A FIELD STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF RATING PURPOSE ON THE QUALITY OF MULTISOURCE RATINGS

Using a field sample of peers and subordinates, the current study employed generalizability theory to estimate sources of systematic variability associated with both developmental and administrative ratings (variance due to items, raters, etc.) and then used these values to estimate the dependability (i.e., reliability) of the performance ratings under various conditions. Results indicated that the combined rater and rater-by-ratee interaction effect and the residual effect were substantially larger than the person effect (i.e., object of measurement) for both rater sources across both purpose conditions. For subordinates, the person effect accounted for a significantly greater percentage of total variance in developmental ratings than in administrative ratings; however, no differences were observed for peer ratings as a function of rating purpose. These results suggest that subordinate ratings are of significantly better quality when made for developmental than for administrative purposes, but the same is not true for peer ratings.     

THE INFLUENCE OF UPWARD FEEDBACK ON SELF- AND FOLLOWER RATINGS OF LEADERSHIP

The impact of upward feedback (followers' perceptions of leadership provided to leaders) on leaders' self-evaluations and followers' subsequent ratings of leadership was assessed in a field setting. Subjects were 978 student leaders and their 1,232 followers. Results indicated that overall, leaders' behaviors as rated by followers improved after feedback. Leaders' self-evaluations following feedback became more similar to the evaluations provided by followers. Interestingly, when leaders were grouped according to whether feedback was positive, neutral, or negative based on agreement between self- and follower ratings, differences between groups in post-feedback self-evaluations and follower ratings emerged. Self-evaluations for leaders receiving negative feedback (high self- relative to followers' ratings) went down, while self-evaluations for leaders receiving positive feedback (low self- relative to follower's ratings) went up. Follower ratings of leaders who received negative feedback improved following feedback to leaders, while there was no change in follower ratings for those receiving positive feedback. Implications for using upward feedback in organizations are discussed.     

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.     

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN INTERVIEWER RATINGS: THE IMPACT OF STANDARDIZATION, CONSENSUS DISCUSSION, AND SAMPLING ERROR ON THE VALIDITY OF A STRUCTURED INTERVIEW

This research investigated empirical issues regarding the validity of individual interviewers'( N = 62) ratings collected after a structured interview. Each interviewer rated an average of 25 interviewees. One hypothesis examined but not supported was that systematic interviewer errors will attenuate interview validity when data are aggregated across interviewers. Also investigated was the validity of ratings averaged across interviewers compared to consensus ratings; consensus ratings were shown to have significantly but probably not practically higher validities. Third, a meta-analysis of individual interviewer validities revealed that all of the variance in validities could be attributed to sampling error. Results and implications are discussed.     

AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION FOR THE ASYMMETRICAL EFFECTS IN RELATIONAL DEMOGRAPHY RESEARCH

Several relational demography studies have demonstrated asymmetrical effects of dissimilarity across different groups of employees. Some groups of employees appear to be more influenced by differences from fellow employees, whereas other groups of employees appear indifferent. Although numerous theoretical explanations have been developed to account for these asymmetrical effects, this paper argues that such effects are actually methodological artifacts resulting from an imbalance in the proportion of group members and deficiencies in the most commonly used measure of dissimilarity, Euclidean distance. This paper illustrates how such asymmetrical effects can be observed even when none exist in the population. Suggestions for methodological improvements in future diversity research are discussed along with recommendations for managing diversity in organizations.     

关于先发情绪体验对后发情绪过程的影响的一项实验

本实验试图探讨是否存在着一种先发体验,它的影响能在随后发生的情绪过程中表现出来。实验得到了肯定的结果。它显示为:(1)先发情绪体验若与后发情绪的性质相接近,则对后者起促进作用;若相反,则起抑制作用,(2)激起后发情绪的反应时(RT)与所发生情绪的持续时(DE)二者之间有显著的正相关。     

注意对半视野识别汉字的影响

用视觉外周呈现光点以控制注意的方法,对识别具体和抽象性汉字的脑功能偏侧化进行了研究。注意线索与刺激字在同侧视野呈现的间隔时间（ＳＯＡ）分为０、２９和５７ｍｓ。结果表明,具体性字在三种ＳＯＡ都表现出右视野左半球优势;而抽象性字在０ｍｓ两视野的识别成绩一样好。因此在偏侧视野识别汉字词中注意和脑结构因素似乎起着综合作用。     

学习方式对关系类别间接性学习的影响

以96名大学生为被试,以4特征虚拟外星生物为实验材料,通过类别的间接性学习,探讨学习方式对关系类别间接性学习的影响,结果发现：类别的间接性学习条件下,限定分类任务中,被试更倾向于选择关系作为类标准;参照条件下被试限定分类结果与标准的关系类别的分类结果的杰卡德相似性显著高于个人条件;被试分类结果的简单关系类别的杰卡德相似性显著高于复杂关系类别的杰卡德相似性,4特征关系类别的间接性学习中存在单一性效应。     

THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL ON THE DETECTION OF LIGHT SIGNALS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE VISUAL FIELD

6 subjects performed 12 times each a signal detection task lasting 40 minutes in parallel with a simple tracking task. They reported every 2nd second whether or not a signal was given in any one of 10 widely spaced locations. 0.5 or 1.0 ml alcohol/kg body weight (or no alcohol) was given 35–25 minutes prior to the task. Hit rate ( HR ) covaried with tracking efficiency; FAR was uniformly low. Variation in signal probability had no effect. Alcohol had a strong and uniform effect on 3 "experienced" subjects, reducing HR for all signals and producing a funneling effect, but had little effect on the performance of 3 "inexperienced" subjects. Motivational variables which may account for the individual differences are discussed.     

A FIELD STUDY OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PURPOSE: RESEARCH- VERSUS ADMINISTRATIVE- BASED RATINGS

Many researchers have discussed the theoretical and practical importance of rating purpose. Nevertheless, the body of empirical studies, the majority of which were conducted in a laboratory setting, focus on leniency. There has been little research on other effects of rating purpose. The present study examines 223 ratees in a field setting for whom there were both administrative-based performance appraisal ratings (which were actually used for personnel decisions) and research-based performance appraisal ratings (obtained for a validation study). Two of the hypotheses were supported; administrative ratings were more lenient than research-based ratings. The administrative-based ratings demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with ratee seniority, while the research-based ratings did not. There was mixed support for a third hypothesis: Research ratings were significantly correlated with a predictor, while the administrative ratings were not. The difference between the validity coefficients, however, was not significant. Contrary to the hypothesis, the rank order between administrative-based and research-based ratings was relatively high ( r = 33).     

THE EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK ACCOUNTABILITY ON UPWARD APPRAISAL RATINGS

Do subordinates feel and respond differently to upward appraisal procedures depending on whether they are accountable or anonymous? Accountability requires subordinates to identify themselves on the upward appraisal questionnaires they complete. In an experimental field study, 38 managers and their subordinates from an insurance company were randomly assigned to use one of the appraisal procedures. As hypothesized, managers who received feedback from specific individuals in the accountability procedure viewed the upward appraisal process more positively than did managers in the anonymity procedure. However, subordinates felt more comfortable giving anonymous responses. As a result, subordinates who used the accountability procedure rated their managers significantly higher than the subordinates who responded anonymously. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that an upward appraisal procedure in which individuals are accountable for their responses may produce inflated ratings of managers' performance. Further research should compare the accountability and anonymous upward appraisal procedures to determine which procedure produces more accurate ratings.     

THE CONTROL OF BIAS IN RATINGS: A THEORY OF RATING

Based on several years of research and a careful analysis of the rating process Wherry developed a theory of rating. An accurate rating is seen as being a function of three major components: Performance of the ratee, observation of that performance by the rater, and the recall of those observations by the rater. Cast in a mold of classical psychometric theory each of these components is seen as consisting of a systematic portion and a random portion. The systematic portion of each component is further broken down. The performance of the ratee is a combination of true ability or aptitude for the job and the influence of the environment. What the rater observes is a function the performance of the ratee and bias of observation and what the rater recalls is a result of those observations combined with a bias of recall. The development of the theory of rating unfolds by defining the various factors that affect each of these components in a series of linear equations. Various theorems and corollaries are proposed which should lead to a maximization of the true ability component of the ratee and minimize environmental influence and the bias and error components. The theorems and corollaries suggest testable hypotheses for the researcher in performance evaluation.     

THE EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY SIMILARITY ON PEER RATINGS OF CONTEXTUAL WORK BEHAVIORS

The present field study investigates whether rater-ratee similarity in the Big Five personality factors influences peer ratings of contextual work behaviors. It overcomes problems that previous studies have had by using a polynomial regression analysis and by correcting the potential biases from nonindependence. Using more than 500 peer dyads, we found that rater-ratee similarity in Conscientiousness, but not in other dimensions, was positively associated with peer ratings even after controlling for interpersonal affect. These results suggest that the observed effect of personality similarity may reflect actual behavioral differences rather than biases due to interpersonal affect. Implications of the findings are discussed along with recommendations for future research.     

汉字材料的性质对视觉短时记忆广度影响的实验研究

汉字材料的熟悉性和复杂性对视觉短时记忆（ＶＳＴＭ）广度的影响研究存在分析。本研究在实验设计上区分了汉语字词的熟悉性和复杂性维度,探讨了它们对ＶＳＴＭ广义的不同影响程度,结果表明：（１）材料的熟悉性是影响汉语字词ＶＳＴＭ广度的最重要因素,材料的复杂性影响不大;（２）在材料熟悉程度一致,被试在１１－２０岁年龄范围条件下,汉语字词ＶＳＴＭ广义将保持相对恒定（３）在承认“组块假说”的前提,汉语字词ＶＳＴＭ     

提高智慧的再次研究

本文是关于提高智慧的第二次实验报告。这次实验所得结果与上次所得结果完全一致。这次实验历时三个月,总共进行了大约了个半小时的动脑筋练习。两个实验班的智商分别提高了6分和5分,再次证明了智商是可以通过动脑筋练习而得到提高的。这样提高的智商与学习成绩的提高是否有一致关系,不但是个理论问题,也是个重要的实际问题。研究这个问题,虽然不在我们这次实验计划之中,根据这次实验结果,我们也作了一些分析。结果表明:智商提高与期末考试成绩之间,没有明显的一致关系;不过随着智商的提高而增加考试分数的趋势,似乎是存在的。     

开发儿童创造力的实验研究

采用吉尔福特的智力结构模型,结合现代心理学对创造力的研究观点,编出一套实验教材,为学生开设每周２课时的创造活动课,对学生进行创造力的全面培养。研究结果表明,创造活动课促进了学生智力和创造力的发展,同时也促进了学生其它学科的学习。