The interactive effects of task complexity and participation on task performance: A field experiment

Goal-setting investigators have suggested that participation in the goal-setting process may be important for both motivational and cognitive reasons; however, goal-setting research has focused almost exclusively on the motivational aspect of participation, while generally ignoring the cognitive aspect. In an attempt to demonstrate the cognitive implications of participation, a field experiment was conducted with 40 computer programmers writing either a simple or a complex program. Half the participants were actively involved in discussing the project and in jointly determining the completion target, while the other half were simply assigned completion times of equivalent difficulty. It was hypothesized that, for complex programs, individuals participating in the discussion process would outperform individuals having assigned targets of similar difficulty. In contrast, for simple programs, it was expected that participation would have no effect on task performance. The data were analyzed using a 2 × 2 ANOVA procedure, and results strongly supported the hypothesized interaction. Discussion centered on the implications of the findings for future research in this area.     

A randomized experiment comparing random and cutoff-based assignment

In this article, we review past studies comparing randomized experiments to regression discontinuity designs, mostly finding similar results, but with significant exceptions. The latter might be due to potential confounds of study characteristics with assignment method or with failure to estimate the same parameter over methods. In this study, we correct the problems by randomly assigning 588 participants to be in a randomized experiment or a regression discontinuity design in which they are otherwise treated identically, comparing results estimating both the same and different parameters. Analysis includes parametric, semiparametric, and nonparametric methods of modeling nonlinearities. Results suggest that estimates from regression discontinuity designs approximate the results of randomized experiments reasonably well but also raise the issue of what constitutes agreement between the 2 estimates.     

A serendipitous field experiment in job design

A longitudinal study over a 5-month period of changes in several jobs was conducted among 244 employees of a federal agency. Seventy-one employees at a single location constituted an experimental group in which the changes were made. An additional 173 employees at scattered field locations formed a comparison group. Data were obtained on perceptions of job content and a number of job attitudes. The data indicated a temporary positive influence of the changes in one set of jobs. People in a group of clerical jobs, however, experienced a “deenrichment” of their jobs as a result of the changes with an accompanying negative effect on their job attitudes and motivation.     

Chinese consumer ethnocentrism: A field experiment

Consumer ethnocentrism presents barriers for internationalising organisations. In China, evidence of a resurgent nationalism partly fuelled by rapid economic growth portends a shift in consumption away from foreign towards domestic products. On the other hand, rising consumer demand for branded and luxury products cannot be fully met domestically. However, much of the available evidence on Chinese consumer ethnocentrism is anecdotal and is based on attitudinal surveys that, as accurate measures of actual purchasing behaviour, suffer from certain methodological issues. In response, we report an experiment that measures the ethnocentrism of 447 Chinese consumers as their incentive‐compatible choices between foreign and domestic products in a field setting. Our findings show little effect of foreign origin on subjects' choices that were only weakly related with attitudinal measures including the commonly used consumer ethnocentric tendencies scale (CETSCALE). Our results question the existence of ethnocentric consumer behaviour in China and the use of CETSCALE to gauge it generally. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women's hairstyle and men's behavior: A field experiment

Little research has examined the effect of women's hairstyles on people's behavior. In a field study, male and female passersby, walking alone in the street, were observed while walking behind a female‐confederate who dropped a glove and apparently was unaware of her loss. The confederate had long dark hair arranged in three different hairstyles: one with her hair falling naturally on her shoulders and her back, one with her hair tied in a ponytail, and one with her hair twisted in a bun. Results reported that the hairstyle had no effect on female passersby's helping behavior. However, it was found that the hairstyle influenced male passersby with men helping the confederate more readily when her hair fell naturally on her neck, shoulders and upper back.     

Wearing uniforms and aggression–A field experiment

Zimbardo's de-individuation concept was tested in a field experiment using games of fieldball. The results support the assumption that higher degrees of anonymity lead to more aggressive acts.     

A field experiment in interpersonal persuasion using authoritative influence

Thinking that they were simply being interviewed as participants in a public opinion survey, a portion of a cross-sectional adult sample of 1,275 persons were unwitting subjects of an experiment in interpersonal persuasion After committing themselves on the question how the legal machinery should deal with a specific case of a juvenile lawbreaker, subjects were given an argument presented as the view of an expert and contrary to their own It was hypothesized that subjects scoring higher on a scale measuring authoritarianism would more commonly change their opinion in the advocated direction than would those scoring lower The hypothesis received substantial confirmation Two secondary hypotheses also were sustained. These were (a) that persons assigning the locus of causality of juvenile delinquency to the individual himself rather than to circumstances beyond his control would have higher scores on authoritarianism than persons assigning causality to these latter conditions, and (b) that persons scoring higher in authoritarianism would initially more commonly recommend a harsher treatment of the delinquent than would those scoring lower in this trait     

A field experimental test of expectancy-valence incentive motivation techniques

Three types of inventive systems were developed in the context of expectancy-valence theory of work motivation. The first made valued outcomes contingent on performance; the second attempted to make these rewards contingent on effort; the third added additional, financially-based outcomes to the reward package. These three systems were run consecutively for 8 months in an Air Force technical training environment utilizing subjects from two training courses. The results indicated that for one course, the first two systems resulted in slight but meaningful increases in performance, and the third system was fairly powerful. No real performance effects were observed for the other course. Attitudes generally increased under the program. The results are discussed in terms of expectancy-valence theory and in terms of their practical implications. Consideration is given to those characteristics which are necessary for powerful incentive motivation programs.     

A field experiment testing frontline opinion leaders as change agents

On the basis of previous studies of source credibility and opinion leadership, the authors hypothesized that opinion leaders would serve as effective agents to promote positive attitudes toward a service-quality initiative and increase service-quality effectiveness. The service effectiveness of tellers before and after a service-quality leadership training program was rated by customers, supervisors, and the tellers themselves across 3 matched bank branches. Service effectiveness was rated significantly higher in a branch using opinion leaders as service-quality leaders compared with a branch using randomly selected frontline leaders. Tellers in the latter branch showed greater improvements in service effectiveness than did counterparts in a branch using no frontline service quality leaders. This difference between types of leaders appeared to be mediated by tellers' behavioral beliefs about the service-quality program.     

Selection Fairness and Outcomes: A field study of interactive effects on applicant reactions

Despite the vast amount of applicant reactions studies, few have examined combined effects of selection outcomes with perceived procedural and distributive fairness on both personal and organizational reactions. Further, most have been conducted in laboratory settings, limiting external validity. The present study examined these effects with a longitudinal design, measuring actual applicants' well‐being and organizational attractiveness preinterview and postoutcome. As expected, several interactions between outcomes and fairness were found. Applicants who were hired reported both highest well‐being and organizational attractiveness when they perceived the outcome as fair. In contrast, applicants who were rejected reported highest well‐being when they thought the outcome was unfair. Selection outcome and procedural fairness interacted for organizational attractiveness, with higher procedural fairness leading to higher attractiveness for rejected applicants.     

A Monte Carlo method for comparing generalized estimating equations to conventional statistical techniques for discounting data

Discounting is the process by which outcomes lose value. Much of discounting research has focused on differences in the degree of discounting across various groups. This research has relied heavily on conventional null hypothesis significance tests that are familiar to psychologists, such as t‐tests and ANOVAs. As discounting research questions have become more complex by simultaneously focusing on within‐subject and between‐group differences, conventional statistical testing is often not appropriate for the obtained data. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) are one type of mixed‐effects model that are designed to handle autocorrelated data, such as within‐subject repeated‐measures data, and are therefore more appropriate for discounting data. To determine if GEE provides similar results as conventional statistical tests, we compared the techniques across 2,000 simulated data sets. The data sets were created using a Monte Carlo method based on an existing data set. Across the simulated data sets, the GEE and the conventional statistical tests generally provided similar patterns of results. As the GEE and more conventional statistical tests provide the same pattern of result, we suggest researchers use the GEE because it was designed to handle data that has the structure that is typical of discounting data.     

Hazard perception abilities of experienced and novice motorcyclists: An interactive simulator experiment

This study reports an experiment that compared the hazard perception abilities of experienced and novice motorcycle riders using an interactive, closed-loop, simulator. Participants (n = 49) were categorized into four groups: experienced motorcycle riders with full driver licence, inexperienced motorcycle riders with full driver licence, novice motorcycle riders with full driver licence, and novice motorcycle riders with probationary driver licence. The participants were tested on three scenarios, each consisting of eight hazardous events. They were instructed to ride normally, but to respond appropriately to avoid the hazards. Under certain conditions in the simulator, we found that experienced riders (relative to inexperienced or novice riders) crashed less often, received better performance evaluations, and approached hazards at more appropriate speeds. Interestingly, we also found that some novice riders were overconfident in their riding ability. We discuss how this overconfidence might be related to hazard perception.     

Time perception in severe traumatic brain injury patients: A study comparing different methodologies

In this study, we investigated time perception in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Fifteen TBI patients and 15 matched healthy controls participated in the study. Participants were tested with durations above and below 1 s on three different temporal tasks that involved time reproduction, production, and discrimination tasks. Data variables analyzed included amount of errors, relative errors, and coefficient of variation. Both groups completed a neuropsychological battery that included measures of attention, working memory, and executive functions. Results revealed significant differences between groups on the time reproduction and discrimination tasks, whereas groups showed similar performance on the time production task. Correlation analyses showed involvement of attention, working memory and executive functions on the time reproduction and time discrimination tasks, but there was no involvement on the time production task. These findings suggest that TBI does not impact specific temporal function. Rather, impairments in attention, working memory and executive function abilities may explain lower temporal performance in people with TBI.     

Reliability of variable message signs information: A field experiment study in Chongqing

A variable message sign (VMS), which is a key component of intelligent transportation systems, has been frequently used in the management of urban roads and motorways to provide drivers with real-time traffic condition information about a road section or area. Nevertheless, there is a lack of unified regulations for VMS design, which makes it difficult to accurately determine the understandability and legibility of VMS information. In practice, inappropriate designs of VMSs are common, such as overload of VMS information and excessive number of phases, particularly on the urban roads of China. Building on our earlier findings obtained by surveys, in this study, field tests were conducted to assess the reliability of VMS information in terms of the visual perception characteristics of drivers. For a full visual perception, the information displayed on a VMS must be reliable, i.e., it should be easy for drivers to detect, obtain, and understand the messages they require. Two basic theories—information theory and visual perception theory—were introduced to build a quantification model of VMS information, select evaluation indices, and design the experimental process. A total of 24 drivers participated in the field experiments and questionnaires. Five indices—information obtainment rate, periodic validity, driver subjective scoring and the corresponding UI (represents information intelligibility), and CE (represents information legibility)—were analyzed to evaluate their relationships to VMS information reliability. The results confirmed that the amount of information, and the scrolling period considering redundant distance, significantly affect the reliability of VMSs information. For static VMSs, the information obtainment rate and the subjective scoring decrease with increasing amount of information. The recollection accuracy of the drivers significantly declines when the amount of information shown increases to 90 bits, corresponding to an information obtainment rate of less than 0.8 and UI equal to 0. For dynamic VMSs, the information reliability deteriorates as the scrolling period shortens and the number of phases increases. Unreasonable reliability is found when the periodic validity is less than 0.9, i.e., the actual scrolling period is more than 10% less than the calculated one, corresponding to CE equal to 0. The reliability of information was evaluated by combining the subjective scoring of the drivers and a data-based statistical analysis and considering driving safety. Accordingly, it was recommended that 90 bit is the maximum amount of information to be shown on a VMS and that the preferred scrolling period of each phase of a dynamic VMS is 5 s. The results of this study support the objective of providing reliable information to drivers by addressing the problems related to the amount of information and presentation time for VMSs. These findings provide a basis for determining the thresholds for VMS information to promote practical and user-friendly designs of VMSs on urban roads.     

Coping in childhood: A comparative evaluation of different relaxation techniques

Abstract

This paper reports on the evaluation of relaxation trainings to improve the coping of children with stress situations. Over five training sessions, different relaxation techniques were presented to children to evaluate their short-term and long-term effects on different criteria. Included were a sensoric approach to relaxation (the Progressive Muscle Relaxation), an imaginative approach, and an imaginative approach with additional sensoric elements (combined training). Two control conditions were added. One of them presented non-tension producing stories instead of supplying a systematic relaxation training. The children of the second control condition participated at the measurements without any intervention. The participants were 826 children aged 7–14. The results show clear short-term effects on physiological parameters (blood pressure, pulse rate, body temperature) as well as on subjective ratings of the children's mood and somatic condition. In relation to the overall changes, the differences between the training conditions are comparatively small. Moreover, the long-term effects (recorded one week and two months after the five training sessions) were small in relation to the short-term effects.     

A low-cost interactive coordinate plotter

An inexpensive system for on-line coordinate plotting is described. Users with access to a computer running ALGOL or FORTRAN, and equipped with analog-to-digital converters, can build the system for less than $50. The program is readily modified for the individual user’s requirements, and interactive features allow data correction and analysis to be carried out during coordinate plotting, with operators warned of plotting errors as they occur.     

A review of the unsolvable task in dog communication and cognition: comparing different methodologies

Animal Cognition - Communication between dogs and humans is a topic of growing interest, and the “unsolvable task” is a common method used to measure human-directed communication. In...