INFORMATION PROCESSING MODELS OF PEER NOMINATIONS1

This paper describes the development of an information processing theory of the judgmental process in which individuals engage while rating their peers. Using protocol tracing methods, decision process models were constructed of how individuals rate their peers on seven widely used sociometric questions. The protocols revealed that individuals evaluate their peers along five primary behavior categories: (1) Mutual Influencing, (2) Categorizing/Summarizing, (3) Social-Directive, (4) Quantity of Verbal Communication, and (5) Listening. Models for each sociometric question were tested by comparing model predictions with actual group peer ratings. Using linear models only, high Spearman rank correlations (r₈ range to 1.00) were obtained between predicted and actual peer rankings. Findings have implications for research in person perception and the attribution of leadership.     

Reactions to Receiving Assumptive Help: The Moderating Effects of Group Membership and Perceived Need for Help1

The present study examined how group membership and need for help, variables that can operate independently or in combination, can affect reactions to receiving help. Arab participants (n = 164) received or did not receive help from an in‐group member (Arab helper) or from an out‐group high‐status member (Jewish helper) when the task was described as easy or difficult, or when no information was given. As predicted, Arab participants who received assistance from a Jewish helper or received assistance on an easy task showed more negative reactions than did those who received assistance from an Arab helper or on a difficult task. The theoretical implications for disentangling intergroup and interpersonal influences on reactions to receiving help are considered.     

Motivational effects in the mere-exposure paradigm

Three experiments investigated the effects of time-pressure and evaluation apprehension on the mere-exposure phenomenon (Zajonc, 1968). Subjects viewed slides of abstract paintings at different frequencies of exposure and subsequently indicated their liking for the stimuli. Evaluation apprehension during the assessment phase consistently undermined mere-exposure effects. Furthermore, when evaluation apprehension was high, time-pressure magnified those effects. These findings were discussed in terms of the notions that (1) prior exposure may increase the sense of processing fluency associated with a stimulus (Jacoby & Kelley, 1990), (2) fluency may be interpreted as plausibility of a judgmental cue evoked by the stimulus, (3) motivational factors like time-pressure and evaluation apprehension may moderate the impact of plausibility information on judgment, hence, may moderate ‘mere-exposure’ effects.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF WORK DEMAND STRESSORS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: EXAMINING MAIN AND MODERATING EFFECTS

We quantitatively integrated 169 samples ( N = 35,265 employees) that have been used to investigate the relationships of the following 7 work-related stressors with job performance: role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, job insecurity, work–family conflict, environmental uncertainty, and situational constraints. Overall, we obtained a negative mean correlation between each job performance measure and each stressor included in our analyses. As hypothesized, role ambiguity and situational constraints were most strongly negatively related to performance, relative to the other work-related stressors. Analysis of moderators revealed that (a) the negative correlation of role overload and performance was higher among managers relative to nonmanagers; (b) publication year moderated the relation of role ambiguity and role overload with performance, although in opposite directions; (c) the correlations obtained for published versus unpublished studies were not significantly different; and (d) using the Rizzo et al. scale of role ambiguity and role conflict decreased the magnitude of the correlations of these stressors with performance, relative to other scales. Theoretical contributions, future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.