Perceptions of Genius: Einstein,Lesser Mortals and Shooting Stars

This paper elucidates the conceptual nature of the term ‘genius’. Two studies are reported. In the first, a total of 349 undergraduates were asked in 1984, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997 to nominate three geniuses. The main findings were: that Einstein is regarded as a stereotypical genius: that a small number of other individuals are also frequently nominated: that a large number receive occasional nominations: that the membership of this large group is often very transitory and that the ratings of an established genius such as Mozart can be boosted considerably, but temporarily, by a major anniversary. The second study used 61 subjects and 94 nominated geniuses. It was found that the nominated geniuses had been heard of on 76.7% of possible occasions, but were agreed to be geniuses on only 26.2% of possible occasions. Wide variations were found between the figures as a function of the field in which nominated geniuses worked, with artists and sports players achieving the highest and lowest ‘agreed’ figures respectively. The subjectivity and transience of the concept of genius was apparent in both studies.     

Implicit Theories of Marriage and Evaluations of Marriage on Television

This study integrated social-cognitive and interpersonal frameworks in the mass communication setting. Although television presents a fairly consistent view of marriage as conventional and happy, we proposed that college students’ marital schemata, or implicit theories about marriage, would influence their evaluations of television couples’ marital satisfaction. College students (N = 358) completed two waves of questionnaires that used Fitzpatrick's (2988) Relational Dimensions Instrument to assess marital schemata and perceptions of married couples on television. Partial correlations revealed that greater similarity between marital schemata and ratings of television couples’ marriage type was associated with higher ratings of perceived television marital satisfaction. Analysis of covariance indicated that this effect held only for the Traditional schema type. The discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for media effects and marital communication research.     

MEASUREMENT ERROR IN RESEARCH ON HUMAN RESOURCES AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: ADDITIONAL DATA AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Gerhart and colleagues (2000) and Huselid and Becker (2000) recently debated the presence and implications of measurement error in measures of human resource practices. This paper presents data from 3 more studies, 1 of large organizations from different industries at the corporate level, 1 from commercial banks, and the other of autonomous business units at the level of the job. Results of all 3 studies provide additional evidence that single respondent measures of HR practices contain large amounts of measurement error. Implications for future research into the HR firm performance relationship are discussed.     

The Effects of Spiritual/Religious Engagement on College Students' Affective Outcomes: Differences by Gender and Race

This study examines the general and differential effects of spiritual/religious engagement on affective college outcomes (i.e., leadership skills, interpersonal skills, social satisfaction, sense of belonging, and psychological well-being) across different gender and racial groups among undergraduate students at research universities. The study utilized data on 63,528 students who participated in the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES). The findings reveal differential effects of spiritual/religious engagement on college students' affective outcomes depending on their gender and race (i.e., gender- and race-based conditional effects). Implications for college students' spiritual development at public research universities and faith-based institutions are discussed.     

Tosh Demands and Generative Thinking: What Changes and What Remains the Same?

Generative thinking can be characterized as the development of novel instantiations of existing concepts. Using this framework, the present study examined the impact of three conditions on the way subjects generated ideas about imaginary extraterrestrials. Control subjects developed alien animals but were given no special instructions. Those in the Wildly Different Condition were asked to generate creatures that were as wildly different from Earth animals as they could be. Both groups were highly and equally likely to imagine creatures that were symmetric and possessed standard senses and appendages, but the latter introduced significantly more novel variations, particularly on the number of sense organs and appendages. A third group was asked to imagine and describe things that might live on another planet, but were not initially instructed to provide drawings or limit themselves to considering living things that would be considered to be animals. This last group also preserved symmetry, but was significantly more likely to develop creatures without standard senses and appendages. Even so, 75% of this group developed creatures with standard senses and appendages. The results are discussed in terms of constraints on innovation, ways of overcoming those constraints, and the general tendency for new ideas to preserve many of the central properties of existing concepts.