Protestant ethic endorsement and the fairness of equity inputs

Two studies are reported which show how endorsement of the Protestant ethic is related to the perceived fairness of using various equity inputs. In Experiment 1, male undergraduates scoring high and low on the Protestant Ethic (PE) Scale made salary decisions for hypothetical workers who differed with respect to their performance quantity and duration. High PEs paid workers in proportion to their total productivity by taking into account both quantity and duration. However, low PEs ignored differences in quantity by paying workers the same amount, but did pay in proportion to duration. In the follow-up study, high PEs reported that it is fairer to base reward on performance when differences are attributable to internal causes than external causes, while the reverse was found for low PEs.     

Attending to feelings and cognitive performance

The effect on cognitive performance of attending to internally generated stimuli was examined. Specifically, the effect of examining feelings and sensations upon performance in the Stroop test and upon the performance of mental addition was measured. In two initial experiments subjects more quickly named, in the Stroop test, the color of the ink (“red”) in which a color word (“green”) was printed following instructions to attend to their feelings. It was found that this facilitation was due in part to the slowing of the automatic, interfering habit of reading for word meanings. In a third experiment, the effect of attending to physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to have a similar facilitating effect and was seen as resulting from the allocation of attention to internally generated stimuli. In a final experiment, attending to feelings and to the physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to increase speed of mental addition. This effect was attributed to increased attention to internally generated stimuli (here knowledge about the arithmetic performance at the moment).     

The effect of attending to feeling on memory for internally generated stimuli

The present experiments examined the effects of self-focus, as produced by focusing on feelings, on memory. In an initial experiment subjects did complex mental arithmetic significantly faster after self-focus. Because complex mental addition involves internally generated stimuli, the remaining experiments compared the effects, on memory, of self-focus on internally generated stimuli to the effect of self-focus on stimuli supplied by the experimenter. In a second experiment, self-focus facilitated memory for digits recalled in reverse order but not for digits when recalled in the given order. In a third experiment, self-focus facilitated the memory for the classification of digits but not for the digits themselves. In a fourth and fifth experiment, self-focus aided memory for classification of objects into categories such as small, medium, or large but did not aid memory for the objects themselves. In general, improved performance due to feeling focus was attributed to the role that self-focus may play in increasing attention to internally generated stimuli.     

The role of analogy in transfer between similar problem states

The study investigated the effect of transfer between two problems having similar (homomorphic) problem states. The results of three experiments revealed that although transfer occurred between repetition of the same problems, transfer occurred between the Jealous Husbands problem and the Missionary—Cannibal problem only when (a) Ss were told the relationship between the two problems and (b) the Jealous Husbands problem was given first. The results are related to the formal structure of the problem space and to alternative explanations of the use of analogy in problem solving. These include memory for individual moves, memory for general strategies, and practice in applying operators.     

An analysis of neurological soft signs in children with learning problems

Eighty children with learning problems were systematically evaluated for neurological soft signs, general intelligence, scholastic achievement, hyperactivity, and neurocognitive dysfunction. A factor analysis yielded six factors, and a higher order, general ability factor was derived from an orthogonal rotation. Neurocognitive functions appeared in three factors suggesting “types” of dysfunctions. The higher order general ability factor represents a broad range of skills. The two other factors with neurocognitive loads suggest a distinction between verbal-motor integration and visual-motor integration. Age, sex, and hyperactivity formed the remaining clusters.     

Recognition memory for colors and faces in profoundly retarded young children

Visual recognition memory was examined in a group of profoundly retarded young children whose visual-motor developmental level was estimated to be below one year. The children were tested for recognition of a previously shown face photo or a previously exposed color either immediately or following a short-term delay by observing the distribution of their visual fixation responses to novel stimuli when paired with previously seen targets. During a study or “familiarization” period the profoundly retarded children devoted voted approximately the same amount of attention to photos of faces as they did to colored, abstract patterns, and individual differences in overall looking time proved to be reliable. During the recognition testing phase the profoundly retarded children demonstrated immediate recognition memory for both faces and colors, preferring a novel to a previously exposed target, but responsiveness to novelty declined abruptly over a short-term delay, providing little evidence for delayed recognition.     

Reading deficits and intellectual patterns among children with neurocognitive dysfunctions

Reading deficits among 56 elementary aged learning disabled children with suspected neurocognitive dysfunctions were calculated. The children were grouped according to the following IQ profiles: low Verbal-high Performance, high Verbal-low Performance, and a no-difference group. Differences in reading deficits among the groups were analyzed and the results indicate that the pattern of high Verbal-low Performance IQs is associated with the least deficiency in reading and that this association is evident as early as second grade within a group of learning disabled children with concomitant central processing problems.     

The effect of Pavlovian stimuli on the acquisition of a new response

Three experiments explored the effects of response dependent stimuli which have had different types of contingent relationships with positive reinforcement. Results showed consistent differences in the effects of response dependent appetitive Pavlovian CS + s, CS ? s, and truly random control (TRC) stimuli on the acquisition of a new response. These differences were shown in both a free operant and a discrete-trial learning situation. Appetitive Pavlovian CS?s consistently produced lower levels of responding than did TRC stimuli, even in an experimental situation free of possible contrast effects. The results of these experiments extended a contingency analysis of acquired associations to appetitive conditioning and provided a clear demonstration of a conditioned reinforcement effect against a variety of control procedures.     

Performance expectancies and affect associated with outcomes as a function of time perspective

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of time perspective on performance expectancies and the subjective evaluation of outcomes in regard to a task at which subjects had previously succeeded or failed. Prior research has produced conflicting findings on the subjective evaluation of positive and negative outcomes, but some of the research has dealt with tangible rewards and punishments while other work has been concerned with performance outcomes involving tasks with which subjects were unfamiliar. In the current study subjects first succeeded or failed on either an easy or difficult task. They then stated performance expectancies and made evaluations of the affect associated with success and failure in regard to performing the task again immediately, in 3 wk, or in 21 wk. Results indicated a significant decrease over time for both the satisfaction associated with passing and the dissatisfaction associated with failure. Performance expectancies were significantly higher for the testing period of 21 wk in the future than for either the immediate or 3-wk testing period, but this difference was evidenced only for subjects who initially passed the test.     

Group vs individual equity judgments: Is there a polarization effect?

Two-hundred male undergraduates, individually and in groups of five, divided a fixed reward between two performers with unequal inputs under conditions in which they either expected or did not expect future interaction with recipients. Individuals who anticipated future interaction with recipients divided the reward equally, while groups divided the reward equitably. When interaction was not expected, individuals divided the reward equitably by discriminating between recipients, while groups made more extreme discriminations (the group polarization effect). Experiencing group discussions made individuals more confident in the fairness of their subsequent allocations. The results are discussed in terms of the social and informational influences of groups on allocation decisions.     

Mental addition in third,fourth, and sixth graders

Research on mental arithmetic has suggested that young children use a counting algorithm for simple mental addition, but that adults use memory retrieval from an organized representation of addition facts. To determine the age at which performance shifts from counting to retrieval, children in grades 3, 4, and 6 were tested in a true/false verification task. Reaction time patterns suggested that third grade is a transitional age with respect to memory structure for addition—half of these children seemed to be counting and half retrieving from memory. Results from fourth and sixth graders implicated retrieval quite strongly, as their results resembled adult RTs very closely. Fourth graders' processing, however, was easily disrupted when false problems were presented. The third graders' difficulties are not due to an inability to form mental representations of number; all three grades demonstrated a strong split effect, indicative of a simpler mental representation of numerical information than is necessary for addition. The results were discussed in the context of memory retrieval versus counting models of mental arithmetic, and the increase across age in automaticity of retrieval processes.     

Biasing evaluations to appear unbiased: A self-presentational paradox

Subjects interviewed a confederate posing as a job applicant. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, half the subjects were insulted by the confederate at the end of the interview and half were not insulted. Half the subjects were observed by the experimenter during the final phase of the interview and evaluated the confederate publicly. The remaining subjects were unobserved during the interview and evaluated the confederate anonymously. As predicted, subjects who were publicly insulted were more favorable toward the confederate than were subjects who were privately insulted. Within the public/insult condition, subjects scoring high on Snyder's (1974, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 526–537) self-monitoring scale were more favorable toward the confederate than were subjects scoring low on this scale. The positivity bias occurred only on highly subjective ratings, which are most prone to the appearance of bias. The results are discussed in terms of the subjects' desire to avoid the appearance of bias by biasing their evaluations.     

Simple and complex mental addition across development

Students in Grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 were timed as they solved simple and complex addition problems, then were presented similar problems in an untimed interview. A manipulation of confusion between addition and multiplication, in which multiplication answers were given to addition problems (3 + 4 = 12), revealed evidence for the hypothesized interrelatedness of these operations in memory only in 10th graders. The overall pattern of results suggests a strong reliance on memory retrieval, even in the first-grade group, with discernible time differences when “procedural” knowledge of carrying is required for problem solution. The results were judged consistent with a fact retrieval model which invokes explicit procedural information when problem difficulty is high or when processes like carrying and estimating magnitudes are required. In agreement with several other reports, the overall slowing of performance to larger problems is best explained in terms of normatively defined problem difficulty or associative strength in memory.     

The effect of an overheard ethnic slur on evaluations of the target: How to spread a social disease

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of an ethnic slur on evaluations of a targeted minority group member by those who overheard the slur. White subjects plus four confederates participated in a study ostensibly concerned with debating skills. Two of the confederates, one of whom was black, were always picked to engage in a debate which the others were to evaluate. The black debator either won or lost the debate. After the debate, one confederate-evaluator criticized the black in a manner that either did or did not involve an ethnic slur; in a control condition, no such comment was made. Based on the notion that ethnic slurs activate negative schemata regarding members of the targeted minority group, it was predicted that when the black debator lost the debate, the ethnic slur would lead to lower evaluations of his skill. This hypothesis was supported. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.     

The relationship between vocational interests and job satisfaction: Reconciliation of divergent results

It was hypothesized that congruency of vocational interests with present occupation would be positively related to job satisfaction for long job-tenured employees, and would be unrelated to satisfaction for short job-tenured employees. In two samples of 54 and 47 middle managers, the hypothesis was supported for satisfaction with work and supervision. This differential pattern of correlations may help explain the inconsistent relationship between vocational interests and job satisfaction obtained in past studies.     

Generality of persistence: The role of stimulus and response factors in persistence to punishment

Previous research has shown that intermittent punishment of a response increases its persistence to continuous punishment and that intermittent punishment training in one situation produces persistence to continuous punishment in other situations. Experiment 1 showed that as long as the instrumental response and punishing stimulus were held constant from intermittent to continuous punishment marked differences between these situations had no decremental effect on persistence. Experiment 2 showed that intermittent punishment training of one response resulted in substantial persistence to continuous punishment of a different and apparently incompatible response and that such response change had no more than a marginal effect on persistence. The results were seen as requiring some revision to the traditional conditioning-model interpretation of persistence to punishment.