The effects of group expectations and self-esteem upon self-evaluation.

This study explores the effect of a specific level of achievement upon an individual's evaluations of his performance when the achievement is relative to an aspiration level set by a group and to the member's stabilized expectations about himself as represented by his self-esteem. Ss were assigned to one of 4 conditions, composed of the combinations of high and low group expectations and relevance and non-relevance of task to the purposes of the group. Half of the Ss within each experimental condition were allowed to succeed and the other half made to fail. Several specific hypotheses within this framework were tested. "The group's expectations appear to have been more potent as a scale of reference than the individual's self-esteem in determining his evaluation of his performance. When the influence of the group was weakest (task was non-relevant) persons high in self-esteem… differed in the way they evaluated their performance. When the influence of the group was strongest (task was relevant) there was no difference in the way that persons high or low in self-esteem rated their achievement." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive consequences of forced compliance.

Atest of some hypotheses generated by Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, viz., that "if a person is induced to do or say something which is contrary to his private opinion, there will be a tendency for him to change his opinion so as to bring it into correspondence with what he has done or said. The larger the pressure used to elicit the overt behavior… the weaker will be the… tendency… . The results strongly corroborate the theory." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of need-oriented communications on attitude change.

"Several hypotheses concerning attitude change… derived from a cognitive theory of attitude structure were tested experimentally… . changes in attitude were demonstrated. An index based upon need strength and change in perceived instrumentality for the need engaged in the communication was found to be only slightly related to change in attitude for the… groups. Similar indexes based on other needs and over all needs measured were found not to be related to shifts in attitude." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduction of cognitive dissonance by seeking consonant information.

"An experiment was conducted to test two hypotheses about the reduction of cognitive dissonance by seeking information. The hypotheses were: (a) a person in whom dissonance has been produced by exposure to a communication advocating an opinion contrary to the person's is more likely to seek information than a person exposed to a compatible communication, and (b) a person in whom dissonance has been produced by a contrary communication tends to seek information from a source agreeing with his opinion. The opinions of 100 mothers on the importance of hereditary and environmental factors in child rearing were ascertained by personal interview; they were then exposed to a tape recorded, authoritative communication espousing a hereditary or an environmental point of view… . The results supported the first hypothesis." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GG74A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist as an expert witness in court.

"An important problem in psychology today is the legal status of the psychologist and his relationship to the courts; and of special importance in the position of the psychologist as an expert witness… . There is considerable evidence of the use of psychologists in court cases in the federal courts… " as well as in state courts. "There is… conflicting evidence as to state court opinions on the expertness of testimony given by psychologists… . Once an adequate definition of a psychologist is established by legal authorities… [the problem of the position of the psychologist as an expert witness]… will be much nearer to a solution." Certification or licensing legislation seems to be desirable. 29 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of worker productivity to cognitive dissonance about wage inequities.

2 hypotheses derived from dissonance theory were tested: (a) when a person is paid by the hour his productivity will be greater when he perceives his pay as inequitably large than when identical pay is perceived as equitable, and (b) when a person is paid on a piecework basis his productivity will be less when he perceives his pay in inequitably large than when he perceives identical pay as being equitable. The first hypothesis was sustained (p     

Perceived choice and resistance to persuasion.

An experiment was conducted to test the prediction that the greater the perceived choice in taking a position, the more resistant to influence the position would be. The Ss were shown summaries of an application for admittance to graduate school in psychology, and were asked to rate the candidate. The ratings were made under conditions of either high or low choice. All Ss were then presented with a strong countercommunication and final ratings were made. The results indicate that high choice in the initial decision increased resistance to influence by the countercommunication. It further appears that, at least in this case, this resistance is manifested primarily by an increased tendency to reject the communication and the communicator rather than in any distortions in memory or ratings of the relevant information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental test of the effects of "developmental" vs. "free" discussions on the quality of group decisions.

A "developmental" and a "free" type of discussion leadership were compared with respect to the degree to which they influence the quality and unanimity of group decisions. Small groups of students were asked to make a decision involving the wisdom of promoting a particular employee to a new job. The "high quality" decision was reached about twice as frequently in the "developmental" discussion groups as in the "free" discussion groups, but no significant difference was obtained with respect to group unanimity. The writers believe that these "findings apply only to problems in which emotional involvement is not an important aspect of the problem… with other types of problems the 'free' type of discussion may be more effective… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competence and conformity in the acceptance of influence.

"A study was conducted to test the relationship between competence on a group task and conformity or nonconformity to procedural norms in determining a person's ability to influence other group members… . Influence was measured by the number of trials… in which the confederate's recommended solution was accepted as the group's choice… . a significant increase in his influence occurred as the trials progressed… . Past conformity… was also found to be positively and significantly related to the acceptance of his influence… . there was a statistically significant interaction between past and current nonconformity." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE65H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognition, motivation, and time perception.

The present research tested 2 hypotheses generated from a previous but unpublished work by another researcher viz., "1. The force acting on a person in a barrier situation to reach a goal G is an increasing function of the person's need for G 'times' the relevance of his ideation with respect to G. 2. The greater the magnitude of the force to reach a goal acting on a person in a barrier situation… , the greater will be the estimation of the time spent in the barrier situation." A food testing experiment "in which deprivation of food, thinking about food, and the desire to eat corresponded to… need, relevance of ideation, and force," is presented. Both hypotheses were supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational desirability and choice as a function of communication apprehension.

Notes that research on vocational desirability and choice has seldom examined the role of either perceived communication requirements or communication apprehension in career decisions. Communication apprehension, the apprehension an individual has about interpersonal communication, was hypothesized to affect both the perceived desirability of a number of occupations and the actual job choice made by Ss. In a study with 196 undergraduates enrolled in basic communication courses, both hypotheses received support. High apprehensives (as determined by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension) perceived low-communication occupations as significantly more desirable than high-communication occupations. Low apprehensives, on the other hand, perceived high-communication occupations as significantly more desirable than low-communication occupations. Occupational choices of high apprehensives were significantly lower in perceived communication requirements than those selected by low apprehensives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical standards and divided loyalties.

A final questionnaire of 22 incidents was constructed. "Each incident was so designed as to present a conflict between the best interests of the client and society, with the psychologist having made a decision in each whether to reveal to a third party any part or all of the information revealed to him by his client." Responses were in terms of 4-point client-society loyalty scale. 73.6% usable returns (of 501 questionnaires to Associates and Fellows in Divisions 12, 14, and 17) were analyzed. Applied psychologists "differ in their divided loyalty percepts according to certain reference group memberships… . While there were individuals at the extremes of both tails of the distribution, some indicating retention, some release of information, the bulk of psychologists adopted some compromise position… . There should not be any dichotomous viewing of divided loyalty situations as right or wrong, nor even judgments on a continuum of rightness or wrongness." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal motivations and self-conceptions associated with effectiveness and ineffectiveness in emergent groups.

"The present study tested five hypotheses concerning the relationship of underlying motivations and self-conceptions to sociometrically measured effectiveness in an emergent group situation… . After the subjects… wrote brief stories in response to eight pictures, they participated in a 20-minute leaderless group discussion… . The results may be interpreted as indicating that effectiveness in an initially unstructured group situation is systematically related to the individual's personal motivations and self-concepts." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental evaluation of "no-pressure" influence.

"… an effort was made to test experimentally the relative effectiveness of varying degrees of pressure exerted by instructors in indoctrinating aircrewmen concerning an emergency ration known as 'pemmican.' The Ss were 427 aircrewmen composing 43 small training groups randomly assigned to one control and six experimental groups. Subjects were issued eight of the meat bars for use during the nine-day simulated survival experience. Criteria of acceptance were obtained at the end of training along with measures of perceived instructor effort to influence… . instructors were relatively unsuccessful in exercising 'no influence' insofar as trainee perceptions are concerned. When the seven conditions were arranged in order of perceived instructor pressure… pressure up to a certain point appears to be accompanied by increased acceptability and that beyond this point influence efforts operate in an inverse direction to that intended. Those who perceive 'no effort' to influence them, tend to react most favorably." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social power on aspiration setting and striving.

"Individual Ss were observed in a situation similar to the one used by Rotter (1942) for studying the level of aspiration, while they were to perceive themselves as members of a team which was not physically present. In two experimental conditions… the Ss were provided standards of individual performance, for a series of trials, said to originate in others members of their team. Events were so arranged that Ss… did not attain the performance levels put before them by the others… . Assumptions were made that: (a) scores are evaluated in terms of internal levels of aspiration; (b) referent social pressures more strongly influence… internal levels of aspiration than do coercive… and (c) a discrepancy between an internal level of aspiration and an obtained score generates forces to reduce this discrepancy." Results confirmed the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived differences in task competence and asymmetry of dyadic influence.

A "task, in which perceptions of differential task competence were induced, was followed by the… task of judging the magnitudes of 100 stimuli… . [The] induction of perceptions of differential prior task competence failed to produce a significant degree of asymmetry of influence during the subsequent task… . [A] second experiment was designed and conducted. The prior task was replaced by one of greater similarity to the subsequent task, and instructions were rewritten in order to emphasize this similarity… . [This] yielded a highly significant degree of asymmetry of influence. It is concluded that perceived task competence is an important determinant of the amount and direction of social influence, but that its effectiveness depends… on perceived task similarity." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GE05C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative efficacy of various types of prior belief-defense in producing immunity against persuasion.

"It was postulated that people characteristically defend their beliefs… by avoiding exposure to contradictory information… . Since the person is unmotivated to develop a defense of his belief to the extent that he considers it invulnerable, it was hypothesized that such beliefs are more effectively immunized against persuasion by preexposure to counterarguments… . Second, since the person is unpracticed in the defense of such beliefs, it was predicted that immunizing pretreatments would lose effectiveness to the extent that they required the person to participate actively… in the defense. Finally, an interaction effect was predicted such that the detrimental effect of requiring active participation is greater with the defense involving pre-exposure to the counterarguments than with the supportive defense." The hypotheses were supported. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD27M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prediction of individual differences in susceptibility to industrial monotony.

"Responses to questions concerning feelings of monotony and boredom on the job were compared, for a group of 72 women, with answers to other questions designed to test hypotheses… concerning the personal characteristics associated with susceptibility to monotony." The susceptible worker is likely to be young, restless in his daily habits and leisure-time activities, and less satisfied with personal, home, and plant situations in aspects not directly concerned with uniformity or repetitiveness. Feelings of monotony are considered to be not merely a function of the task performed, but are related to more general factors in the individual worker. 21 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental investigation of group members' perceived influence over leader decisions.

The premise that increased perceived influence over leader-made decisions has positive effects on members' satisfaction and commitment was tested in an experiment. One hundred four participants in ad hoc groups of 4 (plus 1 confederate) gave their opinions about the settlement of a civil lawsuit to the group leader (a confederate), who made the decision on behalf of the group. Feedback provided to the participants by the leader manipulated members' perceived personal influence, and the influence of the group as a whole, over the leader's decision. Perceived personal influence predicted levels of satisfaction, whereas perceptions of group influence were important with respect to commitment to the decision. Results are integrated with recent work on leadership and organizational behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)