Looking as a Measure of Attraction1

Byrne's reinforcement theory of attraction is almost exclusively based upon studies that use the Interpersonal Judgment Scale (IJS) as their measure of attraction. The present study used Byrne's general experimental procedure but employed an unobtrusive “looking” measure of attraction as well as the more familiar IJS measure. The degree of attitude similarity between women subjects and a female stranger was not significantly related to the IJS measure of attraction but was significantly related to the proportion of looking time measure (p < .01). This was true for both subjects who verbalized and did not verbalize awareness of the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent measures of the study.     

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES FOR YOUTH

Youth unemployment has remained a social and economic problem for over a quarter of a century. Experience in the U.S. Employment Service and in schools and other agencies in the community indicates that special advocates, i.e., youth employment specialists, are needed to work with youth and employers if young people are to get their full share of the job opportunities and are to achieve maximum utilization of their talents as new entrants into the labor market.     

A demonstration of auto-shaping with monkeys

The Brown-Jenkins auto-shaping procedure for pigeons was found applicable to monkeys. Repeated pairings of lighted keys with reinforcement generated key-pressing behavior. The animals rapidly learned a simultaneous light-dark discrimination. The topographies of key-pressing and magazine behavior differed; the food tray was not illuminated.     

Acquisition of matching to sample via mediated transfer

Two severely retarded Down's-syndrome boys learned a matching-to-sample performance through mediated transfer. The transfer paradigm involved three sets of stimuli, one auditory set (A) and two visual sets (B and C). The subjects were taught directly to do B-A and C-B matching, but experienced no direct association between C and A. They acquired the ability to do C-A matching without having been taught that performance directly. They also learned indirectly to name some of the visual stimuli, but naming was apparently not the mediator in the emergent C-A matching. The use of words and letters as stimuli highlighted the possible relevance of mediated associations in the indirect acquisition of elementary reading comprehension and oral reading. The acquisition of matching via mediated transfer also raised some new considerations concerning the role of coding responses in arbitrary matching to sample.     

Teacher''s locus of control and student achievement gains

Ten female fifth-grade teachers, 40 fifth-grade males, and 40 fifth-grade females were classified as internal or external (locus of control) on the basis of their scores on Rotter's (1966) Internal-External (I-E) Control Scale and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire (Crandall, Katkovsky, & Preston, 1962). Measures of students' achievement and intelligence were obtained from the California Test Bureau's Short Form Test of Academic Aptitude (1970) and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (1968). The major finding of the study was that both male and female students, regardless of their locus of control, gained more on the achievement measure under internal teachers than under external teachers.     

Quantitative relations between avoidance behavior and pituitary-adrenal cortical activity

The rate at which monkeys pressed a lever and avoided shocks was manipulated in several ways. Measurements were also made of their plasma levels of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids. The rate at which the animals pressed the lever and the frequency with which they received shocks were both implicated as determiners of the steroid levels.     

Reduction of shock frequency as reinforcement for avoidance behavior

An avoidance technique was used in which rats had two levers available, with independent shock schedules associated with each. Behavioral patterns in initial conditioning and in the maintenance of the responses with various response-shock intervals led to the suggestion that reduction of shock density be considered an important variable in avoidance behavior.     

Distinguishing CEOs from Top Level Management: A Profile Analysis of Individual Differences,Career Paths and Demographics

Purpose

Identifying the characteristics of chief executive officers (CEOs) has been a longstanding goal in leadership and individual differences research. The purpose of this exploratory study was to consider which individual difference and career path variables differentiate CEOs from other senior managers.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Participants (N = 1152) were UK-based senior managers (n = 1040) and CEOs (n = 112) who completed a self-report measure of the Five Factor Model of personality (NEO-PI-R), a measure of cognitive ability (graduate and management aptitude test), and answered a number of additional questions on their career paths as part of development centres. Analyses comprised inter-individual mean difference tests, intra-individual external profile analysis and logistic regression.

Findings

Results indicated that personality facets of impulsiveness, vulnerability, activity and dutifulness showed the largest mean differences. No significant effects were found for the criterion profile pattern, but significant effects were found for profile level. Of the additional predictors, career path variables were the strongest predictors of CEO status.

Implications

The combination of significant effects across domains of individual differences and career path variables emphasizes the importance of a multivariate approach in the study of leadership, top management teams and career progression.

Originality/Value

The current study combines personality, cognitive ability, demographic and career path variables, and applies intra-individual methodologies to explore the characteristics of the very top level of organisational hierarchy.