A METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING THE REPRESENTATIONAL VALIDITY OF INTERACTION CODING SYSTEMS: DO WE SEE WHAT THEY SEE?

This paper offers a new methodological approach to establishing the validity of interaction coding schemes, and it reports research which applies these procedures to three coding systems that have been used to study small group decision making: Bales' (1950) Interaction Process Analysis System, Fisher's (1970) Decision Proposal Coding System, and Mabry's (1975) Pattern Variable Coding System. The procedures offered here provide a method for determining whether the functions or constructs identified by a coding system are part of the common meanings ascribed to the participants in the interaction. Of the three coding systems evaluated in the study, the IPA System represented subjects' interpretations of decision-making interaction better than the Decision Proposal System, which, in turn, performed better than the Pattern Variable System.     

Transparency and Photographic Contact

Kendall Walton famously argues that photographic images—in contrast with handmade images—are transparent; we see through them to the persons or objects that were in front of the camera at the moment of exposure. Walton also argues, separately, that our philosophical investigations in the representational arts generally should adopt the methodology of theory construction. This article brings together these two strands of Walton's thought by rendering his argument for photographic transparency in the form of a theory consisting of a perceptual natural kind and an underlying naturally dependent process, the former postulated in order to account for various photographic explananda. The surprising result is that Walton's theory, thus construed, yields at least one prediction that is in conflict with what we observe and that, because of this, he is forced to embellish his theory in ways that render it psychologically implausible and that raise the worry of ad hoc patching up.     

REEL REALITY: Science Consultants in Hollywood

Carl Sagan would have been proud of the film’s scientific accuracy if he had lived to see the film through to its conclusion... (Dennis Schwartz writing on Contact in Ozus’ World Movie Reviews). Find me a scientist! A geologist! Someone who can tell me what the hell is going on! [Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) in Volcano]. Surprisingly enough, when Tommy Lee Jones shouts out this line during the eruption of Mt. Wilshire in Volcano, he actually echoes the cries of some of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Twenty per cent of the top grossing films of all time have had scientific or technical consultants,1 as did the 2000 and 2001 Best Picture Oscar winners (Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind), several of the top-rated television shows of recent years (C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation and The X-Files among them), and a prodigious number of other entertainment industry products. This is a paper about the experience of science consultants in Hollywood. It examines the process through which their input is secured and incorporated by filmmakers, and how that knowledge is part of a process of commodification of scientific knowledge through which those filmmakers play with the concept of reality as part of the industry and craft of the dream factory. It interrogates the idea of reality as viewed through native eyes: as social scientists, when the producer of the movie Spider-Man says during an interview that his movie is very accurate scientifically, our duty is not to stare back at him in disbelief, but to take that sentiment and try to understand the cultural framework that enables him not just to say this with a straight face, but to mean it.     

EFFICACY DISPERSION IN TEAMS: MOVING BEYOND AGREEMENT AND AGGREGATION

We challenge the assumption that within-team variability in team efficacy is simply a methodological concern and statistical prerequisite. We do so by developing a theoretical model and research agenda for the study of dispersion in team efficacy. We construct a taxonomy that distinguishes 4 distinct forms of dispersion in team efficacy, discuss the antecedents to these forms of dispersion, and examine how the forms of efficacy dispersion impact team emergent states, processes, and effectiveness.     

INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION BETWEEN INTIMATES An Integrative Review

Despite the considerable importance often attributed to interpersonal perception between married partners, family members, and other intimates, there have been few theoretical developments that address the distinctive factors affecting perception in these contexts. This article draws upon a broad literature review to suggest how interpersonal perception between intimates may be affected by such factors as familiarity, emotionality, behavioral interdependence, and ideological beliefs about intimacy. Particular attention is given to the role of perceptual bias in intimate conflict and relationship adjustment.     

ROCKMORE ON ANALYTIC PRAGMATISM

Abstact: This article responds critically to Tom Rockmore's essay “On Classical and Neo‐Analytic Forms of Pragmatism,” which appeared in Metaphilosophy in 2005. Rockmore charges analytic pragmatism with having a conflicted epistemology, relying on incoherent appropriations of Hegel, and maintaining an unpragmatic commitment to metaphysical realism. We rebut these charges by arguing that what Rockmore sees as conflicted in analytic pragmatist epistemology is simply fallibilism, that appropriations of Hegel needn't be as global as Rockmore claims, and that commitments to metaphysical realism need not disqualify philosophers from being pragmatists.     

Women’s weekly relationship functioning and depressive symptoms

In an exploration of the links between relationship quality and depression, the extent to which women’s weekly reports of depressive symptoms vary as a function of same‐week relationship functioning was tested. A sample of 161 married or cohabiting U.S. women completed measures of relationship functioning, mood, and depressive symptoms weekly for 12 weeks. In a series of hierarchical linear models, results of within‐subject analyses indicated that depressive symptoms were negatively associated with same‐week relationship functioning. Weekly fluctuations in mood did not account for these associations. Results of between‐subjects analyses suggested that women low in stereotypical masculinity and in relationships of shorter duration are particularly likely to show increased depressive symptoms during weeks when they experience poorer relationship functioning than usual.     

Types of creativity training: Approaches and their effectiveness

Prior meta‐analytic studies have provided evidence for the effectiveness of creativity training. In the present study, 156 training programs were obtained and a content analysis was used to appraise these programs with respect to: a) cognitive processes, b) training techniques, c) media, and d) types of practice exercises. A cluster analysis was used to determine the major types of training, as reflected in these variables, and meta‐analytic data were used to assess the effectiveness of each type of training. Overall, 11 common types of training were identified, all of which appeared to have some value. However, some types of training, specifically idea production and cognitive training, proved particularly effective while some commonly applied training strategies, specifically imagery training, proved less effective. The implications of these findings for the design of creativity training are discussed.     

TIME MATTERS IN TEAM PERFORMANCE: EFFECTS OF MEMBER FAMILIARITY, ENTRAINMENT, AND TASK DISCONTINUITY ON SPEED AND QUALITY

We compared the speed and quality of performance for familiar , initially unfamiliar but continuing , and one-shot (single session) teams. We also proposed and observed entrainment effects for task time limits. Over the course of weekly sessions with changing tasks, continuing teams reached speed levels of the initially familiar teams, but the one-shot teams were consistently slower. Continuing teams also tended to have higher-quality output than the one-shot teams. There were no differences in how quickly each type of group entrained to time limits on the tasks. Entrainment was not robust to task discontinuity (Task A, then B). However, entrainment on repeated trials of a task persisted even when a different type of task "interrupted" those repeated trials (Task A, then B, then A again). Results compel a richer incorporation of time as a medium for complex task sequences, and time-based constructs as a feature of team membership in the study of group effectiveness.     

TRAIT AND BEHAVIORAL THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP: AN INTEGRATION AND META‐ANALYTIC TEST OF THEIR RELATIVE VALIDITY

The leadership literature suffers from a lack of theoretical integration ( Avolio, 2007 , American Psychologist, 62, 25–33). This article addresses that lack of integration by developing an integrative trait‐behavioral model of leadership effectiveness and then examining the relative validity of leader traits (gender, intelligence, personality) and behaviors (transformational‐transactional, initiating structure‐consideration) across 4 leadership effectiveness criteria (leader effectiveness, group performance, follower job satisfaction, satisfaction with leader). Combined, leader traits and behaviors explain a minimum of 31% of the variance in leadership effectiveness criteria. Leader behaviors tend to explain more variance in leadership effectiveness than leader traits, but results indicate that an integrative model where leader behaviors mediate the relationship between leader traits and effectiveness is warranted.