The use of impression management tactics in structured interviews: A function of question type?

This study investigated impression management tactic use during structured interviews containing both experience-based and situational questions. Specifically, the authors examined whether applicants' use of impression management tactics depended on question type. Results from 119 structured interviews indicated that almost all of the applicants used some form of impression management. Significantly more assertive than defensive impression management tactics were used, and among assertive tactics, applicants tended to use self-promotion rather than ingratiation. However, different question types prompted the use of different impression management tactics. Ingratiation tactics were used significantly more when applicants answered situational questions, whereas self-promotion tactics were used significantly more when applicants answered experience-based questions. Furthermore, the use of self-promotion and ingratiation tactics was positively related to interviewer evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primacy effects in personality impression formation.

Following the paradigm of research of Asch (1946) and Luchins (1957, 1958), the influence of presentation of data upon the formation of an impression of personality was studied. By presenting some adjectives 1st in one set, 2nd in others, and by delaying presentation of 2nd set of adjectives a few seconds, primacy and recency effects were investigated. In general, primacy effects were significant but recency effects were not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A determiner of the centrality of a trait in impression formation.

"The hypothesis that the centrality of a trait varies with the strength of that trait in the perceiver receives qualified support with respect to the trait pair sociable-unsociable… . The results… in indicating that one's own sociability may influence the centrality of that trait in the forming of impressions of others, enhance the possibility that 'person perception' may involve other relationships between the traits of the perceiver and those of the perceived regarding the saliency and weight of those traits in the resulting impressions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of political skill on impression management effectiveness.

In this study, the authors investigated the effect of an individual's political skill on the relationships between 5 different impression management tactics (intimidation, exemplification, ingratiation, selfpromotion, and supplication) and supervisor evaluations of performance. To test these relationships, the authors used a matched sample of 173 supervisor-subordinate dyads who worked full time in a state agency. Findings showed that individuals who used high levels of any of the tactics and who were politically skilled achieved more desirable supervisor ratings than did those who used the tactics but were not politically skilled. Opposite results were found when impression management usage was low. That is, individuals who were not politically skilled created a more desirable image in their supervisors' eyes than did their politically skilled counterparts when they did not use these tactics. Practical and research implications for the findings as well as directions for future research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compatriot and foreigner: A study of impression formation in three countries.

An experimental study of the process that is called "the formation of first impression… . Our first and perhaps the most general hypothesis is that if objects that are alike in all respects save one are considered together, their difference in this one respect will be more critical in the impression one forms of the objects. Three identical triplets, differing only in the color of tie they are sporting, will be seen and interpreted more in terms of their tie-wearing habits than would be the case if each one were encountered singly and without the possibility of a simultaneous comparison. A corollary of this hypothesis to which we have addressed ourselves is: If in forming impressions of foreigners and compatriots one is thinking in a comparative context, with the different nationalities in mind while forming one's impression, then the degree to which nationality will influence the impressions formed will be increased." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Order effects in impression formation in four classes of stimuli.

Order of presentation effects were studied in 4 impression-formation tasks. S was read a set of adjectives describing a person, or of foods describing a meal, or of headlines describing a newspaper, or of life events describing a week in his life. He then gave his impression as to how much he would like the object or event so described. For each stimulus class, these impression responses were compared between high-low and low-high orders of presentation. Primacy (1st impression) effects were found with foods and adjectives. For headlines, a somewhat equivocal primacy effect was obtained. For life events, order of presentation effects were negligible in all 3 experiments. It was suggested that the results favored the hypothesis that primacy is produced by decreases in the weight or importance attached to the later items of a set, rather than to shifts in meaning of the later items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Initial evaluations in the interview: Relationships with subsequent interviewer evaluations and employment offers.

The authors of this study examine how evaluations made during an early stage of the structured interview (rapport building) influence end of interview scores, subsequent follow-up employment interviews, and actual internship job offers. Candidates making better initial impressions received more internship offers (r = .22) and higher interviewer ratings (r = .42). As predicted, initial evaluations of candidate competence extend beyond liking and similarity to influence subsequent interview outcomes from the same interviewer (ΔR2 = .05), from a separate interviewer (ΔR2 = .05), and from another interviewer who skipped rapport building (ΔR2 = .05). In contrast, assessments of candidate liking and similarity were not significantly related to other judgments when ratings were provided by different interviewers. The findings of this study thus indicate that initial impressions of candidates influence employment outcomes, and that they may be based on useful judgments of candidate competence that occur in the opening minutes of the structured interview. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good soldiers and good actors: Prosocial and impression management motives as interactive predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors.

Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship behaviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employees to express citizenship in ways that both “do good” and “look good.” We report 2 studies that examine the interactions of prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship using multisource data from 2 different field samples. Across the 2 studies, we find positive interactions between prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors directed toward other people (helping and courtesy) and the organization (initiative). Study 2 also shows that only prosocial motives predict voice—a challenging citizenship behavior. Our results suggest that employees who are both good soldiers and good actors are most likely to emerge as good citizens in promoting the status quo. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality test scores in the management hierarchy: Revisited.

A678-case, 1955-1957 sample of management appraisal candidates had the same observed trends in personality test scores with hierarchy as did a 459-case, 1949-1952 sample (see 29: 3139). "Two conflicting general hypotheses regarding personality test scores in the management hierarchy are suggested. The first is that there are no strong trends except for independent achievement… . The second general hypothesis is that position in the management hierarchy is the result of a selective process whereby more intelligent people with better personalities, as defined by society, and stronger independent achievement motivation generally tend to rise higher in the hierarchy with age and experience than their colleagues less talented in these respects." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to ethnic deviance: The role of backlash in racial stereotype maintenance.

Backlash effects are social and economic penalties for counterstereotypical behavior (Rudman & Phelan, 2008). Five experiments support a model of the role of backlash in racial stereotype maintenance from the standpoint of perceivers and actors (Rudman & Fairchild, 2004). In Experiment 1, perceivers sabotaged Asians and Whites for succeeding in counterstereotypical domains, thereby preventing their future success. In Experiment 2, a White rapper suffered prejudice and economic discrimination, relative to a Black rapper, and prejudice mediated discrimination. Further, actors threatened by backlash for achievement in cross-racial domains responded to success in ways that bolster ethnic stereotypes. For example, Black men and women who feared backlash for academic skill (Experiment 3), and non-Black (Experiment 4) and non-White (Experiment 5) men who experienced backlash for cross-racial achievement, resorted to defensive strategies that preserve racial stereotypes (e.g., refusing to publicize and pursue counterstereotypical talents). Implications for cultural stereotype maintenance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-presentational persona: Simultaneous management of multiple impressions.

Most research on self-presentation has examined how people convey images of themselves on only 1 or 2 dimensions at a time. In everyday interactions, however, people often manage their impressions on several image-relevant dimensions simultaneously. By examining people's self-presentations to several targets across multiple dimensions, these 2 studies offer new insights into the nature of self-presentation and provide a novel paradigm for studying impression management. Results showed that most people rely on a relatively small number of basic self-presentational personas in which they convey particular profiles of impressions as a set and that these personas reflect both normative influences to project images that are appropriate to a particular target and distinctive influences by which people put an idiosyncratic spin on these normative images. Furthermore, although people's self-presentational profiles correlate moderately with their self-views, they tailor their public images to specific targets. The degree to which participants' self-presentations were normative and distinctive, as well as the extent to which they reflected their own self-views, were moderated by individual differences in agreeableness, self-esteem, authenticity, and Machiavellianism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wearing the cloak: Antecedents and consequences of creating facades of conformity.

This study examines a select set of relationships proposed in P. F. Hewlin’s (2003) conceptual model of antecedents and consequences of creating facades of conformity. Results from a survey study of 238 employees working in multiple industries indicate that perceived nonparticipative work environments, minority status, self-monitoring, and collectivism are related to creating facades of conformity. Emotional exhaustion serves as a mediator between creating facades of conformity and members’ intention to leave the organization. Collectivism moderates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and intention to leave. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of language in the development of the self II: Thoughts and words.

The present essay is intended to complement and extend the previous discussion of the acquisition of language (Part I). The further question arises of the relation between thought and language. The argument is presented that the capacity for thought arises developmentally before the emergence of the capacity for linguistic expression. Also functionally, on the mature and adult level, thought is regarded as independent of and antecedent to verbal expression. The word, in this sense, is a partial and incomplete expression of the fullness and complexity of the thought behind it. The relation of thought and word is traced developmentally in terms of Vygotsky's analysis of concept development, in which thought and language follow different paths of development and achieve final integration and synthesis in adolescence. The development of thinking capacity and the evolution of inner speech points to the autonomy and independent synthetic capacity of the subjective self even before the development of linguistic competence. Beyond the reach and comprehension of the word, the thought remains active and alive nonetheless in the private inner world of the subjective self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and work-related performance: The integral role of individual differences.

The present study estimated the unique contribution of self-efficacy to work-related performance controlling for personality (the Big 5 traits), intelligence or general mental ability, and job or task experience. Results, based on a meta-analysis of the relevant literatures, revealed that overall, across all studies and moderator conditions, the contribution of self-efficacy relative to purportedly more distal variables is relatively small. Within moderator categories, there were several cases in which self-efficacy made unique contributions to work-related performance. For example, self-efficacy predicted performance in jobs or tasks of low complexity but not those of medium or high complexity, and self-efficacy predicted performance for task but not job performance. Overall, results suggest that the predictive validity of self-efficacy is attenuated in the presence of individual differences, though this attenuation does depend on the context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring the role of individual differences in the prediction of workplace aggression.

This study investigates the relationship between individual differences and the incidence of workplace aggression in a sample of employees from a transportation company and a public school system. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that measures of trait anger, attribution style, negative affectivity, attitudes toward revenge, self-control, and previous exposure to aggressive cultures accounted for 62% of the variance in the participants' self-reported incidence of workplace aggression. Further research on workplace aggression is advocated, focusing on the role of individual differences and their interactions with organizational and group-level variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of advance expectancies in person memory.

Behaviors inconsistent with our general impression of another person are remembered better than are consistent behaviors, especially when only a few inconsistent behaviors occur (the set-size effect). In most previous studies of person memory, the behaviors to be remembered were accompanied by explicit trait information. Our studies showed that set-size effects also occurred when trait information was delayed or absent (Experiment 1) or when it contradicted the behavioral information (Experiment 2), but not when subjects were discouraged from forming a unitary impression (Experiment 3). These data do not support the hypothesis that the recall advantage for inconsistent behaviors depends on the presence of an advance expectancy, nor do they support a list-learning account of person memory. The results are most compatible with a model in which the perceiver spontaneously generates a behavior-based impression that is functionally equivalent to an expectancy-based impression in guiding memory for behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Union and management trainees: A comparative study of personality and occupational choice.

How is personality related to occupational entry? 40 management and 40 union trainees were compared. "The Sims SCI Occupational Rating Scale, the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, the California Psychological Inventory, and a custom-built, trait-centered Biographical Inventory were employed and 15 hypotheses were formulated." Differences between and within groups were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interplay of controlled and automatic processing in the expression of spontaneously inferred traits: A PDP analysis.

Inferences made about actors influence subsequent processing about those actors. Three experiments conducted in the context of spontaneous trait inference (STI) making demonstrate that such influences occur can either occur via automatic processes or via controlled processes. Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated that processing goals manipulated prior to encoding actor behavior affected the extent to which STIs automatically influenced subsequent responses but did not alter the extent to which STIs influenced those responses via controlled processes. Results from Experiment 2 showed that the extent to which STIs affected subsequent responding via the action of controlled processes were more affected by a delay between exposure to an actor behavior and the response task than the extent to which STIs affected task performance via the action of automatic processes. Finally, results from Experiment 3 showed that participants' subjective experience of awareness of their trait inferences is related to estimates of the extent to which controlled processing is involved in the production of their future responses but not to estimates of the extent to which those responses are affected by automatic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and the illusion of control: The role of esteem maintenance and impression management.

Examined 2 motivational explanations (the esteem maintenance and impression management hypotheses) for depressive realism and nondepressive illusions of control. After completing measures assessing self-esteem (SE) and attitudes about the relationship between SE and control, 66 depressed (DP) and 77 nondepressed (NDP) Ss performed a judgment of noncontingency task in either a public or private setting. Findings suggest that both of the motivational hypotheses were related to control judgments. However, there was no evidence that these motives are the ones that underlie the typical failure of depressed individuals to succumb to the illusion of control. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)