COMPREHENSION MONITORING IN GOOD AND POOR READERS: EVIDENCE FROM VERBAL AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The present study examined the ability of second grade good and poor readers to monitor their comprehension of inconsistent texts. Comprehension monitoring was assessed by both a performance measure (underlining inconsistencies) as well as verbal measures (ratings of passage comprehensibility and liking). Because poor readers equate adequate comprehension with accurate decoding, while good reader equate adequate comprehension with accurately deriving the meaning of a text, it was expected that performance and verbal measures of comprehension monitoring would be related for good but not for poor readers. As predicted, self‐reports of comprehension and liking were highly related to the performance measure of error detection for good readers but not for poor readers. The implications of these results for assessing comprehension monitoring ability are discussed.     

ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL TRAINING AND SUPPORT

The present study uses both objective and survey data to examine relations among retail sales training, organizational support, and store performance and to examine whether training interacts with organizational support to predict store performance. The study is unique in that it presents an example of the analysis of the relationship between organizational level measures of training and performance, as opposed to more traditional individual level measures. Archival data in a correlational design were analyzed for 62 stores belonging to the same international merchandising firm. Two measures of training and two measures of support were used to predict two measures of store performance. Results indicated that training and organizational support were significantly correlated with both measures of store performance, although the relationship between training and organizational performance was stronger. In contrast to predictions, there were no significant interactions between the training and support variables.     

POOR WOMEN IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

For the most part, theory and empirical study in the psychology of women have failed to recognize many distinctions among women. Indeed, the focus of feminist theory and research has been directed to the explication of women's essential experience of gender, as if this could be separated from the confounds of class and race. This presentation raises the issue of the diversity among poor women, the need to disentangle ethnicity and class, and the limitation of adopting a middleclass White perspective. In addition to racism, other possible causes of exclusion are explored. Silencing of poor women is also discussed in terms of causes and impact on the discipline of psychology. We have not provided sufficient mechanisms to allow diverse groups of women to tell their own stories; instead, we have felt comfortable in making assumptions and drawing parallels that may be inappropriate and incorrect. Suggestions for achieving feminist goals are provided.     

IN SUPPORT OF PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT IN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS

Personality constructs have been demonstrated to be useful for explaining and predicting attitudes, behaviors, performance, and outcomes in organizational settings. Many professionally developed measures of personality constructs display useful levels of criterion-related validity for job performance and its facets. In this response to Morgeson et al. (2007) , we comprehensively summarize previously published meta-analyses on (a) the optimal and unit-weighted multiple correlations between the Big Five personality dimensions and behaviors in organizations, including job performance; (b) generalizable bivariate relationships of Conscientiousness and its facets (e.g., achievement orientation, dependability, cautiousness) with job performance constructs; (c) the validity of compound personality measures; and (d) the incremental validity of personality measures over cognitive ability. Hundreds of primary studies and dozens of meta-analyses conducted and published since the mid 1980s indicate strong support for using personality measures in staffing decisions. Moreover, there is little evidence that response distortion among job applicants ruins the psychometric properties, including criterion-related validity, of personality measures. We also provide a brief evaluation of the merits of alternatives that have been offered in place of traditional self-report personality measures for organizational decision making. Given the cumulative data, writing off the whole domain of individual differences in personality or all self-report measures of personality from personnel selection and organizational decision making is counterproductive for the science and practice of I-O psychology.     

EAST AND WEST IN THE FACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

Abstract. Technological changes affect Western culture in three ways: the ratio between the lifetimes of technologies and the human lifetime is inverted; the three principal realms of human life (the home, the workplace, and leisure activity), as well as political systems, are affected; and the cohesion of the social body is threatened. The impact on Eastern culture is softened by a clearer role assigned to school, the resulting level of education, and the influence of Confucian ethics. However, acculturation will vary among countries, depending on the communication ability in the respective societies and the degree of development of social cellular structures, which are the most able to manage complexity.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN OCCUPATIONAL PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

This study is an investigation of the effects of occupational sex-dominance on sex differences in occupational performance expectations. Female and male college students indicated their expectations for their own performance— self expectations—and that of either a typical male, female, or male and female person— comparison person expectations —for six occupations varying according to perceived sex-dominance. Additionally, the performance expectations were reported under anticipated private or public conditions. Results indicated that in contrast to males, females reported lower expectations for themselves alone and lower expectations for themselves in comparison to another person for male-dominated occupations. However, unlike males, females reported higher expectations for themselves and for themselves in comparison to others for female-dominated fields. Occupational sex dominance appeared to influence females' performance expectations, while males' expectations were similar across fields varying in sex-dominance. Neither the sex of the comparison person nor the anticipated privacy of the expectations were found to be related to the sex differences in performance expectations.     

FIXED-INTERVAL PERFORMANCE AND SELF-CONTROL IN INFANTS

Twenty-six infants, 3 to 23 months old, were trained on fixed-interval schedules ranging from 10 s to 80 s. The operant response was touching an illuminated location on a touch-sensitive screen, and 20 s of cartoon presentation was the reinforcer. The subjects were also trained in a six-phase self-control procedure in which the critical phases involved choice between 20 s of cartoon available after a 0.5-s delay (impulsive choice) and 40 s of cartoon delayed for 40 s (self-controlled choice). All the youngest children (3 to 5 months) showed long postreinforcement pauses on the fixed-interval schedule, with most intervals involving the emission of a single, reinforced, response, and all made self-controlled choices. Older subjects (9 to 23 months) either produced the same pattern as the younger ones on the fixed-interval schedule (classified as pause-sensitive subjects) or produced short pauses and higher steady response rates (classified as pause-insensitive subjects). All pause-sensitive subjects made self-controlled choices in the self-control condition, and all pause-insensitive subjects made impulsive ones.     

CO-WORKER SOCIAL SUPPORT IN A WORKSITE SMOKING CONTROL PROGRAM

We evaluated the effects of adding a social support component to a worksite controlled smoking treatment program. Twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to either a controlled smoking or a controlled smoking plus partner support condition. Within a multiple baseline across behaviors design, smokers in both conditions made efforts to achieve sequential 50% reductions in: (a) nicotine content of brand smoked, (b) number of cigarettes smoked per day, and (c) percentage of each cigarette smoked. Self-monitoring records, laboratory analyses of spent cigarette butts, and carbon monoxide determinations indicated that both conditions were effective in producing significant reductions in each of the three target behaviors and in carbon monoxide levels. All participants who quit smoking during the program maintained their abstinence at a 6-month follow-up, and those who did not quit were smoking less at follow-up than they had at pretest on all dependent variables. However, few differences were observed between controlled smoking and controlled smoking plus partner support conditions either during treatment or at the 6-month follow-up. Results are discussed with regard to previous worksite studies, future directions for research on social support, and variables that may have mediated treatment outcome.     

LEADER INFLUENCE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE

The role requirements of leaders in an assessment group context were manipulated in a laboratory simulation. Discussion leaders (chairholders) either did or did not have first hand contact with an individual who was being assessed. Furthermore, chairholders were either allowed a formal say in the group's decision or were not. As predicted, different configurations of role requirements had an impact on the influence wielded by the chair, as indexed by measures of group process, group decision, accuracy and group member attitudes. Both prior contact and voting rights had direct and interactive effects and served to increase chair influence. Particular role requirement combinations also produced a type of group disruption as reflected in group member ratings of the quality of the session. The results of the study are discussed in forms of implications for the standardization of procedures in assessment center programs.     

THE BEGINNING OF COMMUNITY: POLITICS IN THE FACE OF DISAGREEMENT

Rawls' requirement that citizens of liberal democracies support only policies which they believe can be justified in 'public reason' depends on a certain ideal for the relationships between citizens. This is a valuable ideal, and thus citizens have reasons to try to achieve it. But it is not always possible to find the common ground that we would need in order to do so, and thus we should reject Rawls' strong claim that we have an obligation to defend our views in public reason. Because I recognize that we have strong reasons to conduct our political enquiry within the guidelines of political liberalism, but deny that we always have an obligation to do so, one might call my view 'permissive political liberalism'.     

ORGANIZATION AND RATER DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS

This study examines the effects of organizational differences and rater differences on performance appraisals. Self, peer, and supervisory ratings of performance for nurses in four hospitals and self, student, peer, and supervisory ratings for resident advisors in seven university dormitory complexes were used in this study. The analyses indicate that both organization and rater differences have significant, independent effects on performance ratings. The findings suggest that organizational differences may restrict the generality of the findings of performance appraisal studies across organizational settings. They also may have a negative impact on the usefulness of any particular performance appraisal form in different settings, and on the ability of managers to accurately interpret and compare performance ratings for individuals in different organizational subunits.     

CONTROLLING ATTITUDES

Abstract:  I hope to show that, although belief is subject to two quite robust forms of agency, believing at will is impossible; one cannot believe in the way one ordinarily acts. Further, the same is true of intention: although intention is subject to two quite robust forms of agency, the features of belief that render believing less than voluntary are present for intention, as well. It turns out, perhaps surprisingly, that you can no more intend at will than believe at will.     

MODELING JOB PERFORMANCE IN A POPULATION OF JOBS

The Army Selection and Classification Project has produced a comprehensive examination of job performance in 19 entry-level Army jobs (Military Occupational Specialties) sampled from the existing population of entry-level positions. Multiple methods of job analysis and criterion measurement were utilized in a subsample of nine jobs to generate over 200 performance indicators, which were then used to assess performance in a combined sample of 9,430 job incumbents. An iterative procedure involving a series of content analyses and principal components analyses was used to develop a basic array of up to 32 criterion scores for each job. This basic set of scores formed the starting point of an attempt to model the latent structure of performance in this population of jobs. After alternative models were proposed for the latent structure, the models were submitted to a goodness-of-fit test via LIS-REL VI. After accounting for two components of method variance, a five-factor solution was judged as the best fit. The implications of the results and the modeling procedure for future personnel research are discussed.     

TOWARD NARROWING THE RESEARCH-PRACTICE GAP IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Recently, performance appraisal researchers have adopted a cognitive approach to analyzing judgment processes in performance appraisal. While this approach allows researchers to tap a wealth of knowledge applicable to the appraisal context, this line of research is likely to widen the already existing gap between research and practice. We argue that coordination of the talents of researchers and practitioners is essential for narrowing the gap. Specifically, we suggest researchers focus their research on the best methods of ensuring use of relevant and valid data in appraisal, given organizational constraints. We also suggest practitioners focus on determining observable and measurable aspects of performance, and thus, specify appropriate appraisal content. We also note that cognitive process research has promise for increasing raters' ability to judge accurately, but that this approach does not necessarily address the rater's willingness to provide accurate ratings.     

大学生解决物理问题的表征层次的实验研究

设计了两个实验,探讨优、差生物理问题表征层次的特点。结果表明,优、差生物理问题表征层次有差异。优生侧重于科学理论表征,表现为以物理原理分类,在科学理论表征层次上多为正向推理：差生则受初始表征的影响,以表面特征分类,在科学理论表征层次上多为逆向推理。