New Directions for Research on the Role of Parents and Teachers in the Development of Gender-Related Math Attitudes: Response to Commentaries

We frame our response to the commentaries by Cheryan (2011), Lane (2011), and Shapiro and Williams (2011), in terms of two broad points made by Lane (2011). First, we agree that the various constructs that we termed “math attitudes”—including math-gender stereotypes, math anxiety, math self-concepts, and achievement motivation in math—are in fact distinct (Gunderson et al. 2011b). Nevertheless, we argue that investigating common mechanisms underlying the transmission of these constructs from adults to children is a productive approach because it can lead to general interventions to boost children’s performance and dispositions toward math. Second, we argue that research on the development of gender-related math attitudes exists at the intersection of multiple research areas, including research on attitudes (broadly defined), math, gender, social learning, and child development, and that drawing on well-developed theories in these areas can lead to novel research questions and predictions. The three excellent commentaries broaden the scope of our article on gender-related math attitudes to include the transmission of implicit attitudes from adults to children, stereotype threat, and gender roles in math-related careers (Cheryan 2011; Gunderson et al. 2011b; Lane 2011; Shapiro and Williams 2011).     

The Performance Appraisal Milieu: A Multilevel Analysis of Context Effects in Performance Ratings

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to take an inductive approach in examining the extent to which organizational contexts represent significant sources of variance in supervisor performance ratings, and to explore various factors that may explain contextual rating variability.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Using archival field performance rating data from a large state law enforcement organization, we used a multilevel modeling approach to partition the variance in ratings due to ratees, raters, as well as rating contexts.

Findings

Results suggest that much of what may often be interpreted as idiosyncratic rater variance, may actually reflect systematic rating variability across contexts. In addition, performance-related and non-performance factors including contextual rating tendencies accounted for significant rating variability.

Implications

Supervisor ratings represent the most common approach for measuring job performance, and understanding the nature and sources of rating variability is important for research and practice. Given the many uses of performance rating data, our findings suggest that continuing to identify contextual sources of variability is particularly important for addressing criterion problems, and improving ratings as a form of performance measurement.

Originality/Value

Numerous performance appraisal models suggest the importance of context; however, previous research had not partitioned the variance in supervisor ratings due to omnibus context effects in organizational settings. The use of a multilevel modeling approach allowed the examination of contextual influences, while controlling for ratee and rater characteristics.

     

The Gestalt principle of similarity benefits visual working memory

Visual working memory (VWM) is essential for many cognitive processes, yet it is notably limited in capacity. Visual perception processing is facilitated by Gestalt principles of grouping, such as connectedness, similarity, and proximity. This introduces the question, do these perceptual benefits extend to VWM? If so, can this be an approach to enhance VWM function by optimizing the processing of information? Previous findings have demonstrated that several Gestalt principles (connectedness, common region, and spatial proximity) do facilitate VWM performance in change detection tasks (Jiang, Olson, & Chun, 2000; Woodman, Vecera, & Luck, 2003; Xu, 2002, 2006; Xu & Chun, 2007). However, one prevalent Gestalt principle, similarity, has not been examined with regard to facilitating VWM. Here, we investigated whether grouping by similarity benefits VWM. Experiment 1 established the basic finding that VWM performance could benefit from grouping. Experiment 2 replicated and extended this finding by showing that similarity was only effective when the similar stimuli were proximal. In short, the VWM performance benefit derived from similarity was constrained by spatial proximity, such that similar items need to be near each other. Thus, the Gestalt principle of similarity benefits visual perception, but it can provide benefits to VWM as well.     

Warm,but Maybe Not So Competent?—Contemporary Implicit Stereotypes of Women and Men in Germany

A fundamental model of stereotypes, the stereotype content model (SCM, Fiske et al. 2002), postulates that stereotypes of many social groups vary on two core dimensions: warmth and competence. In line with traditional gender stereotypes, the SCM predicts women to be perceived as warmer than men, and men to be perceived as more competent than women. Research on implicit measurement of stereotypes suggests that, next to people’s underlying beliefs, a major predictor is the tendency to favor one’s own group (Rudman et al. 2001). We examined gender stereotypes concerning warmth and competence, using implicit association tests (IATs, Greenwald et al. 1998) and drawing on diverse samples of women and men in eastern and western Germany (i.e., students and non-students; total N?=?384). On the warmth dimension, an overall women-warmth stereotype was found, confirming predictions of the SCM. On the competence dimension, associations of own gender and competence were observed for both men and women, suggesting the impact of self-favoring processes. Findings are discussed with respect to social role theory (Eagly 1987) and the changing roles of women.     

Constraints for Some,Opportunities for Others? Interactive and Indirect Effects of Machiavellianism and Organizational Constraints on Task Performance Ratings

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine how the indirect relationship between Machiavellianism and task performance ratings is qualified by organizational constraints (e.g., inadequate resources). Contrary to past research, we suggest that constraints can actually facilitate performance ratings among highly Machiavellian employees because they seek to attain high ratings through self-interested behaviors and social influence processes rather than legitimate task performance. Thus, constraints that inhibit legitimate performers should actually create more opportunities for highly Machiavellian employees.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from 110 subordinate–supervisor dyads that were recruited from Psychology courses at a small liberal arts college.

Findings

The results elaborate on past research focused on organizational constraints to reveal that the indirect relationship between Machiavellianism and task performance is positive and significant under conditions of high organizational constraints. This relationship is not significant and trends in a negative direction when constraints are low.

Implications

This study highlights the importance of considering how resource constraints impact different types of performers in organizations. When resources are abundant, legitimate performance is possible and Machiavellians are hampered in their ability to rely on careerist strategies to succeed. In contrast, high constraints create situations that enable Machiavellian behaviors to pay off.

Originality/Value

This study’s originality lies in its counterintuitive finding that organizational constraints might actually be beneficial for some employees who adopt Machiavellian, careerist strategies. This is the first study to demonstrate that constraints do not have consistent, negative effects on task performance and to elaborate on how constraints impact the performance of Machiavellian employees.     

Reconsidering the Equivalence of Multisource Performance Ratings: Evidence for the Importance and Meaning of Rater Factors

Purpose

The study specified an alternate model to examine the measurement invariance of multisource performance ratings (MSPRs) to systematically investigate the theoretical meaning of common method variance in the form of rater effects. As opposed to testing invariance based on a multigroup design with raters aggregated within sources, this study specified both performance dimension and idiosyncratic rater factors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data was obtained from 5,278 managers from a wide range of organizations and hierarchical levels, who were rated on the BENCHMARKS^® MSPR instrument.

Findings

Our results diverged from prior research such that MSPRs were found to lack invariance for raters from different levels. However, same level raters provided equivalent ratings in terms of both the performance dimension loadings and rater factor loadings.

Implications

The results illustrate the importance of modeling rater factors when investigating invariance and suggest that rater factors reflect substantively meaningful variance, not bias.

Originality/Value

The current study applies an alternative model to examine invariance of MSPRs that allowed us to answer three questions that would not be possible with more traditional multigroup designs. First, the model allowed us to examine the impact of paramaterizing idiosyncratic rater factors on inferences of cross-rater invariance. Next, including multiple raters from each organizational level in the MSPR model allowed us to tease apart the degree of invariance in raters from the same source, relative to raters from different sources. Finally, our study allowed for inferences with respect to the invariance of idiosyncratic rater factors.     

Prior knowledge is more predictive of error correction than subjective confidence

Previous research has demonstrated that, when given feedback, participants are more likely to correct confidently-held errors, as compared with errors held with lower levels of confidence, a finding termed the hypercorrection effect. Accounts of hypercorrection suggest that confidence modifies attention to feedback; alternatively, hypercorrection may reflect prior domain knowledge, with confidence ratings simply correlated with this prior knowledge. In the present experiments, we attempted to adjudicate among these explanations of the hypercorrection effect. In Experiments 1a and 1b, participants answered general knowledge questions, rated their confidence, and received feedback either immediately after rating their confidence or after a delay of several minutes. Although memory for confidence judgments should have been poorer at a delay, the hypercorrection effect was equivalent for both feedback timings. Experiment 2 showed that hypercorrection remained unchanged even when the delay to feedback was increased. In addition, measures of recall for prior confidence judgments showed that memory for confidence was indeed poorer after a delay. Experiment 3 directly compared estimates of domain knowledge with confidence ratings, showing that such prior knowledge was related to error correction, whereas the unique role of confidence was small. Overall, our results suggest that prior knowledge likely plays a primary role in error correction, while confidence may play a small role or merely serve as a proxy for prior knowledge.     

Correcting the correction of conditional recency slopes

Farrell (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 324–347, 2010) presented some analyses of free recall data that suggest that recency items initially become more accessible as recall progresses, in contrast to the assumptions of temporal drift models. Moran and Goshen-Gottstein (2013) present some challenges to Farrell’s (2010) analyses of the change in conditional recency across output position in free recall. Simulations using a very basic free recall model that controls conditional recency across recall show that Farrell’s (2010) analyses are not substantially biased, while the procedure proposed by Moran and Goshen-Gottstein introduces a substantial underestimation of the true slopes. The null slopes observed in immediate recall by Moran and Goshen-Gottstein are not informative of the true slopes characterizing the data. Accordingly, Farrell’s (2010) results continue to present a challenge to temporal drift models.     

Margaret R. Miles’ Augustine and the Fundamentalist’s Daughter: An Eriksonian Perspective

My perspective on Margaret R. Miles’s Augustine and the Fundamentalist’s Daughter is informed by Erik H. Erikson’s life cycle model (Erikson 1950, 1959, 1963, 1964, 1968a, b, 1982; Erikson and Erikson 1997) and, more specifically, by my relocation of his life stages and their accompanying human strengths (Erikson 1964) according to decades (Capps 2008). I interpret Miles’s account of her life from birth to age forty as revealing the selves that comprise the composite Self (Erikson 1968a) that come into their own during the first four decades of the life cycle, i.e., the hopeful, willing, purposeful, and competent selves     

Bootstrap and rollback: generalizing epistemic circularity

Reliabilists accept the possibility of basic knowledge??knowledge that p in virtue of the reliability of some belief-producing process r without antecedent knowledge that r is reliable. Cohen (Philos Phenomenol Res 65:309?C329, 2002, Philos Phenomenol Res 70:417?C430, 2005) and Vogel (J Philos 97:602?C623, 2000, J Philos 105:518?C539, 2008) have argued that one can bootstrap knowledge that r is reliable from basic knowledge. This paper provides a diagnosis of epistemic bootstrapping, and then shows that recent attempts at embracing bootstrapped knowledge are found wanting. Instead it is argued that such arguments are afflicted by a novel kind of generalized epistemic circularity. The ensuing view is defended against various objections, and an explanation of the source of that circularity is offered.     

Observer Effects without Demand Characteristics: An Inductive Investigation of Video Monitoring and Performance

Purpose

The purpose of these two studies was to explore the relationship between video monitoring and quantity of performance in the absence of demand characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were gathered via two experiments involving business students working on a motor task. Participants were randomly assigned to the monitored and unmonitored conditions. Experiment 1 (n = 75) was inductive while Experiment 2 (n = 139) was partially inductive.

Findings

Experiment 1 showed that monitored participants’ performance was lower than that of unmonitored participants. Further, monitoring reduced outliers, increased interquartile variance, and normalized the distribution. Experiment 2 replicated the effect of monitoring on performance controlling for cognitive ability and emotions, demonstrated that negative emotions interacted with monitoring condition, and suggested that differences in performance were not due to cheating or variation in task-related strategies. We offer a grounded theory of video monitoring proposing that different implicit decision rules are activated when people are monitored as compared to when they are not monitored.

Implications

Future research needs to determine the extent to which our results extend to similar settings in the workplace and to other forms of observation. At this time, we believe organizations should carefully consider the consequences of electronic monitoring. Controlling expectations in the lab or workplace does not necessarily eliminate the independent effect of monitoring. Therefore, researchers must beware misinterpretation of effect sizes and overlooking the role of observation in their data.

Originality/value

These studies demonstrate that video monitoring can create observer effects in the absence of demand characteristics. Our inductive approach revealed the nature of the effects beyond mean differences and served as the basis for developing a testable theory of monitoring that goes beyond what was previously known.     

A Dispositional Approach to Work�CSchool Conflict and Enrichment

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate a dispositional model of the work?Cschool interface. In particular, we examined the relationship between core self-evaluations (CSEs) and proactive personality with both work?Cschool conflict (WSC) and work?Cschool enrichment (WSE) as well as a variety of work and school outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

314 employed college students were surveyed about their experiences managing work and school roles.

Findings

Structural equation modeling showed that CSEs were related to both WSC and WSE as well as school outcomes, whereas proactive personality was related to WSE and job and school outcomes but not WSC. WSC was negatively related to school performance, whereas WSE was positively related to school and job satisfaction as well as school performance.

Implications

Organizations, universities, and researchers should be aware that dispositional variables influence perceptions of work and school roles as well as important outcome variables, and that further intervention efforts may be needed to help students manage work and school roles.

Originality/Value

Past studies have demonstrated that job characteristics influence the work?Cschool interface, but this study is among the first to demonstrate that dispositional factors also relate to WSC and WSE.     

Outcomes of Peak,Typical, and Variability in Performance of College Football Teams

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the typical, peak, and variability in performance of both the offensive and defensive units of college football teams over the course of a season in predicting three objective team-level outcomes (win percentage, fan home game attendance, and bowl game payout).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from an archival sports database for 193 Bowl Subdivision college football teams for three separate seasons.

Findings

When all three types of performance were considered simultaneously, only typical performance significantly predicted win percentage and bowl game payout outcomes, and it explained between 19 % (for bowl game payout) and 49 % (for record) of the variance. All interactions between typical performance and performance variability were non-significant.

Implications

These null results point to a boundary condition in the relationship between performance variability and outcomes: whether the outcome is subject to evaluator attributional processes (e.g., raises, performance evaluations) or is more objective in nature. Although null, the present results question a sometimes implicit assumption that performance inconsistency is detrimental to organizational functioning.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to examine outcomes of peak performance, typical performance, and performance variability at the team level. Additionally, most studies examining the outcomes of such performance use subjective outcomes such as performance ratings, whereas this study provides one of the first examinations using objective outcomes such as bowl game payout.     

Role Definition as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Safety Climate and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Hospital Nurses

Purpose

This field study investigated the moderating influence of role definitions on the association between safety climate and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

Design/Methodology

Data were obtained from 94 hospital nurse dyads. Focal nurses and their peers completed paper surveys. All predictor measures were self-reported; whereas the OCB ratings were provided by nurses’ peers.

Findings

Nurses’ perceptions of job requirements regarding OCB (i.e., OCB-specific role definitions) moderated the relationship between psychological safety climate and peer-rated OCB. The correlation between psychological safety climate and OCB was significant when nurses’ role definitions were narrow but non-existent when role definitions were broad.

Implications

This study links managerial commitment to safety to nurses’ pro-social behavior and identifies an important boundary condition.

Originality-Value

The link between safety climate and safety compliance has been firmly established. We investigated a less well-researched association between safety and OCB and proposed a theoretical foundation for this positive association.     

Self-control,motivational strength,and exposure therapy

Do people sometimes exercise self-control in such a way as to bring it about that they do not act on present-directed motivation that continues to be motivationally strongest for a significant stretch of time (even though they are able to act on that motivation at the time) and intentionally act otherwise during that stretch of time? This paper explores the relative merits of two different theories about synchronic self-control that provide different answers to this question. One is due to Sripada (Noûs 1–38, 2012) and the other to Mele (Irrationality, 1987; Autonomous agents, 1995; Motivation and agency, 2003). Special attention is paid to evidence Sripada offers for an affirmative answer to the question, and some guidance is offered on the project of finding evidence for an affirmative answer.     

Effects of Applicant Personality on Resume Evaluations

Purpose

This study examined the extent that personality information in resumes impacts hiring judgments through applicant’s resumes. Study 1 examined lay theories regarding relationships between resume cues and the applicant’s personality and hireability. Study 2 examined how the applicant’s personality impacted hiring judgments through resumes.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data for both studies were collected in the context of a managerial position. For Study 1, participants assessed resume cues in regards to their relationship with personality and hireability. For Study 2, Human Resource personnel evaluated each resume in regards to personality and hireability.

Findings

Results for Study 1 highlight several connections between applicants’ personality and resumes, with strong links between resume content and perceptions of conscientiousness and agreeableness. Results for Study 2 indicate that personality was largely unrelated to ratings of hireability but perceptions of personality were strongly linked to hireability; actual personality was linked to the variability in cue information related to hireability, and conscientiousness was indirectly related to hireability through judgments of conscientiousness.

Implications

Results from these studies suggest that personality and perceptions of personality play a greater role in resume development and screening than has been previously suggested. The pattern of results reported suggest that there are a number of resumes cues that accurately reflect an applicant’s personality and influence perceptions of hireability.

Originality/Value

By taking an exploratory approach, the current studies were able to explore a large variety of cues linked to personality and ratings of hireability. Results have implications for both applicants and HR personnel evaluating resumes.     

Suchttherapie bei abhängigen Ärzten

Background

International studies indicate an increased incidence of substance abuse disorders among physicians. This article investigates specific variables in the work field and describes existing treatment programs.

Patients and methods

In a cross-sectional study 107 physicians with and 468 without substance abuse disorders were compared. Two highly developed treatment programs in Germany and Canada are described.

Results

The high work-load associated with the medical work environment leads to reduced performance and social isolation. Treatment programs for addicted physicians work with the concept of ?help before restriction“. The abstinence rate of the 5-year Canadian program is over 90%.

Conclusions

As a form of prevention, medical students should be systematically informed about work-related stress in the medical profession. Structured treatment programs should be implemented nationwide. The expert team ?Risk of addiction in physicians“ of the German Addiction Foundation, whose members are authors of this article, may be a small step in this direction.     

The importance of perceived autonomy support for the psychological health and work satisfaction of health professionals: Not only supervisors count, colleagues too!

Previous studies show that supervisors?? autonomy-supportive style predicts greater psychological health (Baard et al. in J Appl Soc Psychol 34:2045?C2068, 2004; Blais and Brière 1992; Lynch et al. in Prof Psychol Res Pract 36:415?C425, 2005) and lower psychological distress (Deci et al. in Personal Soc Psychol Bull 27:930?C942, 2001). The goal of the present study is to extend these results and investigate the contribution of colleagues?? perceived autonomy support in the prediction of health professionals?? work satisfaction and psychological health. The combined impact of supervisors?? and colleagues?? perceived autonomy support is also examined. A sample of 597 health professionals from the province of Quebec (Canada) completed a questionnaire, which included measures of perceived supervisors?? and colleagues?? autonomy support and outcome variables. Results confirm that supervisors?? and colleagues?? perceived autonomy support predict health professionals?? work satisfaction and psychological health. Results also show that colleagues?? perceived autonomy support adds to the prediction of health professionals?? work satisfaction, subjective well-being, and suicidal ideation above and beyond supervisors?? perceived autonomy support.     

Situating Ethical Behavior in the Nomological Network of Job Performance

Purpose

Our objective was to generate, define, and evaluate behavioral dimensions of ethical performance at work that are common across United States occupations.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This project involved three studies. Study 1 involved (a) qualitative review of published literature, professional codes of ethics, and critical incidents of (un)ethical performance and resulted in (b) behavioral dimensions and ethical performance rating scales. The second and third studies used a retranslation methodology to evaluate the ethical performance dimensions from Study 1. The behavioral dimensions were linked to the performance determinants (personal attributes) in Study 3.

Findings

Study 1 resulted in draft dimension definitions and rating scales for 10 ethical performance dimensions. In Studies 2 and 3, retranslation data provided strong support for 10 behavioral dimensions of ethical performance at work. Results from Study 3 shed light on possible relationships among the performance dimensions based on their underlying performance determinants.

Implications

Communicating an organization’s ethical standards to employees is important because some ethical breakdowns can be attributed to simply failing to recognize an ethical matter (in: DeCremer, Managerial ethics: Managing the psychology of morality, Routledge, New York, 2011). Definitions of ethical behavior in the workplace provide a tool for researchers, employers, and employees to communicate about ethical situations and a foundation for folding ethics into employee training and performance management.

Originality/Value

These studies provide a taxonomy of ethical performance at work that generalizes to a diverse array of occupations and industries, and dimensions and rating scales have value for performance management, training/curriculum development, job analysis, predictor development and/or validation, and additional research.

     

Exploring the Effects of Value Diversity on Team Effectiveness

Purpose

The goal of the present study was to explore the potential impact of within-team value diversity with respect to both team processes and task performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We explored value diversity within a comprehensive framework such that all components of basic human values were examined. A sample of 306 participants randomly assigned to 60 teams, performed a complex hands-on task, demanding high interdependence among team members, and completed different measures of values and team processes.

Findings

Results indicated that value diversity among team members had no significant impact on task performance. However, diversity with respect to several value dimensions had a significant unique effect on team process criteria. Results were consistent with respect to the nature of the impact of value diversity on team process outcomes. Specifically, the impact of team value diversity was such that less diversity was positively related to process outcomes (i.e., more similarity resulted in more team cohesion and efficacy and less conflict).

Implications

The results indicated that disparity among teammates in many of these values may have important implications on subsequent team-level phenomena. We suggest team leaders and facilitators of teambuilding efforts could consider adding to their agendas a session with team members to analyze and discuss the combined value profiles of their team.

Originality/Value

This is the first study to highlight the unique impact of many unexamined, specific components of team diversity with respect to values on team effectiveness criteria.