Matching choices to avoid offending stigmatized group members

People (selectors) sometimes make choices both for themselves and for others (recipients). We propose that selectors worry about offending recipients with their choices when recipients are stigmatized group members and options in a choice set differ along a stigma-relevant dimension. Accordingly, selectors are more likely to make the same choices for themselves and stigmatized group member recipients than non-stigmatized group member recipients. We conducted eight studies to study this hypothesis in different choice contexts (food, music, games, books) and with recipients from different stigmatized groups (the obese, Black-Americans, the elderly, students at lower-status schools). We use three different approaches to show that this effect is driven by people’s desire to avoid offending stigmatized group members with their choices. Thus, although prior research shows that people often want to avoid being associated with dissociative groups, such as stigmatized groups, we demonstrate that people make the same choices for self and stigmatized other to minimize offense.     

The Effect of Vertical Exchange Relationships on the Performance Attributions and Subsequent Actions of Sales Managers

This study examines the type of relationship that exists between the sales manager and subordinate (vertical exchange status), and its impact on the sales manager's attributions about the subordinate performance, as well as subsequent responses to the subordinate. Results indicate that cadres may receive preferential consideration in explaining their performance, which then impacts the sales manager's response to the salesperson. The findings imply that sales managers should be careful in assigning attributions for performance by both cadre and hired hand salespersons.     

Impact of Decision-Making Empowerment on Attributions of Leadership

Although empowerment often makes a team more effective, managers do not use this tool extensively. One explanation for this is that managers fear that individuals will draw negative conclusions about their leadership abilities if they use an inappropriate degree of decision-making empowerment (DME). The current research explored this hypothesis, using scenarios to manipulate DME, organizational setting, manager gender, and task outcome. Officer cadets (N?=?173) judged appropriateness of the manager's use of empowerment; degree of leadership shown; and willingness to work for the manager. Cadets saw high DME as significantly more appropriate than low, resulting in significantly higher leadership attributions and a greater willingness to work for the manager. Findings held regardless of context or gender. Task outcome also affected attributions.     

Real Men Don't Look Down: Direction of Gaze Affects Sex Decisions on Faces

Classifying a face as male or female was shown to be reliably affected by the direction in which the face was looking—a variable apparently unrelated to reported features of the face that show sexual dimorphism. Decisions were slower when gaze was averted downwards. Furthermore, masculinity ratings were lower for men's faces looking down than for the same faces looking ahead. One high-level (configurational) face feature that varies with the sex of the face and with direction of gaze was identified. The vertical upper-lid-to-brow distance is smaller in men than in women and becomes less salient when eyes are averted down. This display feature may have evolved to signal gender quickly and reliably, especially in alert male faces.     

Attending but not seeing: The "other race" effect in face and person perception studied through change blindness

We used a change blindness paradigm to examine the “other race” effect in perception. White Caucasian and Indian Asian participants viewed scenes in which White Caucasian and Indian Asian students were present. Changes were made either to the faces of the students, to their bodies or to an independent object in the background. Changes in faces were detected faster than changes in the bodies, which were in turn detected faster than changes in the background. For face detection there was a crossover interaction, with changes in White Caucasian faces detected faster than changes in Indian Asian faces by White Caucasian participants, whilst the opposite result occurred for changes in Indian Asian faces. In contrast, there was no effect of race on the detection of body-part changes or on the detection of changes to background objects. The results suggest that participants of both races attended equally well to subjects from the other race in the scene, but despite this they remained less sensitive to “other race” faces. Change blindness can provide a useful way of analysing attentional and memorial processes in social contexts.     

The Effects of Practice and External Support on Older Adults' Control of Reflexive Eye Movements

ABSTRACT

The present study examined whether external support and practice could reduce age differences in oculomotor control. Participants were to avoid fixating an abrupt onset and on some trials, were provided with a predictive cue regarding the onset location or identity. Older adults demonstrated more capture than younger adults, but both groups improved with practice. Whereas the older group benefited from a location preview (Experiment 1), neither group showed less capture when given a preview of the onset object itself (Experiment 2), suggesting that location-based inhibition, but not object-based inhibition, was sufficient to support oculomotor control within this paradigm. To test the generalizability of these skills, displays in a final block were manipulated such that the onset could appear in a different location or be a different object altogether. Viewing patterns were similar for changed vs. unchanged displays, suggesting that participants' practice-related gains could withstand a change in the task materials.