The moderating influence of procedural fairness on the relationship between work-life conflict and organizational commitment

To help employees better manage work-life conflict, organizations have introduced various initiatives, which have met with mixed results. The present studies examined the utility of a procedurally based approach to understanding employees' reactions to work-life conflict. The authors examined whether the fairness of procedures used by organizational authorities to plan and implement decisions moderates the (inverse) relationship between work-life conflict and employees' organizational commitment. Three studies using different methodologies showed support for the moderating role played by procedural fairness. That is, the tendency for greater work-life conflict to lead to lower commitment was significantly less pronounced when procedural fairness was high rather than low. Theoretical contributions to the work-life conflict and organizational justice literatures are discussed, as are practical implications.     

Effect of therapist's title on perceived competence

A videotaped segment of a therapist and student/client was shown to groups of male and female undergraduates under four conditions. One group saw the tape with the title "Doctor (the therapist's actual name was used) and Client" superimposed at the bottom. The second group saw the same tape with "Mr. (blank) Client" superimposed, the third group had "Timothy (blank) and Client," while the fourth group had no title at the bottom. The 204 students rated the therapist on 11 variables. Analysis showed no effect for title and no interaction. Men rated the therapist higher on nine of the 11 variables, than did women.     

A reevaluation of the effect of velocity on induced motion

Induced motion (IM) was measured as a function of the temporal frequency of inducer oscillation. IM magnitude decreased as frequency increased above 5 Hz. Increasing the amplitude of inducer motion, and thereby its velocity, did not influence the temporal frequency dependence of IM. This suggests that it is the duration of inducer motion, rather than its velocity, that is the critical stimulus feature in studies that report decreased IM with higher frequencies of inducer oscillation. In a separate experiment, the optokinetic nystagmus elicited by the inducing stimulus in the absence of a fixation target displayed frequency-response characteristics similar to those of IM. This finding supports the hypothesis that IM magnitude is proportional to the voluntary effort required to suppress reflexive eye movements while maintaining stable fixation.     

Adaptation to altered visual—vestibular feedback: Mechanisms of maintenance and recovery

Adaptation of perceived movement during head motion (apparent concomitant motion, ACM) and the subsequent elimination of adaptation were studied in two experiments. During the adaptation phase of both experiments, subjects performed voluntary 1-Hz head oscillations for 6 min while fixating a stimulus moving either in the same (with) direction as or the opposite (against) direction of head movements. In Experiment 1, ACM adaptation was measured following either a 1- or a 4-min delay after the adaptation phase. Results indicated some loss of adaptation during the additional 3-min delay, demonstrating a tendency of the system linking head and image to return to its preadaptation state following removal of an adaptation stimulus. In Experiment 2, subjects viewed a stimulus after adaptation that appeared to move minimally in the same manner as the adaptation stimulus during 3 min of head oscillations. No loss of adaptation was measured in these subjects between the beginning and the end of the 3-min interval. In another condition, subjects viewed a stimulus that appeared to move alternately in the same direction as and in the opposite direction of the adaptation stimulus during a similar 3-min interval following adaptation. ACM adaptation was substantially reduced during this 3-min interval. These results implicate two mechanisms that operate to either maintain or eliminate ACM adaptation. One is passive and operates in the absence of visual feedback to eliminate the short-term adapted state, and the other responds to postadaptation visual feedback.     

Induced motion of a fixated target: Influence of voluntary eye deviation

Induced motion (IM) was observed in a fixated target in the direction opposite to the real motion of a moving background. Relative to a fixation target located straight ahead, IM decreased when fixation was deviated 10° in the same direction as background motion and increased when fixation was deviated 10° opposite background motion. These results are consistent with a “nystagmus-suppression” hypothesis for subjective motion of fixated targets: the magnitude of illusory motion is correlated with the amount of voluntary efference required to oppose involuntary eye movements that would occur in the absence of fixation. In addition to the form of IM studied, this explanation applies to autokinesis, apparent concomitant motion, and the oculogyral illusion. Accounts of IM that stress visual capture of vection, afferent mechanisms, egocenter deviations, or phenomenological principles, although they may explain some forms of IM, do not account for the present results.     

The development of letter processing efficiency

The development of efficiency in letter processing skills was studied using a letter search task. In two experiments, subjects searched for a target letter displayed with items varying in their visual featural or conceptual categorical similarity to the target. Accuracy and reaction time of search were evaluated for evidence of the visual search “category effect.” In order to determine if subjects could efficiently use knowledge of stimulus differences to facilitate search, conditions tested search time as a function of the amount of information to be processed both within the visual display and in short-term memory. In the two experiments, subjects of ages 6 years through adulthood showed the category effect; however, efficiency of letter processing was found to be related to the amount of information that had to be processed in memory. While there were drastic changes in search speed with increasing grade level, patterns of processing were consistent, leading to the conclusion that the knowledge required to process the letter information accurately is acquired very early. Results were discussed in terms of the distinctions among accuracy, automaticity, and efficiency of skill development and the relationship of these to general reading and intellectual development.