Trait effects within potential sources of variance in transient depression

An S-R Inventory of Depression was designed to assess the experience of transient states of ‘normal unhappiness’ in non-clinical subjects and was administered to 80 men and 80 women. Differences between individuals in their overall proneness to depression and in their patterns of sensitivity to various provoking situations provided the larger sources of interpretable variance for each sex. The Neuroticism dimension of personality was involved in both sources, in the latter through the potentiation of a person's generalized response to any given situation. The argument depended upon correlations between personality dimensions and the grand means and variance components derived from a separate two-way analysis of variance in the S-R inventory for each person. This is one way to explore the effects of trait-like variables within the form of ‘interactional’ approach embodied in variance component analyses.     

An S-R inventory of dominance for research on the nature of person-situation interactions1

The development and validation of an S-R inventory of dominance is described. The inventory was found to have high reliability, adequate convergent and discriminant validity, and a meaningful factor structure. In samples of 18 and 164 college students the interaction between persons and situations contributed more to total score variance than did either persons or situations taken separately. Moreover, the percentage of variance due to the person-situation interaction for dominance was found to be substantially larger than those obtained for other personality characteristics that have been studied with S-R inventories. These considerations suggest that this new S-R inventory is particularly appropriate for future research on dominance and the nature of person-situation interactions.     

Sex differences among five sources of motivation in the motivation sources inventory: preliminary findings

Paper reports sex differences among five sources of motivation for a sample of 208 undergraduate students who completed the Motivation Sources Inventory. t tests yielded few statistically significant sex differences for the five sources of motivation; however, Instrumental Motivation was higher among men than women, while the remaining four motives showed no sex difference. Implications and research opportunities are discussed.     

An interactionist approach to the study of anxiety An analysis of an S-R inventory applied to an adolescent sample

Abstract.— An inventory of anxiety was constructed according to the "S-R format", i.e., with situations and responses selected separately. The inventory employed 17 situation scales, supposed to induce different degrees of anxiety, and 18 response scales, supposed to represent different reactions to anxiety evoking stimuli. The Ss were a group of 128 pupils, 16years of age. The main purpose was to estimate the relative proportions of variance from the different variance sources. The results showed that individuals and situations contributed only about 6% each of the total variation, responses about 19%, the simple interactions about 30%, and the residual about 40%. Factor analyses of the situation and responsescales showed that these scales were multidimensional. For the response scales two main factors were isolated, interpreted as "Psychic anxiety", and "Somatic anxiety". For the situation scales three main factors were isolated, interpreted as "Threat of punishment", "Anticipation fear", and "Inanimate threat".     

Logical recoding of S-R rules can reverse the effects of spatial S-R correspondence

Two experiments investigated competing explanations for the reversal of spatial stimulus—response (S—R) correspondence effects (i.e., Simon effects) with an incompatible S—R mapping on the relevant, nonspatial dimension. Competing explanations were based on generalized S—R rules (logical-recoding account) or referred to display—control arrangement correspondence or to S—S congruity. In Experiment 1, compatible responses to finger—name stimuli presented at left/right locations produced normal Simon effects, whereas incompatible responses to finger—name stimuli produced an inverted Simon effect. This finding supports the logical-recoding account. In Experiment 2, spatial S—R correspondence and color S—R correspondence were varied independently, and main effects of these variables were observed. The lack of an interaction between these variables, however, disconfirms a prediction of the display—control arrangement correspondence account. Together, the results provide converging evidence for the logical-recoding account. This account claims that participants derive generalized response selection rules (e.g., the identity or reversal rule) from specific S—R rules and inadvertently apply the generalized rules to the irrelevant (spatial) S—R dimension when selecting their response.     

Generalizability of scores influenced by multiple sources of variance

Generalizability theory concerns the adequacy with which a universe score can be inferred from a set of observations. In this paper the theory is applied to a universe in which observations are classifiable according to two independent variable aspects of the measuring procedure. Several types of universe scores are developed and the variance components ascertained for each type. The composition of expected observed-score variance and the adequacy of inference to a particular type of universe score is a function of the procedure used in gathering data. A generalizability study provides estimates of variance components which can be used in designing an efficient procedure for a particular decision purpose.This study was conducted under Grant M-1839 from the National Institute of Mental Health while the authors were on the staff of the University of Illinois. Dr. Rajaratnam shared responsibility for the technical report of July, 1961 on which this paper is based. The present revision was made subsequent to her death in 1963. The present addresses of the other authors are: Goldine C. Gleser, Department of Psychiatry, Central Clinic, Cincinatti, 29, Ohio; Lee J. Cronbach, School of Education, Stanford University.     

Trait attributions and defense against insult from a dissimilar other

It was hypothesized that subjects would prefer to blame a character assault on negative ability characteristics of a dissimilar attacker as opposed to negative motivational characteristics in order to escape responsibility for the attack. It was reasoned that because we generally think of ourselves as having less potential influence over the abilities as opposed to the motivations of another person, it might be possible to diminish one's responsibility for another's behavior by attributing that behavior to that person's ability characteristics. Subjects in this experiment responded either to an insulting or noninsulting stimulus person who was either similar or dissimilar by selecting from a list of both motivational and ability bipolar trait dimensions, those dimensions they would most prefer to use in rating the stimulus person. As predicted, subjects responding to an insulting and dissimilar stimulus person showed a significantly greater preference for ability trait dimensions than subjects in the other conditions combined and also disliked the stimulus person more. The significance of these results for defensive attribution processes and phenomena such as racism and sexism are discussed.     

Trait configurations in self-managed teams: a conceptual examination of the use of seeding for maximizing and minimizing trait variance in teams

In this article, the authors argue that there is no one best way to make placement decisions on self-managed teams. Drawing from theories of supplementary and complementary fit, they develop a conceptual model that suggests that (a) maximization principles should be applied to extroversion variance (i.e., complementary fit), (b) minimization principles should be applied to conscientiousness variance (i.e., supplementary fit), and (c) extroversion variance and conscientiousness variance interact to influence team performance. They also argue that previous research has underestimated the effect of extroversion and conscientiousness variance on performance because of suboptimal design. The authors, therefore, present an alternative method for making team placement decisions (i.e., seeding) that can be used to maximize or minimize variance in teams.     

S-R compatibility and changes in RT with practice

A visual, two-choice RT experiment was performed to assess the effect of practice on compatibility effects. The data are interpreted as showing that identification of the position of the hand gradually becomes independent of the hand's normal side.Further analysis suggests that “compatible” or “natural” relationships are those in which a single recoding process can be successfully applied to all the relevant spatial relationships. This gives rise to the further prediction that where all relationships are uniformly “incompatible”, performance will be better than where there is a mixture of “compatible” and “incompatible” relationships.     

Relationships of Experiential and Reflective Self-Knowledge with Trait Meta-Mood Scale, constructive thinking inventory, and the Five Factors in Iranian managers

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and the incremental validity of recently developed Reflective and Experiential Self-knowledge Scales. Along with measures of the Five Factors and of psychological adjustment, 201 male Iranian managers responded to the Self-knowledge Scales along with tests relevant to emotional intelligence, including the Trait Meta-mood Scale and the Constructive Thinking Inventory. As hypothesized, Self-knowledge Scales predicted greater self-reported emotional intelligence. Multiple regression also confirmed the incremental validity of these scales, showed each explained a separate source of variance, and supported the presumed temporal dynamics that theoretically underlie these constructs.     

Egocentric and relative spatial codes in S-R compatibility

Summary It has been shown that spatial compatibility is due to a comparison between the spatial codes that describe stimulus and response positions. Such codes are often defined in right-left terms. There are, however, two types of right-left codes that can be used for describing a position in space. One is formed with relation to the egocentric axes and can be termed side, whereas the other is formed with relation to an external reference location and can be termed relative position. Five experiments were conducted to determine the role of these different codes in producing spatial compatibility effects. In Experiments 1 and 2 the position of the stimulus provided the relevant cue for choosing the correct response (i.e., the situation was typical of spatial compability proper), whereas in Experiments 3, 4, and 5 the stimulus provided a locational cue that was not necessary for choosing the correct response (i.e., the situation was typical of the Simon effect). The experimental manipulations concerned the task demands and the time elapsing between availability of the stimulus code and availability of the response code. The results showed that upon stimulus presentation, both stimulus codes (that concerning side and that concerning relative position) were formed, but experimental manipulations determined the one that was effective in yielding compatibility effects. When the task required the use of one type of code, then spatial compatibility depended on that code alone. When the two coding processes were separated in time, then spatial compatibility depended only on the code that was formed simultaneously with the response code.