Pooled Peer Ratings,Self-Ratings,and Estimated Ratings of Therapeutic Communication and Popularity: A Relational Analysis

Two studies of therapeutic communication and popularity were conducted in the framework of Dialogic Action Therapy (Ho & Wang, 2009 Ho , D. Y. F. , & Wang , H. L. ( 2009 ). Interpersonal perceptions and metaperceptions in Dialogic Action Therapy: A relational methodological approach to theory construction . Humanistic Psychologist , 37 , 79 – 100 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) that accords centrality to the bidirectional nature of interpersonal perceptions. Pooled peer ratings, self-ratings, and estimates of peer ratings were collected from 88 Chinese students in psychology who knew one another well. Self-inflation was operationally defined as the self-rating minus the peer rating, and overestimation as the estimated rating minus the peer rating, for each participant; negative values would be indicative of self-deflation or underestimation. Major results are: (a) Pooled peer ratings have superior validity over self-ratings of therapeutic communication; (b) bias effects (above-average and self-deflation) are found in ratings of popularity; (c) self-inflation and overestimation decrease as pooled peer ratings of therapeutic communication increase and, similarly, self-inflation decreases as pooled peer ratings of popularity increase. These results strengthen the case for a relational methodological approach that includes assessing how one views oneself and others, how one is viewed by others, and discrepancies between perceptions.     

The Buddy System:

This study presents the effect of the Buddy System on arrests for major criminal offenses over a three year period for each of 553 younsters (334 project and 218). The findings support earlier results which were based on only the project year, in that fewer experimental juveniles, who had been arrested in the year before participating in the project, were arrested within three years after entering the Buddy System. Once again, the arrest rate of those who had not been arrested in the prior year was higher in the experimental condition. In addition, the negative effect occured largely with those who spent more than one year in the Buddy System. These results, combined with an analysis of the base rate of arrests provided by the control condition (which showed variation from 10.8 to 81%, depending on sex and offense history), indicated that delinquency programs should focus on yougsters with a recent history of arrests for major criminal offenses, and that the base rates of the target population should be considered in the implementation and evaluation of a prgram.     

Behavior Ratings and Observations of Externalizing Symptoms in Girls: The Role of Child Popularity with Adults

This study examined staff ratings and live observations of externalizing behavior in 149 girls with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who participated in all-female naturalistic research camps. Girls' popularity with adult camp staff was hypothesized to explain discrepancies between ratings and observations. Compared to behavior observations, staff ratings overestimated the externalizing behavior of girls who were disliked by staff. In contrast, ratings and observations were consistent for girls who were liked by staff. Among girls who were disliked by staff, unpopularity with peers predicted a larger discrepancy between staff ratings and observations, but peer status made little difference in rating–observation discrepancies of girls liked by staff. All results held after controlling for the participants' ADHD versus comparison status. Results suggest that staff ratings may be biased by personal feelings about children and that direct observations may be more immune to such bias.     

Buddy Christ and Jesus Action Figure

Two diminutive, mass produced statues of Christ, Buddy Christ and Jesus Action Figure seem intended as postmodern anti-Christs to offend Christian sensibilities and mock the image of Christ. I suggest, however, that the statuettes have an excess of meaning that is remaindered as a residual respect for Christ as a spiritual guide, whose enduring political leadership subverts religious hypocrisy. An atheistic/Marxist defence of Christology provides my theoretical base to explore the statuettes, the cult of the Sacred Heart provides an historical example of subversive piety and an editor of the Gay Times' supplies an urgent challenge to reclaim the Christ of Faith as a spiritual and cultural inheritance from the religious right.     

Lunch Buddy Mentoring for Children Victimized by Peers: Two Pilot Studies

The authors describe two pilot studies examining the potential benefits of Lunch Buddy (LB) mentoring, a manualized approach to school-based mentoring. LB mentoring takes place during the school lunch period and is designed to promote positive changes in children's peer relationships. In both studies, changes in peer victimization were assessed after one and three semesters of LB mentoring. In the first study, LB mentors were paired with elementary school children (N = 24) identified by child and teacher reports as victimized by peers. Results revealed significant declines in self- and teacher-rated victimization after one and three semesters of mentoring. In the second study, LB mentors were paired with victimized children who also engaged in bullying behavior (N = 23). Results indicated significant declines in self- and teacher-ratings of peer victimization after three semesters of mentoring. In both studies, ratings of perceived harm were low and ratings of satisfaction were high. Discussed are the implications of these findings for future research and for efforts to develop a nonharmful way to help children who are repeatedly victimized.     

Popularity Procurement and Pay Off: Antecedents and Consequences of Popularity in the Workplace

Purpose

This study examines agreeableness and work knowledge as predictors of employees’ popularity above and beyond core self-evaluation (CSE), and the moderating role of these constructs on the CSE–popularity relationship. We also investigate popularity’s effects on supervisor-rated task performance and promotion potential, and the conditional indirect effects of CSE on these outcomes via popularity.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Multi-source data were collected from 213 employees, their coworkers, and direct supervisors in a Chinese mine trading company.

Findings

Agreeableness predicted popularity above and beyond CSE and moderated the CSE–popularity relationship, although the direct and moderating effects of work knowledge were nonsignificant. Popularity positively influenced performance ratings but not promotion potential. Results also supported conditional indirect effects of CSE on performance ratings via popularity.

Implications

The current findings underscore the importance of examining workplace popularity. Discovering agreeableness as an additional predictor of popularity and its moderation effects on the CSE–popularity link suggests that communal qualities are important for employees’ attainment of popularity. The discussion also focuses on expanding the scope of workplace popularity to include performance-related outcomes. Lastly, this study considers how employee characteristics connect to performance ratings through popularity.

Originality/Value

Workplace popularity is relatively unexplored but has tremendous organizational implications. This research advances the understanding of how to attain workplace popularity and the boundary conditions for the relationship between CSE and popularity. It also extends consequences associated with workplace popularity beyond interpersonal outcomes and assesses the role of popularity, a construct rooted in collective perception, in explaining links between employee characteristics and performance-related outcomes.

     

高通量分析技术:流行背后的思考

1　高通量分析技术产生的背景人类基因组计划以前的遗传学偏重于单个基因的研究 ,而人类基因组计划则是把目光投向整个基因组的所有基因 ,从整体水平去考虑基因的存在、基因的结构与功能、基因之间的相互关系等 ,其意义与价值是以前的研究方法所不可比拟的。正是由于这个背景 ,伴随着相关技术的成熟 (光蚀刻、机器手、大规模测序、生物信息学技术 ) ,生物芯片这个集多学科之大成的技术产物应运而生[1] 。芯片技术一经推出 ,立即在世界范围内引起轰动。最初产生的芯片主要是ＤＮＡ芯片、ｃＤＮＡ微阵列 ,随后 ,蛋白质阵列浮出水面 ,并逐渐开…     

Peer Ratings of Children's Assertive and Unassertive Behavior:

The purpose of this investigation was to explore children's judgements of peers' assertive and unassertive behavior in positive and negative interactions. Subjects were 142 third and fourth graders, 8 to 11 years of age. Stimulus materials were sets of three short videotaped scenes in which a female target child behaved either assertively or unassertively with a female peer. Four types of scenes were utilized: positive situations and assertive behavior (PA), positive situations and unassertive behavior(PU), negative situations and assertive behavior (NA), and negative situations and unassertive behavior (NU). Groups of 8 to 10 male and female subjects each viewed one set of scenes and then completed a 10-item questionnaire assessing their judgements of the target children's social skillfulness and likability. Results indicate that subjects rated assertive behavior in positive situations significantly higher than in negative situations for the majority of the items. Also, ratings for the PA and NU scenes and for the NA and PU scenes generally did not differ significantly. No significantly main effect of target child or gender of subject was demonstrated although some trends were noted. These findings strongly suggest that children's judgments of peers' assertive and unassertive behavior are situationally specific. Results of the present study have important implications for children's social skills training.     

Blacky the Cat,I: Semantic Differential Ratings

Two criteria for an alternate form of the Blacky Test, designed to facilitate female identification with Blacky are suggested: 1) the main character must be perceived by females as more feminine than the original stimulus, and 2) the main character must not be viewed differently by male and female Ss in other respects. Semantic Differential ratings of both the original Blacky stimuli and a revised “sexually neutral” cat form (N = 320) indicated that an alternate version could meet both these requirements. Differences between the responses of female Ss to both forms were further shown to be a) generally specific to female Ss, b) specific to the character of Blacky (rather than Mama) and c) often enhanced when Ss made judgments after having seen all twelve cartoons of the test, rather than only the first two.     

ROCs in Eyewitness Identification: Instructions versus Confidence Ratings

From the perspective of signal detection theory, different lineup instructions may induce different levels of response bias. If so, then collecting correct and false identification rates across different instructional conditions will trace out the receiver operating characteristic (ROC)—the same ROC that, theoretically, could also be traced out from a single instruction condition in which each eyewitness decision is accompanied by a confidence rating. We tested whether the two approaches do in fact yield the same ROC. Participants were assigned to a confidence rating condition or to an instructional biasing condition (liberal, neutral, unbiased, or conservative). After watching a video of a mock crime, participants were presented with instructions followed by a six‐person simultaneous photo lineup. The ROCs from both methods were similar, but they were not exactly the same. These findings have potentially important policy implications for how the legal system should go about controlling eyewitness response bias.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reactions to Appraisal Discrepancies: Performance Ratings and Attributions

The traditional top-down approach to performance appraisal has been criticized as not keeping pace with the move toward more participative organizations of the last decade. This has led many organizations to adopt newer performance appraisal systems that use multiple feedback sources (e.g., 360-degree feedback systems). However, research indicates that multiple feedback sources often disagree on performance ratings and attributions. The current paper reports the results of one laboratory and one field study that show the importance of performance and attributional rating discrepancies on the appraisal process.     

Physical Attractiveness and Popularity: The Mediating Role of Self-Perception

Subjective ratings of physical attractiveness were compared with objective ratings of attractiveness in the prediction of popularity. The relationships between Harter's (1979) Perceived Competency Scale for Children (PCSC) and both popularity and physical attractiveness were also examined. Fifty-three third-grade and 54 fifth-grade children were tested on the Harter scales and on a new 7-item scale of self-perceived attractiveness. Objective attractiveness ratings were provided by 30 other children of the same grades and sex. Popularity was assessed by sociometric nominations and ratings. The results replicated the moderate relationship of objective attractiveness and popularity found in prior studies. Self-perceived attractiveness was unrelated to popularity in third-grade children but was significantly related at the fifth-grade level. Subjective and objective attractiveness were inversely related at the third-grade level but were positively related in fifth graders. Objective attractiveness was unrelated to self-esteem at either grade level but subjective attractiveness predicted self-esteem for all the children.