Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts.

Employee theft rates were measured in manufacturing plants during a period in which pay was temporarily reduced by 15%. Compared with pre- or postreduction pay period (or with control groups whose pay was unchanged), groups whose pay was reduced had significantly higher theft rates. When the basis for the pay cuts was thoroughly and sensitively explained to employees, feelings of inequity were lessened, and the theft rate was reduced as well. The data support equity theory's predictions regarding likely responses to underpayment and extend recently accumulated evidence demonstrating the mitigating effects of adequate explanations on feelings of inequity. [An erratum for this article appears in Journal of Applied Psychology, 1990 (Fal), Vol 75(6). A corrected version of Table 2 is presented.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The evaluation of an individual burnout intervention program: The role of inequity and social support.

This study evaluated a 5-week, group-based burnout intervention program among direct-care professionals working with mentally disabled individuals. Equity theory was used as the theoretical framework. The main objective of the program was to reduce perceptions of inequity in the relationship with the organization and with the recipients of care by increasing the fit between the professional's goals and expectations and the actual work situation. One experimental group and 2 control groups participated. All 3 groups filled out 3 questionnaires: before the program started, 6 months later, and 1 year later. Individual absenteeism rates were assessed for 1 year before and after the program. Results showed that in the experimental group burnout, absence, and deprived feelings diminished compared with the control groups. The most profound effects were among participants who could draw on social resources to benefit from the intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Of "Sympathy for the Devil" and a Question of Conscious versus Unconscious Spite: Comment on Shabad (2000).

This commentary takes up a problem raised by Peter Shabad (2000) (see record 2000-00917-004), who argues that for certain patients, symptomatic behavior is reflective of unconsciously spiteful feelings toward internalized objects. His article was inspired by Dostoyevsky's (1864/2001) famous novella "Notes From Underground," whose narrator is proud of his spiteful character, unlike Shabad's patients, who are entirely unaware that they harbor such feelings. Although Shabad lays out the dynamics as he understands them of his patients' unconscious spite, he never makes clear what it is that makes spiteful feelings explicit in the narrator of Dostoyevsky's novella and real-life individuals like him. This response endeavors to account for this crucial difference using cases from literature as well as from life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of hourly overpay and underpay inequity when tested with a new induction procedure.

Tested J. S. Adams' (see PA, Vol. 40:8736) inequity theory with an induction which did not challenge the workers' job qualifications, eliminating devalued self-esteem as a confounding variable. 31 workers were hired for an hourly pay clerical task in a real job situation and assigned to 1 of 3 groups overpay, underpay, and control in a before-after design. Contrary to inequity theory predictions and to previous inequity theory experiments, there were no significant work performance differences among the 3 groups, but 3 of 11 underpay Ss quit the job while no other Ss quit. It is concluded that the results of this experiment combined with the results of other experiments strongly suggest that inequity effects previously reported are probably due to the self-esteem variable. It is suggested that research on wage inequity should focus more on variables, e.g., turnover, satisfaction, and recruitment rather than solely on work performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of piece-rate overpayment on productivity.

Investigates why a number of equity studies have reported that piece-rate overpayment leads to low productivity. It has been argued that low productivity is a side effect of overpaid Ss striving for higher quality, or that Ss actually try to reduce their feelings of inequity by reducing their production, thereby reducing their pay outcomes. To determine the reason for the low productivity, a task was developed upon which striving for high quality would not necessarily lead to lower productivity. Data from 37 randomly selected Ss showed that overpaid Ss produced significantly less than equitably paid Ss, and that low productivity of overpaid Ss could not be attributed to their striving for higher quality. It is concluded that when faced with overpayment, Ss try to reduce their outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of perceptions of equity and inequity on worker performance and satisfaction.

Hired 253 male undergraduates to perform clerical work for 7 consecutive 1/2-days. Feelings of inequity were experimentally induced by making ss feel overpaid, underpaid, or equitably paid. The naturally occurring induction was produced by changing the pay system 1/2 way through the week's work. Results in general are supportive of equity theory deductions. There were trends for (a) underpaid ss to decrease productivity in both conditions, and (b) overpaid ss to parallel the equitably paid groups over time. Effects on overall job satisfaction show that ss under both overreward and underreward conditions were less satisfied than ss made to feel equitably paid. Effects on job satisfaction were particularly strong under high-incentive conditions (modified piece-rate payment) as opposed to low-incentive conditions (flat hourly pay). (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Marital interaction and depression": Correction to Schmaling and Jacobson.

Reports an error in "Marital interaction and depression" by Karen B. Schmaling and Neil S. Jacobson (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1990[Aug], Vol 99[3], 229-236). In this article, the measures in Table 1 were incorrectly listed. The third and fourth measures ought to read "Wife DAS" and "Husband DAS," respectively. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1991-01471-001.) In this article, patterns of marital interaction as a function of depression and marital satisfaction are examined. The purpose of the study was to separate dysfunctional marital interaction patterns that were unique to depression from those that were associated with marital distress. The presence or absence of a depressed wife was crossed with level of marital satisfaction (distressed or nondistressed) to produce four groups of subject couples. Couples in which the wife was depressed exhibited more depressive behavior than did nondepressed couples, but only during discussion of a high conflict (as opposed to neutral) topic. Sex?×?Depression Level?×?Marital Satisfaction interactions were found for aggressive behavior: Depressed women in nondistressed relationships exhibited behavior that was characteristic of maritally distressed couples (high rates of aggression). In contrast, the husbands of these women exhibited behavior that one would expect in happily married couples (low rates of aggression). We failed to replicate previous findings that depressive behavior served a coercive function, although distressed couples, regardless of depression status, exhibited all the usual signs of negative dysfunctional interaction. [An erratum for this article will appear in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1990 (Nov), Vol 99(4). The measures in Table 1 were incorrectly listed in the original article.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Base rate for employee theft: Convergence of multiple methods.

In this study, given the potential sensitivity of inquiries regarding theft behavior, the authors relied on randomized-response techniques and unmatched-count techniques to estimate the base rate of employee theft for those personnel with access to cash, supplies, merchandise, or products easily converted to cash. Depending on the level one ascribes to nontrivial employee theft, these techniques converge on theft rates over 50%. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Losing sleep over organizational injustice: Attenuating insomniac reactions to underpayment inequity with supervisory training in interactional justice.

Self-reports of insomnia were collected among 467 nurses working at 4 hospitals. At 2 of these hospitals, a change in pay policy resulted in reduced pay for all nurses, whereas nurses' pay was unchanged at the other 2 hospitals. Nursing supervisors at 1 hospital in each group received training in promoting interactional justice, whereas no training was provided at the other 2 hospitals. Reflecting the stressful nature of underpayment, insomnia was significantly greater among nurses whose pay was reduced than among those whose pay remained unchanged. However, the degree of insomnia was significantly lower among nurses whose supervisors were trained in interactional justice, both immediately after training and 6 months later. These findings demonstrate the buffering effects of interactionally fair treatment on reactions to underpayment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Education and the "woman question."

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 39(1-2) of Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne (see record 2009-19704-001). The name of Kirstin Maxwell was inadvertently omitted from the list of students acknowledged at the end of die article. The corrected list is provided in the erratum.] Explores the "woman question," the 19th century debate about whether the rights and freedoms available to men should be extended to women, within the context of the post-secondary education system. Examples of the historical arguments in support of the exclusion of women are outlined followed by a more contemporary analysis of gender differences in graduate education with a particular focus on access, graduation rates and time to completion of graduate degrees. The "chilly climate" construct is presented as a possible explanation for the alleged gender differential on these latter 2 variables. According to this model, the structures and operation of academic institutions embody significant elements of systemic discrimination and micro-inequities which disadvantage women. A series of 6 studies are described by which various aspects of the chilly climate (i.e., mentoring and supervision, sexual harassment) are explored in terms of the effects on attrition and time to completion. Paradoxically, although the research reveals a failure of educational institutions to fully resolve the woman question, women continue to operate effectively under conditions of inequity. The paper concludes with speculations about the future constructions and deconstructions of this debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of outcome improvement resulting from threats and appeals.

In a simulated industrial setting 90 college students performed a clerical task, believing that their pay was being determined by a peer allocator. After being treated inequitably, Ss were able either to threaten the (fictitious) allocator or appeal to fairness principles, or they had no say ("mute" condition). During a 2nd series of pay periods, Ss' pay either remained constant, improved such that they and the allocator received equal shares, or improved such that Ss received more than the allocator ("comprehension" condition). The total pay was identical in all conditions and created a context of overall inequity. Increased satisfaction and perceived fairness were observed with improved outcomes in both the mute and the threat conditions. In the appeal conditions, satisfaction and perceived fairness were highest in the equality cell. Results are interpreted in terms of relative deprivation. Implications for responses of recipients in ameliorative social programs are presented. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Manipulating Subjective Expectancy Through Feedback: A Laboratory Study of the Expectancy-Performance Relationship": Correction to Janz.

Reports an error in the original article by Janz (Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol 67(4) Aug 1982, 480-485). On page 481 and 484, the numbers of subjects in some places were reported incorrectly. The corrections are provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1982-29612-001.) Investigated the form of the expectancy-performance relationship in a laboratory study of the performance of 132 undergraduates on a simple clerical task. As feedback after each of 8 trials, Ss were told that their performance was better, worse, or borderline. Ss recorded their subjective expectancies before each trial. Over all Ss, feedback condition had no impact on performance; but when 39 Ss whose reported expectancy did not match their assigned feedback were eliminated, a strong expectancy-performance relationship emerged. Ss having intermediate expectancy outperformed those whose expectancy was low or high. Examination of the nonbelievers supported the mediating role of cognitive variables in deciding how hard to work at this task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Burnout and inequity among human service professionals: A longitudinal study.

In a composite sample of human service professionals (N?=?245), longitudinal relations across 1 year were tested between equity in the professional–recipient relationship and burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment). The 1st research question was whether inequity influenced burnout across time. The 2nd research question was whether longitudinal relations between equity and burnout were curvilinear, as predicted by equity theory. The results confirmed that inequity affects the central component of burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion) and that this relation is curvilinear. Feeling more deprived and feeling more advantaged resulted in higher future emotional exhaustion levels. No indication was found for a longitudinal relation between inequity and depersonalization. A synchronous relation was found suggesting that personal accomplishment influences equity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Awareness of subtle emotional feelings: A comparison of long-term meditators and nonmeditators": Correction to Nielsen and Kaszniak (2006).

Reports an error in "Awareness of Subtle Emotional Feelings: A Comparison of Long-Term Meditators and Nonmeditators" by Lisbeth Nielsen and Alfred W. Kaszniak (Emotion, 2006[Aug], Vol 6[3], 392-405). The copyright attribution is incorrect. The article is in the public domain. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-10747-005.) The authors explored whether meditation training to enhance emotional awareness improves discrimination of subtle emotional feelings hypothesized to guide decision-making. Long-term meditators and nonmeditators were compared on measures of self-reported valence and arousal, skin conductance response (SCR), and facial electromyography (EMG) to masked and nonmasked emotional pictures, and on measures of heartbeat detection and self-reported emotional awareness. Groups responded similarly to nonmasked pictures. In the masked condition, only controls showed discrimination in valence self-reports. However, meditators reported greater emotional clarity than controls, and meditators with higher clarity had reduced arousal and improved valence discrimination in the masked condition. These findings provide qualified support for the somatic marker hypothesis and suggest that meditation may influence how emotionally ambiguous information is processed, regulated, and represented in conscious awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A field study of employees' attitudes and behaviors after promotion decisions.

The impact of promotion decisions on equity, commitment, and behavioral outcomes was examined in a field setting. Workers in a service company who submitted their candidacy for promotion to either department or division heads were compared with their noncandidate counterparts (total N?=?191). Ss completed surveys after promotion decisions were made. In addition, measures of the Ss' lateness and absence before and after the promotion were available. Data analyzed by level of position (department vs division) and promotion decision (promoted, not promoted, and control) indicated that promotions resulting from self-initiated candidacies might actually produce undesirable outcomes. Failure to get a promotion was associated with feelings of inequity, a decrease in commitment, and an increase in absenteeism; positive promotion decisions increased commitment. Theoretical and organizational implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Movement and visual attention: The spotlight metaphor breaks down": Correction to Driver and Baylis.

Reports an error in "Movement and visual attention: The spotlight metaphor breaks down" by Jon Driver and Gordon C. Baylis (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1989[Aug], Vol 15[3], 448-456). In this article, the display durations were incorrect and should be doubled to give the correct figures. The display durations are corrected in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1990-00258-001.) The interfering effects of distractor letters are known to diminish with increasing distance from the target letter (B. A. Eriksen and C. W. Eriksen, see record 1975-02247-001). This result is held to support spotlight models in which visual attention can only be assigned to contiguous regions of the visual field. However, the result is also consistent with the rival claim that attention is assigned to perceptual groups. Four experiments show that grouping of target and distractors by common motion can have more influence than their proximity. Distant distractor letters that move with a target letter produce more interference than static distractors that are nearer the target. Near distractors are equally ineffective if the target is static while they move. These results imply that attention is directed to perceptual groups whose components may be spatially dispersed. The spotlight metaphor seems inappropriate for visual attention in a dynamic environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Comparable worth judgments: A measurement properties analysis": Correction to Madigan.

Reports an error in "Comparable worth judgments: A measurement properties analysis" by Robert M. Madigan (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1985[Feb], Vol 70[1], 137-147). There was an error on page 146 on the fourth line from the top. The text should read: "evaluation method convergence was an inappropriate test of measurement validity." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-13501-001.) Examined the Position Analysis Questionnaire, the guide chart plan, and the custom plan as methods of comparable-worth job evaluation from a psychometric qualities perspective. Evaluation scores for 20 positions in a state agency were generated by 4 experienced analysts via each method. Reliability, discriminant validity, and convergence of the measures were examined in the context of comparable-worth pay classification decision making. Results show that (1) reliability coefficients above .95 could still be inadequate for comparable-worth job evaluation application, (2) factor (dimension) redundancy was potentially a major shortcoming of job evaluation measures, (3) evaluation methods differed in terms of measurement quality, and (4) classification decisions were likely to be method dependent. It is concluded that none of the 3 evaluation methods exhibited the psychometric qualities desired of a procedure to serve as the governing criterion in pay classification decisions. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inequity in equity: How "equity" can lead to inequity for high-potential students.

Over the past three decades, the achievement of waves of American students with high intellectual potential has declined as a result of inequity in educational treatment. This inequity is the result of an extreme form of egalitarianism within American society and schools, which involves the pitting of equity against excellence rather than promoting both equity and excellence, anti-intellectualism, the "dumbing down" of the curriculum, equating aptitude and achievement testing with elitism, the attraction to fads by schools, and the insistence of schools to teach all students from the same curriculum at the same level. In this article we provide recommendations for creating positive change--recommendations that emphasize excellence for all, that call for responsiveness to individual differences, and that suggest basing educational policies on well-grounded research findings in psychology and education. Educational policies that fail to take into account the vast range of individual differences among students--as do many that are currently in us--are doomed to be ineffective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Marital quality and mother-child and father-child interactions with school-aged children": Correction to Brody and Pellegrini.

Reports an error in "Marital quality and mother-child and father-child interactions with school-aged children" by Gene H. Brody, Anthony D. Pellegrini and Irving E. Sigel (Developmental Psychology, 1986[May], Vol 22[3], 291-296). In the article, the second author's name was misspelled in the issue's table of contents, title of the article, and page headings of the article. The name appears correctly in this erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1986-24288-001.) Mother-child and father-child teaching interactions of 60 families (parents aged 31-37 yrs, children aged 5.5-7.5 yrs) were videotaped, from which frequency counts of efficacious teaching behaviors were obtained for each parent-child teaching interaction. Parents completed the Scale of Marriage Problems. A dyad score of marital problems was formed by adding the husbands' and wives' scores, and a 2-level variable of marital problems was then derived by performing a median split on the marital problem dyad scores. Normative comparisons suggested that the couples whose scores fell below the median were characterized as nondistressed and the couples whose scores fell above the median were characterized as slightly discontented with their marital relationship. Few differences in teaching styles were found between mothers and fathers in the nondistressed group. Mothers in the slightly discontented group used more questions, positive feedback, informational feedback, and verbal task management and intruded less often into their children's learning effort than did the fathers in this group. Fathers with increased reports of marital problems used less positive feedback and were more intrusive; mothers in this group appeared to compensate for a less-than-satisfactory marriage by being more involved in teaching their children. In turn, children of slightly discontented mothers were more actively responsive to their teaching behaviors than were children of nondistressed mothers. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Collective induction: Social combination and sequential transition": Correction to Laughlin and Futoran.

Reports an error in "Collective induction: Social combination and sequential transition" by Patrick R. Laughlin and Gail C. Futoran (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985[Mar], Vol 48[3], 608-613). One sentence reads incorrectly on page 610. The correct sentence is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-20078-001.) 240 undergraduates, as individuals and 4-person cooperative groups, attempted to induce a rule that partitioned a deck of standard playing cards into exemplars and nonexemplars. A trial consisted of (a) individual member hypotheses, (b) group hypothesis (omitted in individual conditions), (c) choice of any of the cards, and (d) feedback on the exemplar or nonexemplar status of the card. Ss were instructed to select cards to confirm or disconfirm the current hypothesis, or received no such instructions. Groups had significantly more correct final hypotheses, plausible final hypotheses, and overall plausible hypotheses than individuals. Performance was better for both individuals and groups under control instructions than either instructions to select cards to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses. Social combination analyses and sequential transition analyses indicated that the groups were remarkably able to recognize and adopt the correct hypothesis if and only if it was proposed by at least 1 group member on some trial. Thus, the superiority of collective induction over individual induction was due to superior hypothesis evaluation by groups rather than to superior hypothesis formation by groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)