Test–Retest Reliability of Ratings of Job Performance Dimensions in Managers

This article examines the test–retest reliability of supervisory ratings for several dimensions of job performance and for overall job performance. We found that the test–retest reliability of overall job performance is .79 (SD = .08), a value very close to the one found by Viswesvaran, Ones and Schmidt (1996), and that the average test–retest reliability for specific dimensions of job performance is .57 (SD = .07). We also found that some dimensions of job performance appear to be easier to rate than others. We suggest some implications of these findings for research and practice of personnel selection.     

Self-efficacy and interest: Experimental studies of optimal incompetence

How does self-efficacy affect interest? The interest-and-interests model assumes that factors that induce interest—novelty, complexity, conflict, and uncertainty—do so non-linearly. Self-efficacy should thus affect interest quadratically, because it reflects uncertainty about an activity’s outcome. When self-efficacy is low, interest is low because the activity’s outcome is certain. When self-efficacy is moderate, the person’s success on the task seems likely, but not inevitable. But as self-efficacy becomes very high, success seems completely certain, and the task is thus uninteresting. Two experiments tested these predictions. Experiment 1 asked people to rate the interestingness of differentially difficult activities; Experiment 2 manipulated self-efficacy regarding a fuzzy dart game. In both experiments, interest was a quadratic function of self-efficacy. Implications for theories of vocational interest development and change are considered.     

Throwing Away the Key: Measuring Prison Reform Attitudes1

The American prison system is larger than ever and ranks among the largest in the world. Yet, prisons have received little research attention relative to other issues in forensic psychology. In an effort to study one facet of the prison system, a scale for measuring attitudes toward prison reform was developed. The 12‐item scale has a single factor measuring whether people feel prisons should be tougher or softer on inmates. Several studies with diverse samples found that the scale has a consistent factor structure, good reliability, and a coherent pattern of relationships to other psychological variables. The scale appears to be a promising tool for studying how people want to treat those who have been officially rejected by society.     

Creative Fixation is No Laughing Matter: The Effects of Funny and Unfunny Examples on Humor Production

How do people come up with humorous ideas? In creative cognition research, exposure to good examples sometimes causes fixation (people get “stuck” on the examples) but other times sparks inspiration (people's responses are more creative). The present research examined the effects of funny and unfunny examples on joke production. A sample of 175 adults read scenarios that they completed with funny responses. All participants were instructed to be funny, but before responding they read (a) funny responses as examples of good responses to emulate, (b) unfunny responses as examples of poor responses to avoid, or (c) no examples. The participants’ own responses were rated for funniness and for similarity to the example responses, and response times were recorded. Reading either funny or unfunny examples, compared to no examples, caused people to come up with funnier jokes. Similarity to the examples was low in all conditions, so fixation was relatively modest, but people who saw unfunny examples spent more time coming up with their responses. Taken together, the findings support the growing literature showing that examples are often inspiring rather than constraining, and they imply that good and bad examples spark creative thought via different paths.     

‘We are the good guys but they are not bad’. In‐group positivity and cognitive performance in preschoolers

The general purpose of this study was to analyse the developmental relations between the early forms of ethnic attitudes, and the classification abilities of the young child. We designed new cognitive tasks within a detection paradigm adapted to preschoolers and attitudinal tasks that were presented as games in a computer screen. Participants were 75 majority‐group children of 3, 4, and 5 years of age. Children's preferences and positive/negative attitudes towards the in‐group (Spaniards) and three out‐groups (Latin‐Americans, Africans, and Asians) were measured. The results showed a remarkable preference and positivity for the in‐group, but not out‐group derogation. Children's cognitive performance, to a greater extent than their age, was positively associated with in‐group favouritism and positivity. On the other hand, we found some interesting differences and developmental changes in children's positive orientation to the out‐groups that are discussed in the last section.     

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL SCALES FOR PORTUGUESE SPEAKERS IN BRAZIL

Une adaptation en portugais des échelles du Différenciateur Sémantique a été réalisée d'après les études pan-culturelles d'Osgood. l'analyse factorielle des réponses de zoo sujets fait apparaître sept facteurs. Les trois premiers correspondent aux facteurs “universels”: Valeur - Puissance - Activité. Quatre autres des facteurs extraits présentent des ressemblances avec les facteurs universels: Mouvement (Activité) - Complexité (Activité) - Dimension (Puissance) -Pragmatisme (Valeur). Les adjectifs et leurs contraires qui sont utilisés dans ce type d'échelles posent des problèmes: l'auteur discute de la signification conceptuelle des dimensions de l'espace sémantique et conclut à la nécessité de recherches spécifiques dans ce domaine.     

Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Entering Prostitution in Adolescence: History of Youth Homelessness Predicts Earlier Entry

The effect of youth homelessness on age of entry into prostitution was tested, controlling for other known covariates using a multivariate model. Women (N = 96) who self-identified as having engaged in prostitution completed cross-sectional standardized questionnaires (M_age = 42.6, SD = 9.18; 62% African American). Women with a history of youth homelessness entered prostitution nearly 8 years earlier than their peers without this history (at 18 vs. 25 years old). Lack of a high school degree or equivalent also predicted an earlier age of entry (at 20 vs. 28 years old). Findings highlight the poverty dynamics that underlie the relationship between early entry into prostitution and homelessness. Young women, living on the street or in shelters, with limited education and employment opportunities, are at high risk of entering prostitution when they are barely out of adolescence. Future research will be better able to design age-specific prevention strategies.