Social Psychology Commons^™

Effects Of Regulatory Focus And Counterfactual Thought On Goal Pursuit In Achievement Settings : A Social Cognitive Perspective, Jessica Michelle Nicklin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The primary goal of this study was to examine cognitive and dispositional factors that may influence self-regulated motivation from the perspective of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT: Bandura, 1986, 1989, 2002). In particular, this study examined the potential moderating effects of regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997) and counterfactual thought (Roese, 1994) on the feedback - goal revision relationship. In a sample of 297 college students, the results showed that feedback, whether based on a standard of performance or self-set goals was a strong predictor of goal level set by participants. Individuals with negative discrepancies engaged in more positive discrepancy creation than individual …

The Relationship Between Stigma Consciousness And Variables Of Well-Being Among Foreign-Born Faculty Members, Sharnail D. Bazemore

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between stigma consciousness and positive feelings toward the university, feelings of well-being, loneliness, and teaching effectiveness among foreign-born faculty members employed by American institutions of higher education. Participants included 162 foreign born faculty members who represented 12 urban East coast universities. Participants completed a series of online questionnaires that assessed levels of stigma consciousness, feelings toward the university, self-esteem, well-being, loneliness, and self-perceived teaching effectiveness. We hypothesized that stigma consciousness would contribute unique variance to positive feelings toward the university, feelings of well-being, loneliness, and teaching effectiveness. Four hierarchical regression …

Self-Solicited Feedback: Effects Of Hourly Pay And Individual Monetary Incentive Pay, Julie M. Slowiak

Dissertations

The frequency of feedback solicitation under hourly pay and individual monetary incentive pay conditions was examined. A two-group between-subjects design was used with 30 college students in each group. Participants attended three experimental sessions and entered the cash value of simulated bank checks presented on a computer screen. Results indicated that (a) participants who were paid individual monetary incentives did not self-solicit feedback more often than those who were paid an hourly wage, (b) feedback solicitation was not related to individual differences in levels of competition with one's self or competition with others, (c) task performance was higher for individuals …

Situationist Torts, John D. Hanson, Michael Mccann

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article calls for a situationist approach to teaching law, particularly tort law. This new approach would begin by rejecting the dominant, common-sense account of human behavior (sometimes called dispositionism) and replacing it with the more accurate account being revealed by the social sciences, such as social psychology, social cognition, cognitive neuroscience, and other mind sciences. At its core, situationism is occupied with identifying and bridging the gap between what actually moves us, on one hand, and what we imagine moves us, on the other. Recognizing that gap is critical for understanding what roles tort law (among other areas of …

The Co-Mentoring Project: Overview And Outcomes, Renee A. Zucchero

Faculty Scholarship

The Co-mentoring Project matched developmental psychology students with older adult volunteers for an intergenerational learning experience. Students conducted a biopsychosocial life review to increase understanding of older adult development and the continuity in lifespan development. Each student developed a summary paper containing the older adult's life history, a developmental analysis, and personal reflection. A project description, including the scholarship of teaching and learning, and an overview of its outcomes are presented. The project goal was accomplished; students positively evaluated learning outcomes and displayed a significant increase in knowledge about older adults and aging. Implications for college instructors are discussed. (Contains …

A Mixed-Methods And Multi-Level Investigation Of The Effects Of A Crew Chief Intervention On Job Attitudes, Occupational Stress, And Organizational Commitment, Michael Charles Leo

Dissertations and Theses

High-profile instances of workplace violence and increased pressure from competitors have threatened the viability of one of the nation's largest employers, the United States Postal Service (USPS). As a result, the USPS began a massive change effort in the early 1990's. One of the initiatives implemented to improve labor-management relations was a derivative of the self-managed work team known as the crew chief program. This study provides a mixed-methods and multi-level approach to understand the impact this unique program had on organizational attitudes.

The first aim of this study was to investigate whether the crew chief program reduced employees' stress …

The Effects Of Parcels And Latent Variable Scores On The Detection Of Interactions In Structural Equation Modeling, Thomas D. Fletcher

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Numerous theories in the behavioral and organizational sciences involve the regression of an outcome variable on component terms and their product to evaluate interaction effects. There are numerous statistical difficulties with this multiple regression approach. The most serious is measurement error, requiring the use of structural equation modeling. Jöreskog and Yang (1996) described a nonlinear structural equation modeling procedure that incorporates mean structures in the covariance analysis. They demonstrated that only one indicator for the product term is necessary for model identification. Unfortunately, the Jöreskog-Yang procedure leads to biased estimates of the product coefficient. In this dissertation, I propose that …

Development And Validation Of The Sustainability Climate Survey, David Edward Hall

Dissertations and Theses

Motivated by an assumption of and concern about the unsustainable trajectory of modern human civilization, the purpose of this study was to develop a measurement tool to assist organizations striving to align their operations with principles of sustainability. The relevant context is established with consideration of the dimensions of environment, society and economy, as well as their interconnections, with an eye towards sustainability. Some of the challenges and opportunities presented to organizations by the current unsustainable trajectory are reviewed. The social constructs of culture and climate (organizational and psychological) are discussed as important to understand organizational life. I propose the …

Using Protocol Analysis To Help Determine The Behavioral Function Of Conducting Safety Observations, Alicia M. Alvero

Dissertations

Recent research endeavors have demonstrated the existence of an observer effect . In other words, conducting safety observations increases the safetyperformance of the observer, and may result in safety-related verbalizations. The purpose of this study was to help determine whether observers make self-verbalizations regarding their safety performance and whether these reports are functionally related to safety performance. In order to answer these questions two experiments were conducted using both protocol analysis and the silent dog method. Protocol analysis is used by cognitive scientists to analyze thethoughts of a person as they perform a task, and the silent dog method allows …

Trends. Group Psychology And War Planning, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the importance of group dynamics and mood in a war setting.

Personnel Security: Beyond Initial Screening And Selection To Career Aftermath, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes Issues pertaining to personnel security in the aftermath of an individual’s career with an organization.

Psychology And Missile Defense: Again Rising Like A Phoenix, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies several psychological Issues bearing on the latest ballistic missile defense policies of the United States Government.

How Does The Retail Clerk Make Sense Of His Environment, Tyler L. Watson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The retail clerk is a common feature of today's society. However, the role of the retail clerk has been largely overlooked from the sociological perspective. More precisely from the ethnomethodological perspective. Currently most of the body of research on the retail clerk is from the business perspective and sheds little light on what it is like to be a retail clerk. This study was designed to gain access to the other side of the retail scene, that is, the side of the retail clerk. Most Americans are already familiar with the store but do not know how things are experienced …

Trends. Banning Espionage, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the psychological aspects of the idea of banning espionage as presented in an article in SECRECY NEWS from the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy.

Selling With A Visual Aid, Michelle Fields

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many have pondered the key to delivering an effective speech. Speculation ranges from what one wears to the tone of voice used to how the speech is outlined. No matter the opinion, most agree that visual aids are key to getting and keeping the attention of your audience. Visual aids can add interest, clarity, and drama to a presentation (Pollock, 2000). Clearly, all advertising seeks to influence behavior (Berger, 1999).

In the case of Boise Cascade Office Products, a visual aid helped to differentiate it from Office Max and Staples, while also driving the business 44% over the previous year …

Levels Of Stress Between Cooperative Education Students On-Placement And Pending Placement, Judy L. Mainzinger-Rathbun

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to see if there was an association between the levels of stress in students who were interviewed for a job and their placement status after the job interview. During the spring 2000 semester, 62 students were sent on interviews with public and private agencies/companies for potential placement in cooperative education positions within the agencies/companies. Out of this total population of 62 interviewed, twenty-three were placed in positions (hereafter referred to as “on-placement”) and thirty-nine were not placed (hereafter referred to as “pending-placement"). For this study, the total population of 62 students was divided into …

The Application Of Role Theory To The Sexual Harassment Paradigm: A Policy Capturing Approach, Lora L. Jacobi

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This research utilized policy capturing techniques to analyze the different factors individuals use when determining sexual harassment. The importance of level of power, verbal behavior, and invasiveness of touch were examined. Additionally, role theory was applied to the sexual harassment paradigm in order to understand how context factors within an organization affect the perception of sexual harassment. Profile analysis was used to determine how the perception of what constitutes harassing behavior is mitigated by one's role in the organization.

Participants were one hundred and five males and one hundred and fifteen females who were either currently employed or employed within …

Military Members Responses To Sexually Harassing Behavior: Response Types And Efficacies, Michael W. Braucher

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses four sexual harassment response constructs and evaluates the efficacy of the responses. The constructs are built based on individual or joint/collaboratory responses and whether or not the harasser is confronted with his or her behavior(s) perceived as harassing by the victim. The constructs are applied to the 1995 Department of Defense survey of Harassment. Results include each response's effect on the harassing behavior, whether the behavior is ceased or not. A second result is the victim's perception of improvement or worsening of the situation based on the response type used. Tests for proportional differences were used to …

Functional Relations Among Constructs In The Same Content Domain At Different Levels Of Analysis: A Typology Of Composition Models, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Composition models specify the functional relationships among phenomena or constructs at different levels of analysis (e.g., individual level, team level, organizational level) that reference essentially the same content but that are qualitatively different at different levels (M. T. Hannan, 1971, K. H. Roberts, C. L. Hulin, & D. M. Rousseau, 1978, D. M. Rousseau, 1985). Specifying adequate composition models is a critical component of good multilevel research. A typology of composition models is proposed to provide a framework for organizing, evaluating, and developing constructs and theories in multilevel research. Five basic forms of composition are described and illustrated. Implications of …

Occupational Titles And The Perception Of Gender, Cynthia A. Lokey

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

First, this study examines the findings of Shinar’s (1975) study on the perception of gender in occupations in comparison to a current population. Second, the answers of a population of college students in WV were compared to their place of origin. Third, current neutral titles were compared to earlier gendered counterparts. Lastly, the answers of male and female respondents were analyzed.

Overall, occupational titles were found to be less gendered but retained their gender when compared to data collected by Shinar in 1975. Those respondents who were native to in WV were not found to be more stereotypical in their …

Causal Models Of Work-Family Conflict From Family And Organizational Perspectives, Lyse Guttau Wells

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

More women are entering the workforce and the number of dual career couples has increased and will probably continue to do so. As women's tasks and responsibilities outside of the home have increased, those within the home have not diminished resulting in higher work-family conflict (Greenglass, Pantony, & Burke, 1988). This research examined a woman's work-family conflict from both work and family perspectives. Two models were described and tested. One model included individual and family antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict. The antecedents included sex-role attitudes, role salience, and perfectionism in the wife. The consequences were quality of family life …

The Teamwork Components Model: An Analysis Using Structural Equation Modeling, Rebecca Rosenstein

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

As the world increases in complexity, teams have assumed greater importance in the work place as a method used by organizations to cope with global competition and technological progress. Thus, an understanding of team processes and outcomes has become critical to individuals who study and work in organizations. The purpose of this investigation was to undertake a construct validation study of a model of the processes that underlie teamwork. This investigation was accomplished in two parts. A first study was conducted in order to determine the construct validity of scales that were developed to measure the nine teamwork components: task …

Career Achievement Of Employed Adult Women As A Function Of Family Variables, Kimberly Sue Wright

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While women's career development is beginning to be addressed in the literature, little is known about the variables which influence women's career achievement. The purpose of this study was to identify a subset of family variables which would predict career achievement for women. This study investigated the differences between high and low achievement women with respect to the following variables: marital/relationship status, number of children, parental education levels, parental occupation levels, birth order, relationship with parents (support, rejection, overinvolvement) and general family functioning. iii The participants were 140 women between the ages of 25 and 45 who were employed full …

Causal Analysis Of Disengagement Among Paid And Volunteer City Employees, Margaret Carson Zimmerman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This multivariate test of the full Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino (1979) model of turnover used 184 volunteer and 202 paid workers employed as firefighters, library workers, and rescue squad workers. It addressed the issue of whether the motives and behaviors of volunteers could be accommodated by the same model that normally would be applied to paid workers. Little research exists on the characteristics of volunteer workers, and their worth and manageability are commonly denigrated. The study of volunteers is similar jobs to paid workers might reveal much about the disengagement process since the need to maintain a source of …

The Effect Of Social Context & Group Decision Making Formats On An Evaluative Task, Joyce Bowers

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A review of the literature on decision making indicated a lack of research attention given to the effects of the dynamics of the social context surrounding participation on decision outcomes. The present study examined the relationship between social context and group decision making formats, and its implications for the effective implementation of group participation in decision making The effectiveness of three decision -making formats, the nominal technique, the interacting technique, and the consensus technique, were compared under conditions of cooperation and competition on the three decision effectiveness dimensions of quality, acceptance, and synergy.

Two-hundred and forty-eight undergraduate students, working in …