The Performer's Reactions to Procedural Injustice: When Prosocial Identity Reduces Prosocial Behavior1

Considerable research has examined how procedural injustice affects victims and witnesses of unfavorable outcomes, with little attention to the “performers” who deliver these outcomes. Drawing on dissonance theory, we hypothesized that performers' reactions to procedural injustice in delivering unfavorable outcomes are moderated by prosocial identity—a helping‐focused self‐concept. Across 2 experiments, individuals communicated unfavorable outcomes decided by a superior. Consistent with justice research, when prosocial identities were not primed, performers experienced greater negative affect and behaved more prosocially toward victims when a superior's decision‐making procedures were unjust. Subtly activating performers' prosocial identities reversed these reactions. Results highlight how roles and identities shape the experience and delivery of unfavorable outcomes: When procedures are unjust, prosocial identity can reduce prosocial behavior.     

QEEG markers of superior shooting performance in skilled marksmen: An investigation of cortical activity on psychomotor efficiency hypothesis

For elite performers, psychomotor behavior's success or failure can be traced to differences in brain dynamics. The psychomotor efficiency hypothesis suggests refined cortical activity through 1) selective activation of task-relevant processes and 2) inhibition of non-essential processes. The use of electroencephalography (EEG) has been applied to investigate psychomotor performance's neural processes. The EEG markers that reflect an elevation of psychomotor efficiency include left temporal alpha (T3 alpha), frontal midline theta (Fm theta), sensorimotor rhythm (SMR), and the coherence between frontal and left temporal regions. However, the relationship between elite performers' task-relevant and non-essential neural processes is still not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how each task-relevant and inhibition of non-essential processes contribute to superior psychomotor behavior. Thirty-five highly skilled marksmen were recruited to perform 30 shots in the shooting task while the EEG was recorded. The marksmen were divided into two groups (superior & inferior) based on a median split of shooting performance. The superior group exhibited higher accuracy and precision, with a reduction in movement jerk. EEG measures revealed that the superior group exhibited higher SMR before the trigger pull than the inferior group. In addition, the superior group demonstrated reduced Fz-T3 coherence in their bull's eye shots than the missed shots. These results suggest that the superior group exhibited less effortful engagement of task-relevant processes and lower interference from non-essential cortical regions than the inferior group. The study's overall findings support the psychomotor efficiency hypothesis. When comparing highly skilled performers, the slight differences in brain dynamics ultimately contribute to the success or failure of psychomotor performance.     

Facilitative interactions of model- and experiencebased processes: Implications for type and flexibility of representation

People are often taught using a combination of instruction and practice. In prior research, we have distinguished between model-based knowledge (i.e., acquired from explicit instruction) and experience-based knowledge (i.e., acquired from practice), and have argued that the issue of how these types of knowledge (and associated learning processes) interact has been largely neglected. Two experiments explore this issue using a dynamic control task. Results demonstrate the utility of providing model-based knowledge before practice with the task, but more importantly, suggest how this information improves learning. Results also show that learning in this manner can lead to "costs" such as slowed retrieval, and that this knowledge may not always transfer to new task situations as well as experientially acquired knowledge. Our findings also question the assumption that participants always acquire a highly specific "lookup" table representation while learning this task. We provide an alternate view and discuss the implications for theories of learning.     

Feedback and the rationing of time and effort among competing tasks

The study described here tested a model of how characteristics of the feedback environment influence the allocation of resources (time and effort) among competing tasks. Results demonstrated that performers invest more resources on tasks for which higher quality (more timely and more specific) feedback is available; this effect was partially mediated by task salience and task expectancies. Feedback timing and feedback specificity demonstrated both main and interaction effects on resource allocations. Results also demonstrated that performers do better on tasks for which higher quality feedback is available; this effect was mediated by resources allocated to tasks. The practical and theoretical implications of the role of the feedback environment in managing performance are discussed.     

Acquiring Non-Object Terms: The Case for Time Words

We address the issue of children's understanding of abstract words with two studies on preschoolers' knowledge of the time-duration words minutes, hours, days, and years. The first study examines 4- and 5-year-olds' ability to answer questions about durations of common phenomena with duration terms. The second study examines 4- to 6-year-olds' comprehension of duration terms with a forced-choice pointing task. Both show that preschoolers' knowledge of such words is incomplete, but that it adheres to the pattern proposed in previous work with toddlers for abstract words. More specifically, children form lexical domains for such words even before they know their individual meanings, thereby allowing the children to often respond appropriately but not usually correctly to questions about abstract dimensions like time.     

Learning to calibrate: Providing standards to improve calibration accuracy for different performance levels

This experimental study explores whether feedback in the form of standards helps students in giving more accurate performance estimates not only on current tasks but also on new, similar tasks and whether performance level influences the effect of standards. We provided 122 first‐year psychology students with seven texts that contained key terms. After reading each text, participants recalled the correct definitions of the key terms and estimated the quality of their recall. Half of the participants subsequently received standards and again estimated their own performance. Results showed that providing standards led to better calibration accuracy, both on current tasks and on new, similar tasks, when standards were not available yet. Furthermore, with or without standards, high performers calibrated better than low performers. However, results showed that especially low performers' calibration accuracy benefitted from receiving standards.     

Decision theory,reinforcement learning,and the brain

Decision making is a core competence for animals and humans acting and surviving in environments they only partially comprehend, gaining rewards and punishments for their troubles. Decision-theoretic concepts permeate experiments and computational models in ethology, psychology, and neuroscience. Here, we review a well-known, coherent Bayesian approach to decision making, showing how it unifies issues in Markovian decision problems, signal detection psychophysics, sequential sampling, and optimal exploration and discuss paradigmatic psychological and neural examples of each problem. We discuss computational issues concerning what subjects know about their task and how ambitious they are in seeking optimal solutions; we address algorithmic topics concerning model-based and model-free methods for making choices; and we highlight key aspects of the neural implementation of decision making.     

Beyond visual fixations and gaze behaviour. Using pupillometry to examine the mechanisms in the planning and motor performance of a golf putt

The present study assessed the potential value of using pupillometry to explore skill level differences in the allocation of attention during planning and performance of a golf putt across three putting conditions of varying complexity. Although numerous studies have reported on skill level differences in performers' visual search behaviours, performance accuracy and quiet eye duration (QE) across a range of performance settings, few have provided an objective measure of the allocation of attention during task performance. Fourteen participants were assigned to two groups [low handicap (LHG) and high handicap (HHG)] completing ten putts in three conditions; right to left (RL), left to right (LR) and straight (ST) from 1.75 m while wearing a mobile eye tracker. Skill based differences in the allocation of attention during green exploration and skill execution were observed. Pupil constriction observed for both groups during the QE period provides evidence of increased workload directly related to the increased motor task precision required in the physical performance of the putt. LHG had significantly more fixations of longer duration than their HHG counterparts. Distinct differences were also evident between skill levels in relation to number of fixations, fixation duration and QE duration on each putting condition. The significantly longer QE duration and larger pupil constrictions exhibited by skilled performers offer evidence of a distinctive concentration of cognitive activity characterised by highly automated processes.     

Partisanship,Political Knowledge,and the Dunning‐Kruger Effect

A widely cited finding in social psychology holds that individuals with low levels of competence will judge themselves to be higher achieving than they really are. In the present study, I examine how the so‐called “Dunning‐Kruger effect” conditions citizens' perceptions of political knowledgeability. While low performers on a political knowledge task are expected to engage in overconfident self‐placement and self‐assessment when reflecting on their performance, I also expect the increased salience of partisan identities to exacerbate this phenomenon due to the effects of directional motivated reasoning. Survey experimental results confirm the Dunning‐Kruger effect in the realm of political knowledge. They also show that individuals with moderately low political expertise rate themselves as increasingly politically knowledgeable when partisan identities are made salient. This below‐average group is also likely to rely on partisan source cues to evaluate the political knowledge of peers. In a concluding section, I comment on the meaning of these findings for contemporary debates about rational ignorance, motivated reasoning, and political polarization.     

The Relations Between Children's Past Experiences,Social Knowledge,and Memories for Social Situations

This study explored the relations between 5- and 6-year-olds' (N = 40) past social experiences, social knowledge, and interpretation and recall of social situations. Children were read stories depicting a fictional child's behaviors, and path analyses related children's impressions of the story character and story recall to their expectations about social situations and parent reports of their behavioral histories. Children's behavioral histories predicted their social expectations, which predicted their impressions of the character, and their impressions shaped their memories of the character's behaviors. These links, however, varied according to the complexity of social knowledge. The findings suggest that individual differences in children's interpretation and recall of identical events may be partially explained by variations in past experience and background knowledge.     

Inferring task performance and confidence from displays of eye movements

Eye movements reveal what is at the center of people's attention, which is assumed to coincide with what they are thinking about. Eye-movement displays (visualizations of a person's fixations superimposed onto the stimulus, for example, as dots or circles) might provide useful information for diagnosing that person's performance. However, making inferences about a person's task performance based on eye-movement displays requires substantial interpretation. Using graph-comprehension tasks, we investigated to what extent observers (N = 46) could make accurate inferences about a performer's multiple-choice task performance (i.e., chosen answer), confidence, and competence from displays of that person's eye movements. Observers' accuracy when judging which answer the performer chose was above chance level and was higher for displays reflecting confident performance. Observers were also able to infer performers' confidence from the eye-movement displays; moreover, their own task performance and perceived similarity with the performer affected their judgments of the other's competence.     

THE EFFECTS OF SOURCE EXPERTISE AND FEEDBACK VALENCE ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

This study investigated the effects of variations in verbal feedback on the intrinsic motivation (IM) of task performers. Based on Deci's (1975) cognitive evaluation theory, the present study manipulated two dimensions of postperformance feedback: (1) expertise of the feedback source—high vs. low, and (2) valence of the feedback—positive vs. neutral. A sample of 128 subjects performed a task consisting of solving word puzzles. Subjects' level of IM subsequent to the reception of feedback was operationalized in three ways: amount of time voluntarily spent on word puzzles during a free period and responses made on two IM pencil and paper measures (the TRQ and MSQ). Results indicated that high expertise of the feedback source enhanced IM. Valence alone did not enhance a receiver's level of IM but the data demonstrated an expertise x valence interaction such that subjects receiving positive feedback from a highly expert source exhibited greater levels of IM than did receivers in any other condition. Implications of these findings for both future organizational communication research and training are discussed.     

Perceiving temporal regularity in music

We address how listeners perceive temporal regularity in music performances, which are rich in temporal irregularities. A computational model is described in which a small system of internal self‐sustained oscillations, operating at different periods with specific phase and period relations, entrains to the rhythms of music performances. Based on temporal expectancies embodied by the oscillations, the model predicts the categorization of temporally changing event intervals into discrete metrical categories, as well as the perceptual salience of deviations from these categories. The model's predictions are tested in two experiments using piano performances of the same music with different phrase structure interpretations (Experiment 1) or different melodic interpretations (Experiment 2). The model successfully tracked temporal regularity amidst the temporal fluctuations found in the performances. The model's sensitivity to performed deviations from its temporal expectations compared favorably with the performers' structural (phrasal and melodic) intentions. Furthermore, the model tracked normal performances (with increased temporal variability) better than performances in which temporal fluctuations associated with individual voices were removed (with decreased variability). The small, systematic temporal irregularities characteristic of human performances (chord asynchronies) improved tracking, but randomly generated temporal irregularities did not. These findings suggest that perception of temporal regularity in complex musical sequences is based on temporal expectancies that adapt in response to temporally fluctuating input.     

Children's Representation of Child and Adult Knowledge

Do children think that adult knowledge subsumes or only partially overlaps child knowledge? Sixty-four 4- and 6-year-old children were asked either whether a child and an adult know the answers to questions tapping adult- and child-specific knowledge (Experiment 1) or to whom each question should be addressed (Experiment 2). Children were also asked directly about the existence of child-specific knowledge. The experiments provided converging evidence that beliefs about child-specific knowledge are relatively limited among 4-year-olds but become well articulated by age 6. The findings contribute to understanding the development of children's beliefs about the relation between knowledge and age.     

Negative self-evaluations and the relation to performance level in socially anxious children and adolescents

The current study investigated whether negatively biased self-evaluations of nervousness and social skills are related to how well an individual actually performs, that is performance level. Sixty-eight high socially anxious and 68 control participants (age range 9–17 years) gave a 5 min speech in front of a pre-recorded audience of same age peers and a teacher. Participants' evaluations immediately after the task were measured on a number of performance dimensions. Three independent observers also evaluated recordings of the speech performances. Participants were further divided into good and bad performers based on their actual performance level as judged by the observers. Self-evaluations of the high socially anxious participants were negatively biased for nervous appearance regardless of how well they actually performed. In contrast, a negative bias for social skills only occurred in the high anxious participants with a good performance. The social skill evaluations of the poor performers appear warranted. Taking actual performance level into account may help to clarify the exact nature of a negative bias in socially anxious youth and has clear implications for the choice of treatment approach.     

Proactivity with image in mind: How employee and manager characteristics affect evaluations of proactive behaviours

This paper investigates image cost as a potential downside of proactivity. Drawing on attribution theory, we examine how people construct subjective evaluations of one manifestation of proactivity, feedback‐seeking behaviour. Using a scenario methodology, we examined how employees' performance history, their manager's implicit person theory (IPT), and the frequency of their feedback‐seeking affect how managers evaluate employees' feedback seeking. Results indicate that manager attribute average performers' feedback seeking significantly less to performance‐enhancement motives than superior performers' seeking. Results further show that the frequency of feedback seeking and a manager's IPT interact in influencing managers' attributions for feedback seeking, with more entity oriented managers attributing frequent feedback seeking significantly more to impression‐management motives than infrequent feedback requests. These results highlight the importance of not only the instrumental benefits of employee proactivity, but also its potential costs.     

Constraints for Some,Opportunities for Others? Interactive and Indirect Effects of Machiavellianism and Organizational Constraints on Task Performance Ratings

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine how the indirect relationship between Machiavellianism and task performance ratings is qualified by organizational constraints (e.g., inadequate resources). Contrary to past research, we suggest that constraints can actually facilitate performance ratings among highly Machiavellian employees because they seek to attain high ratings through self-interested behaviors and social influence processes rather than legitimate task performance. Thus, constraints that inhibit legitimate performers should actually create more opportunities for highly Machiavellian employees.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from 110 subordinate–supervisor dyads that were recruited from Psychology courses at a small liberal arts college.

Findings

The results elaborate on past research focused on organizational constraints to reveal that the indirect relationship between Machiavellianism and task performance is positive and significant under conditions of high organizational constraints. This relationship is not significant and trends in a negative direction when constraints are low.

Implications

This study highlights the importance of considering how resource constraints impact different types of performers in organizations. When resources are abundant, legitimate performance is possible and Machiavellians are hampered in their ability to rely on careerist strategies to succeed. In contrast, high constraints create situations that enable Machiavellian behaviors to pay off.

Originality/Value

This study’s originality lies in its counterintuitive finding that organizational constraints might actually be beneficial for some employees who adopt Machiavellian, careerist strategies. This is the first study to demonstrate that constraints do not have consistent, negative effects on task performance and to elaborate on how constraints impact the performance of Machiavellian employees.     

The availability heuristic in person identification: The sometimes misleading consequences of enhanced contextual information

Three field studies investigated the effects of post-exposure cognitions on person identification. Subjects' beliefs that they could identify someone were significantly increased by the presentation of new information and the rehearsal of old information about the person. Misidentification errors increased as the lengths of the initial exposure duration increased and when subjects received additional contextual information about the target. These frequent misidentifications may reflect the misattribution of familiarity from enhanced contextual knowledge to familiarity arising from perceptual knowledge. Further, performance was enhanced when the identification task capitalized on 'transfer-appropriate rehearsal' post-event strategies. Ancillary findings contradicted research on 'verbal overshadowing', and the relationship between identification accuracy and confidence. The results were generalized to real-world situations that encourage post-event cognitions by eyewitnesses.     

HOW PATIENTS COMMUNICATE ABOUT THEIR ILLNESS

This article presents two empirical investigations of how patients communicate about their illness. A review of the literature on provider-patient communication is offered. From this review, we conclude that we know intuitively more about the interaction between health care providers and their patients than the research literature has revealed. A series of research questions are advanced concerning the patient's communicative contributions to the provider-patient relationship. The first study offers evidence of distinct patient-communication typologies. How patients communicate about their illness is also closely related to how they utilize the health care system. The second study uses independent raters to validate patient self-reports about their communication behavior. The findings suggest that how patients communicate to health care providers is a factor worthy of further study. Several specific avenues for future research are discussed in light of these findings.     

Online monitoring of the social presence effects in a two‐person‐like driving video game using near‐infrared spectroscopy

We examined how a friend's presence affects a performer's prefrontal activation in daily‐life activities using two wireless portable near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices. Participants played a driving video game either solely in the single group or with a friend in the paired group. The two groups (single and paired) were subdivided according to their game proficiency (low and high). The NIRS data demonstrated a significant interaction of group by proficiency. Low‐proficiency players in the paired group showed lower activation than those in the single group, but high‐proficiency players did not. In the paired group, high‐proficiency players showed higher activation than low‐proficiency players, but not in the single group. These results suggest that NIRS detects social presence effects in everyday situations: decreasing prefrontal activation in low‐proficiency performers due to tension reduction and increasing prefrontal activation in high‐proficiency performers due to increased arousal.