POLICY CONFLICT AS A FUNCTION OF POLICY SIMILARITY AND POLICY COMPLEXITY

B rehmer B. Policy conflict as a function of policy similarity and policy complexity. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1972, 13 , 208–221.—The experiment tests the hypotheses, derived from the results of earlier studies on policy conflict, that subjects with similar policies will decrease their agreement in a policy conflict situation, and that subjects with cognitively complex policies will decrease their agreement more than subjects with cognitively simple policies. The results support the hypotheses, and show that the decrease in agreement is due to the decrease in policy consistency which, in turn, is due to the manner in which the subjects change their policies in the conflict situation.     

Policy conflict and policy change as a function of task characteristics 1. The effects of cue validity and function form

Brehmer, B. & Kostron, L. Policy conflict and policy change as a function of task characteristics. I. The effects of cue validity and function form. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 44–55.-Policy conflict and policy change in the "lens model" interpersonal conflict paradigm were studied as a function of the distribution of cue validities in a two-cue task with one linear and one nonlinear cue. Agreement was higher in the conditions where the linear cue was more valid than the nonlinear cue than in the conditions where the nonlinear cue was more valid than the linear cue. This was primarily due to the fact that the subjects' policies were more consistent in predominantly linear conditions. The amount of policy change in the various conditions suggested that the subjects' behavior was the result of a compromise between conflict reduction and task adaptation.     

Policy conflict and policy change as a function of task characteristics II. The effect of task predictability

Brehmer, B. Policy conflict and policy change as a function of task characteristics. II. The effect of task predictability. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 220–227.-The hypothesis, derived from experimental studies on policy formation, that the level of agreement reached in a policy conflict situation is positively related to the predictability of the policy task was tested in an experiment conducted in the "lens model" interpersonal conflict paradigm. The results supported the hypothesis, and showed the lower level of agreement in the low task predictability condition was due to the fact that the subjects' policies were less consistent in that condition. The similarity of the systematic aspects of the subjects' policies, on the other hand, was not affected by task predictability.     

Policy conflict, policy consistency, and interpersonal understanding

Abstract.— A number of studies have shown that inconsistency in the subjects' policies is a major reason for disagreement in policy conflict. It has been hypothesized that the lack of consistency makes it hard for subjects to understand each other's policies. The present results provided evidence for this hypothesis by showing that subjects asked each other more questions about policy when their policies were less consistent in an experiment where policy consistency was manipulated by varying the predictability of the conflict task.     

Learning to use functional rules in inference tasks

Abstract.— Earlier studies have established that subjects perform less well in inference tasks with nonlinear rules than in tasks with linear rules, and that one source of the lower level of performance in nonlinear tasks is that the subjects cannot utilize a nonlinear rule as well as they utilize a linear rule. The three experiments in this paper investigate whether utilization of a nonlinear rule can be improved by training. The results show that there is some improvement with training, but the improvement could not be attributed to feedback, or to the learning of specific cue and criterion values. Cognitive feedback did not produce higher performance than ordinary outcome feedback.     

Social pressure and policy change in the "lens model" interpersonal conflict paradigm

Abstract.— The effects of conflict and policy inaccuracy on policy change in the "lens model" interpersonal conflict paradigm were investigated in an experiment which compared amount of policy change for subjects who were paired with a stooge who did not change his policy even though it was incorrect with the amount of policy change for subjects whose opponents changed their policies to reduce the inaccuracy of these policies. The amount of policy change was the same in both of these conditions, indicating that task adaptation is a more important goal to the subjects than conflict reduction in these experiments.     

Implementing family‐friendly employment practices in banking industry: Evidences from some African and Asian countries

We examined the effects of family‐friendly policies (child‐care benefits and work flexibility benefits) on organizational commitment and work–family conflict in four developing countries: China, India, Kenya, and Thailand. We also explored the boundary condition (e.g., perceived importance of family‐friendly programmes) under which family‐friendly policies are more (or less) effective in influencing organizational commitment and reducing work–family conflict. Results revealed national similarities on the effect of flexibility benefits on organizational commitment and work–family conflict. Specifically, we found that across the four countries work flexibility‐related family‐friendly policy was positively related to organizational commitment and negatively to perceived work–family conflict among those who perceived this policy as more important than less important. Instead, national variations are found in the results regarding child‐care benefits. Among these four countries, Kenya and Thailand are two countries in which child‐care‐related family‐friendly policies showed a significant and positive relationship with organizational commitment and/or a significant and negative relationship with work–family conflict. We also found child‐care‐related family‐friendly policies had differential effect among people with various perception of policy importance in Kenya and Thailand, but not in China and India. Particularly, child‐care‐related family‐friendly policy results in greater organizational commitment and lower work–family conflict among those who perceived this policy as more important than less important in Kenya and Thailand. Implications for cross‐cultural research, theory and practice are discussed.     

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.     

Policy conflict and policy change as a function of task characteristics: IV. The effect of cue intercorrelations

Abstract.— The hypothesis that intercorrelations between the cues in the conflict task will inhibit the reduction of the systematic differences in policies in policy conflict as studied in Hammond's "lens model" interpersonal conflict paradigm was tested in two experiments. The results supported the hypothesis, and suggested that the effect was due to the fact that the subjects have greater freedom in developing different policies when the cues are intercorrelated. In addition, the results suggested that the process of policy change when the conflict task has a lower degree of predictability than the original policy learning task might differ from that when the conflict task has the same predictability as the original task.     

交流语境对学习双方语言准确性的影响

研究安排了交流任务和个人迁移任务,创设了三种交流语境,比较不同语境下交流学习双方的语言准确性。结果显示：（1）三种语境中仅语言交流时语言准确性水平最高,交流语境中的对象可视性阻碍了语言准确性提高的速率,表情可视性降低了语言准确性水平;交流语言相似性水平高的被试,语言准确性水平提高的效率和效果均高于低的一方;（2）交流任务中仅语言交流时语言准确性最高,个人任务中对象可视语境下准确性最低;和交流任务相比,高相似被试个人任务中的准确性更高。表明：语言认知不完全代表交流认知,对象可视性阻碍语言认知和交流认知水平,表情可视性辅助语言共同提高交流认知水平。     

分析性认知风格对偏差反应与冲突探查的影响

采用2Wingdings 2MC@2Wingdings 2MC@2混合设计和相关分析法,考察个体的分析性认知风格对其在完成有、无冲突的推理判断任务时的逻辑反应倾向和冲突探查过程的影响。结果表明分析性认知风格不会直接影响被试完成推理任务的逻辑反应倾向性,高、低分析性认知风格倾向组被试在逻辑反应正确率上不存在显著差异; 但对个体的冲突探查过程会有影响,高、低认知风格倾向组被试在反应自信率上存在显著差异,且冲突探查大小与分析性认知风格显著负相关,这一结果表明那些高分析性认知风格倾向的个体在完成冲突任务时,更可能探查到刻板反应与遵从逻辑规则做出的反应之间的冲突。     

Social interaction,social observation,and cognitive development in young children

Eighty first-grade childen were pretested on a variety of conservation tasks. Subjects who were either nonconservers or intermediate conservers were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: social interaction, social observation, and individual control. Subjects in the social interaction condition worked collaboratively on conservation tasks with a same sex partner. Subjects in the social observation condition individually observed pairs of subjects working together and control subjects worked individually on conservation tasks. The purpose of the social observation condition was to control for the effects of task relevant information that was expressed during dyadic interactions. All subjects were individually post-tested on conservation tasks that were the same form but different content than the pretest items. Subjects in the social interaction condition had significantly greater cogntive change scores (post-test less pretest) than subjects in the social observation and control conditions. There were no significant differences between change scores of subjects in the latter two conditions. Also, subjects in the social interaction condition gave significantly more novel explanations for conservation judgments than subjects in the social observation condition. These findings supported a socio-cognitive conflict model of cognitive development in young children.     

EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK AND COGNITIVE PLAYFULNESS ON PERFORMANCE IN MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE TRAINING

A field experiment of 68 full-time employees studied the effects of performance feedback and cognitive playfulness (that is, cognitive spontaneity in human-computer interactions) on microcomputer training performance. In addition, this research examined the impacts of performance feedback and cognitive playfulness on software efficacy perceptions and on a variety of affective outcomes, including satisfaction with feedback, satisfaction with training, and positive mood. The findings suggest that positive feedback generally results in higher test performance and more positive affective outcomes, than does negative feedback. Similarly, employees higher in cognitive playfulness demonstrated higher test performance and more positive affective outcomes than those lower in cognitive playfulness. Finally, a significant feedback × playfulness interaction on test performance was found. Specifically, employees lower in cognitive playfulness benefited more from the positive feedback than did those higher in cognitive playfulness. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

FEEDFORWARD AND FEEDBACK AS DETERMINERS OF KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY: NOTES ON A NEGLECTED ISSUE

B jörkman M. Feedforward and feedback as determiners of knowledge and policy: notes on a neglected issue. Scand. J. Psychol . 1972, 13 , 152–158.—Studies of cognitive learning should distinguish between acquisition of knowledge and policy formation. Two learning operators, feedforward, that is, task information by instructions, and feedback must also be taken into account. This double aim requires experimenters to analyze and relate two sets of data: subjective estimates about the task learned and predictions of outcomes. A broader approach is thus needed with a focus on how policy is related to knowledge, how these processes depend on feedback and feedfonvard and how the latter two interact in producing knowledge and policy.     

Note on subjects' hypotheses in multiple-cue probability learning

Subjects' hypotheses in multiple-cue probability learning was studied by trial-by-trial verbal reports in tasks with linear and nonlinear cue-criterion relations. In accordance with earlier findings, the results of the present experiment show that subjects learned linear tasks rapidly, while nonlinear tasks were not learned at all. The subjects' verbal hypotheses show that the subjects were concerned with rules for combining cue values, rather than with cue-criterion functions. This explains why the subjects fail to learn nonlinear multiple-cue tasks. It also shows that, although the subjects seem to learn multiple-cue tasks through a hypothesis testing process of the same kind as in single-cue probability tasks, the hypotheses tested in multiple-cue tasks are different from those tested in single-cue tasks. Finally, the present results suggest that the picture of the subjects' cognitive models of multiple-cue probability learning tasks provided by the customary multiple regression analysis may be fundamentally misleading in that it suggests that the subjects learn the validity of each cue rather than a combination rule.     

The Influence of Feedback on Mood: Linear Effects on Pleasantness and Curvilinear Effects on Arousal

We investigated the effects of feedback (grades) on two primary mood dimensions - Pleasantness and Arousal. We hypothesized that (a) cognitive comparisons of feedback to multiple standards yield cognitive appraisals of feedback sign, and that (b) feedback sign has a linear effect on harm/benefit appraisal, which influences mood Pleasantness, and a curvilinear effect on need for action appraisal, which influences Arousal. In Study 1 (N = 281), grades (a proxy for the sign of feedback-norm discrepancy) had a linear relationship with Pleasantness and a U-shaped relationship with Arousal. In addition, subjects who received grades had higher Arousal than control subjects. Study 2 (N = 226) replicated the results of Study 1 and showed that after controlling for the relationship of grades with Pleasantness and Arousal, the sign of feedback-expectation discrepancy (a second standard) also had a linear relationship with Pleasantness and a U-shaped relationship with Arousal.     

Differential effectiveness of explicit verbal feedback on children's communication skills

In order to specify by which combination of content and form dimensions the explicit verbal feedback comes to be most effective in enhancing communication skills, a training experiment was designed where both dimensions were factorially manipulated. Forty children (mean age, 5–10) were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: Interrogative Cognitive feedback, Declarative Cognitive feedback, Interrogative Perceptual feedback, and Declarative Perceptual feedback. The Cognitive type of feedback specified the successive cognitive steps underlying the comparison activity whereas the Perceptual type of feedback stressed only the necessity of describing perceptual differences when communicating. These two contents of feedback were either provided by a set of standardized questions or of declarative statements, after each trial of a speaking training task. Subjects were given a pretest, and immediate and delayed posttests comprised of a speaking task and a listening generalization task. A 2 (Contents) × 2 (Forms) × 2 (Tasks) × 2 (Post-tests) analysis of variance showed that all subjects performed significantly better on the speaking task than on the listening generalization task and that subjects in the Interrogative Cognitive condition performed better than subjects in the three other conditions, on both post-test tasks. Results emphasize the mutual facilitating effects of the Interrogative Form and the Cognitive Content of explicit feedback and are discussed in terms of the generalization and stability of the induced learning.     

A comparison of conflict of interest policies at peer-reviewed journals in different scientific disciplines

Scientific journals can promote ethical publication practices through policies on conflicts of interest. However, the prevalence of conflict of interest policies and the definition of conflict of interest appear to vary across scientific disciplines. This survey of high-impact, peer-reviewed journals in 12 different scientific disciplines was conducted to assess these variations. The survey identified published conflict of interest policies in 28 of 84 journals (33%). However, when representatives of 49 of the 84 journals (58%) completed a Web-based survey about journal conflict of interest policies, 39 (80%) reported having such a policy. Frequency of policies (including those not published) varied by discipline, from 100% among general medical journals to none among physics journals. Financial interests were most frequently addressed with relation to authors; policies for reviewers most often addressed non-financial conflicts. Twenty-two of the 39 journals with policies (56%) had policies about editors’ conflicts. The highest impact journals in each category were most likely to have a published policy, and the frequency of policies fell linearly with rank; for example, policies were published by 58% of journals ranked 1 in their category, 42% of journals ranked third, and 8% of journals ranked seventh (test for trend, p = 0.003). Having a conflict of interest policy was also associated with a self-reported history of problems with conflict of interest. The prevalence of published conflict of interest policies was higher than that reported in a 1997 study, an increase that might be attributable to heightened awareness of conflict of interest issues. However, many of the journals with policies do not make them readily available and many of those policies that were available lacked clear definitions of conflict of interest or details about how disclosures would be managed during peer review and publication.     

Images and Policy Preferences

This article reports the results of an experiment that tests the independent and interactive effects of two dimensions of international images: perceived historial relationship and cultural differences. Priming techniques are used to manipulate images in subjects who are involved in a simulated international conflict. Dependent variables include attitudes and behaviors, the latter in the form of policy preferences arranged on a cooperative-conflictual continuum. The results indicate that images do matter. When the perceived relationship is hostile, subjects develop more negative attitudes toward their opponents and choose more conflictual policies. Cultural differences produce more negative attitudes in all conditions but result in more negative policy selections only when the perceived relationship is hostile. In other words, in considering policy moves, cultural differences exacerbate conflict between enemies, but make no difference between friends, in spite of the negative outgroup attitudes they elicit.     

ROLE CONFLICT AND FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS: THE EFFECTS ON APPLICANT ATTRACTION

This paper challenges a popular assumption that organizations with flexible work arrangements are more attractive to job seekers than those with a standard work arrangement. Drawing on boundary theory, we suggest that the attractiveness of these arrangements depends in part on job seekers' interrole conflict. Subjects were 142 MBA students at a midsized midwestern university. Those with high role conflict were more attracted to an organization when flextime was offered than when it was not. Those with low role conflict, however, were just slightly less attracted to an organization when flextime was offered. Conversely, subjects with low role conflict were more attracted to an organization when telecommuting was offered than when it was not; subjects with high role conflict were indifferent. These results suggest that organizations should understand the needs of their targeted applicant pool and carefully consider recruitment implications of work arrangements when analyzing costs associated with these policies.