Job Characteristics and Biases in Subordinates' Appraisals of Managers

This article develops a general model relating job characteristics to biases in the perception of managers' abilities. A 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design was used to vary managerial task complexity, subordinate task complexity, and managers' rates of giving orders. The subjects were 216 upper-level undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to 72 three-person groups. Relative, but not absolute, levels of task complexity biased subordinates' evaluations of managers. This finding is consistent with equity theory and with leadership theories that emphasize the relative contributions of leaders and group members. Procedures that increased order-giving increased subordinates' appraisals of managers when managers performed either relatively more or relatively less complex work than did subordinates, but had no effect under equal complexity conditions. The results are discussed in terms of leader-member exchange theories and contingency theories of leadership (Dienesch & Liden, 1986; Fiedler & Chemers, 1984; Graen, Novak, & Sommerkamp, 1982; Kerr & Jermier, 1978).     

Predicting individual differences in complex skill acquisition: dynamics of ability determinants.

Substantial controversy exists about ability determinants of individual differences in performance during and subsequent to skill acquisition. This investigation addresses the controversy. An information-processing examination of ability-performance relations during complex task acquisition is described. Included are ability testing (including general, reasoning, spatial, perceptual speed, and perceptual/psychomotor abilities) and skill acquisition over practice on the terminal radar approach controller simulation. Results validate and extend Ackerman's (1988) theory of cognitive ability determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition. Benefits of ability component and task component analyses over global analyses of ability-skill relations are demonstrated. Implications are discussed for selection instruments to predict air traffic controller success and for other tasks with inconsistent information-processing demands.     

Implicit sequence learning is represented by stimulus—response rules

For nearly two decades, researchers have investigated spatial sequence learning in an attempt to identify what specifically is learned during sequential tasks (e.g., stimulus order, response order, etc.). Despite extensive research, controversy remains concerning the information-processing locus of this learning effect. There are three main theories concerning the nature of spatial sequence learning, corresponding to the perceptual, motor, or response selection (i.e., central mechanisms underlying the association between stimulus and response pairs) processes required for successful task performance. The present data investigate this controversy and support the theory that stimulus—response (S—R) rules are critical for sequence learning. The results from two experiments demonstrate that sequence learning is disrupted only when the S—R rules for the task are altered. When the S—R rules remain constant or involve only a minor transformation, significant sequence learning occurs. These data implicate spatial response selection as a likely mechanism mediating spatial sequential learning.     

Stereotype Threat,Social Class,Gender, and Academic Under-Achievement: When Our Reputation Catches Up to Us and Takes Over

According to Steele (1997), negative stereotypes about intellectual abilities can act as a threat that disrupts the performance of students targeted by bad reputations. Previous research on stereotype threat has showed that on a stereotype-relevant test, stigmatized group members (e.g., African Americans) performed worse than others on an intellectual verbal task. However, when the instructions accompanying the test did not create stereotype threat, stigmatized group members' performance was equal to that of other participants. In this paper, we present studies documenting the effect of stereotype threat and discuss ways to counter it. Two strategies derived from Self-Categorization Theory (Turner & Oakes, 1989) and Self-Affirmation Theory (Steele, 1988) are presented, tested, and discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ability and task constraint determinants of complex task performance

Previous research on basic information-processing tasks has suggested that there may be a dissociation between the underlying process determinants of task performance and associations with ability measures. This study investigates this dissociation in the context of a complex skill-learning task-an air traffic control simulation called TRACON. A battery of spatial, numerical, and perceptual speed ability tests were administered, along with extensive task practice. After practice, manipulations of task requirements and system consistency were introduced. Ability correlations with performance revealed a dissociation between some manipulations that have effects on performance means and the corresponding correlations with reference abilities. Implications for integrating experimental and differential approaches to explaining performance and possible avenues for improved selection measures are discussed.     

Examining Preschool Cognitive Abilities Using a CHC Framework

Although there has been a substantial growth in the number of published studies examining tests of cognitive abilities and using contemporary theories of cognitive abilities, to date none have done so with preschool cognitive tests. In this study the relation between cognitive ability measures for young children and Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory is examined. Tests and subtests from the Differential Ability Scales: Upper Preschool Level and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability-Revised with a sample of 158 children between 4 and 5 years of age were used in a series of joint factor analyses. Although a series of models were explored, the model representative of the CHC theory of cognitive abilities was best supported by the data. This provides evidence for a greater differentiation of young children's cognitive abilities than are typically interpreted. Results are discussed with regard to understanding the link between contemporary theories of intelligence and young children's cognitive abilities, as well as implications for intellectual assessment practices with young children.     

The impact of feedback frequency on learning and task performance: Challenging the “more is better” assumption

Previous research on feedback frequency suggests that more frequent feedback improves learning and task performance (Salmoni, Schmidt, & Walter, 1984). Drawing from resource allocation theory (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989), we challenge the “more is better” assumption and propose that frequent feedback can overwhelm an individual’s cognitive resource capacity, thus reducing task effort and producing an inverted-U relationship with learning and performance over time. We then propose that positive and negative affective states will moderate the inverted-U relationship between feedback frequency and task performance. We test these propositions in an experimental study where the frequency of task feedback is manipulated. Results show that feedback frequency exhibits an inverted-U relationship with task performance, and this relationship is mediated by task effort. This curvilinear relationship is then moderated by individual’s positive affective state.     

Rééducation des compétences socio-émotionnelles pour des adultes présentant une déficience intellectuelle

IntroductionThe aim of the present study was to improve socio-emotional skills in adults with intellectual disability (ID) in order to remediate their social behavior difficulties.MethodThe socio-emotional skills reeducation program (Barisnikov, 2007) was proposed to 17 ID adults. Participants’ socio-emotional skills were assessed in pre- and post-reeducation period using tasks from the “Socio-Cognitive and Emotional Battery” (Barisnikov & Hippolyte, 2011).ResultsPost-reeducation assessment showed that the performance of participants was significantly improved on both “Emotion Attribution Task” and “Social Resolution task”. The significant reduction in their behavioral problems was also observed. These results demonstrated that the improvements were not limited to participants’ socio-emotional processing abilities but were also generalized to their daily functioning.ConclusionThe program provides an interesting tool to improve socio-emotional processing abilities and social behavior in adults with ID.     

Advances in the assessment of cognitive skills using computer-based measurement

The impact of technology in the field of intellectual assessment has, for the most part, been limited to computerized administration and scoring. Anderson’s (2001) theory of intelligence suggests that performance on traditional IQ measures is acquired via two main routes, thinking and dedicated processing systems known as modules. Empirical data used to support this relationship between the speed of basic processing and intellectual functioning have been evidenced primarily by correlations between measures of general intelligence and measures of inspection time (IT). These IT measures allow individuals to make a forced choice discrimination task without a motor component. Because only the time used to cognitively solve the problem is recorded, these responses typically occur in milliseconds. Many theorists (e.g., Burns & Nettelbeck, 2002; Deary, 2000; Jensen, 2006) consider IT to be a more “pure” measure of intelligence, because the influences of verbal skills, memory, and socialization are minimized and results are therefore considered to be more culture-fair. Until relatively recently, IT measurement was restricted to complex and expensive specialized laboratory equipment. This article describes the theoretical background and developmental process of a computer-based IT measure that is easily adaptable to accommodate the needs of the researcher.     

Item Difficulty,Discrimination, and the Confidence-Frequency Effect in a Categorical Judgment Task

Three experiments are presented to examine the role of discrimination abilities in the relationship between confidence and performance across items that vary in difficulty. The studies also test the confidence-frequency effect, predicted in the theory of probabilistic mental models (Gigerenzer, Hoffrage, & Kleinbolting, 1991), by investigating the relationship between performance estimates provided as confidence judgments and as estimates of the frequency of correct responding. The categorical judgment task involved predicting whether a handwriting sample, generated using naturalistic sampling, had been written by a female or male. The results suggest that, when outcome variability is taken into account, discrimination ability differs drastically between easy, medium, and hard items. Discriminability is greatest for easy items and decreases until it disappears for hard items. There was also evidence of a confidence-frequency effect, with mean confidence judgments showing a slight tendency toward overconfidence and frequency estimates showing a slight tendency to underestimate performance.     

Transformations in the couplings among intellectual abilities and constituent cognitive processes across the life span

Abstract— Two-component theories of intellectual development over the life span postulate that fluid abilities develop earlier during child development and decline earlier during aging than crystallized abilities do, and that fluid abilities support or constrain the acquisition and expression of crystallized abilities. Thus, maturation and senescence compress the structure of intelligence by imposing age-specific constraints upon its constituent processes. Hence, the couplings among different intellectual abilities and cognitive processes are expected to be strong in childhood and old age. Findings from a population-based study of 291 individuals aged 6 to 89 years support these predictions. Furthermore, processing robustness, a frequently overlooked aspect of processing, predicted fluid intelligence beyond processing speed in old age but not in childhood, suggesting that the causes of more compressed functional organization of intelligence differ between maturation and senescence. Research on developmental changes in functional brain circuitry may profit from explicitly recognizing transformations in the organization of intellectual abilities and their underlying cognitive processes across the life span.     

Does mental rotation ability depend on sensory-specific experience?

No study has investigated the link between vision and touch with respect to spatial abilities using a within-subjects design. With this design, we compared participants’ tactile and visual mental rotation abilities, as measured by the Mental Rotations Test (Vandenberg & Kuse, 1978). Participants in four groups completed two consecutive sessions under no-switch (visual-visual or tactile-tactile) or switch conditions (visual-tactile or tactile-visual) to determine whether mental rotation abilities assessed in Session 2 depend on previous sensory-specific experiences (Session 1). Analysis of response accuracy revealed that all groups improved their performance in Session 2. Analysis of response time showed an improvement in visual and tactile performance during Session 2 for participants who first performed the task with the same modality. No effect of task repetition appeared for participants who performed in two different sensory conditions. These results reveal that mental rotation ability partly depends on sensory-specific conditions and that ability developed in a sensory-specific condition does not necessarily transfer to another sensory condition.     

Information processing abilities and performance on two perceptual-motor tasks

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the hypothesized information-processing mechanisms, thought to be reflected by the slope and intercept of the regression of choice reaction time on stimulus information or information transmitted could account for performance on two novel laboratory tasks. In addition, analyses were performed to determine whether these theorized mechanisms represent stable within individual abilities or task specific capabilities. Analysis indicated that the slopes obtained from two different choice reaction time paradigms were unrelated while intercepts were moderately correlated. Examination of the pattern of zero-order correlations further showed that regression components were not meaningfully related to performance on either novel task, suggesting that knowledge of information-processing mechanisms, as assessed in choice RT paradigms, did not enhance the understanding of performance in more complex tasks.     

Relationships between implicit and explicit uncertainty monitoring and mindreading: Evidence from autism spectrum disorder

We examined performance on implicit (non-verbal) and explicit (verbal) uncertainty-monitoring tasks among neurotypical participants and participants with autism, while also testing mindreading abilities in both groups. We found that: (i) performance of autistic participants was unimpaired on the implicit uncertainty-monitoring task, while being significantly impaired on the explicit task; (ii) performance on the explicit task was correlated with performance on mindreading tasks in both groups, whereas performance on the implicit uncertainty-monitoring task was not; and (iii) performance on implicit and explicit uncertainty-monitoring tasks was not correlated. The results support the view that (a) explicit uncertainty-monitoring draws on the same cognitive faculty as mindreading whereas (b) implicit uncertainty-monitoring only test first-order decision making. These findings support the theory that metacognition and mindreading are underpinned by the same meta-representational faculty/resources, and that the implicit uncertainty-monitoring tasks that are frequently used with non-human animals fail to demonstrate the presence of metacognitive abilities.     

Both exogenous and endogenous target salience manipulations support resource depletion accounts of the attentional blink: A reply to Olivers, Spalek, Kawahara, and Di Lollo (2009)

Input control theories of the attentional blink (AB) suggest that this deficit results from impaired attentional selection caused by the post-Target 1 (T1) distractor (Di Lollo, Kawahara, Ghorashi, & Enns, 2005; Olivers, van der Stigchel, & Hulleman, 2007). Accordingly, these theories predict that there should be no AB when no distractors intervene between the targets. Contrary to these hypotheses, Dux, Asplund, and Marois (2008) observed an AB (T3 deficit) when three targets, from the same attentional set, were presented successively in a rapid stream of distractors, if subjects increased the resources they devoted to T1 processing. This result is consistent with resource depletion accounts of the AB. However, Olivers, Spalek, Kawahara, and Di Lollo (2009) argue that Dux et al.’s results can be better explained by the relationship between T1 and T2, and by target discriminability effects, rather than by the relationship between T1 and T3. Here, we find that manipulating the resources subjects devote to T1, either exogenously (target perceptual salience) or endogenously (target task relevance), affects T3 performance, even when T2 and target discriminability differences are controlled for. These results support Dux et al.’s conclusion that T1 resource depletion underlies the AB.     

Motivational effects of enhancing expectancies and autonomy for motor learning: An examination of the OPTIMAL theory

The OPTIMAL theory proposes that enhancing expectancies and autonomy facilitate motor performance and learning (Wulf & Lewthwaite). Present study with two experiments aimed to examine this proposition by using a modified dart throwing as motor task. In both experiments, motor learning (i.e., retention test) was enhanced by practice conditions, which enhance expectancies for future performance and support learners’ autonomy. Moreover, they led to significantly superior self-efficacy scores during all acquisition phase, retention, and transfer tests. Findings of the present study provided support for propositions of the OPTIMAL theory. Results are discussed in terms of motivational aspects of enhancing expectancies and autonomy and their role on facilitating motor learning.     

The role of verbal ability in the processing of complex verbal information

Summary This study investigated the relation between psychometric mental-ability test scores and several reaction-time measures; a simple-reaction task, a choice-reaction task, the Posner and Mitchell (1967) letter-identification task, and a variation of the sentence-verification task. Scores on the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices and the Verbal Subtest of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SATV) were obtained. The less complex information-processing tasks replicate earlier studies in which general intelligence was only marginally related to reaction-time measures. The sentence-verification task systematically varied task complexity. Several direct and derived measures from the task were significantly correlated with psychometric mentalability measures. However, even though a number of precautions were taken to ensure that the sentence-verification task assessed purely verbal-processing efficiency, there was little evidence for an important task-specific relation between verification measures and verbal ability. Moreover, despite its relative verbal complexity, sentence verification did not reflect a greater relationship to verbal ability than other tasks did. Overall, the information-processing efficiency measures used in this study suggested a fairly general, rather than a task-specific, relationship to intellectual ability.The research presented in this paper was conducted while the first author was affiliated with the University of Georgia, U. S. A.     

Dissociations among tasks involving inhibition: A single-case study

Recent theories of working memory have emphasized the role of inhibition in suppressing irrelevant information. Moreover, psychometric studies have reported that several inhibition tasks with very diverse requirements load on a single inhibition factor. A patient with left inferior frontal damage, Patient M.L., previously reported to have a semantic short-term memory deficit (R. C. Martin & He, 2004), showed evidence of difficulty with inhibition on short-term memory tasks. We investigated whether he would show evidence of inhibition difficulty on two verbal tasks (a Stroop task and a recent-negatives task) and two nonverbal tasks (a nonverbal spatial Stroop task and an antisaccade task). M.L. was impaired on both verbal tasks but performed normally on the nonverbal tasks. M.L.’s data also represent a dissociation between Stroop and antisaccade performance, two tasks that load on a single factor in factor-analytic studies. The implications of these data for theories of inhibition and executive function are discussed.     

Location versus distance in determining movement accuracy

In a pursuit-tracking task consisting of 100 positioning movements between targets at 5 fixed positions, target location (proximity to the boundary of the task) varied independently of movement amplitude. Eighty-seven subjects performed 12 trials of the task, with target width (at 3 levels) as a between-subject variable. A microprocessor system detected the location of the end-point of each primary movement. Movement accuracy (measured as end-point dispersion not constant error) varied with target location but not movement amplitude, while movement time varied with both factors. The effect of target width on movement accuracy was less consistent. The observed effects are discussed in terms of a mass-spring model of muscular action. It is concluded that apart from having important consequences for the design of positioning experiments, these results call into question information-processing and impulse-variability theories which implicate movement amplitude in determining movement accuracy, and support theories which emphasize target location.     

Inspection time and IQ: Evidence for a mental speed—ability association

Two studies have tested a theory that individual differences in mental speed constitute an important component of differences in general intelligence by examining patterns of correlation between ‘inspection time’ (IT) and various ability measures assumed to reflect different kinds of speed. The first study was set within the framework of Cattell's theory about the structure of abilities. Results from 30 adult Ss whose IQs (Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, RAPM) were in the average to above-average range suggested that IT is associated with a broad general ability variable and not with the primary abilities ‘perceptual speed’ or ‘speed of closure’. However, IT was significantly correlated with only a subgroup of those primary abilities that were significantly intercorrelated, and the outcome did not further elucidate the nature of speed as discussed within Cattell's formulation. The second study tested a relationship between IT and a measure of general ‘intellectual speed’, previously described as the major determinant of intellectual differences in a situation where two other critical variables, ‘accuracy’ and ‘continuance’ can exert no influence. It was measured for more than 40 adult Ss, whose IQs (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised) ranged from 81 to 138, and compared with times to produce the correct solution to individual items from the RPM. IT, IQ and solution times were all significantly intercorrelated but, nonetheless, IT and solution times appeared to be substantially reflecting different processes. It is concluded that IT can account for more than the 10% of variance in IQ commonly found to be shared with simple information-processing tasks. The present result of approx. 17% shared variance is probably an underestimate, given the restricted IQ samples used and certain procedural shortcomings. The nature of speed reflected by IT has not been determined and current measurement procedures may be confounded by internal noise.