When can feedback-seeking behavior result in a better performance rating? Investigating the moderating role of political skill

Feedback-seeking behavior is generally used to acquire job-related information that enables performance improvement. However, it can also be a form of impression management that improves an employee’s reputation. In this study, we show that employees who hold an image enhancement motive are more likely to seek feedback from their supervisors. Further, this feedback-seeking behavior mediates the relationship between the image enhancement motive and task performance ratings, consistent with the self-concept enhancing tactician (SCENT) model. However, we additionally incorporate socioanalytic theory to demonstrate that this indirect effect is moderated: the image enhancement motive translates into greater feedback-seeking behavior and task performance ratings only for employees with high political skill, who are capable of acting on their image enhancement motive successfully.     

Combining information from sources that vary in credibility

Models describing the role of source credibility in information integration were tested in two experiments. In the first experiment, subjects estimated the value of used cars based on two cues: blue book value and an estimate provided by one of three friends who examined the car. The three sources were described as differing in mechanical expertise. In the second experiment, subjects rated the likeableness of persons described by either one or two adjectives, each adjective contributed by a different source. The sources differed with respect to the length of their acquaintance with the person to be rated. In both experiments, credibility of the source magnified the impact of the information he provided. Further, this multiplicative effect of a source was inversely related to the credibility of the other source, in violation of additive or constant-weight averaging models, but consistent with a relative-weight averaging model.     

Theodor Meynert′s Contribution to Classical 19th Century Aphasia Studies

Carl Wernicke (1848-1905) is traditionally considered the first to have described the features of, and the brain pathology underlying, impaired auditory comprehension and related symptoms. Although Wernicke (1874) clearly and repeatedly indicates his indebtedness to Theodor von Meynert (1833-1892). this is usually understood as an acknowledgment that Meynert taught Wernicke neuroanatomy (Eggert, 1977); Wernicke′s own words in part support this interpretation. A more sophisticated historical analysis notes that, prior to Wernicke, both Johann Schmidt in 1871 and Charlton Bastian in 1869 had described the concept of receptive aphasia, but neither had supported their analyses with autopsy evidence as did Wernicke, thus not dislodging Wernicke′s claim of priority. However, a virtually unknown work by Theodor von Meynert, published in 1866, has recently been rediscovered by us ["Ein Fall von Sprachstörung, anatomisch begründet." Medizinische Jahrbücher. XII Band der Zeitschrift der K. K. Gesellleschaft der Ärzte in Wien, 22.Jahr. Pp. 152-189]. In this paper Meynert analyzes the anatomical basis for localizing the comprehension of language in the superior temporal gyros, he argues that lesions in this area should (by analogy to Broca′s earlier observations on language expression) cause impairments in language comprehension, and he presents a case of receptive aphasia with autopsy evidence of destruction of the superior temporal gyros in the left hemisphere. The patient′s aphasia was classic: impaired auditory comprehension, and fluent speech with paraphasias. It is clear that Meynert should be given historical credit for his work.     

Language localization and variability

Language localization data from 11 neurosurgical patients undergoing cortical resection for medically intractable focal epilepsy were obtained by mapping with bipolar electrical stimulation at current levels below sensory and after-discharge thresholds, during an object-naming task. The topographical extent of language cortex in an individual subject can be wider than that proposed in the classic maps. Within this zone, language is discretely localized, with different sites variably committed to language as measured by the naming function. The naming data from the left cortex of eight patients, all left-brain-dominant, were pooled to determine the variability within the primary language zone. Only a narrow band of posterior, inferior frontal lobe, immediately anterior to motor strip, showed involvement in all of the patients in whom it was sampled. This is a motor speech area; it constitutes only a small portion of the frontal language area. Other infero-frontal, parietal, and postero-temporal sites showed considerable variability, with naming involvement in only 50–80% of the patients sampled. There is a suggestion that some of these patterns of language localization may correlate with poorer verbal abilities. Data were also obtained on language localization in the left insula in a patient who was left-hemisphere-dominant for language. Mapping of the right hemisphere in a left-brain-dominant patient demonstrated no naming function. Mapping of the right hemisphere in one and the left hemisphere in another patient, both of whom were right-hemisphere-dominant for language, suggests more diffuse language representation with right hemisphere dominance.     

Attitudes toward male roles among adolescent males: A discriminant validity analysis

This study investigates the discriminant validity of a measure of attitudes toward male roles, i.e., beliefs about the importance of men adhering to cultural defined standards for masculinity. Using data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males, the Male Role Attitude Scale (MRAS) is evaluated in terms of (1) its independence from measures of attitudes toward female roles, and of attitudes toward gender roles and relationships, and (2) its differential correlates with and incremental ability to explain variance in criterion variables compared to measures of these two other gender-related attitudes. As predicted, the MRAS is unrelated to attitudes toward the female role, but is significantly associated with attitudes toward gender roles and relationships. As further predicted, the MRAS, but not attitudes toward women or attitudes toward gender roles and relationships, is associated with homophobic attitudes toward male homosexuality and with traditional male procreative attitudes. In addition, the MRAS explains significant incremental variance in these criterion measures when attitude toward female roles and attitude toward gender roles and relationships are controlled for. These results support the theoretical argument that attitudes toward male roles are conceptually distinct from the other gender-related attitudes examined here.This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and from the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. The authors wish to thank James Kershaw, Susan Wellington, and Elizabeth Crane for their assistance.     

General processes, rather than "goals," explain imitation errors

The goal-directed theory of imitation (GOADI) states that copying of action outcomes (e.g., turning a light switch) takes priority over imitation of the means by which those outcomes are achieved (e.g., choice of effector or grip). The object < effector < grip error pattern in the pen-and-cups task provides strong support for GOADI. Experiment 1 replicated this effect using video stimuli. Experiment 2 showed that shifting the color cue from objects to effectors makes imitation of effector selection more accurate than imitation of object and grip selection. Experiment 3 replicated this result when participants were required to describe actions. Experiment 4 indicated that, when participants are imitating and describing actions, enhancing grip discriminability makes grip selection the most accurately executed component of the task. Consistent with theories that hypothesize that imitation relies on task-general mechanisms (e.g., the associative sequence learning model, ideomotor theory), these findings suggest that imitation is no more or less goal directed than other tasks involving action observation.     

The Influence of Autonomy and Supervisor Political Skill on the Use and Consequences of Peer Intimidation in Organizations

Based on social influence theory, we develop a model in which the use of peer intimidation by Machiavellian employees results in greater promotability ratings by supervisors. However, consistent with interdependence theory, we expect that this process is qualified by job autonomy and the political skill of the supervisor making the promotability rating. Based on a sample of 204 supervisor–subordinate dyads, we find that peer intimidation mediates the Machiavellianism–promotability relationship when supervisor political skill is low rather than high, and when job autonomy is high rather than low, thereby yielding a pattern of moderated mediation, and supporting the hypotheses. These results suggest that job autonomy and supervisor political skill represent key interdependent mechanisms that regulate the effectiveness of social influence attempts made with intimidation in organizations.     

Shades of emotion: What the addition of sunglasses or masks to faces reveals about the development of facial expression processing

Three studies investigated developmental changes in facial expression processing, between 3years-of-age and adulthood. For adults and older children, the addition of sunglasses to upright faces caused an equivalent decrement in performance to face inversion. However, younger children showed better classification of expressions of faces wearing sunglasses than children who saw the same faces un-occluded. When the mouth area was occluded with a mask, children under nine years showed no impairment in expression classification, relative to un-occluded faces. An early selective focus of attention on the eyes may be optimal for socialization, but mediate against accurate expression classification. The data support a model in which a threshold level of attentional control must be reached before children can develop adult-like configural processing skills and be flexible in their use of face- processing strategies.     

The Embodied Experience of Microaggressions: Implications for Clinical Practice

Ongoing scholarship in multicultural counseling practice has established the significance of microaggressions in the lived experience of clients and in the client–counselor dyad. Grounded in new research into the embodied experience of oppression, this article reviews key concepts in nonverbal communication and traumatology to illustrate how the body is implicated in the transmission of microaggressions and how counselors can become more attentive, informed, and responsive to how social power differences manifest in the body. Las investigaciones actuales sobre la práctica de la consejería multicultural han establecido la importancia de las microagresiones en la experiencia vital de los clientes y en la díada cliente–consejero. Fundamentado en nuevas investigaciones sobre la experiencia corporal de la opresión, este artículo revisa conceptos clave de la comunicación no verbal y la traumatología para ilustrar cómo el cuerpo está involucrado en la transmisión de microagresiones y cómo los consejeros pueden tornarse más atentos, informados y sensibles a cómo las diferencias de poder social se manifiestan en el cuerpo.