Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Using Differential Functioning Of Items And Tests (Dfit) To Examine Targeted Differential Item Functioning, Erin L. O'Brien

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Current studies of differential item functioning (DIF) look at look at how groups differ in responding to items across an entire trait continuum. This is important for detecting the presence of consistent patterns of responses across items between groups of people. Current tests of DIF are limited in that they only detect differences between groups across all levels of the trait. However, selection decisions are usually made within specific ranges of trait levels. The purpose of this research was to determine if restricting theta values in an existing framework would be better at detecting DIF as current methods for restricted …

The Effectiveness Of Warnings At Reducing The Prevalence Of Insufficient Effort Responding, Caitlin E. Blackmore

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Unmotivated participants who fail to devote sufficient effort to their survey responses can influence the quality of self-report data. The majority of the published literature on this topic has concerned techniques for detecting insufficient effort responding (IER), whereas little attention has been given to developing effective procedures for preventing IER. There are numerous advantages to preventing IER, one of which is that discarding data is unnecessary. The current study examined the effects of a warning manipulation on the prevalence of IER and the quality of the resulting data. Statistically significant differences between conditions on four of the IER detection measures …

Cued Visual Search And Multisensory Enhancement, Jordan Haggit

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Previous research has been divided on whether or not multisensory cues can speed visual search relative to their component unisensory cues alone. Some studies (e.g., Mateo et al., 2012) found reaction times for multisensory cues were not faster than the RT of the faster component unisensory cue alone. Other studies (e.g., Oskarsson et al., 2012) found the multisensory cue to be faster than either unisensory cue alone (i.e., multisensory enhancement). This study aimed to determine whether the relative effectiveness match between auditory and tactile cues affects multisensory enhancement on a visual search task. In Experiment 1 we estimated for each …

Investigating The Relationship Between Binocular Disparity, Viewer Discomfort, And Depth Task Performance On Stereoscopic 3d Displays, John Paul Mcintire

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Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) displays offer the capability to enhance user performance on a variety of depth tasks. However, the benefit derived from viewing S3D depends in part on the magnitude of binocular disparity that is displayed. Surprisingly few studies have directly investigated the relationship between disparity and depth task performance. The studies that have been conducted suggest that a minimum amount of disparity (10-50 arc min) may be needed to improve performance over conditions in which no S3D is present, but it is unclear the extent to which performance might improve with increases in disparity beyond this range.

From a …

Linking Neural States And Performance: The Configural Superiority Effect And Perception-Action Model, Elizabeth Marie Mersch

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Establishing biomarkers for neural states linked to performance is a current key research topic. The objective of the present study was to establish initial links between neurophysiological indices of the cognitive and perception processes and performance in the context of analogical display. A functional MRI was used to measure neural activity during perception of the configural superiority effect (a series of analogical displays that have shown clear performance differences based on emergent feature). Response time and accuracy were recorded to determine performance. Findings showed behavioral and neural differences between the displays. The most notable result was the increased performance being …

Multi-Sensory Integration In Motion Perception: Do Moving Sounds Facilitate/Interfere With Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements?, Clayton D. Rothwell

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Previous experiments have attempted to measure smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) to acoustic targets with limited success. Some studies found no evidence for SPEM (Gauthier and Hofferer, 1967; Schaefer et al., 1981; Boucher et al., 2004; Berryhill et al., 2006) and other studies found only a sub-set of subjects could produce SPEM, which was poor in quality (Krukowski et al., 2001; Hashiba et al., 1996; Cloninger et al., 2013, 2014). These findings are despite evidence of auditory motion perception and an auditory motion aftereffect in the psychoacoustic literature (Carlile and Best, 2002; Dong et al., 2000). This thesis explored a …

The Effect Of Cue And Target Similarity On Visual Search Response Times: Manipulation Of Basic Stimulus Characteristics, Steven Charles Fullenkamp

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This study tested the hypothesis that the similarity of the cue and target in a visual search task is related to performance. Specifically, it was hypothesized that as the similarity between the cue and the target along the dimensions of stimulus contrast, spatial resolution and size increases, the amount of time that it takes to find a target among distractors decreases. Three experiments were performed to investigate the question. Experiments 1 and 2 employed a methodology that employed homogeneous search arrays where the contrast, spatial resolution and size of the elements were constant (high contrast, high spatial resolution and large …

Emergent Features And Perceptual Objects: A Reexamination Of Fundamental Principles In Display Design, Jerred Charles Holt

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Objective: Our purpose was to discuss alternative principles of design (emergent features and perceptual objects) for analogical visual displays, to evaluate the utility of four different displays for a system state identification task, and to compare outcomes to predictions derived from the design principles. Background: An interpretation of previous empirical findings for three displays (bar graph, polar graphic, alpha-numeric) is provided from an emergent features perspective. A fourth display (configural coordinate) was designed to leverage powerful perception-action skills using principles of cognitive systems engineering / ecological interface design (i.e., direct perception). Methods: An experiment was conducted to evaluate these four …

Heuristics: Bias Vs. Smart Instrument. An Exploration Of The Hot Hand, Jehangir Cooper

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Classical perspectives on judgment and rationality view heuristics as erroneous, leading to suboptimal judgments. Conversely, ecological perspectives view heuristics as smart mechanisms that result in good judgments in the face of uncertainty. Our research focused on the hot hand heuristic and examined it using non-linear analysis methods. This research attempted to answer two questions. The first question concerned the applicability of frequency analysis methods for detecting constraints (such as the hot hand) or structure in a time series of binary data, which we attempted to investigate through Monte Carlo simulations. We found that this method was sensitive enough to detect …

Flash Lag Effect Model Discrimination, Stephen R. Gabbard

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The purpose of this study was to test the various models describing the Flash Lag Effect (FLE). Beginning with the initial work of Nijhawan (1994), several models have emerged endeavoring to explain the FLE (e.g., Eagleman & Sejnowski, 2000; Whitney, 2000; Baldo & Caticha, 2005). Two series of studies comprising 11 separate experiments were undertaken to differentiate these models, with a particular focus on the neural network model of Baldo and Caticha (2005). The experiments included the three primary FLE experimental paradigms: continuous motion (CM), flash-initiated (FIC) and flash-terminated (FTC). Ninety-three participants made observations in these three paradigms using a …

The Effects Of The Proportion Of Women In A Work Role And Tenure On Performance, Kathryn Gabrielle Van Dixhorn

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Token theory (Kanter, 1977) suggests that being a token individual in an organization can cause that individual to experience discrimination, increased pressure to perform, isolation from the majority group, negative stereotyping, and can interfere with performance. The purpose of this research was to determine if varying percentages of females in a work role do indeed influence the likelihood that these negative outcomes will occur by using performance data from an applied sample. By using both supervisor ratings and objective sales figures from a sales organization, this research filled a gap in the current research, in which token theory is often …

Job Crafting: The Pursuit Of Happiness At Work, Cristina D. Kirkendall

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Traditional job satisfaction theories focus on either environmental causes or stable underlying personality characteristics as determinants of job satisfaction, giving very little attention to the possibility that employees may be able to affect their own job satisfaction levels. Recent research on job crafting, however, has provided a source of optimism for changing job satisfaction levels. Job crafting is the processes by which employees actively shape their job to fit their individual needs and unlike the traditional models, it offers hope to those employees that work in a dissatisfying environment or whose personalities may not predispose them to high job satisfaction. …

Impact Of Binaural Beat Technology On Vigilance Task Performance, Psychological Stress And Mental Workload, Elizabeth Ann Shoda

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Currently, there is only one published study examining the impact of binaural beats on the performance of a laboratory vigilance task, however this study had mixed results and left many questions unanswered. I further examined this phenomenon by using a successive vigilance task, between-subjects design, and a control condition to determine whether beta frequency binaural beats could affect vigilance performance over time and across conditions. I hypothesized that participants listening to beta binaural beats would have more hits and fewer misses on the vigilance task than participants in the control condition. In addition, I hypothesized that participants listening to beta …

The Effects Of Multicollinearity In Multilevel Models, Patrick Carl Clark Jr.

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This study examined a method for calculating the impact of multicollinearity on multilevel modeling. The major research questions concerned a) how the simulation design factors affect (multilevel variance inflation factor) MVIF, b) how MVIF affects standard errors of regression coefficients, and c) how MVIF affects significance of regression coefficients. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to address these questions. Predictor relationships were manipulated in order to simulate multicollinearity. Findings indicate that a) increases in relationships among Level 1 predictors and also relationships among Level 2 predictors led to increased MVIF for those specific variables, b) as MVIF increases for a predictor, …

Spatialized Audio And Landmarks In Team Navigation, Andrew Hampton

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Using data collected from a prior study that established the benefit of spatialized audio on team navigation, the current paper examines the underlying mechanisms by which that benefit arose. With linguistic measures extracted from trial transcripts, I study emergent patterns of conversation for four dyads as they attempt to rendezvous in an immersive virtual environment. Spatialized audio is compared to landmarks, traditionally viewed as integral to navigation tasks, on the basis of coordination and strategy. Analyses reveal that spatialized audio creates a decreased need to speak overall. Paired with the performance advantage, this creates a more linguistically efficient task structure. …

Personality's Influence On Burnout: An Unfinished Puzzle, David Andrew Periard

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This study examines the relationship between emotional exhaustion-the main component of burnout-and several facets of the Big Five Factors of personality. Previous research has found small relationships between the Big Five Factors and emotional exhaustion. I hypothesized that the facets of trust, cooperation, orderliness, and self-discipline will have curvilinear relationships with emotional exhaustion. The facets of vulnerability and depression were also hypothesized to moderate the curvilinear relationships between orderliness and self-discipline and emotional exhaustion. Regression analyses only found a curvilinear relationship between order and personal burnout when vulnerability was controlled for. A significant quadratic-by-linear interaction was found between order and …

Effects Of Visualization On Academic Performance, Brian Michael

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The purpose of my study was to investigate the possible utility of visualization, an intervention that has proven useful in both sports and clinical psychology, in an academic setting. However, knowing that there are other powerful performance oriented interventions, such as goal setting and planning, visualization would have to account for unique variance above these to be of value. Specifically, visualization was proposed to help college level students improve exam scores and account for unique variance above that accounted for by goal setting and planning in an intro level psychology course. It was concurrently hypothesized that this relationship would be …

Recognizing The Implicit And Explicit Aspects Of Ethical Decision-Making: Schemas, Work Climates, And Counterproductive Work Behaviors, Zachary Thomas Kalinoski

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There were four purposes for this study. One purpose was to develop a direct assessment of individuals' ethical schemas for how to operate within work settings. I proposed structural assessment using Pathfinder as a means of measuring the structural network of ethical knowledge. I expected structural assessment to be a better means of assessing moral development within organizations than the Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1979). A second purpose was to examine the extent to which implicit aspects of the ethical decision-making process have differential effects on behavioral criteria than explicit aspects of ethical decision-making. A third purpose of this study …

Development And Evaluation Of An Ecological Display For The Detection, Evaluation, And Treatment Of Cardiovascular Risk, Timothy Ryan Mcewen

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Ecological interface design (EID; Vicente & Rasmussen, 1992) is a discipline that emphasizes the necessity of understanding the laws and constraints of a domain in order to make meaningful design decisions. We applied EID principles to create an ecological interface aimed at helping physicians with the detection, evaluation, and treatment of cardiovascular disease risk (specifically for hypertension and hyperlipidemia) and then evaluated it in two exploratory studies. In the first study, twenty-three internal medical residents participated viewed data from twelve patients (in six blocks) in a repeated measures study that measured which risk factors participant felt required follow-up and if …

Impression Management Across Applicant And Incumbent Contexts: The Effect On Job Performance, Jenna Noelle Filipkowski

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Social desirability (impression management) scales often accompany personality measures in selection to detect those who might be engaging in response distortion. Applicants' personality scores may be corrected or eliminated based on scores from the impression management scale. My studies test the effectiveness and usefulness of having social desirability measures in personnel selection. Study One examined whether social desirability (impression management) scales are able to detect faking behavior. The hypotheses were tested on an archival dataset of participants who took personality measures on two separate occasions as incumbents or applicants. Those identified by the faking indicator, who raised their scores beyond …

An Ecological Investigation Into The Effects Of Interface On Asynchronous Group Conversations, Peter Venero

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Asynchronous group communication refers to the activity of multiple people communicating when they are separated by both time and space. Online groups (OG) and email are two settings that facilitate these interactions. While both of these settings accomplish this task, they do so in slightly different ways. Email organizes all of the posts by putting the new posts on the top of the display and the older posts towards the bottom. The OG interface uses a tree structure; putting the new posts in a subordinate post relationship to a previous post. How these two technologies present the posts to the …

An Examination Of Ceo Emotion's Relationship With Organization-Level Performance, Elizabeth J. Peyton

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My study examined the relationship between CEO emotions and organization-level performance. I also tested the feasibility of using FACS in a business setting. Lastly, I explored the nature of CEOs' expressive styles. I found support for a relationship between CEOs' positive emotion displays and organization-level performance, but not a relationship between CEOs' negative emotion displays and organization-level performance. My results also supported the idea that CEOs have a unique and consistent expressive style that remains independent of displayed emotion and that researchers can use FACS to measure this expressive style.

Minority Bias In Supervisor Ratings: Comparing Subjective Ratings And Objective Measures Of Job Performance, William Hernandez

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Supervisor ratings of job performance and objective sales performance were examined to better understand the causes of observed differences in performance ratings between Men and Women and Caucasians and African-Americans. Sex and race did not significantly predict subjective ratings of job performance. Ratee sex and race accounted for less than 2% of the variance in subjective ratings of ratee job performance. However, it was found that Women performed significantly lower than Men, but the difference disappeared when women comprised greater than 30% of the workforce, suggesting a real difference in performance. No tokenism effect was found for Women or racial …

Exploring Empirical Guidelines For Selecting Computer Assistive Technology For People With Disabilities, Jennifer Border

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Assistive technologies (AT) enable people with disabilities (PWD) who are unable to use traditional computer workstations to independently access computers. The selection process of AT is complex due to the numerous AT available and the specific needs of the user. This study examined the process to select new AT for a PWD with Arthrogryposis. In part 1, a series of two different typing sessions (typing test and journal response) were completed by three different AT (voice recognition (VRS), head tracker (HT), and brain computer interface (BCI)). In part 2 only journaling sessions using VRS and the user's traditional typing method …

Assessment Of Implicit Attitudes Toward Women Faculty In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math, Sarah Marie Jackson

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This study used two implicit attitude measures (a Go/No-Go Association Task; GNAT and a personalized GNAT; PGNAT) and three explicit measures to assess attitude change in faculty attending a diversity training session on women in STEM. It was hypothesized that (1) pre- and post-training explicit scores would correlate more strongly with the PGNAT than with the GNAT, (2) training would result in more positive attitudes toward women in STEM, and (3) difference scores would be greatest in the explicit scales, followed by the GNAT and PGNAT. Partial support was found for a stronger correlation between the PGNAT and explicit scores, …

The Relationship Of Personalized And Traditional Iats With Explicit Attitude And Behavioral Measures, Rebecca Rae Riffle

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Researchers suggest that the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is structurally flawed, allowing contamination of responses that are influenced by stereotypical associations. This research investigated the use of a personalized IAT (PIAT) to reduce extrapersonal associations. The IAT and the PIAT were adapted to measure unconscious gender bias in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Explicit gender bias was measured by self-reports and a new measure, the Instant Uncontrollable Reactions (IUR) questionnaire. Partial support was found for the PIAT-explicit attitudes relationship reflecting less gender bias than the IAT-explicit attitudes relationship. It was expected that the PIAT-IUR relationship would show less …

Exploring The Potential For Independent Control With The Nia/Brainfingers System - Is Independent Control Of Glance, Muscle, Alpha And Beta Waves Possible?, Jehangir Cooper

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BCI (Brain-Computer-Interface) devices on the market today, such as the NIA, have the capability to assign computer commands to specific channels (e.g., EMG, EOG, Alpha, and Beta) associated with different methods of control. However, the utility of this capability is dependent on the ability of users to selectively/independently control the specific channels. The NIA system was evaluated to determine if independent control of its channels is possible. Two users with varying levels of experience were used in this study. The users played pong using each of the channels to control the pong paddle, while the data on the activation levels …

Relationships Between Organizational Variables And The Inclusive Language Used By Leaders, Matthew J. Keller

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I investigated relationships between organizational variables and leadership, as measured by inclusive language use. Specifically, I examined whether organization size and profitability relate to the organization leader's use of language. I expected language use to be more inclusive in smaller and more profitable organizations, relative to larger and less profitable organizations. In this study, I used a regression approach to test my hypotheses. Results indicated that organization size was positively related to passive voice indicators, in support of Hypothesis 1. However, profitability was negatively related to inclusive pronouns and positively related to passive voice indicators, both of which were opposite …

Sex And Racial Differences In Socially Desirable Responding, Kathryn G. Van Dixhorn

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The purpose of this study was to examine the magnitude of sex and racial differences in faking behavior, specifically socially desirable responding, in a large (N = 295,517), applied sample. Results indicated that females are engaging in more intentional socially desirable responding, whereas males are engaging in more inadvertent socially desirable responding. However, these differences are not likely to influence selection. Caucasians are displaying more intentional socially desirable responding than African Americans (d = 0.55), Hispanics (d = 0.57), and Asian Americans (d = 0.29). Asian Americans - iii - engaged in less inadvertent socially desirable responding than Caucasians (d …

The Decision To Pursue Self-Interests: Cultural Implications At The Individual Level, Corinne Patrice Wright

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In the current study I examined the relationships between personality, culture, and the decision to pursue self-interests. Specifically, I proposed that conscientiousness, extraversion, idiocentrism, masculinity, and power distance would be positively related to the decision to pursue self-interests whereas agreeableness would be negatively related to the pursuit of self-interests. I also proposed an exploratory examination of interactions between personality and individual cultural values in predicting the decision to pursue self- interests. As predicted, idiocentrism and masculinity significantly predicted the decision to pursue self-interests. In addition, masculinity moderated the effects of both agreeableness and neuroticism on the pursuit of self-interests. Also, …