Facet personality and surface-level diversity as team mental model antecedents: implications for implicit coordination

Team mental models (TMMs) have received much attention as important drivers of effective team processes and performance. Less is known about the factors that give rise to these shared cognitive structures. We examined potential antecedents of TMMs, with a specific focus on team composition variables, including various facets of personality and surface-level diversity. Further, we examined implicit coordination as an important outcome of TMMs. Results suggest that team composition in terms of the cooperation facet of agreeableness and racial diversity were significantly related to team-focused TMM similarity. TMM similarity was also positively predictive of implicit coordination, which mediated the relationship between TMM similarity and team performance. Post hoc analyses revealed a significant interaction between the trust facet of agreeableness and racial diversity in predicting TMM similarity. Results are discussed in terms of facilitating the emergence of TMMs and corresponding implications for team-related human resource practices.     

Cross-cultural temperamental differences in infants, children, and adults in the United States of America and Finland

Cross-cultural differences in temperament were investigated between infants (n = 131, 84 Finns), children (n = 653, 427 Finns), and adults (n = 759, 538 Finns) from the United States of America and Finland. Participants from both cultures completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Across all ages, Americans received higher ratings on temperamental fearfulness than Finnish individuals, and also demonstrated higher levels of other negative affects at several time points. During infancy and adulthood, Finns tended to score higher on positive affect and elements of temperamental effortful control. Gender differences consistent with prior studies emerged cross-culturally, and were found to be more pronounced in the US during childhood and in Finland during adulthood.     

The effects of varied retrieval cues on reminiscence in eyewitness memory

Eyewitnesses sometimes recall things at later interviews that they did not recall at previous interviews (reminiscence). When these cases are argued in the courtroom, attorneys may claim (and judges may warn jurors) that eyewitnesses who provide reminiscences are necessarily inaccurate witnesses. Consequently, their testimony may be prematurely discredited or dismissed. We examined here the role of varying the retrieval cues across interviews to account for reminiscence. Participants watched a videotaped mock crime and were tested for recall on two occasions using the same or different cues. Results supported the hypothesis that varying retrieval cues increases the amount of reminiscence. Furthermore, nearly all participants exhibited some reminiscence. Finally, reminiscence was not significantly correlated with overall accuracy of testimony. These findings suggest that many of the assumptions underlying legal tactics and judges' instructions regarding reminiscent inconsistencies are erroneous. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

External Variables,Subjective Expected Utility,and Adolescent Behavior with Alcohol and Cigarettes1

A classic social psychological model is that external variables influence behavior through their impact on subjective expected utility, the extent to which more good or harm is expected from behavior. The purpose of this research was to determine whether subjective expected utility is a major intervening variable that links external variables and the onset of alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking. The data are from two longitudinal studies of adolescents. The findings suggest that subjective expected utility does not account for the relationship between external variables and behavior.     

Children's Sleep Behavior Scale: normative data on 870 children in grades 1 to 6

A 22-item Likert-type rating scale for parents was developed for screening a broad range of specific sleep-related behaviors of elementary school children. The prevalence of these behaviors was reported by parents for boys (n = 459) and girls (n = 411) in three age groups, less than 8.5 yr., between 8.5 and 11.5 yr., and greater than 11.5 yr. For all age groups, the most prevalent behaviors were restlessness, waking up at night, pleasant dreams, getting up to go to the bathroom, talking while asleep, and complaints about not being able to sleep, while the least frequent were rhythmical movements and crying while asleep. The self-reports suggest that many of the behaviors are underestimated in the literature. Some sex and age differences were found, but the number of siblings, birth order, change in family structure, and educational status of father and mother were unrelated to the sleep variables. Test-retest reliabilities of self-reports by these parents to individual items were adequate.     

Suppositions in argumentation

The atheist who begins to argue his case by saying, Suppose there is an omniscient Being of the sort in which Christians believe ... is employing a very familiar move in argumentation. However, most books on argumentation theory ignore suppositions completely. Searle omits suppositions entirely from his taxonomy of speech acts and this appears to lead to a similar omission in Speech Acts in Argumentative Discussions by van Eemeren and Grootendorst.This paper argues that suppositional argument is elegant, powerful and extremely common, that the correct way to understand it is based on Gottlob Frege's distinction between asserted and unasserted propositions and hence that suppositions are neither assertions nor (and this is more important) assertives. The paper discusses the connections between suppositions and conditionals; it argues that argumentation theory which ignores suppositions is systematically misleading; and it concludes by indicating some possible developments in argumentation theory.Revised version of a paper delivered at the University of Amsterdam, April 3, 1987.     

Mass media effects on sex role attitudes of incarcerated men

This study explores the impact of the mass media on sex role attitudes of men incarcerated in a maximum security prison. It seems likely that prisoners' attitudes may be shaped by the media during their isolation. There is the possibility that the incarceration experience itself may bolster any media effects and should therefore be explored. Moreover, media socialization with regard to sex roles may help a prisoner's reentry into society by making the men aware of the current achievements of women in society. On the other hand, a narrow presentation of women's roles by the media may theoretically hinder a prisoner's readjustment to the social scene. This paper also compares sex role attitudes among these men to such attitudes found in general population studies.     

Subjective Expected Utility,Locus of Control,and Behavior1

Although a fundamental assumption of behavior decision theory is that individuals must generally believe they can control their fate if their behavior is to be influenced by subjective expected utility (SEU), the hypothesis that the positive relationship between SEU and behavior is stronger for those with internal locus of control had not been directly tested. That hypothesis was assessed in two separate longitudinal studies of adolescents. The behavior studied in one sample was the initiation of cigarette smoking, and in the other it was the onset of drinking alcohol. The hypothesis received weak support in both studies.     

The Equity-Control Model as a Predictor of Vandalism Among College Students1

The equity-control model of vandalism (Baron & Fisher, 1984; Fisher & Baron, 1982) is used to conceptualize vandalism among college students. The model predicts that vandalism is most likely where there are low perceived equity (perceived lack of fairness in one's social or environmental arrangements) and low to moderate perceived control (perceived inability to effectively modify outcomes and arrangements). To test the model, university students were given questionnaires which measured perceived equity and control as these factors relate to the university and to dormitory living. Using multiple regression analysis, the interaction of equity and control was predictive of vandalism: Subjects with low perceived equity and control were most likely to report they engaged in vandalistic acts.     

The effects of teaching experience on levels of alienation

This study was designed to measure the levels of alienation among American student and full-time teachers, based on the length of their experience with the public school organization. One hundred seventy eight subjects, including 113 full-time teachers and 65 student teachers, were administered the Dean Alienation Scale. Analysis of the data indicated that student teachers had significantly higher levels of alienation, isolation, normlessness, and powerlessness, than did full-time teachers. The less experience the teacher had, the higher were his or her levels of total alienation and powerlessness.