Associations between rating content and self-other agreement in multi-source feedback

In a study of the ratings of managers' behaviour made by themselves, their supervisors, subordinates, and peers, it was found that degree of similarity between self-ratings and ratings by colleagues was significantly associated with three aspects of rating content: the observability of a behaviour, its desirability, and the degree to which it concerned technical rather than interpersonal activities. However, these associations with rating content depended on which of two indices of between-rater similarity was studied, in terms of either the correlation or the difference between ratings. The desirability of behaviour more influenced correlation measures of similarity, and the type of behaviour had more influence on difference scores: managers over-rated their interpersonal activities but not their technical effectiveness.     

Selection and self: Selection as a social process

Recent developments in theory and research in social psychology make possible an integrated account of selection construed as a social process. This account draws upon social psychological theories of the functions of the self, relationship development, social identity, self-categorization, and emotion. First, an account of the selection process in these theoretical terms is presented, together with some theoretical propositions. Next, research in one area, applicants' reactions to selection processes, which is consistent with this account is reviewed. Finally, implications for practice are drawn. It is argued that there are strategic implications both for organizations and for the psychology profession.     

Clergy work-related satisfactions in parochial ministry: The influence of personality and churchmanship

The aim of this study was to test several hypotheses that clergy work-related satisfaction could be better explained by a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional model. A sample of 1071 male stipendiary parochial clergy in the Church of England completed the Clergy Role Inventory, together with the short-form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Factor analysis of the Clergy Role Inventory identified five separate clergy roles: Religious Instruction, Administration, Statutory Duties (conducting marriages and funerals), Pastoral Care, and Role Extension (including extra-parochial activities). Respondents also provided an indication of their predispositions on the catholic–evangelical and liberal–conservative dimensions. The significant associations of the satisfactions derived from each of the roles with the demographic, personality, and churchmanship variables were numerous, varied, and, with few exceptions, small in magnitude. Separate hierarchical regressions for each of the five roles indicated that the proportion of total variance explained by churchmanship was, in general, at least as great as that explained by personality, and was greater for three roles: Religious Instruction, Statutory Duties, and Role Extension. It was concluded that clergy satisfactions derived from different roles are not uniform and that churchmanship is at least as important as personality in accounting for clergy work satisfaction.     

Aging and automaticity: Evaluation of instance-based and strength-based mechanisms

Abstract

Experiments evaluated instance-based learning as a possible sole mechanism underlying development of automaticity. Age differences in extended practice lexical decision and factors that could effect age-related performance on lexical decision tasks were also examined. the first experiment was conducted to evaluate the role of stimulus-specific and strategic, task-specific learning underlying performance improvement in a trained lexical decision task. the first experiment consisted of a training and a transfer phase. the training phase assessed age-related differences on a lexical decision task where an attention response could, in principle, be developed (Search condition) and where an attention response could not develop (Nonsearch condition). the transfer phase was conducted to evaluate the role of strategic, task-specific factors on performance improvement observed in the training phase. Age-related differences in word-nonword response time differences were eliminated with practice in the nonsearch, but not the search, version of the task. Transfer tests also implicate strategic differences as a partial source of age differences in lexical decision performance. Experiment 2 was a 10-session (two-week) extended practice study which was conducted to provide a strong test of instance-based learning as a sole mechanism for automaticity. Contrary to predictions of instance theory, the Search and Nonsearch conditions converged for the young adults. Consistent with a strength-based theory of automaticity applied to cognitive aging, the conditions did not converge for older adults. the results provide further support for age differences in automaticity-as-attention training. Based on these and other results, the importance of considering varieties of automaticity in theories of cognitive aging is discussed.     

Age Differences in Correction of Context-Induced Biases: Source Monitoring and Timing of Accountability

The present study tested strategies to help older adults correct their context-induced biases. Two hundred and seventy-two young and older adults participated in this study. Participants read vignettes about two target persons, with true statements printed in black and false statements (either positive or negative trait information) printed in red. Participants in the no-strategy condition were asked to rate the target persons on the relevant trait scales immediately after reading the vignettes. Participants in the feedback condition took a traditional source memory test and received feedback of correct sources of true and false statements. For the participants in the next two conditions, accountability was induced either before or after they encoded information about the target persons. It was found that the feedback manipulation helped older adults correct their context-induced biases. In addition, accountability induced before encoding helped older adults reduce their context-induced biases, whereas accountability induced after encoding did not help.     

Saccadic eye movements as indicators of cognitive function in older adults

Older adults appear to have greater difficulty ignoring distractions during day-to-day activities than younger adults. To assess these effects of age, the ability of adults aged between 50 and 80 years to ignore distracting stimuli was measured using the antisaccade and oculomotor capture tasks. In the antisaccade task, observers are instructed to look away from a visual cue, whereas in the oculomotor capture task, observers are instructed to look toward a colored singleton in the presence of a concurrent onset distractor. Index scores of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) were compared with capture errors, and with prosaccade errors on the antisaccade task. A higher percentage of capture errors were made on the oculomotor capture tasks by the older members of the cohort compared to the younger members. There was a weak relationship between the attention index and capture errors, but the visuospatial/constructional index was the strongest predictor of prosaccade error rate in the antisaccade task. The saccade reaction times (SRTs) of correct initial saccades in the oculomotor capture task were poorly correlated with age, and with the neurospsychological tests, but prosaccade SRTs in both tasks moderately correlated with antisaccade error rate. These results were interpreted in terms of a competitive integration (or race) model. Any variable that reduces the strength of the top-down neural signal to produce a voluntary saccade, or that increases saccade speed, will enhance the likelihood that a reflexive saccade to a stimulus with an abrupt onset will occur.     

社会认同与内、外群体态度的关系：群际威胁和群体情绪的中介作用

为探究社会认同、群际威胁和群体情绪如何同时影响内、外群体态度,本研究以中日撞船事件为考察蓝本向天津市431名大学生被试进行调查研究,结果发现：国家认同在认同威胁对两种群体态度的总影响和通过群体愤怒的间接影响中都起到负向的调节作用;群际威胁和群体情绪在社会认同与内、外群体态度之间具有显著中介作用。结论：国家认同在对群体态度的影响中起基础性作用,不同群际威胁与不同群体情绪相对应进而影响群体态度。     

G-DINA认知诊断模型在语言测验中的验证

G-DINA模型是DINA 模型的一般化模型,具有补偿性和饱和性两个主要特征。G-DINA模型的补偿性特征契合了语言测验的综合性和多元性,G-DINA模型的饱和性特征则可以比较理想地应对语言技能的抽象性和难区分性。此项研究以代表性的语言测验类型阅读测验为案例,应用G-DINA模型对1029名被试的PISA英语阅读测验结果进行实证分析,证明了两个假设：补偿饱和型认知诊断模型对多元抽象的语言测验的适应程度较高;G-DINA这一新生认知诊断模型可以被用来诊断较为复杂抽象的语言测验,且经得起统计学和语言学理论的双重考验。     

情绪性工作记忆对选择性注意的影响

选取大学本科生33名,采用情绪启动范式与再认范式相结合,要求被试依次完成情绪词识记、目标面孔性别判断及情绪词再认任务,探讨保存于工作记忆中的情绪性刺激对面孔性别判断任务的影响。结果显示:(1)在中性和恐惧情绪启动刺激条件下,被试对目标面孔性别判断的反应时要显著长于悲伤条件。(2)在愉悦情绪启动词条件下,线索提示有效性差异显著;在无效线索提示条件下,启动刺激的不同情绪效价差异显著。(3)对情绪面孔性别与被试性别一致性/非一致性两种条件下反应时对比发现,男、女被试在情绪面孔性别判断任务中均表现出异性相吸效应。综上所述,保存在工作记忆中情绪刺激会对面孔性别的识别产生自上而下的影响。     

流动儿童疏离感的特点及其与应对方式、学校态度的关系

采取整群抽样的方法,对成都及重庆两地591名流动儿童和272名城市儿童进行问卷调查,考察流动儿童疏离感的特点及其与应对方式和学校态度的关系。结果发现:(1)流动儿童疏离感各维度显著高于城市儿童;流动初中生的疏离感显著高于流动小学生,且男生的疏离感显著高于女生;(2)流动儿童疏离感的三个维度之间存在显著差异,其中社会疏离感最高,其次是环境疏离感,人际疏离感最低;(3)流动儿童疏离感对学校喜欢有显著的负向影响,而对学校回避有显著的正向影响;应对方式在流动儿童疏离感对学校态度的影响中起着部分中介作用。