On becoming a leader: Effects of gender and cultural differences on power distance reduction

The present research focused on power processes in a simulated organizational structure consisting of three hierarchical levels occupied by different numbers of mules and females. Subjects were presented with a chart showing the organizational hierarchy of which they were a member placed at the lowest level, and asked to nominate any person for the leader position vacated by the current incumbent. The results of Experiment I (n = 88 Dutch male and female university students) showed that male subjects strongly overnominated themselves, whereas a majority of the female subjects nominated either self or another female. Of the others that were nominated by both males and females, almost all were occupants of positions immediately below the leader position, indicating the normative influence of a bureaucratic rule of leader succession. Experiment 2 was a replicational study carried out in a different culture (n = lOl Polish male and female university students). Polish subjects adhered to the bureaucratic rule more strongly than their Dutch counterparts, and both females and males nominated mostly males. Results are discussed with reference to gender self-stereotypes and cultural differences.     

IMPROVED CURVEBALL HITTING THROUGH THE ENHANCEMENT OF VISUAL CUES

This study investigated the effectiveness of using visual cues to highlight the seams of baseballs to improve the hitting of curveballs. Five undergraduate varsity baseball team candidates served as subjects. Behavior change was assessed through an alternating treatments design involving unmarked balls and two treatment conditions that included baseballs with 1/4-in. and 1/8-in. orange stripes marking the seams of the baseballs. Results indicated that subjects hit a greater percentage of marked than unmarked balls. These results suggest that the addition of visual cues may be a significant and beneficial technique to enhance hitting performance. Further research is suggested regarding the training procedures, effect of feedback, rate of fading cues, generalization to live pitching, and generalization to other types of pitches.     

Psychological adjustment and experiences with peers during early adolescence: Reciprocal,incidental, or unidirectional relationships?

This study examined the relationship over time involving three types of experiences with peers (amount of contact with friends, intimacy with best friend, rejection by peers) and two indices of psychological adjustment (self-perceived social acceptance and depressive affect) using longitudinal and causal analytic procedures developed within the life stress paradigm. Data were collected twice on a sample of 73 young adolescents, with a 6-month interval between measurements. The results provide partial support for a model of reciprocal influences between experiences with peers and adaptation, since adaptation was predictive of change over time in peer experiences in several instances as well as vice versa. Implications for intervention and further research are presented.     

Occupational conditions and workers' sense of community: Variations by gender and race

The literature is reviewed to define a sense of community in the workplace and to identify factors that may foster it. A model is developed and estimated with survey data from a culturally diverse sample of men and women performing lower-level jobs at a medium-sized manufacturing firm. Results of regression analyses are reported that correct for sample selection bias resulting from the lower response rates of minority workers. Findings suggest that well-designed jobs and supportive workplace relationships and policies are important in explaining workers' sense of community, defined as workers' perceptions of mutual commitment between employee and employer. Informal sources of support play a larger role in explaining men's sense of community, while formal sources of support are more important in explaining women's sense of community. Findings further suggest that African American workers, especially women, have a difficult time experiencing a sense of community at work. The authors thank the employees of Fel-Pro for their participation in this study and Melissa Roderick, Michael Sosin, and anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. This research was funded by the Fel-Pro/Mecklenberger Foundation and the Lois and Samuel Silberman Fund.     

Effects of diagnostic classification systems on clinical hypothesis-generation

In this study it was determined whether (a) classification as opposed to absence of classification has an effect on the quality of clinical hypotheses (b) the DSM-III-R and the CBCL have a different effect on the quality of clinical hypotheses, and (c) the potential difference between the DSM-III-R and the CBCL is moderated by the different number of syndromes identified by these systems. To investigate these questions, an experiment was conducted in which 86 clinicians generated hypotheses for six cases. The clinicians were divided into a DSM-III-R, a CBCL, and a control group. Of the six cases, two were classified by both classification systems as one syndrome, two were classified as one syndrome by the DSM-III-R but as two syndromes by the CBCL, and two were classified as two syndromes by the DSM-III-R but as one syndrome by the CBCL. The quality of the hypotheses was determined by means of four dependent variables selected from an overview of qualitative criteria: explanatory value, redundancy, possibility of operationalization, and specificity. No differences between the CBCL and the control groups were found. The DSM group performed better than the control group regarding explanatory value and redundancy. The DSM-III-R group also scored better than the CBCL group regarding explanatory value, particularly when the number of identified syndromes was two for the CBCL and one for the DSM-III-R.     

The measurement of imagery ability

When variations in imagery ability are used to predict task performance, distinct and consistent relationships do not tend to emerge. A selective review of studies is undertaken to outline some basic reasons why individual difference measures of imagery are often so unsuccessful. Relevant studies concerning the learning and performance of motor skills are examined in some detail. It is concluded that the major problem in these studies is the types of imagery tests that have been employed; these tests have not adequately measured imagery ability. A recently developed instrument, the Movement Imagery Questionnaire, which has been designed to assess individual differences in visual and kinesthetic imagery of movement is discussed.     

Completely nonmetric multidimensional scaling

Most of the distance models underlying multidimensional scaling assume that if a stimulus y is between the stimuli x and z on each dimension, then x and z should be the farthest apart of the three stimuli. An iterative algorithm is described that uses only this betweenness prediction to infer the ordering of a set of stimuli on each of one or two dimensions. Applied to previously published semantic similarity data, this algorithm produced two-dimensional configurations that were similar in appearance to Euclidean configurations but generally involved fewer violations of the betweenness prediction.     

The development of ethnic identity and ethnic role taking skills in children from different school settings

The current studies were designed to investigate the influence of variations in type of school setting on the development of role-taking skills and ethnic identity. We were interested in groups of school children in grades 1 to 5 inclusive from three different types of language programs: (1) instruction in the native language (English in this case); (2) total instruction in a second language (French); and (3) partial instruction in a second language (French). All children were native-English speaking, and came from perdominantly middle class families with monolingual English-speaking parents. The children from each program were equated at each grade level on age, and verbal and non-verbal I.Q. It was expected that (1) children in the second language programs would develop identity with their native language reference group later and less consistently than children in the native language programs; because (2) the second language children would identify more with the second language ethnic group; (3) the second language children would be able to understand at an earlier grade level than the native language group the principle of reciprocity in role-taking; and (4) these difference would be more pronounced for the totally than for the partially immersed second language children. The children were required to rate a number of ethnic dolls on a 20 point rating scale according to (1) how much each would be desired as a personal friend, (2) how much each would be desired as a friend for a member of another specific ethnic group, and (3) how similar each doll was to the child. The results indicated general support for hypotheses (1), (2) and (4), particularly among the primary school samples (1, 2), but a lack of support for hypothesis (3). These results demonstrate the influence of socio-cultural factors on the development of ethnic identity and ethnic role-taking skills.     

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