Effects of social identity and threat on self-esteem and group attributions.

Two studies were conducted to examine reactions and coping responses to a threatened group identity. In both studies, participants were asked to read a (fictitious) report that varied whether their group received a good or bad evaluation. In Study 2, the report also gave an internal or external reason for the rating. Study 1 showed that participants made more positive affirmations about an important group membership when their group had been threatened. They also made an equal number of internal and external attributions when they identified strongly with their group. Study 2 showed that participants who were given a group-serving attribution when their group had been threatened had higher self-esteem than those not given a group-serving attribution, especially if they identified strongly with their group. These results are discussed in the context of social identity theory and biased information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

'I'm cooperative, but you're greedy": Some cognitive tendencies in a commons dilemma.

Investigated the effect of 2 resource management outcome variables (personal and group) on 4 classic cognitive tendencies (fundamental attribution error, actor–observer effect, self-serving biases, and self-centered bias) assessed at the end of a commons dilemma simulation in which Ss harvested valued resources from a shared, replenishable pool. A fifth cognitive tendency (false consensus) was examined as a function of Ss' stated harvest intentions before the dilemma began. 171 undergraduates were assigned to 1 of 34 mixed-sex groups. The false consensus effect was apparent among heavy harvesters. Responsibility for outcomes was seen as more personal than situational for both self and others: the fundamental attribution error was strongly evident, but the reverse of the actor–observer bias was found. Harvesters took more than their proportional share of responsibility for the outcomes, yet they assigned even more responsibility to others. Light harvesters disclaimed responsibility for damaged commons when others harvested heavily; heavy harvesters took considerable responsibility for poorly managed commons. In sum, cognitive biases and tendencies were very evident and, as a whole, tended toward self-servingness, but did not always take their traditional forms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What harvesters really think about in commons dilemma simulations: A grounded theory analysis.

Verbal protocols and structured interviews were conducted with 16 Ss (11 undergraduates, 3 graduate students, 1 computer technician, and 1 high school student) to investigate decision making in a simulated commons dilemma. Grounded theory was used to identify motivational and cognitive mediators of harvest choices. The core category that emerged from the analysis was labeled goal satisficing. Most Ss adopted or formulated specific harvest goals prior to and during the simulation. These goals guided decision-making, influencing strategies, and ultimately how many points were harvested. Five action strategies used to pursue goals were identified: developing initial harvest plans, monitoring pool size and others' harvests, developing expectancies about others, simulating possible outcomes, and strategic influence. Results suggest that defection (resource overuse) occurs in commons dilemmas for 2 main reasons: a failure to adopt cooperative goals, or a failure to implement effective action strategies after such goals are adopted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of goal setting and group size on performance in a social dilemma.

Examined the effect of self-set personal and assigned group goal setting on an individual's behavior in 3- and 7-person groups confronted with a social dilemma. 274 Ss earned between $1.82 and $4.94 by investing money in either a personal account or a group account. Self-set personal goals that were compatible with an assigned group goal led to higher group performance than self-set incompatibly high ("greedy") personal goals. Collective-efficacy in making money, outcome expectancies that cooperation with others leads to the attainment of the group's goal, and group goal commitment correlated positively with group performance. Ss in 7-person groups (N?=?28) were less cooperative than those in 3-person groups (N?=?26). Ss in 7-person groups had lower collective-efficacy, lower outcome expectancies, and lower commitment to the group goal than did Ss in 3-person groups. Furthermore, individual performance in 7-person groups was significantly lower than individual performance in 3-person groups. A social dilemma appears to be a boundary condition for the normally positive effect of group goal setting on group performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing: The dilemma of group differences.

A revival of test bashing has followed the growing public disillusionment with racial preferences as a means for abrogating the adverse impact of tests on certain groups in educational and occupational selection. This, added to the racial differences in g and the slight and ephemeral effects of Head Start and other more intensive interventions aimed at decreasing racial group differences in scholastic achievement, is the dilemma of group differences. In the face of the apparent failure of equal educational opportunity to make all groups in American society equal in scholastic performance or in the test scores used in selection for higher education, jobs, and the Armed Forces, psychological tests are again being blamed and scorned. This could be averted in the public's perception by emphasizing tests' face validity in test construction without lessening the latent traits that account for the tests' validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age stereotyping in a simulated interview.

The effects of age stereotyping on subjects' ratings of interviewee potential were investigated using a simulated auditory interview. Male and female participants (N?=?156) listened to a 12-min interview of a supervisory candidate applying for a temporary position in industry and then rated the interviewee's qualifications for the supervisory position. Participants gave higher overall interview ratings to a younger interviewee even though he had the same qualifications as an older interviewee. Ratings given to the older interviewee, however, were not significantly different from those given to an interviewee whose age was not designated. The findings are discussed in terms of the influence of both positive and negative age stereotypes on ratings of applicant potential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experience on performance in a replenishable resource trap.

Investigated the finding of R. C. Cass and J. J. Edney (see record 1980-10833-001) and D. M. Messick and C. L. McClelland (see record 1983-32644-001) that individuals perform better than groups in a replenishable resource trap. It was proposed that individuals are superior to groups, in part, because members of large groups are unable to discern the effects of their behavior on the resource pool. To test this idea, 154 undergraduates were given experience with the task prior to managing resources in groups. The independent variables were the type of experience, either group or individual, and group size. As predicted, results show that individual experience improved subsequent group performance more than did group experience. Moreover, the beneficial effects of individual experience were found to increase as group size increased. Future research directions are noted, and implications for research on social dilemmas are discussed. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of participation in a simulated society on attitudes of business students.

Assessed the effects of participation in a stimulated society involving social, economic, and political factors on attitudes toward business with 129 undergraduate business students as Ss. Results of a posttreatment attitude questionnaire show that in comparison to controls, simulated-society Ss placed greater emphasis on societal goals and less emphasis on suboptimizing business practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward cooperation in commons dilemmas.

This paper first reviews 6 main theories about and influences on cooperation in the commons dilemmas. Commons is defined as any desirable, divisible entity to which multiple individuals or groups have access. Although a commons might consist of space or time, this paper considers resource commons, that is, reservoirs of accessible energy or valuable materials. The dilemma exists when individuals are presented with a choice between self and collective interest in considering environmental problems. Secondly, the authors suggest 2 new directions by clarifying the nature of cooperation both conceptually and mathematically, and outlining a new theoretical perspective. Measures of cooperation must include 4 elements: the number of harvesters, the amount of the resource, the rate of resource regeneration, and the size of harvests. The authors' theoretical suggestion is to place greater emphasis on the rise and fall of various influences on harvester behaviour over the course of a commons dilemma, an emphasis called the sequential-influence approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of caffeine on alertness in simulated automobile driving.

30 min after ingesting 200 mg of caffeine or a placebo, each of 24 21-26 yr old males drove an automobile simulator for 90 min. Immediately thereafter, the S ingested a supplemental dose of 200 mg of the medication taken initially and then drove for another 90 min. The simulator provided a comprehensive and coherent set of stimulus inputs which produced a degree of realism not usually found in laboratory studies. Both the initial and the supplemental doses of caffeine significantly enhanced performance beyond that found with placebo, on each of 4 measures of alertness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of the manipulation of a performance-reward contingency on behavior in a simulated work setting.

Tested predictions derived from several "Expectancy * Value" theories of motivation by manipulating a performance-reward contingency with 256 male undergraduates who responded to an ad for part-time employment. Ss worked for 3 consecutive days under a high performance-reward contingency condition and 3 days under a low contingency condition. Effects on the S's perceived effort-pay probability, perceived effort, performance, and valence of pay were examined. As predicted, the manipulation had a significant effect on effort-pay probability and performance, but failed to produce the predicted differences in perceived effort. The effects on valence were mixed. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of endowment amount and attributions on responses to a subgroup social dilemma.

A subgroup social dilemma exists when the personal interests of 2 or more individuals conflict with the interest of a larger group to which they belong such that a defecting response is economically more rational for each individual than a cooperative response and the individuals involved identify with different (sub)groups. The impact of endowment amount and attributions for the amounts allocated on responses to a subgroup social dilemma was examined. Justified inequality and luck-based equality generated low levels of cooperation, whereas justified equality and luck-based inequality generated high levels of cooperation. Five potential psychological mediators were examined: attraction to the subgroup, perceived interdependency, superordinate identification, self-focused thoughts, and normative expectations. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choice behavior in social dilemmas: Effects of social identity, group size, and decision framing.

Social dilemmas appear in 2 basic forms: the public goods (PG) problem, in which the individual must decide whether to contribute to a common resource, and the commons dilemma (CD), in which the individual must decide whether to take from a common resource. The 2 forms of choice dilemma are equivalent in terms of outcomes, but because they involve different decision frames, they are not psychologically equivalent. The present experiment, with 88 undergraduates, examined framing effects on decisions involving use of a common resource pool in a 2?×?2?×?2 (PG vs CD task structure?×?small vs large group size?×?individualistic vs collective social identity) factorial design. That the 2 versions of the decision task were not psychologically equivalent was evidenced both by a main effect of task structure and by interactions involving task structure, group size, and social identity. Overall, Ss kept more of the common resource for themselves under the PG version of the task than under the CD frame. Under the CD structure, group size had no effect on choice behavior, but in the PG version, Ss in large groups kept more than did individuals in small groups. As the resource pool was depleted, the social identity manipulation had opposite effects for large groups under CD and PG frames. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of group counseling on self-esteem.

Investigated the influence of group counseling on self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and hostility in 3 groups of adult women: 24 middle-class women; 9 women who received provincial social assistance (i.e., longer than 3 mo); and 15 who received city social assistance (i.e., less than 3 mo). All Ss completed pre- and posttests of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List before and after a series of group counseling sessions on practical, personal, and social issues. Results show that the women receiving provincial social assistance had significant changes in the level of self-esteem; it is suggested that these women, nearly half of whom were either single or divorced (compared with Ss who received city social assistance who were almost all separated and the middle-class Ss who were almost all married), perceived a need change in their lives. Because of their relatively stable marital and financial status (i.e., husbands gone for some time and social assistance providing funds), they were not forced to spend a good deal of time in self-exploration and were consequently responsive to treatment. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Threat, cohesion, and group effectiveness: Testing a social identity maintenance perspective on groupthink.

Although I. L. Janis's concept of groupthink is influential, experimental investigations have provided only weak support for the theory. Exp 1 produced the poor decision quality associated with groupthink by manipulating group cohesion (using group labels) and threat to group members' self-esteem. Self-reports of some groupthink and defective decision-making symptoms were independently, but not interactively, affected by cohesion and threat. Exp 2 confirmed the success of the cohesion manipulation. Exp 3 replicated the poor-quality decision making observed in Exp 1 and provided support for a social identity maintenance perspective on groupthink: Groups who operated under groupthink conditions but who were given an excuse for potential poor performance produced significantly higher quality decisions than groups who worked under groupthink conditions alone. The results are used to interpret the groupthink phenomenon as a collective effort directed at warding off potentially negative views of the group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a simulated drinking game procedure to study risky alcohol use.

The aim of the current study was to initiate and describe the development of a Simulated Drinking Game Procedure (SDGP), a safe, efficient, and alcohol-free laboratory protocol for studying drinking game behavior. Fifty-two undergraduates completed the SDGP in a laboratory session, where participants played singles and/or doubles games of Beer Pong. Water was substituted for alcohol in all of the games. The number of drinks consumed during matches and 20-min play periods were coded during each session, and software was used to estimate the peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) a participant would achieve if he or she had consumed actual alcohol while participating in the SDGP. Results indicated that participation in Beer Pong can lead to rapid consumption of alcohol and an associated rise in BAC. Results also highlight additional risks for female participants associated with participation in drinking games. The SDGP is a research tool capable of increasing our understanding of drinking games. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pay-for-performance dilemma revisited: Empirical example of the importance of group effects.

The pay-for-performance relation was examined at the individual level of analysis using data from 71 managers and professionals who constituted the entire management hierarchy at a manufacturing facility. There was no significant correlation between performance rating and total merit raise (r?=?.19, ns). However, there was a significant hidden supervisory group effect: Units with higher average performance ratings were given higher average raises (r?=?.45, p?r?=?.03, ns). The results were analyzed and contrasted using the Within and Between Analysis technique (Dansereau, Alutto, & Yammarino, 1984) and the Contextual Analysis technique (Boyd & Iversen, 1979). Of the possible alternative explanations for the lack of relation between pay and performance at the individual level of analysis, these data suggest the need for the explicit consideration of the effects of group membership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)