THE INFLUENCE OF TRAINING ON THE LEVEL OF TEST PERFORMANCE AND THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF INTELLIGENCE TESTS

An attempt was made to study whether it is possible by specific training on one test to produce changes in the level of performance on similar tests and in the factor structure of a set of intelligence tests. Considerable improvement occurred in the level of performance on the test on which training was given, but no significant transfer effects to the performance on other tests were found. Slight differentiation was observed in the factor structure.     

LEADER INFLUENCE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE

The role requirements of leaders in an assessment group context were manipulated in a laboratory simulation. Discussion leaders (chairholders) either did or did not have first hand contact with an individual who was being assessed. Furthermore, chairholders were either allowed a formal say in the group's decision or were not. As predicted, different configurations of role requirements had an impact on the influence wielded by the chair, as indexed by measures of group process, group decision, accuracy and group member attitudes. Both prior contact and voting rights had direct and interactive effects and served to increase chair influence. Particular role requirement combinations also produced a type of group disruption as reflected in group member ratings of the quality of the session. The results of the study are discussed in forms of implications for the standardization of procedures in assessment center programs.     

THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING LABORATORIES UPON THE EFFECTIVENESS AND INTERACTION OF ONGOING WORK GROUPS

The impact upon four work groups (N= 31) which participated in organizational training laboratory sessions is evaluated in comparison with eight similar groups (N= 60) which did not participate. Criteria were six-factored dimensions, each composed of items gathered from earlier interviews which group members perceived as problems. Significant changes occurred in training groups in the following three dimensions: group effectiveness, mutual influence, and personal involvement. No significant changes occurred in leader approachability, intragroup trust, or in the evaluation of group meetings. The relevance of a work unit participating in training as a total group, rather than each member participating in a separate session, is discussed.     

THE EFFECT OF PERFORMANCE TIME AND RETESTING UPON THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF INTELLIGENCE TESTS

Changes in the factor structure of intelligence tests between early and later stages of performance and between testing and retesting were studied. In addition to factor analyses, correlations between the test scores of various time periods and the final factor scores were computed. The principal findings were the powerful influence of the verbal ability in the initial stages of most tests, the gradual 'purification' of the factors, and the occurrence of a shift of the highest factor loadings of some tests from one factor to another, particularly in tests with increasing item difficulty.     

基本奖和超额奖的不同配比对作业绩效的影响研究

现今工业企业中所采用的奖励系统多数是由基本奖和超额奖两部分构成。本研究考察了基本奖和超额奖不同的配比结构对作业绩效的影响。结果表明:不同配比结构的奖励系统具有不同的激励功效,关键的影响因素是超额奖励率和基本奖励率之间的奖励比,在多数情况下,奖励比越高,作业绩效越好。最后,讨论了这一结果产生的原因及有关问题。     

幼儿不同情绪状态对其智力操作的影响

本实验结果显示:1)在16至18个月的婴儿中,愉快和痛苦情绪对其问题解决的操作有不同的影响。愉快组被试比痛苦组被试的操作效果明显优越;体现在“直接抓取”、“注视”和“顺利获得”三种操作策略中。2)愉快和痛苦两种情绪的不同强度与操作效果之间的相关是不同的。愉快组显示为一种曲线相关,即过高或过低的情绪唤醒不如适中的唤醒水平使操作效果达到最优。痛苦组显示为一种直线相关,即痛苦强度越大,操作效果越差。     

语义的自动加工和选择性注意对Stroop效应的影响

本实验用正常人和聋哑人作被试进行比较,试图探讨语义的自动加工和选择性注意对Stroop效应的影响。将“红”“绿”“黄”“蓝”四个汉字中的每一个都用这四种颜色中的三种写成,然后按着事先排列好的顺序,分组呈现,并且在两种条件下分别要求被试延迟不同的时间进行反应,一种是刺激呈现前就告诉被试对“字”或“色”反应;另一种是刺激呈现后间隔不同的时间再向被试提出对“字”或“色”反应。实验结果发现,聋哑人和正常人在色—字干扰任务作业上没有明显的差异,说明语义的自动加工是一个普遍现象;而选择性注意能在很大的程度上改善被试的作业成绩,但颜色命名仍比字词反应困难;Stroop效应在延迟反应条件下发生变化,这种变化说明Stroop效应与记忆过程有联系。     

小团体决策:成员地位差别和任务种类对团体达成一致的影响

本实验研究了成员地位差别(平等组(4—4—4)、杰出组(3—5—5)、突出组(3—3—5)、惯常组(3—4—5))和任务种类(猜谜、人员选择、资源分配、风险决策)对小团体达成一致决策的影响,并预测了五种决策模式:真实模型、权力模型、大多数模型、弱者联合模型和折中模型。结果表明,猜谜问题比较符合真实模型,而突出组(3—3—5)符合权力模型。这与国外得到的研究结果一致,并表现出某些中国人的决策规律。     

THE INFLUENCE OF SUBORDINATE AGE ON PERFORMANCE RATINGS AND CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS

Three issues were examined in this study relative to the role of subordinate age in performance evaluations. First, it was found that supervisors rated older subordinates lower than younger subordinates doing the same job. Second, differences between self-ratings of performance and supervisory ratings seemed to be a function of the subordinate's age. Third, a significant age × performance interaction was detected on ability attributions.     

THE INFLUENCE OF RATER AND RATEE AGE ON TWO PERFORMANCE JUDGMENTS

The influences of rater age and rater age on performance evaluations of 513 exempt managers from a large manufacturing organization were examined. Two general performance criteria and six specific performance criteria were used. Results showed small but significant age influences on two of the specific performance measures, Self-Development and Interpersonal Skills. Older workers received lower ratings than younger workers on both of these dimensions. In addition, younger raters gave significantly higher ratings than older raters on Interpersonal Skills. Small but significant age interactions were found in both Interpersonal Skills ratings and Self-Development ratings. The findings were replicated in a second sample ( N =178). The influence of age on performance ratings is consistent with previous research and is compared. The extent of the influence is smaller in the present study than in previous research.     

EFFECTS OF CONTINGENCY CONTRACTING ON STUDY RATE AND TEST PERFORMANCE1

A contingency contracting program designed to increase study rate and subsequent test performance was implemented with a group of undergraduate psychology students. The function of the contingency contracting program in producing increased study rate was evaluated by individual experiments with each student in an experimental contracting group. The overall effect of the program on test performance was assessed by comparing the final scores for the course earned by the experimental group with those earned by two matched control groups. A reversal procedure established that contingency contracting did significantly increase the study rate of students of a wide range of ability. However, it was selectively effective in improving the test performance of below-average students only. Study rate gains in contracted courses did not generalize to noncontracted courses. Self-recording of study time in the absence of scheduled differential consequences did not improve test performance. Study rate under no-consequence conditions varied with test schedule. For both consequence and no-consequence groups, the correlation between study time and final score for the course was only moderate.     

PERFORMANCE ON THE TEST OF MEMORY MALINGERING IN A MIXED PEDIATRIC SAMPLE

Performance on the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) was evaluated in a sample of 100 consecutively referred 6 to 16–year-old children with a wide range of clinical diagnoses. In the complete sample, 97 children met actuarially defined criteria for sufficient effort on the TOMM. Two children were correctly identified as providing suboptimal effort and only one case was a possible false positive. Performance on the second trial of the TOMM did not vary with gender, ethnicity, parental occupation, performance on an independent memory test, or length of coma. Although younger children tended to be somewhat less efficient on the TOMM than older children, more than 90% of children in the 6-8 years range met criteria originally developed for adults for sufficient effort on the TOMM. It is concluded that the TOMM is a potentially useful measure of effort in the clinical neuropsychological evaluation of school-age children.     

THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT REINFORCEMENT CONDITIONS ON THE TEST PERFORMANCE OF MULTIHANDICAPPED DEAF CHILDREN1

The present study explored the effects of different reinforcement conditions on the number of correct responses on the Raven Progressive Matrices. Four groups of 11- to 18-year-old multihandicapped deaf children matched on the basis of mean age and pretest scores were used. The groups were randomly assigned to any of four posttest conditions: end-of-session reinforcement, noncontingent reinforcement, delayed reinforcement, and immediate reinforcement. The mean posttest score of subjects tested under the immediate-reinforcement condition was significantly higher than that of any other group. No significant differences were observed between the mean posttest scores of the three other groups. The practical implications of using reinforcement procedures for testing purposes are discussed.     

TEST ANXIETY AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF MUSCULAR AND ATTENTIONAL DEMANDS*

In experiment 1, the attentional demands of two fine (finger movements) and two gross (arm movements) motor tasks were empirically determined. In experiment 2, the effects of test condition (stress) and anxiety trait on motor performance were analyzed. A significant interactive effect appeared: the performance of high-trait-anxious subjects was impaired under evaluative conditions in fine and/or attentionally demanding tasks, but not in gross and attentionally simple tasks. As test conditions and anxiety trait have proved to arouse physiological alterations and aversive cognitive representations, the selective performance impairment found can be attributed to interferences on finger effectors or proprioceptors and to attentional overload, respectively.     

MODESTY BIAS IN SELF-RATINGS OF PERFORMANCE: A TEST OF THE CULTURAL RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS

Although self-ratings of performance are usually higher than ratings obtained from supervisors, Farh, Dobbins, and Cheng (1991) found that Taiwanese workers exhibited modesty bias (i.e., self-ratings that were lower than supervisory ratings). They explained their findings in terms of broad cultural differences between Taiwanese and Western workers. To test this cultural relativity hypothesis, we replicated their study using data from several organizations in mainland China. As is typically found in Western research, Chinese workers showed leniency in self-ratings (i.e., self-ratings that were higher than supervisor or peer ratings), which suggests that broad cultural factors do not explain the modesty bias reported by Farh et al.     

THE INTERACTION OF ABILITY AND MOTIVATION IN PERFORMANCE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE MEANING OF MODERATORS1

It was hypothesized that one possible explanation of moderator effects is that they are due to different degrees of homogeneity with respect to a causal variable among different subgroups. This hypothesis was tested in a laboratory experiment in which performance was predicted from ability using motivation as the moderator. Ability was measured with a work sample and motivation was varied by assigning goals with different degrees of difficulty and specificity. It was found that ability predicted performance better in groups which were homogeneous with respect to motivation that in those which were motivationally heterogeneous. A moderated regression analysis showed that most of the differential validity was reducible to main effects, but significant interaction effects were found. One of them was caused by the fact that in one low motivation condition the variance in performance was reduced, thus decreasing the slope of the regression line.