Rating scale vs. pair comparison in moral judgment: A replication of the study by von Wright & Niemelä (1966) with a different method

The eight moral story-cartoons used by von Wright & Niemelä (1966) were given to 20 four to six-year old nursery school children who rated them on a six-point scale. The resulting order of mean ratings was identical with the order of scale values constructed from the pair-comparisons of the 10-year-old group in the original study and closer to the order of 13-year-olds than to that of the seven-year-olds.     

On the Importance of the Superior's Interpersonal Sensitivity for Good Leadership

This research is aimed at showing that interpersonal sensitivity (being attuned to and correctly inferring another person's thoughts and feelings) is an important aspect of what people expect from a good leader and that interpersonally sensitive leaders have more satisfied subordinates. In the first study, participants indicated how much they expected a good superior to be interpersonally sensitive (among other characteristics). People expect leaders to be interpersonally sensitive more so than subordinates. In the second study, participants interacted in same‐gender dyads as leaders and subordinates. We measured subordinate satisfaction and leader interpersonal sensitivity. More interpersonally sensitive leaders had more satisfied subordinates. Interpersonal sensitivity is important for good leadership: It is expected from leaders, and it contributes to increased subordinate satisfaction.     

Influence of student exchange on national stereotypes,attitudes and perceived group variability

The present research studied changes in stereotypes, attitudes and perceived variability of national groups within a sample of U.S. college students who spent one year studying in either West Germany¹ or Great Britain. Subjects' stereotypes and attitudes toward host country members changed significantly during their stay, whereas attitudes and stereotypes toward control nationalities did not, and neither attitudes nor stereotypes further changed during the first nine months after subjects had returned home. On the other hand, perceptions of group variability changed significantly both during the stay and after departure from the host country. Although group perceptions generally became less positive over the course of the sojourn, these changes did not seem to be due to negative intergroup contact. Rather, the more contact students reported having with host country members the more positive were their attitudes and stereotypes of the groups. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for implementing student exchange programmes.     

Culturally sensitive assessment of attachment in children aged 18–40 months in a South African township

The objective of our work is to study the possible relevance nonwestern cultural traditions have on the concordance of attachment patterns assessed in mothers and their young children. The attachment of 46 toddlers and their mothers, living in a black township in Johannesburg, South Africa, was assessed using scores derived from mother‐child observations in the home (Attachment Q‐Sort) and an interview (Working Model of the Child Interview). Mothers also had a semistructured psychiatric interview. Agreement between home observations and interview ratings was 29% for secure and 71% for insecure attachment when U.S.‐developed scoring criteria for the interview were used. Agreement increased to 81% for secure and 67% for insecure attachment when the same protocols were rescored, using a culturally modified scoring system, developed by local cultural experts. This study suggests that verbal representations of attachment patterns are more influenced by cultural traditions than are actual parent‐child interactions.     

EXERCISES AND DIMENSIONS ARE THE CURRENCY OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS

A novel assessment center (AC) structure that models broad dimension factors, exercise factors, and a general performance factor is proposed and supported in 4 independent samples of AC ratings. Consistent with prior research, the variance attributable to dimension and exercise factors varied widely across ACs. To investigate the construct validity of these empirically supported components of AC ratings, the nomological network of broad dimensions, exercises, and general performance was examined. Results supported the criterion‐related validity of broad dimensions and exercises as predictors of effectiveness and success criteria as well as the incremental validity of broad dimensions beyond exercises and general performance. Finally, the relationships between individual differences and AC factors supported the construct validity of broad dimension factors and provide initial insight as to the meaning of exercise specific variance and general AC performance.     

The Interactive Effect of Impression Motivation and Cognitive Schema on Self‐Presentation in a Personality Inventory1

Applicants usually try to put their best foot forward during personnel selection. Although past research has revealed meaningful individual differences in applicants' self‐presentation in personality tests (often called “faking”), it only concentrated on main effects and ignored the interaction of interindividual and intraindividual differences. Based on impression management theory, we hypothesized that interindividual differences in applicants' impression motivation interact with intraindividual differences in the perceived relevance of personality facets (applicants' cognitive schema). Results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that both impression motivation and cognitive schema significantly affected self‐presentation. Furthermore, for participants with high levels of impression motivation, cognitive schema showed a stronger impact on self‐presentation than for those with low levels of impression motivation.     

Formal operations and postformal reasoning: A replication

The relationship between formal operations and postformal reasoning was examined by using the Shayer (1978) chemicals problem to assess formal operations and the Commons, et al. (1982) four-story problem to measure postformal reasoning. The subjects were 35 undergraduate social science and humanities students. None of the subjects who were classified as concrete operational or transitional on the chemicals task showed postformal reasoning. The hypothesis that full format operations are a necessary condition of post-formal reasoning and the expectation that subjects showing full formal operations are more likely than others to exhibit postformal reasoning was not supported.