Examination of the relationship between true halo and halo error in performance ratings.

The purpose of this study was to test competing theories regarding the relationship between true halo (actual dimensional correlations) and halo rater error (effects of raters' general impressions on specific ratee qualities) at both the individual and group level of analysis. Consistent with the prevailing general impression model of halo rater error, results at both the individual and group level analyses indicated a null (vs. positive or negative) true halo-halo rater error relationship. Results support the ideas that (a) the influence of raters' general impressions is homogeneous across rating dimensions despite wide variability in levels of true halo; (b) in assigning ratings, raters rely both on recalled observations of actual ratee behaviors and on general impressions of ratees in assigning dimensional ratings; and (c) these 2 processes occur independently of one another. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the relation between equal status contact and intergroup attraction.

Studied how imbalance in historical status (based on previous interaction) and immediate status (based on conditions of present interaction) affected intergroup attraction in a cooperative setting. In all conditions, 2 groups of 6–9 undergraduates drawn from 256 Ss competed during the 1st phase. In half of the cases, 1 group was designated as the winner, thus creating a historical imbalance. In the other half, no winner–loser distinction was made. In the 2nd phase, the 2 groups cooperated on a task. In half the cases, 1 group was given information that would help in solving the cooperative problem. In the other conditions, no additional information was provided. When the additional information corrected a historical imbalance, intergroup attraction increased during the cooperative task. However, when the additional information was not perceived as redressing the historical imbalance, cooperation did not increase intergroup attraction. The supplying of additional information to one group was seen as unfair regardless of the existence of historical status imbalance. The results are discussed with regard to civil rights and affirmative action programs. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health.

In a longitudinal community survey of 291 adults, we explored the relation between coping strategies and psychological symptoms. Respondents completed the revised Ways of Coping Scale (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985) for a self-named stressful episode. Factor analysis produced eight coping factors: three problem focused, four emotion focused, and one (support mobilization) that contained elements of both. Multiple regression analyses indicated bidirectionality in the relation between coping and psychological symptoms. Those in poorer mental health and under greater stress used less adaptive coping strategies, such as escapism, but coping efforts still affected mental health independent of prior symptom levels and degree of stress. We compared main versus interactive effects models of stress buffering. Main effects were confined primarily to the emotion-focused coping scales and showed little or negative impacts of coping on mental health; interactive effects, though small, were found with the problem-focused scales. The direction of the relation between problem-focused scales and symptoms may depend in part on perceived efficacy, or how the respondent thought he or she handled the problem. Implications for the measurement of adaptive coping mechanisms and their contextual appropriateness are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the statistical correction of halo error.

Attempts to eliminate halo error from rating scales by statistical correction have assumed halo to be a systematic error associated with a ratee–rater pair that adds performance-irrelevant variance to ratings. Furthermore, overall performance ratings have been assumed to reflect this bias. Consideration of the source of halo error, however, raises the possibility that the cognitive processes resulting in halo also mediate expectations of and interactions with employees, indirectly influencing true performance and ability via instruction, feedback, and reinforcement. If so, it would not be possible to correct for halo error using overall performance ratings. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nature and consequences of halo error: A critical analysis.

The definition of halo error that dominated researchers' thinking for most of this century implied that (1) halo error was common, (2) it was a rater error, with true and illusory components, (3) it led to inflated correlations among rating dimensions and was due to the influence of a general evaluation on specific judgments, and (4) it had negative consequences and should be avoided or removed. Research is reviewed showing that all of the major elements of this conception of halo are either wrong or problematic. Because of unresolved confounds of true and illusory halo and the often unclear consequences of halo errors, the authors suggest a moratorium on the use of halo indices as dependent measures in applied research. They suggest specific directions for further research on halo that take into account the context in which judgments are formed and ratings are obtained and that more clearly distinguish between actual halo errors and the apparent halo effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Control of halo error: A multiple regression approach.

Comments on an article by F. J. Landy et al (see record 1981-00274-001) that suggests a method for excluding halo variance in rating scales. It is argued that this approach may result in excluding true variance. The present article presents a conceptualization of the halo effect in terms of a suppressor variable. Accordingly, a multiple regression approach for the treatment of halo variance is suggested. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of halo error on appraisal effectiveness: A conceptual and empirical reconsideration.

Examined gaps and weaknesses in the rater error–accuracy literature and drew conclusions about the usefulness of this line of inquiry, given the current nature of the measures and the state of theories. It is argued that in prior work in this area, particularly with respect to the question of halo error, the implication of alternative measures of halo or accuracy has not been considered in sufficient detail. It is also suggested that, conceptually, variance and correlational forms of halo and accuracy may yield identical, corresponding, or widely divergent results. Empirical evidence is used to illustrate how results that appear counterintuitive, as have been reported in other studies, can often be explained as a necessary outcome, given the construction of the halo and accuracy measures. 170 students rated 5 vignettes describing instructor classroom behavior. A direct test of the notion that halo can be controlled statistically is offered, and it is found that even when halo has been shown to have the expected effect on accuracy, statistically controlling for this influence does not improve rating validity. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of the context dependency of three causal models of halo rater error.

C. E. Lance et al (see record 1994-17452-001) tested 3 different causal models of halo rater error (general impression [GI], salient dimension [SD], and inadequate discrimination [ID] models) and found that the GI model better accounted for observed halo rating error than did the SD or ID models. It was also suggested that the type of halo rater error that occurs might vary as a function of rating context. The purpose of this study was to determine whether rating contexts could be manipulated that favored the operation of each of these 3 halo-error models. Results indicate, however, that GI halo error occurred in spite of experimental conditions designed specifically to induce other forms of halo rater error. This suggests that halo rater error is a unitary phenomenon that should be defined as the influence of a rater's general impression on ratings of specific ratee qualities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the relationship between body boundary and site of disease.

In Exp. I, a body-interior group (10 asthmatics plus 10 cardiacs) was compared with a body-exterior group (10 arthritics plus 10 dermatologic patients). In Exp. II Ss were more carefully screened in terms of their medical histories. Measures of psychopathology from the Holtzman Inkblot Test and the MMPI were used as covariants in both experiments. The results failed to replicate previously reported empirical findings and challenged the construct validity of the S. Fisher and S. E. Cleveland model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Forensically relevant moderators of the relation between eyewitness identification accuracy and confidence.

Meta-analyses of 9 studies were conducted that all assess the association between pre-lineup confidence and identification accuracy; the association between post-lineup confidence produces a stronger correlation with identification accuracy than does pre-lineup confidence. In 5 of these studies the difference between correlations is statistically significant. Furthermore, correlations between pre-lineup confidence and accuracy were trivial in magnitude, ranging from .00 to .20. The conclusion is drawn that a witness's confidence in his or her ability to make an identification should not be given much weight in determining whether or not to have the witness attempt an identification. Also, pre-lineup confidence should not be used to evaluate the accuracy of an identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some reflections on general performance dimensions and halo rating error.

Criticizes an article by F. Landy et al (see record 1981-00274-001), which assumed that a general factor present in the intercorrelations of ratings of performance was generated by halo rating errors. A number of decision rules were used to generate an analytic procedure for extracting halo errors, correcting ratings, and interpreting factors present in the corrected correlations. A number of the decision rules, as well as the initial assumption, seem to be rules of thumb or to depend on implicit theories of ratings and not on empirical data. Reanalysis of the rating data to allow both general 2nd- and 1st-order factors to be expressed in terms of item loadings recovered the structure present in the correlation of the original ratings as well as the psychological meanings of the 1st-order factors. General factors in rating data resemble general factors in measures of human ability. It is argued that removing general factors as if they were halo rather than true score may eliminate more of the variance from rating data than is justifiable. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfer between the repeated reversal and learning set tasks: A reexamination.

Trained 16 stumptailed and 4 rhesus monkeys to a high level of performance on a repeated reversal (RR) task, either with or without overtraining on each reversal; Ss were then shifted to a learning set (LS) task. There was a substantial amount of positive transfer between the 2 tasks, but initial LS performance was well below the level that would be expected if RR training were equivalent to LS training. Results for control groups indicate that there was little, if any, nonspecific transfer between the 2 tasks. Overtraining facilitated performance of the stumptailed monkeys on the RR task. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Milgram and the Holocaust: A reexamination.

The Milgram obedience studies are widely presented in psychology textbooks as integral to understanding the behavior of Holocaust perpetrators. Recent appraisals of the Milgram legacy have not challenged this view. Discussions of the Holocaust in the historical literature are often cited by psychologists to support the claim of the centrality of the Milgram studies to understanding the Holocaust. More recent historical literature presents a different view of the Holocaust, one that directly questions the relevance of Milgram's obedience studies in understanding the Holocaust. This view has not been well represented in discussions of Milgram in psychology, and is discussed here. The nature of the evidence for the ecological validity of the Milgram studies, and the broader issue of the role of the Milgram studies as "scientific parables" are also discussed. Authors of future psychology textbooks may wish to examine the controversial nature of the claim that Milgram's studies are central to understanding the Holocaust more fully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the relationship between the Luria-Nebraska and Halstead-Reitan Batteries: Overlap with the WAIS.

Reexamines the relationship reported by C. J. Golden et al (see record 1981-24787-001) between the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) and the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery (HRNB) in terms of their overlap with psychometric intelligence. When WAIS IQ factors were partialed out, the correlations between the LNNB and the HRNB measures were considerably reduced. Caution is urged in attempting to equate the 2 batteries, and attention is drawn to the distinction between and the relevance of psychometric adaptive intelligence. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The damaging effect of confirming feedback on the relation between eyewitness certainty and identification accuracy.

The authors investigated eyewitnesses' retrospective certainty (see G. L. Wells & A. L. Bradfield, 1999). The authors hypothesized that external influence from the lineup administrator would damage the certainty-accuracy relation by inflating the retrospective certainty of inaccurate eyewitnesses more than that of accurate eyewitnesses (N=245). Two variables were manipulated: eyewitness accuracy (through the presence or absence of the culprit in the lineup) and feedback (confirming vs control). Confirming feedback inflated retrospective certainty more for inaccurate eyewitnesses than for accurate eyewitnesses, significantly reducing the certainty-accuracy relation (from r=.58 in the control condition to r=.37 in the confirming feedback condition). Double-blind testing is recommended for lineups to prevent these external influences on eyewitnesses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Punctuation and publishability: A reexamination of the colon.

Extended J. T. Dillon's (1981) study of titular colonicity by examining the 552 papers submitted to The Philosophical Forum over an 8-yr period. While colonic titles were longer than noncolonic titles, neither titular colonicity nor titular extensiveness enhanced publishability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The systematic distortion hypothesis, halo, and accuracy: An individual-level analysis.

In several social perception studies investigators have concluded that raters' semantic conceptual similarity schemata serve to guide and constrain dimensional covariance in the rating judgment process. This effect has been hypothesized to be most likely when ratings are memory based and raters lack relevant job or ratee information. Recent research that has explored the effects of conceptual similarity schemata on performance ratings and halo error has provided some limited support for this systematic distortion hypothesis (SDH). However, these studies are limited because researchers have examined this phenomenon using group-level analyses, whereas the theory references individual-level judgment processes. The present study investigated the phenomena at the individual level. The effects of varying levels of rater job knowledge (high, medium, and low) and familiarity with ratees (high and low) were examined for conceptual similarity–rating and rating–true-score covariation relations, for measures of halo, and for rating accuracy components. Results provided support for the SDH, but indicated a boundary condition for its operation and revealed some surprising findings for individual-level rater halo. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the perceptual-to-conceptual shift in mental representations.

The authors discuss the origins of categorical representations in young infants, using recent evidence on the categorization of animals. This evidence suggests that mature conceptual representations for animals derive from the earliest perceptually based representations of animals formed by young infants, those based on the surface features characteristic of each species, including humans. The shift from perceptually to conceptually based representation is a gradual and continuous process marked by initial, relatively simple, perceptually based representations coming to include more and more specific values of common animal properties. Development is thus a process of enrichment by perceptual systems, including that for language, and without the need of specialized processes that alter the nature of human thought and the representation of human knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job knowledge, ratee familiarity, conceptual similarity and halo error: An exploration.

The results of numerous social perception studies have led researchers to conclude that raters' implicit cognitive schemata regarding trait and behavior covariance may play a crucial role in the rating judgment process. W. H. Cooper (see PA, Vol 66:9176 and 9262) proposed one such cognitive schema, semantic conceptual similarity, as a key source of halo error in job performance ratings but was unable to reproduce the results of previous social perception research. The present study, with 186 undergraduates, employed baseball players as target ratees to examine the effects of job and ratee knowledge on the relations of raters' conceptual similarity schemata with rating and true score covariance. The results are consistent with the systematic distortion hypothesis presented by R. A. Shweder (see record 1976-07240-001). The association between conceptual similarity and rating covariance was significantly greater when Ss lacked sufficient job and/or ratee knowledge. Moreover, the degree of halo was also significantly greater when Ss lacked relevant job and ratee knowledge. The advantages of using objective measures of actual performance as true score estimates in the study of rater cognitive processes are discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of instructions to avoid halo error on reliability and validity of performance evaluation ratings.

Investigated the effects of a short training session designed to reduce halo error in performance ratings. 90 low and middle managers rated 1 of 6 hypothetical first-line supervisors on 6 performance dimensions according to behavior displayed in a prepared vignette. Ratings were taken prior to and following the 5-min training session, with rater-ratee combinations counterbalanced. The vignettes were developed to contain previously scaled behavior examples, thus enabling the calculation of "true" criterion scores for each dimension. Comparisons between these "true" criterion and the performance ratings revealed that the training session significantly reduced halo, while leaving validity of the ratings generally unaffected. Performance ratings completed after training possessed lower reliability, although raters provided somewhat more accurate performance profiles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)