The expectancy model in the analysis of occupational preference and occupational choice

The differences between the factors related to occupational preference and occupational choice were explored for upper-division college students from business and psychology classes. The results strongly supported a valance-instrumentality-expectancy model in the context of occupational choice. Occupational preference was primarily a function of occupational valence, the multiplicative relation between the outcome valences and the instrumentalities of the occupations for these outcomes. Occupational choice was primarily a function of the force to choose an occupation, the multiplicative relaitonship between occupational valence and the expectancy of attaining an occupation and the expected costs of attaining an occupation.     

Need for uniqueness,self-schemas,and thought as moderators of the false-consensus effect

L. Ross and his colleagues (L. Ross, D. Greene, & P. House, 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 880–892) have demonstrated the tendency for people to expect peer similarity in behavior, termed the “false-consensus” bias. The present study was concerned with factors that might affect the generality of this bias. Specifically, we looked at the impact of level of need for uniqueness (C. R. Snyder & H. L. Fromkin, 1977, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 5, 518–527), existence of a self-schema (H. Markus, 1977, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 63–78), and thought on expectations of peer similarity. It was predicted that thought would polarize the estimates of high and low N Uniq individuals in opposite directions, but only when the individual possessed a self-schema along the relevant behavioral dimension. The results for behaviors reflecting independence supported this prediction. Discussion centered around limits of the false-consensus bias, along with consideration of the complexities involved in the link between availability factors and interpersonal judgments.     

Achievement orientation,attainment values,and women's employment

This study examines age variance in the relationship of women's achievement needs and values to their participation in paid employment. The study group is a cross-sectional, nonprobability sample of 1120 women, ages 22–64, who contacted the Center for Continuing Education of Women at a major midwestern university. Three findings predominate: (1) Compared to general achievement orientation, the specific values attached to attainment through career and family are stronger predictors of employment status. (2) Degree of participation in paid employment is related positively to career values, and negatively to family values. (3) Career values, alone, are the best predictors of employment status among women aged 45–64, while a combination of career and family values best predicts employment among women aged 22–34 and 35–44. The findings suggest that women's labor force participation is partially a function of the interaction between career and family task demands and values.     

Causal attributions for behaviors consistent or inconsistent with an actor's personality traits: Differences between those offered by actors and observers

The present research was designed to investigate differences in the attributions offered from the actor's perspective and the observer's perspective. It was predicted that causal attributions for behaviors inconsistent with an actor's personality traits would be more situational when offered from the actor's perspective than when offered from the observer's perspective. In contrast, it was predicted that causal attributions for behaviors consistent with an actor's personality traits would be more dispositional when offered from the actor's perspective than when offered from the observer's perspective. Consistent with these hypotheses, extraverts explained introverted behaviors and introverts explained extraverted behaviors more situationally from the actor's perspective than from the observer's perspective. Furthermore, extraverts explained extraverted behaviors and introverts explained introverted behaviors more dispositionally from the actor's perspective than from the observer's perspective. These differences in the attributions offered by actors and observers were attenuated but not eliminated when attributors had access to useful situational information with which to apply the discounting principle.     

Valence and instrumentality contributions to understanding occupational preference

Studies on the expectancy model have presented conflicting results concerning the usefulness of valence ratings. There has been some support for valence as significantly adding to the predictability of occupational preference, while other studies have indicated that instrumentality ratings alone are sufficient.     

Developmental differences in short-lived auditory memory for various classes of speech sounds

Spoken serial recall by second-grade children of aurally presented lists of digits, synthetic stop consonants, and synthetic vowels showed a significant suffix effect (selective debilitation of recall at the final position under the stimulus suffix condition) only for the lists of digits and not for either consonants or vowels. Making the synthetic syllables more distinctive by simultaneously covarying the consonant and vowel failed to produce a suffix effect under a strict scoring criterion which required both consonant and vowel to be recalled correctly; however, when subjects were given credit for partially correct answers the suffix effect emerged. Adults given the redundant consonant-vowel syllables showed a significant suffix effect with the strict scoring criterion. However, when consonants and vowels varied orthogonally, the adults' performance showed the suffix effect only under the lenient scoring criterion. An argument is made for equivalence of basic memorial processing between children and adults, the difference being in the number of features needed to disambiguate the target items and in the ability to integrate these features to exploit interstimulus redundancy.     

The effects of uncontrollable failure and depression on memorial processes

Many investigators have argued that exposure to uncontrollable failure and depressed mood affect learning processes. However, little has been done to explore how information processing is affected by such events. Two experiments revealed that prior failure (Experiment 1) and depressed mood (Experiment 2) have similar effects on a simple free-recall task. These data are interpreted to suggest that the experience of uncontrollable failure and depression disrupt the transfer or retrieval of new information from a transient to a more permanent storage format. The implications of these data are discussed.     

Determinants of social perception in a naturalistic setting

Based upon the assumption that personality traits exist more in the eye of the observer than is actually reflected in the actions of the actor, Jones and Nisbett have proposed that a negative relationship exists between familiarity with an actor's behavioral history and the tendency to attribute traits to that individual. An alternative viewpoint is suggested by the present research. Members of a college fraternity attributed more personality traits to themselves than were attributed to them by their fellow members. In addition, the fraternity members tended to offer more dispositional attributions to other members with whom they were more familiar. Furthermore, evidence is presented that is suggestive of the validity of these attributions. It is concluded that the attribution of personality traits provides attributors with information that is both veridical and useful in guiding social interactions.     

On the nature of processes governing defensive burying of aversive flavors and odors in rats

Four experiments are reported which investigated the processes which contribute to the failure of rats to bury fluids that have acquired aversive properties through pairings with lithium chloride toxicosis. Fluids that failed to provide strong olfactory stimulation were avoided but not buried. These solutions, however, produced higher order conditioning of odor-bearing solutions which were buried readily. Various control experiments indicated that these effects depended upon the odorous qualities of the stimulus and not upon simple novelty effects or changes in gustatory stimulation. These data indicate that the inability of aversive gustatory cues to produce burying reflects a constraint on motivational or S-R learning processes.