Performance appraisal and psychological distance.

This study investigated the rating attitudes of supervisors and subordinates and their reactions during public- and private-performance evaluations. 84 women nursing administrators were assigned roles as supervisors and subordinates and given instructions for subordinate-evaluation interviews. 24 interviews were conducted, 6 in private and 18 in public, with Os randomly selected from the nursing administrators. The results clearly indicated that supervisors were more negative in their initial subordinate-appraisal ratings than subordinates. In addition, Os were more negative in their ratings than participants. When evaluative interviews were conducted publicly, the subordinates experienced a number of negative reactions that were not evident in private interviews. The concepts of psychological distance and role stereotypes were discussed in explaining these results. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)