Stressful demands or helpful guidance? The role of display rules in Indian call centers

This paper utilizes conservation of resources (COR) theory and two of Hofstede's (1980) dimensions of culture (individualism and power distance) to examine the impact of display rules on job satisfaction and performance in an Indian call center sample. Contrary to findings in an American sample (Wilk & Moynihan, 2005), we proposed that due to cultural differences as well as differences in the nature of the job among representatives in an Indian call center, supervisory focus on display rules would reduce emotional exhaustion, and in turn, have positive consequences for employee performance and job satisfaction. Using multi-source data in a sample of 137 Indian call center representatives, results confirmed the hypothesized mediating effects of emotional exhaustion on performance and job satisfaction. Implications of these results for future cross-cultural research are presented.     

Social Cognition and the So-Called Conjunction Fallacy

The so-called ‘conjunction effect’, in which participants incorrectly assert that an instance from the conjunction of two sets is more probable than an instance from one of the two conjoining sets alone, has been a source of debate as to whether it is a genuine fallacy of individual thinking or not. We argue that reasoning about individuals follows a different process than reasoning about sets. 35 participants took part in 3 tasks: a) one involving blocks of different sizes and colours designed to evoke set-based reasoning, b) one where a particular block was ‘individuated’ by stating that it represented a particular person, and c) the original Tversky and Kahneman (Psychological Review 90(4):293–315, 1983) ‘Linda’ problem. As predicted, set-based reasoning was significantly more prevalent for the blocks task than for the other two tasks. Participants’ reasons for their choices suggest that some individuals correctly use set-based logic in one task and a social reasoning process for the other tasks.     

Accuracy in discrimination of self-reported cooperators using static facial information

People readily ascribe personality traits to others and believe that faces hold important guides to character. Here we examined the relationship between static facial appearance and self-reported cooperation/defection using the prisoner’s dilemma (N = 193). Study 1 combined face images of those self-reporting they would be most and least likely to cooperate. The composites of cooperators were seen as more cooperative than non-cooperators. Study 2 demonstrated accuracy with ratings of individual faces. Masculinity of face shape was negatively related to self-reported cooperation for men, but not women. Further, ratings of smile intensity were positively, but not significantly, related to self-reported cooperation. Overall, individuals appear able judge the potential of others to cooperate from static facial appearance alone at rates greater than chance.     

Children's action-control behaviors (coping): A longitudinal validation of the behavioral inventory of strategic control

Abstract

Integrating multi-axial models with an action-theory perspective, we propose that children's coping strategies vary along four dimensions of strategic behavioral control: Direct Action, Indirect Action, Prosocial Action, and Antisocial Action. The Behavioral Inventory of Strategic Control (BISC) assesses these four general dimensions of strategic control. We contrast these four axial dimensions with six specific strategic combinations: Avoidance (Indirect-Antisocial), Emotional Support Seeking (Indirect-Prosocial), Social Exploitation (Indirect-Antisocial), Social Cooperation (Direct-Prosocial), Aggressive Individualism (Direct-Antisocial) and Hostility (Indirect-Antisocial). In a short-term longitudinal study (three occasions over four months) of 318 children (grades 2–6), we examined the validity of the BISC, showing that the hypothesized dimensional structure of children's strategic control behavior was strongly supported.     

Auditory Model Enhances Relative-Timing Learning

In recent experiments (Q. Lai, C. H. Shea, & M. Little, 2000; C. H. Shea, G. Wulf, J. Park, & B. Gaunt, 2001), auditory models were found to be effective in enhancing relative-timing performance and learning in constant practice conditions. In the present experiment, the authors examined (a) whether an auditory model also enhances relative-timing learning in blocked and random practice conditions and (b) whether experience with the auditory model enhances participants' ability to produce the response by using different effector sequences. Participants (N = 48) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 acquisition conditions in which an auditory model was or was not present and the practice schedule was blocked or random. In the acquisition phase, all participants alternately pressed 2 keys on a keyboard in an attempt to match 5 goal intervals. In the auditory model conditions, a sequence of tones was played before each acquisition trial. The tones represented the correct timing sequence for that trial. One retention and 3 effector-transfer tests without feedback were administered about 24 hr after the completion of acquisition. The results indicated that the auditory model enhanced relative-timing performance and learning independently of practice schedule. In addition, the auditory model enhanced relative timing on the effector-transfer tests, but absolute-timing performance and learning were not affected by the auditory model. Thus, relative timing was found to be effector independent but absolute timing was not.     

Society for Personality Assessment — Which Way to Go?

As a result of a mandate by the membership, the Society for Personality Assessment has emerged as an old association with a new name. The decision on this issue was made by the membership at the same time that the question of its future affiliation was voted upon. Approximately two-thirds of the membership expressed the desire to have our group affiliate in some manner with the American Psychological Association. However, the exact manner was not specified in the referendum. At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Personality Assessment, there was a division of opinion as to whether joining as a division or as a section of an already existing division was the better move. The two most articulate exponents, Drs. Little and Farberow, were asked to prepare the position paper below in order to give the membership some information about the issues involved. On a subsequent occasion the members will be asked to take a formal position on this issue. If anyone, after reading the material below, wishes to comment further, I would be happy to publish his views in subsequent issues of the Journal.

Walter G. Klopfer Executive Editor     

Men's strategic preferences for femininity in female faces

Several evolutionarily relevant sources of individual differences in face preference have been documented for women. Here, we examine three such sources of individual variation in men's preference for female facial femininity: term of relationship, partnership status and self‐perceived attractiveness. We show that men prefer more feminine female faces when rating for a short‐term relationship and when they have a partner (Study 1). These variables were found to interact in a follow‐up study (Study 2). Men who thought themselves attractive also preferred more feminized female faces for short‐term relationships than men who thought themselves less attractive (Study 1 and Study 2). In women, similar findings for masculine preferences in male faces have been interpreted as adaptive. In men, such preferences potentially reflect that attractive males are able to compete for high‐quality female partners in short‐term contexts. When a man has secured a mate, the potential cost of being discovered may increase his choosiness regarding short‐term partners relative to unpartnered men, who can better increase their short‐term mating success by relaxing their standards. Such potentially strategic preferences imply that men also face trade‐offs when choosing relatively masculine or feminine faced partners. In line with a trade‐off, women with feminine faces were seen as more likely to be unfaithful and more likely to pursue short‐term relationships (Study 3), suggesting that risk of cuckoldry is one factor that may limit men's preferences for femininity in women and could additionally lead to preferences for femininity in short‐term mates.     

Do assortative preferences contribute to assortative mating for adiposity?

Assortative mating for adiposity, whereby levels of adiposity in romantic partners tend to be positively correlated, has implications for population health due to the combined effects of partners' levels of adiposity on fertility and/or offspring health. Although assortative preferences for cues of adiposity, whereby leaner people are inherently more attracted to leaner individuals, have been proposed as a factor in assortative mating for adiposity, there have been no direct tests of this issue. Because of this, and because of recent work suggesting that facial cues of adiposity convey information about others' health that may be particularly important for mate preferences, we tested the contribution of assortative preferences for facial cues of adiposity to assortative mating for adiposity (assessed from body mass index, BMI) in a sample of romantic couples. Romantic partners' BMIs were positively correlated and this correlation was not due to the effects of age or relationship duration. However, although men and women with leaner partners showed stronger preferences for cues of low levels of adiposity, controlling for these preferences did not weaken the correlation between partners' BMIs. Indeed, own BMI and preferences were uncorrelated. These results suggest that assortative preferences for facial cues of adiposity contribute little (if at all) to assortative mating for adiposity.     

The costs and benefits of testing text materials

Tests have been shown to improve the later recall of tested information, a result known as the testing effect. Tests, however, can also impair the later recall of related information, an effect known as retrieval-induced forgetting. Although retrieval-induced forgetting has been demonstrated using a wide variety of materials, recent work suggests that learning information in the context of a coherent text passage may afford protection from retrieval-induced forgetting. In four experiments we explored the conditions under which retrieval-induced forgetting does and does not occur with such materials. We found that two factors—the coherence of the to-be-learned material and the competitiveness of retrieval practice—are important in determining whether retrieval-induced forgetting does or does not occur. Furthermore, even if retrieval-induced forgetting does occur, having the opportunity to restudy the forgotten information can prevent that forgetting from persisting. Taken together, these findings provide greater understanding of the costs and benefits of testing text materials, with possible implications for the optimisation of testing as a tool for learning in educational contexts.