Image Theory and the Appraisal of Employee Performance: To Screen or Not to Screen?

ABSTRACT: The authors tested the predictions of image theory [Beach, 1990 Image theory: Decision-making in personal and organizational contexts. Chicester, England: Wiley] by examining the decision making processes underlying performance evaluation. Across three experiments, over 400 participants evaluated the performance of a book store employee with varying degrees of good and bad performance behaviors. Results indicated that: (1) performance judgments were linearly related to the number of good and bad behaviors present in the scenarios, (2) promotion decisions initially followed image theorys screening process, as participants focused only on the employees bad behaviors, and (3) the introduction of a contrast manipulation (Experiment 2) resulted in participants abandoning the screening process for the promotion decision, until we included instructions against comparing employees (Experiment 3). Consistent with image theory, but moderated by contrast effects, promotion decisions relied on screening based solely on the employees bad behaviors, whereas performance judgments involved compensatory use of both the employees good and bad behaviors. We argue that how participants perceive the decision making scenario influences whether or not they will screen decisions.     

Optimism, pessimism, and gambling: the downside of optimism

Three studies examined the relation between dispositional optimism and gambling. In Study 1, optimists were more likely than pessimists to have positive gambling expectations and report maintaining these expectations following losses. They also were more likely to indicate that winning money was a primary motivation for their gambling. Study 2 demonstrated that pessimists but not optimists reduce their betting and expectations after poor gaming performance. Study 3 replicated this effect using a more controlled experiment and showed that after losing, optimists report remembering more near wins than do pessimists. Thus, all three studies suggest that optimists, more than pessimists, maintain positive expectations and continue gambling after experiencing negative gaming outcomes. The authors suggest that despite optimism's many benefits, there are common situations in which the pessimistic tendency to disengage is beneficial.     

Plasticity and functions of the orbital frontal cortex

We compare the effects of psychoactive drugs such as morphine and amphetamine on the synaptic organization of neurons in the orbital frontal (OFC) and medial frontal (mPFC) regions in the rat. Both regions are altered chronically by exposure to intermittent doses of either drug but the effects are area-dependent. For example, whereas morphine produces increased spine density in OFC but decreased spine density in mPFC. The differential response of the OFC and mPFC to drugs is paralleled by an areal-dependent effect of gonadal hormones on these regions as well: males have greater dendritic arborization in the mPFC whereas females have a greater arborization in the OFC. We also compared the effects of neonatal injury to the OFC and mPFC on cognitive, motor, and social behaviors as well as on the anatomical organization of the remaining brain. Again, there were differential effects of the treatments to the OFC and mPFC. Neonatal OFC lesions allowed virtually complete functional recovery of cognitive and motor behaviors, which was correlated with mild abnormalities in cerebral development compared to the more severe deficits and morphological sequelae following mPFC lesions at the same ages. One exception was the effect of OFC on social behavior, which was severe regardless of whether the injury was in infancy or adulthood. It is proposed that both drug-induced and developmental abnormalities in the integrity of OFC neurons may lead to deficits in social behavior or other behavioral pathologies, possibly including depression.     

Nestling recognition via direct cues by parental male bluegill sunfish (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lepomis macrochirus</Emphasis>)

Parental care can be costly to a parent in terms of both time and energy invested in the young. In species with cuckoldry or brood parasitism not all of the young under a parent's care are necessarily offspring. In such cases, distinguishing between kin and non-kin, and investing only in the former (nepotism), can be advantageous. Bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) are characterized by paternal care and cuckoldry, and care-providing males appear to show nepotistic behaviours. Here, we investigated nestling recognition in bluegill, determining whether parental males can differentiate between young from their own nest (familiar and related) and young from non-neighbouring nests (unfamiliar and unrelated) using (1) visual and chemical cues, and (2) chemical cues only. In the first experiment, wild-caught parental males were presented with samples of eggs or fry (newly hatched eggs) collected from their own nest or a foreign nest and placed on opposite sides of an aquarium. The time these parental males spent associating with each sample, and their "pecking" behaviours (indicating cannibalism), were recorded. Parental males showed no preference between eggs from their own nest and eggs from a non-neighbouring nest, but they preferred to associate with fry from their own nest over foreign fry. There also was a positive relationship between male body size and the time spent associated with fry from their own nest. Parental males pecked at foreign fry more than 5 times as often as fry from their own nest, though this difference was not statistically significant. In the second experiment, fry that were collected from the nest of a wild-caught parental male or a non-neighbouring nest were placed in different containers and the water from each was dripped into opposite ends of an aquarium. The time the male spent on each side was recorded. In this case, parental males spent more time near the source of water conditioned by unrelated fry, but there was a positive relationship between male condition (fat reserves) and the time he spent near the source of water conditioned by fry from his own nest. Results confirm that chemicals cue nestling recognition by parental male bluegill. Electronic Publication     

The activation of unrelated and canceled intentions

The intention superiority effect is the finding that intentions to perform an activity are stored in a heightened state of activation. The effect has also been generalized to the finding that once an intention is fulfilled, it is inhibited relative to more neutral material about which no intentionality has been formed. In two experiments, we tested some ecological and naturally occurring situations taken from the literature on prospective memory and demonstrated that they have consistent consequences for the activation level of an intention. In Experiment 1, a constellation of unrelated activities displayed heightened activation prior to completion and displayed inhibition after completion. In Experiment 2, canceling the intention resulted in inhibition just as completing the intention does in this paradigm. The results are discussed in terms of their practical and theoretical importance to theories of prospective memory.     

Some aspects of language comprehension in anterior aphasia

The competency of language comprehension was evaluated in three groups: anterior aphasics, posterior aphasics, and normal control subjects. Test material was divided into two sentence groups (Fill in the Blank and True/False) emphasizing either (1) semantic, “real world,” identity words or (2) syntactic, relational words, and one paragraph interpretation task. Matching auditory and visual (written) presentations were given. The control subjects performed almost flawlessly but many errors were made by each aphasia group. Qualitative study revealed a marked difference in the comprehension problem of the two groups. The anterior aphasic group performed well on semantically weighted sentences but made errors on syntactically weighted material, regardless of mode of presentation. In contrast, the posterior aphasics made almost the same number of errors on both types of material, regardless of mode of presentation. These findings support the concept of defective language comprehension in anterior aphasia and further suggest that the defect centers on the syntactical structures which are also poorly handled in expressive output.     

Childhood asthma: family therapy as an adjunct to routine management

A controlled trial of the effectiveness of family therapy for asthmatic children has been completed, and the results indicate that family therapy may have a part to play in the management of asthma. Our observations have shown that an interaction of psychosocial factors can have a significant effect on the course of the asthma by setting up a circular system which may ultimately lead to clinically intractable asthma, as well as intense emotional distress. Treatment is based on an understanding of the interactional model with the aim of interrupting the progressive sequence of events. A family approach is indicated when (1) emotional factors seem to be playing a significant part; (2) the asthmatic child is manifesting behaviour problems; (3) there is evidence of family psychopathology or (4) the asthma is not being reasonably well controlled with conventional methods of management.