Baby X

The present study investigated adult behavior while interacting with a three-month-old infant under conditions in which the child was introduced as a boy, as a girl, or with no gender information given. Gender labels did not elicit simple effects, but rather interacted significantly with the sex of the subject on both toy usage and physical contact measures. There was a stronger tendency for both male and female adults to utilize sex-stereotyped toys when the child was introduced as a girl. Most of the findings, however, reflected a differential response of men and women to the absence of gender information. In this condition, male subjects employed a neutral toy most frequently and handled the child least; in contrast, females used more stereotyped toys and handled the child more. All subjects attempted to guess the gender of the child (with “boy” guesses more frequent, although the child was actually female) and all justified their guess on the basis of stereotyped behavioral or physical cues like strength or softness.     

Sensory and meaning features in stimulus recognition and associative retrieval.

Three experiments addressed the problem of isolating the effects of sensory similarity on subprocesses involved in coding paired associates. In the first, the standard recognition-recall procedure was used and stimulus similarity, concreteness, and frequency were varied. However, because of concern with the validity of this recognition procedure as a measure of functional stimulus contact, an alternative was developed. This alternative led to the second study in which only stimulus similarity was manipulated. In the third experiment, similarity was varied, and the pairs were either associatively compatible, unrelated, or incompatible. The results using the new procedure indicated that similarity consistently disrupted functional stimulus contact but not associative retrieval. By contrast, associative relatedness facilitated both subprocesses.     

Set and temporal integration

An experiment was conducted to explore the temporal structure of set formation in a complex reaction time (RT) task. On each trial an instruction [I-event] was given telling Ss whether identity of color or form on a separately presented alternative display (A-event) was the dimension relevant on that trial. The A-event consisted of a pattern of four colored forms. The two forms on one side were matched for color and on the other side for form. S’s task was to depress one of two keys. The correct key was homolateral to the matched relevant dimension. The basic independent variable was the time interval separating the I- and A-events (ISI). At short ISIs, RT wasa linear function oflSI with slope equal to -0.5. RT was independent of the order in which the events occurred at short ISIs, although at longer ISIs (3 sec) RT was longer when the A-event followed the I-event. Also, RT was shorter at short ISIs when color was the relevant dimension rather than form. although this difference disappearedat longer ISIs. The results were discussed in relation to information processing models and previous research dealing with partialadvance information.     

Post-retinal storage? Some further observations on Parks’ camel as seen through the eye of a needle

Parks recently reported observations with an apparatus in which successive slices of a stimulus figure could be entered on the same retinal locus. He reported that when this was done, a visual percept of the figure appeared, but one that appeared condensed in length. From this he argued that the slices, differing only in time of arrival, must be stored post-retinally and then reconstructed spatially to form the coherent figure again. In attempting to replicate this important conclusion, we found, contrary to Parks, that the appearance of the percept occurred only when the slices were spread out over the retina, and not when they were entered on the same spot. Thus, the percept is probably due to much more understandable poor temporal resolution, rather than spatial integration. Shape distortions were found corresponding to Parks’ reports, but only in the absence of any visual percepts. In spite of the failure to support all of Parks’ conclusions, the effects are seen as very intriguing ones, and may have critical theoretical ramifications.     

Effective list length and part-whole transfer in first-graders' multitrial free recall

First-gradens' multitrial free recall shows an effective list-length (ELL) effect: an initial recall gain followed by a constant output level that fluctuates in item content. The part-whole transfer paradigm was used to investigate ELL. The ELL effect occurred in whole-list learning regardless of whether the prior task consisted of relevant practice, irrelevant practice, or an unrelated task. Relevant part-list learning resulted in positive transfer which declined from a high to a marginal level over the course of whole-list learning. Other analyses indicated a general deficit in the use of strategies. A response-strength model was used to explain the ELL effect and the transfer results.     

Correction for Range Restriction in Meta‐Analysis Revisited: Improvements and Implications for Organizational Research

In this study, we present a more accurate method for correcting for range restriction (Case V) that expands upon Bryant and Gokhale's (1972) method. We further present detailed steps to incorporate the Case V method into Schmidt and Hunter's (2015) psychometric meta‐analysis methods (both individual correction and artifact distribution approaches). We then evaluate the accuracy of the Case V method vis‐à‐vis existing methods. Monte‐Carlo simulation results indicate that the Case V method provides very accurate estimates for the mean true score correlation and reasonably accurate estimates for the true standard deviation. More important, Case V almost always provides more accurate results than alternative methods (particularly, Case IV). To illustrate how the Case V method works with real data, we conduct a reanalysis of Judge, Heller, and Mount's (2002) meta‐analysis examining the relationships between the Big 5 personality traits and job satisfaction. Results indicate that the true score correlations between the Big 5 traits and job satisfaction have been underestimated, whereas their true standard deviations have been overestimated. Implications for range restriction corrections in organizational research are discussed.     

Do CEOs Matter to Firm Strategic Actions and Firm Performance? A Meta‐Analytic Investigation Based on Upper Echelons Theory

What roles do CEOs play in firm performance? To address this question, the management field has accumulated a substantial amount of research over the past 3 decades built on upper echelons theory (UET), which posits that CEO characteristics manifest in firm strategic actions and, in this way, future firm performance. Hence, there is a need to systematically amass and take stock of prior empirical findings for UET testing and development. We use meta‐analytic techniques to synthesize prior UET research on the relationships among commonly studied CEO characteristics, firm strategic actions, and future firm performance. Based on 308 studies, meta‐analytic results generally support UET's predictions with a few exceptions: CEO characteristics (i.e., tenure, formal education, prior career experience, and positive self‐concept) are significantly associated with firm strategic actions, which in turn are significantly related to future firm performance. Moreover, CEO characteristics (i.e., age, tenure, formal education, and prior career experience) are positively related to future firm performance. In addition, fine‐grained analyses have revealed interesting and important relationships between specific measures of CEO characteristics (e.g., CEO prior task experience) and firm outcomes (e.g., firm strategic actions that match with CEO prior task experience). Implications for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.     

Translating close-up research into action: a critical reflection

This paper argues that simple dissemination models do not work. One of the strengths of close-up research, with its emphasis on depth and understanding, is that it can identify why things are as they are and, by extension, when we identify wrongs seek to challenge them. The paper suggests, however, that making a difference is fraught with contradictions and that the translation from research to action is far from straightforward. We illustrate these tensions by reflecting on our experiences of conducting two projects for the UK Higher Education Academy. At the same time as exploring the slippages of translation and loss of criticality, however, we want to defend notion of praxis as theoretically informed change for critical social purposes. This involves a view of making a difference and research that moves beyond thinking of research as a discrete act and invokes the significance of corporate agency and the possibilities of acting collectively.