Understanding attitudes toward affirmative action programs in employment: Summary and meta-analysis of 35 years of research.

Affirmative action programs (AAPs) are controversial employment policies in the United States and elsewhere. A large body of evidence about attitudinal reactions to AAPs in employment has accumulated over 35 years: at least 126 independent samples involving 29,000 people. However, findings are not firmly established or integrated. In the current article, the authors summarize and meta-analytically estimate relationships of AAP attitudes with (a) structural features of such programs, (b) perceiver demographic and psychological characteristics, (c) interactions of structural features with perceiver characteristics, and (d) presentation of AAP details to perceivers, including justification of the AAP. Results are generally consistent with predictions derived from self-interest considerations, organizational justice theory, and racism theories. They also suggest practical ways in which AAPs might be designed and communicated to employees to reduce attitudinal resistance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of resources and alternatives on coalition formation.

Previous research has indicated that coalition formation is influenced by the players' resources and alternatives (game structure). However, on almost all occasions when both resources and game structure have been varied, they have been confounded. In the present study with 224 undergraduates, 4 different 4-person simple games were used, based on the same distribution of resources. These games were played both with and without resources being assigned. Thus, resource assignment and game structure were not confounded. Coalition frequencies and reward divisions were minimally influenced by assigned resources. Coalition frequency was inversely related to coalition size. Players' outcomes were inversely related to the size of the winning coalition and directly related to the number of their alternative small coalitions. Players' mean payoffs over all trials were related to the number and mean size of their minimal winning coalitions, relative to the other players. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The space of an object: Object attention alters the spatial gradient in the surround.

Although object-based attention enhances perceptual processing of information appearing within the boundaries of a selected object, little is known about the consequences for information in the object's surround. The authors show that distance from an attended object's center of mass determines reaction time (RT) to targets in the surround. Of 2 targets in the surround, both equidistant from a cue, the target closer to the center of mass was detected faster. Moreover, RT was shown to be a linear function of distance from the center of mass of a fixed, attended object, and changes to the shape of the object and its center of mass predictably altered RT. Object-based attention leads to a pattern of facilitation in the surround that may contribute to the organization of visual scenes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Number of coalitions and resources as sources of power in coalition bargaining.

Investigated, using 80 female and 50 male undergraduates, the importance of 2 potential sources of power in coalition situations (number of coalitions in which the person is included and assigned resources), a potentially influential individual-differences factor (gender), and the validity of 4 theories of coalition formation (minimum power theory, the Roth-Shapely value, the weighted probability model, and bargaining theory). Five-person groups of males or females played 20 trials of a coalition game that varied the number of coalitions available to the players. Games were presented either with or without resources being assigned. Results indicate that both resources and number of alternatives influenced coalition outcomes. Players' payoffs were directly related to both factors, and coalition frequency was inversely related to the total number of alternatives available to the coalition members. Minor gender differences were also obtained. Implications for coalition theories in general and the weighted probability model in particular are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)