Number of assessment center dimensions as a determinant of assessor accuracy.

Undergraduates (N?=?131) were trained as assessors, who evaluated the performance of confederates in an assessment center simulation on 3, 6, or 9 dimensions. Number of dimensions significantly affected some assessment center judgments but not others. Ss who rated a small number of dimensions classified behaviors more accurately and made more accurate ratings than did Ss who rated a large number of dimensions. Number of dimensions did not affect the accuracy of assessors' observations nor the discriminant validity of their dimension ratings. Given these results and the findings of others (e.g., J. R. Hinrichs and S. Haanpera; see record 1978-20114-001), developers of assessment centers should limit the cognitive demands placed on assessors by, for example, minimizing the number of dimensions assessors are required to process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role enactment versus typology: Another test of the triangle hypothesis.

H. H. Kelley and A. J. Stahelski's (see record 1971-02325-001) triangle hypothesis asserts that there are 2 stable types of people—cooperators and competitors—who develop characteristic views of the nature of others according to these 2 types. Previous tests of the thesis leave the question of its validity in some doubt. The authors tested the hypothesis by manipulating S rather than game variables and did so by asking whether competitors who agree to play the role of a cooperator in a game will in due course shift to the latter's characteristic view of others. 784 undergraduates served as Ss. Results are contrary to the triangle hypothesis, which asserts that the competitor's perception of others is type determined and delimited by type-congruent experiences. Findings are best explained by a role hypothesis that asserts that the individual's view of others is determined not by his/her personality type but by the momentary choice of role. Unexpected behavior of a subclass of cooperators is explained by assuming that persons view cooperation as rationally and ethically superior to competition. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of another person's response style on interpersonal behavior in depression.

30 depressed and 30 nondepressed undergraduate women, assigned to categories on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and a short form of the MMPI, interacted with experimental accomplices who played various interpersonal roles during a laboratory procedure involving "cooperative problem-solving." The roles enacted were critical–competitive, supportive–cooperative, and helpless–dependent. Ss' conversational behaviors, written communications, and postencounter evaluations were analyzed as a function of the personal style portrayed by the accomplice. Results indicate that depressed Ss communicated relatively high levels of self-devaluation, sadness, helplessness, and general negative content to all accomplice roles. The critical–competitive role elicited greater extrapunitiveness among depressives than normal Ss and the helpless–dependent role elicited a greater number of negative self-statements among depressives than normal Ss. Findings are discussed in relation to interactional concepts of depressives' social functioning. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extraversion, social cognition, and the salience of aversiveness in social encounters.

Conducted 2 studies to determine whether introverts and extraverts systematically differ in their expectations, recall, and evaluation of social encounter. In Study 1, 102 male undergraduate students (classified as either introvert or extravert based on the Extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) evaluated games on rating scales. All Ss rated the competitive game as more arousing and potentially punishing than the cooperative game, but introverts anticipated that the competitive game would be less friendly and likable than did the extraverts. In Study 2, 61 undergraduates believed they would participate in either a cooperative or a competitive game. Ss were shown slides of all other Ss (teammates and opponents), as well as bogus biographical information. Ss were then asked to recall information and evaluate each S on rating scales. Introverts recalled more information about opponents than about their own teammates and rated all Ss less positively during the competitive encounter. For extraverts, this pattern was reversed. Results are discussed in terms of individual differences in the salience of aversiveness in social encounters. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions, false consensus, and valence: Two field studies.

Two studies, with 1,056 Ss, investigated attitudes, knowledge, and behavior with regard to several environmental issues. Findings demonstrate that observers tend to perceive a false consensus with respect to the relative commonness of their own behavioral choices. This phenomenon was replicated across a variety of behaviors. This bias was not related, however, to Ss' trait inferences of the typical person who would choose a particular alternative. Neither estimated commonness of responses nor Ss' own behavioral choice provided an adequate explanation of the obtained differences in attributional inferences. Results show that Ss made more extreme and confident trait ratings about evaluatively positive behavior, irrespective of their own behavioral choice. Ss' trait ratings were in accordance with L. Ross's (1977) proposal, that Ss make more extreme ratings about dissimilar others, only when Ss rated their own behavioral choice relatively unfavorably compared with the behavioral alternative. Implications for previous investigations dealing with the false consensus effect are outlined, and evaluative and motivational mechanisms are proposed for research on social inference and attributional processes. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A self-presentation approach to the fundamental attribution error: The norm of internality.

Three studies assessed the validity of the assumption of a general norm placing greater value on internal explanations for behavior than on external explanations (determined by Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale). Study 1 with 117 undergraduates demonstrated that Ss who expressed internal causal attributions received more social approval than those who expressed external ones. Study 2, in which 18 Ss rated themselves as giving more internal explanations for events than average others do, also demonstrated the greater positive value associated with internal attributions. In Study 3, 25 Ss given the injunction to create a positive impression described themselves as having a stronger bias toward internal attributions than did 24 Ss given the injunction to create a negative impression. The implications of the norm for internality are discussed and outlined for the actor–observer effect and for social psychological theories. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional inhibition in essential hypertension: Obstacle to communication during medical visits?

Studied 542 patient–physician interviews to see if 203 patients with essential hypertension (EH) were less likely to exhibit negative emotions than 339 normotensive Ss as rated by their physicians and independent observers. EH Ss did not differ from others on self-rated emotional or physical health. However, physicians rated EH Ss as exhibiting fewer signs of distress during the visit than normotensive Ss. Independent observers also judged the EH Ss as less distressed than normotensives. Content analysis disclosed that physicians paid less attention to psychosocial concerns and concentrated on biomedical matters to a greater degree with EH Ss than with normotensive Ss. EH Ss appear to have patterns of self-presentation that could present an obstacle to effective communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Egocentrism, conformity, and agreeing to disagree.

The development of strategies for resolving peer disputes was studied by presenting 22 kindergartners and 22 2nd graders with self–peer disagreements, which varied on 2 factors: whether self and/or a peer had access to more valid information and whether the disagreement was about objective perceptions or subjective preferences. The self-valid and other-valid problems were accurately resolved by the youngest Ss. The both-valid problem was accurately resolved (evaluating both positions as right) both as a function of age and of the objectivity of the disagreement. It is concluded that the ability to differentiate the perceptual from the evaluative judgment was critical in distinguishing between egocentric/conforming Ss and nonegocentric independent/cooperative Ss. The finding that motivational factors increased conformity in older Ss is explained in terms of social comparison processes rather than in terms of the need of peer approval. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal competition can cause individuating processes.

Two experiments investigated whether competitors attend to and individuate opponents. Interdependence theories predict that people individuate others on whom their outcomes depend rather than stereotyping them; this has been tested for cooperative but not for competitive interdependence. Competition separates such phenomena as unit formation in cooperation from interdependence per se, posited to be the crucial variable. In two experiments, Ss expected to compete or not compete with a competent or incompetent fictitious S. Ss commented into a tape recorder about the person's attributes, some inconsistent and some consistent with expectations. As predicted, competitors (a) increased attention to inconsistencies, (b) drew more dispositional inferences about inconsistencies, and (c) formed more varied impressions. The role of competition in undercutting expectancy-based impressions and intergroup vs. interpersonal competition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Share and Share Alike or Winner Take All?: The Influence of Social Value Orientation upon Choice and Recall of Negotiation Heuristics

Two experiments test the hypothesis that social value orientation influences choice and recall of heuristics in individuals preparing for negotiation. Consistent with predictions, Study 1 shows that in the preparation phase, negotiators with a prosocial value orientation choose more cooperative heuristics (e.g., "equal split is fair") than competitive heuristics (e.g., "your gain is my loss") while negotiators with a competitive social value orientation do the reverse. Negotiators with an individualistic social value orientation do not discriminate in their choice between cooperative and competitive heuristics. Study 2 shows that following preparation, prosocial negotiators recall more cooperative than competitive heuristics while individualists and competitors do the reverse. Additional measures suggest that prosocial negotiators prefer cooperative heuristics because these are seen as morally appropriate, whereas individualists and competitors prefer competitive heuristics because these are seen as effective. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.     

Self-consciousness and the overperception of self as a target.

Three studies, with 233 undergraduates, examined an egocentric bias toward overperceiving the self as the target of an action or event and the relation of this bias to dispositional self-consciousness. The 1st study found that, immediately prior to the return of their test results, Ss were more likely to believe that an especially good or an especially bad exam singled out by the teacher was theirs rather than a classmate's. In the 2nd study, Ss in a group experiment overestimated the likelihood that they, rather than another person in the group, had been chosen to participate in an experimental demonstration, regardless of whether the demonstration was described as enjoyable or unenjoyable. This study also found that the self-as-target bias was enhanced by public self-consciousness, as assessed by the Self-Consciousness Scale. The 3rd study showed that Ss high in public self-consciousness were more likely than those low in public self-consciousness to perceive hypothetical social situations as being relevant to or targeted toward themselves. Discussion focuses on the cognitive and motivational bases of the tendency to perceive the self as a target and the relation between self-consciousness and egocentric attributions. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The accuracy of social value prediction: Actor and observer influences.

Research was conducted with 240 undergraduates to determine the relationship between an observer's own value orientation and his/her ability to detect the value orientations of others. Choices in a series of 3-choice decomposed games were used to classify Ss as altruistic, cooperative, individualistic, or competitive in orientation. Subsequently, Ss observed a hypothetical person (the "chooser") select between self- and other-outcome alternatives in a series of 4-choice decomposed games. The chooser's behavior was preprogrammed in accordance with an altruistic, cooperative, individualistic, or competitive orientation. Results confirm that Ss' own values affected their relative abilities to predict the different choosers' behaviors. Cooperative and individualistic Ss demonstrated comparatively high levels of predictive accuracy regardless of the chooser's social value orientation, whereas altruistic and competitive Ss' predictive accuracy varied as a function of the chooser's orientation. Results for cooperative and competitive Ss resembled the "triangle" effect first observed by H. H. Kelley and A. J. Stahelski (1970). (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classroom learning style and cooperative behavior of elementary school children.

Cooperative behavior of 243 3rd–7th graders who studied in cooperative small groups was compared to that of 150 pupils in classrooms conducted with whole-class instruction. An expanded version of M. Madsen's (1971) domino game was used to assess Ss' judgments about distributing payoff to themselves or to others in an altruistic, cooperative, or competitive fashion. In a 2nd experiment, 54 groups of 5 Ss were asked to construct new words from the letters appearing in an epigram, with the option to work alone or to collaborate with others. Ss from small-group classrooms were more cooperative on both judgmental and behavioral measures than were Ss from traditional classrooms. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immediate and delayed primacy and recency effects in performance evaluation.

Serial position of a single poor or good performance was manipulated in a series of average performances to examine its effect on performance ratings. In Study 1, 333 undergraduate Ss viewed four videotaped lectures in one session. Overall performance ratings showed a recency effect when good performance occurred last. In Study 2, 208 Ss made observations over 4 days. The recency effect was significant when poor performance occurred last. Interpretation of results was based on (a) the attention decrement hypothesis, which suggests that recency effects result when Ss maintain attention, and (b) the finding of greater weighting of negative information in the selection interview (N. Schmitt, see PA, Vol 60:02009; see also E. C. Webster, 1982). Ratings of the single inconsistent performance indicated an assimilation effect. A recent poor or good inconsistent performance was rated more similarly to preceding average performance. A schema appears to bias inconsistent extreme performance toward the stable impression already established. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mixed-motive conflict in social dilemmas: Mood as input to competitive and cooperative goals.

Four studies using diverse manipulations demonstrated that moods interacted with competitive and cooperative goals to influence people's behaviors in social dilemmas. This was true whether moods were manipulated by films (Studies 1 and 2) or music (Study 4) or were assessed dispositionally (Study 3); whether specific or global goals were manipulated (Studies 1, 3, and 4) or were assessed dispositionally (Study 2); and whether participants' actions were tested in a resource dilemma (Studies 1, 2, and 4) or prisoner's dilemma game (Study 3). In 3 studies, bad moods led to more competition (less cooperation) with competitive goals in mind but to more cooperation (less competition) with cooperative goals in mind. A 4th study reversed this pattern with goals framed in terms of enjoyment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnic stereotypes: Their effects on the perception of communicators of varying credibility.

A French-Canadian speaker tape-recorded 2 messages, 1 confirming, the other disconfirming, the appropriateness of the French-Canadian stereotype to himself. 1 message was heard by 96 undergraduates under different conditions of credibility produced by varying message intent and setting, and political belief. Ss rated the speaker on semantic differential scales assessing stereotypical and evaluative attributes. Ratings on the stereotypical dimension were influenced by message content and setting, whereas ratings on the evaluative dimension were primarily influenced by message content and political belief. Results suggest that a member of an ethnic group can, under some situations, modify stereotyped reactions to him, but that this tends to engender an unfavorable reaction in the listener. (French summary) (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Illusory correlation and social categorization: Toward an integration of motivational and cognitive factors in stereotype formation.

Investigated the effect of group membership on the processes underlying the formation of group stereotypes. In two studies, Ss were randomly assigned to a majority group, a minority group, or neither group (control). Ss were then presented with 48 short statements in which other in-group and out-group members displayed disirable and undesirable behaviors, with either desirable or undesirable behaviors occurring more frequently. Across these items there was no correlation between group membership and desirability of behavior. In Study 1, measures of covariation perception showed that control Ss formed biased impressions of the group, consistent with a memory-based process of stereotype formation. Group members' perceptions showed little evidence of this bias. In Study 2, group members showed evidence of an in-group bias, with further evidence suggesting that these biased judgments were not dependent upon memory processes. Discussion focuses on the complexity of stereotyping processes introduced by social categorization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do People Agree About the Causes of Behavior? A Social Relations Analysis of Behavior Ratings and Causal Attributions.

Two studies examined consistency and agreement in behavior ratings and causal attributions. In Study 1, participants (N = 280) engaged in a series of getting-acquainted conversations in one of 3 communication media (face-to-face, telephone, computer mediated); in Study 2, participants (N = 120) engaged in a competitive group task. In both studies, participants rated themselves and their interaction partners on a set of behaviors and then made attributions about the causes of those behaviors. The major findings were that (a) participants consistently favored some causal factors over others in explaining both their own and their partners' behavior, supporting the existence of generalized attributional styles; and (b) participants showed moderate self-partner and partner-partner agreement about behavior but virtually no agreement about the causes of behavior. Thus, in brief interactions people tend to see themselves and others through the lens of their stable patterns of perceiving and interpreting behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)