yielded the only support for the predictions of the core model; the overall payoffs consistently supported the predictions of the value and the weighted probability models. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test of the bargaining and equal excess theories of coalition formation: Effects of experience, information about payoffs, and monetary stakes.

Compared the bargaining and equal excess theories of coalition formation for their accuracy in predicting the effects of bargaining experience, information about coalition payoffs, and monetary stakes on coalition behavior in a 5-person game. 380 male undergraduates served as Ss. Manipulation of bargaining experience involved having each group play 4 trials of the game. Information about payoffs was varied by giving players in half the groups information about the payoffs for all the possible coalitions, and those in the other half of the groups information only about the payoffs for the coalitions of which they could be a member. Monetary stakes were manipulated by having Ss in half the groups play the game for the chance of winning $3, and Ss in the other half of the groups play the game for the chance of winning $50. Consistent with previous findings, monetary stakes had no effect on coalition behavior. Both bargaining experience and payoff information, however, had effects on coalition behavior, and these effects tended to support bargaining theory rather than equal excess theory. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Number of coalitions and resources as sources of power in coalition bargaining.

Investigated, using 80 female and 50 male undergraduates, the importance of 2 potential sources of power in coalition situations (number of coalitions in which the person is included and assigned resources), a potentially influential individual-differences factor (gender), and the validity of 4 theories of coalition formation (minimum power theory, the Roth-Shapely value, the weighted probability model, and bargaining theory). Five-person groups of males or females played 20 trials of a coalition game that varied the number of coalitions available to the players. Games were presented either with or without resources being assigned. Results indicate that both resources and number of alternatives influenced coalition outcomes. Players' payoffs were directly related to both factors, and coalition frequency was inversely related to the total number of alternatives available to the coalition members. Minor gender differences were also obtained. Implications for coalition theories in general and the weighted probability model in particular are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of resources and alternatives on coalition formation.

Previous research has indicated that coalition formation is influenced by the players' resources and alternatives (game structure). However, on almost all occasions when both resources and game structure have been varied, they have been confounded. In the present study with 224 undergraduates, 4 different 4-person simple games were used, based on the same distribution of resources. These games were played both with and without resources being assigned. Thus, resource assignment and game structure were not confounded. Coalition frequencies and reward divisions were minimally influenced by assigned resources. Coalition frequency was inversely related to coalition size. Players' outcomes were inversely related to the size of the winning coalition and directly related to the number of their alternative small coalitions. Players' mean payoffs over all trials were related to the number and mean size of their minimal winning coalitions, relative to the other players. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of communication timing on duopoly bargaining outcomes.

Examined the effects of timing of communication on bargaining outcomes in a conflict of interest task by contrasting an autism hypothesis and a strategic hypothesis. In a design that replicated and extended under more controlled conditions an earlier study by R. M. Krauss and M. Deutsch (see record 1967-00554-001), 40 dyads of male undergraduates played 20 trials of a duopoly game and were allowed (a) verbal communication on all 20 trials, (b) communication for only the 1st 10 trials, (c) communication for the last 10 trials, or (d) no communication. Dyads able to communicate on the last 10 trials obtained superior profits and played more cooperatively. Findings are more consistent with the strategic hypothesis. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of prior dishonesty on postdecision dissonance.

This was previously abstracted (see 37: 7780), but there was an error in the text. The abstract should read as follows: 145 children (aged 3-12) indicated liking for 3 toys and 3 crackers. After being exposed to a temptation to be dishonest and given a choice of 1 of the objects, they gave liking ratings of their chosen and unchosen alternatives. Postdecision dissonance reduction (increased liking for the chosen, and decreased liking for the unchosen alternative) was greatest when choice from among dissimilar objects (toy and cracker) followed dishonesty; it was least when honesty preceded choosing from among similar objects (2 toys or 2 crackers). Results were consistent with formulations by Hull, on drive summation, and Lewin, on tension spread: irrelevant tension combines with relevant tension to produce greater response to the latter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group size, prior experience, and conformity.

An effort was made to validate the findings of 2 previous workers regarding the effect of the size of a group (Asch, 1952) and prior experience (Mausner, 1953, 1954, 1957) upon conformity in the judgment of the length of lines. The results of Asch and Mausner were reproduced; there is a curvilinear relationship between size of a group (from 2 to 5) and influence on S to conform to what he believes are the estimates of the lines made by others. Prior experience in making judgments of the lines was also found to influence the accuracy of judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of prior group memberships on subsequent reconnaissance activities.

1,134 college freshmen completed an orientation questionnaire assessing their experiences in high school groups and expectations about college groups. 220 Ss were also interviewed later about their behavior toward campus groups at an activities fair. Ss whose experiences in high school groups were more positive tried harder to identify potentially desirable college groups, primarily because they believed that belonging to such groups would be useful for achieving personal goals. Ss with prior experience in relevant high school groups used that experience to evaluate similar college groups and thus made more realistic (less optimistic) evaluations of those groups than did Ss without prior experience. Among Ss who wanted to join a college group, those who had belonged to a relevant high school group behaved differently at the activities fair than did those who had not. Ss with prior experience were more likely to approach their chosen group at the activities fair and to avoid other groups there of a similar sort. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of prior contractual experiences on self-control in children.

Studied the relationship between adult-child contractual interactions and children's self-control. Ss were 95 8-12 yr old girls who performed an arm-extension exercise and a monotonous letter-crossing task. Overall results suggest the utility of a model relating contractual agreements to self-control, although the locus of effects is not completely clear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experience on supervisor planning.

In a study of planning activities, 10 inexperienced undergraduates and 17 experienced supervisors from various settings audiotaped a 15-min planning session, using a thinking aloud technique, in preparation for supervising another person. Experienced supervisors generated more planning statements, and more of these statements concerned the supervisee than did statements generated by inexperienced or graduate student supervisors. Comments are made about these results in relation to the educational literature and counselor development, and recommendations are made for counseling research and supervision. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of self- and competitor goals on performance in an interdependent bargaining task.

We investigated the relation between goal specificity and difficulty and performance on an interdependent bargaining task. In all, 102 subjects competed as buyers and sellers in a 25-min market simulation in which each negotiator was assigned either a nonspecific do-your-best objective or a specific easy, moderate, or difficult goal. Results showed that negotiators who were assigned specific, difficult goals were individually more profitable than negotiators who were assigned easier or nonspecific goals. Concerning dyadic performance, nonspecific or easy goals led to compromise agreements. Integrative agreements that benefited both parties to the transaction were facilitated by assigning both negotiators a moderate goal or difficult-moderate disparate goals. When both negotiators had difficult goals, dyadic performance did not approach the integrative level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of personal experience on self-protective behavior.

This article seeks to further our understanding of self-protective behavior by examining the effects of a particularly powerful stimulus to action: personal experience. It reviews the effects of automobile accidents on seat belt use, criminal victimization other than rape on individual crime prevention efforts, natural hazards experience on both natural hazards preparedness and compliance with evacuation warnings, and myocardial infarction on smoking. Theories suggesting mechanisms that could link personal experience to behavior are described, and data concerning the effects of experience on some key variables in these theories are discussed. Tentative propositions are offered to resolve the many apparent discrepancies in this literature. These propositions concern the effects of experience on risk perceptions, the influence of experience on risk salience, the specificity of responses to victimization, and the duration of experience effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mediation and alternative forms of arbitration on bargaining behavior: A laboratory study.

84 business students participated in a face-to-face collective bargaining simulation in which Ss assumed the roles of union and management negotiators. Two mediation and 4 arbitration conditions were manipulated. Dyads bargaining under total-package, final offer arbitration left significantly fewer issues unresolved than did dyads bargaining under conventional arbitration or issue-by-issue final offer arbitration. Whereas mediation did not have an independent effect on bargaining behavior, it interacted significantly with mode of arbitration to influence bargaining behavior. Under the mediation condition, more issues were left unresolved under conventional arbitration than under any other anticipated form of 3rd-party intervention. On the other hand, under the no-mediation condition, total-package/final-offer arbitration and no arbitration resulted in the fewest number of unresolved issues. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of prior experience on mice behavior using the four-plate test

A single prior undrugged exposure to the four-plate test reduces punished responding on retest at intervals ranging from 24 h to 42 days. Furthermore, prior experience attenuates the anxiolytic response to the benzodiazepines diazepam (0.25 to 2 mg/kg) and lorazepam (0.5 to 4 mg/kg). The result was first discussed in term of "one trial tolerance." The anxiety baseline was increased during the retest, which counteracted the anxiolytic action of benzodiazepines. To ascertain if memory processes are also implicated, the cholinergic drugs scopolamine and oxotremorine were used. Additional experiments with the GABAergic inverse agonist FG7142 and with the 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT were also performed. Administration of scopolamine and 8-OH-DPAT-induced weak impairment of memory, when administered before the second trial, but no effect was seen with cognition enhancing agents.     

Midazolam's dose effects on fixed-ratio response rate in rats depend on amount of prior training experience.

To investigate the effects of amount of prior training on the operant response rate-decreasing effects of midazolam, the authors examined 6 oral (PO) doses of this drug (0.3, 1.0, 3.0, 10.0, 17.3, 30.0 mg/kg, 30 min before sessions) in 3 separate groups of rats (Rattus narvegicus). The rats received 29, 85, or 106 daily sessions (low, medium, and high groups, respectively) of fixed-ratio 30 water-reinforced training before the dose-effect determinations. Despite all 3 groups having had similar baseline response rates, the medium- and high-experience groups were significantly more sensitive to the rate-decreasing effects of the 3 highest doses of midazolam. All 3 groups were equally unresponsive (neither increasing nor decreasing response rate) to PO midazolam treatment at the 3 lowest doses. The experience-related sensitization to midazolam's behavior-disrupting effects suggests a role for amount as well as type of behavioral history as a determinant of behavioral drug effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experience and training on diagnostic accuracy.

In this reexamination of a previously published report (R. Brammer, 1997), psychologists and psychology students (N = 138) were provided an artificial intelligence program that simulated a clinical interview. The "client" provided paragraph-length answers to the questions participants chose to ask. At the end of their interview, the participants provided a brief diagnosis for the client. A path analysis revealed that clinical experience is a strong predictor of the ability to form an accurate diagnosis and that an individual's level of training, mediated by the number of diagnostic questions asked, also helps to derive accurate diagnoses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of expertise and experience on risk judgments.

Compared the ability of 23 "expert" physicians and 93 undergraduates to accurately judge the risk associated with several diseases. Whereas the physicians gave substantially more accurate judgments, they still systematically overestimated the risks but in a manner different from the students. Two possible sources of this bias were examined: amount of coverage the diseases received in medical journals and the number of encounters with people suffering from the diseases. Greater medical journal coverage for a disease was significantly related to increased physician estimates of the risk of dying from that disease, even after controlling for the true mortality rate. However, subsequent path analyses revealed that the significant journal effect was not robust enough to reject the null hypothesis. The results for encounter frequency were more conclusive. For both physicians and students, increased frequency of encounters with people suffering from the disease was directly related to higher risk estimates. Results suggest that experts and nonexperts may use similar thought processes but make differently biased risk judgments because of their differing exposure to the risky events. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)