Leader Attributions for Subordinate Performance: Consequences for Subsequent Leader Interactive Behaviors and Ratings1

An important application of attribution theory deals with leader explanations for subordinate performance and their effects on future leader–member interactions and performance. In the present study, subjects worked on a 2-trial task in which there was a leader and 2 members. Leaders received performance feedback and an attributional explanation for subordinate performance after Trial 1, and subsequent Trial 2 behavior was videotaped. Results showed that attributions significantly affected the amount of time spent by the leader talking to the group during the second trial, as well as the number of negative leader comments. Level of performance was a significant determinant of subordinate ratings and reward/punishment recommendations. Attributions differentially affected the punishment advocated by leaders, with failure due to internal causes more likely to be punished than failure due to external causes. Implications for an attributional theory of leadership are discussed.     

Get' em While They Last! Effects of Scarcity Information in Job Advertisements

Participants in Study 1 ( N = 172) were presented with a restaurant server advertisement differing by vacancy availability (scarce vs. plentiful) and scarcity type (number of vacancies vs. time to apply). Companies advertising only a few vacancies available were perceived as paying a significantly higher hourly wage than companies advertising many vacancies available. Also, both vacancy scarcity and time scarcity had positive effects on various company-image perceptions. Study 2 ( N = 181) replicated most of the findings in Study 1 using a different entry-level job advertisement. However, although presentation mode (i.e., advertisement vs. factual) had a main effect on intention to apply, it did not interact with vacancy scarcity.     

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING RACE, CLASS, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

Since the mid-1980s, scholarship and college courses that address multiple dimensions of inequality under the rubric of race, class, gender, and (recently) sexuality studies have grown rapidly. Most courses now employ a set of readings, many of which are drawn from a growing number of anthologies. A strength of this approach is its presentation of the diversity of human experiences and the multiplicity of critical perspectives. A weakness is its failure to convey the commonalities in race, class, gender, and sexuality analyses of social reality. To aid in teaching and research on race, class, gender, and sexuality, this article presents six common themes that characterize this scholarship. Race, class, gender, and sexuality are historically and globally specific, socially constructed power relations that simultaneously operate at both the macro (societal) and micro (individual) levels of society. Scholarship in this tradition emphasizes the interdependence of knowledge and activism.     

Using Art in Counseling: Ethical Considerations

Various mental health professionals use, on occasion, drawings and other types of art in therapy, but relatively little has been written on the ethics surrounding this technique. The authors take the position that artwork should be viewed as equivalent to verbal communication. Such equivalency gives rise to a variety of ethical issues that encompass confidentiality, documentation, ownership, research, publication, and display of artwork.     

MULTICOMPONENT INTERVENTION FOR AGITATED BEHAVIOR IN A PERSON WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

We evaluated a multicomponent intervention for agitated behavior in a man with probable Alzheimer's disease. Hypotheses about variables controlling his agitated behavior guided intervention design. Based on staff interviews, direct observations, and brief experimental probes, intervention components were chosen to increase rate of reinforcement and decrease aversive aspects of his job. Intervention reduced agitated behavior without disrupting his work rate.     

A comparison of children who receive and who do not receive permission to participate in research

In a study examining children's social competence in elementary school settings, the authors had the opportunity to compare children who received parental permission to participate to children who did not receive permission. Results indicated that children who were not involved in the study were more likely to be viewed by teachers as having unsatisfactory relationships with peers than children who were in the study. The present results suggest that investigators begin reporting the number of children who do not participate in a given study and begin examining whether minors who receive parental permission differ on important dimensions from minors who do not receive such permission. Ethical considerations of the present study are discussed.     

School adjustment of children with observable disabilities

This study investigated school behavior and achievement of children with mild degrees of observable physical disability. Children from two different disability types (cleft palate and cerebral palsy) were compared with each other and to a control group in order to determine potential similarities across disability types. Children (N=78) from each of the two disability groups were individually matched to each other and to a normal control group (N=39) by sex, IQ, socioeconomic status, age, and grade. They were compared on the basis of teachers' behavioral ratings and achievement test scores. All children attended regular public school classrooms. The two disability groups displayed significantly greater inhibition of impulse and lower educational achievement than did the controls. The implication of similar school adjustment across mild but observable subtypes is discussed.Parts of this article were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., September 1976. The study was supported in part by PHS Grant DE-00853, the National Institute of Dental Research.