When a Lot of Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing The Debilitating Effects of Plan Complexity on Verbal Fluency

Three experiments examined the relationships among plan complexity, access to planned actions, and verbal fluency while pursuing a persuasion goal. Consistent with theoretical expectations, complex planners were less fluent than less complex planners under high access conditions. Persons whose access was raised were less fluent than those whose access was not raised. A second experiment showed that reduced fluency was not induced by lowering of self-confidence. The third experiment replicated the findings of the second experiment and demonstrated that the questioning procedure used to raise access in the first two experiments produced increases in plan complexity as suggested by theory. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the study of strategic communication.     

THE “COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR” AS A COGNITIVE PROTOTYPE

Past theories concerned with communicative competence have assumed that perceiver's evaluations of the competence of a communicative performance are based on a conception of the “ideal communicator.” Psychological theory on categorization implies that this assumption is most viable if conceptions of “prototypes” relevant to competence in general (“the communicatively competent person”) are rich in defining characteristics relative to their logical superordinate (“the skilled person”), yet distinct from other skill-related prototypes (such as “the artistically talented person”), and if conceptions of prototypes relevant to competence in specific interactive situations are also relatively rich in defining characteristics, but similar to one another. Analysis of freely elicited lists of characteristics for categories within a taxonomic hierarchy for skill support these implications, showing that people's conceptions of “communicative competence” are organized in the manner most conducive to their use as the basis for competence evaluation. Results also point out the critical role played by concrete, rather than abstract, characteristics in differentiating among general and situation-specific prototypes.     

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Consider My Options Cognition,Verbal Strategies,and the Escalation of Intimacy

Previous research has revealed that individuals have expectations for the development of romance based on personal experience and cultural images. A series of research questions and hypotheses was generated and a sequence of hierarchical log-linear analysis models axis developed to test (a) the effect of gender and knowledge of relational stage and relationship type on prediction of next-occurring actions in the development of a romance, (b) the use of compliance-gaining strategies intended to advance a relationship to the next stage, and (c) justification of secondary goals in which participants reported why they chose the strategies they did as opposed to other alternatives. The data revealed effects for relational stage progression on prediction of ensuing actions. Ingratiation, explanation, and direct requests were popular strategies for developing intimacy. Gender differences in terms of secondary goals were reported. Results are discussed in terms of relational memory structures for the development of intimacy.     

Family Therapy in Trouble: Psychoeducation as Solution and as Problem

The authors cite clinical literature attesting to the importance of recognizing the family, rather than the individual, as the proper locus of conceptualizing, diagnosing, and treating mental illnesses. Specifically with regard to severe psychiatric illnesses, in particular schizophrenia, family dysfunction contributes to the emergence of the illness, significantly affects its course, and strongly influences the achievement and maintenance of treatment gains. Currently, a movement is afoot to limit sharply the amount and kind of treatment offered to schizophrenic patients and their families. Rooted in a “medical model” or “biogenic” view of the etiology of schizophrenia, this school of thought prescribes psychoeducation as the family treatment of choice. The present article looks at some misconceptions regarding treatment that prompted a widespread turning away from psychoanalytically oriented family psychotherapy for schizophrenic patients and their families, examines the reductionism (biological and behavioral) inhering in the exclusive use of psychoeducation, and looks at the clinical dangers of such reductionism. Finally, it proposes that family psycho-therapists should not abandon a concern with the inner lives of severely ill patients and their families in the face of spuriously generalized claims made by reductionist researchers.     

INFLUENCES ON MANAGERIAL PAY ALLOCATIONS: A DEPENDENCY PERSPECTIVE

This paper reviews evidence and presents arguments for the view that managerial pay allocations are influenced by the degree of dependence on subordinates and by threats to that dependence. In assessing this view, the issues of managerial discretion in pay allocation and pay as a means of managing dependencies are explored. Major sources of objective and subjective dependence on subordinates are identified. Predictions are made regarding managerial pay allocations under various conditions of dependence and dependency threat. Finally, research and practical implications of the dependency perspective are discussed.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE PERCEPTIONS AND PAY SATISFACTION

A study was conducted with 104 hospital employees to assess the relationship between pay-for-performance perceptions and pay satisfaction. Unlike previous research examining this relationship, a multi-item measure of pay-for-performance perceptions and a multidimensional measure of pay satisfaction were used. As hypothesized, the results indicated a positive relationship between pay-for-performance perceptions and pay-raise satisfaction, pay-level satisfaction, and overall pay satisfaction even after the effects of salary level, salary increases, performance ratings, job tenure, job satisfaction, and promotions were controlled. The importance of gathering perceptual data on characteristics of the pay system believed to have differential relationships with the subdimensions of pay satisfaction are discussed.