The effects of routine strength on adaptation and information search in recurrent decision making

The strength of decision routines was manipulated within a computer-controlled micro world simulation involving recurrent decision making. During a learning phase, participants were led to prefer a certain brand of an industrial good either about 15 times in a weak routine or about 30 times in a strong routine condition. In the test phase of Experiment 1, participants were confronted with changes in the microworld that rendered the routine obsolete. Routine maintenance over a series of repeated acquisition decisions was assessed as the major dependent variable. Although new information clearly suggested that a deviation from the routine would be beneficial, strong routine participants were more likely to maintain the routine compared to weak routine participants and a control group in which a comparable option (same outcome probabilities as the routine) carried an unfamiliar brand label. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of routine strength on information search. After having learned the routine, participants were asked to make one final decision involving the routine. The task was either framed as being similar to the learning task or as being novel. Before making the final decision, participants were asked to consider new information about the alternatives. Strong routine participants in the familiar task condition preferred information that favored the routine and avoided unfavorable information. If the task was framed as being novel, such confirmation biases disappeared completely. In contrast, weak routine participants exhibited a moderate confirmation bias in their searches independent from task framing.

Working Hard to Achieve Self-Defining Group Goals: A Social Identity Analysis

Summary: A social identity model of effort exertion in groups is presented. In contrast to most traditional research on productivity and performance motivation, the model is assumed to apply to groups of all sizes and nature, and to all membership contingent norms that specify group behaviors and goals. It is proposed that group identification renders behavior group-normative and encourages people to behave in line with group norms. The effect should be strengthened among people who most need consensual identity validation from fellow members, and in intergroup contexts where there is inescapable identity threat from an outgroup. Together these processes should encourage people to exert substantial effort on behalf of their group.

Exploring the Köhler Motivation Gain Effect: Impression Management and Spontaneous Goal Setting

Summary: Recent research on the “ Köhler effect” (e. g., Hertel, Kerr, & Messé, 2000a , b ) has demonstrated that persons increase their effort when working with a stronger coworker compared to when working as individuals. One pre-condition for these motivation gains was a conjunctive task structure, suggesting that high instrumentality of the weaker worker's performance for the group outcome is crucial for the effect to occur. Two experiments were conducted to replicate and further explore these instrumentality effects using a physical persistence paradigm. Experiment 1 compared anonymous and non-anonymous teams working conjunctively to test whether collective motives (maximizing group's outcome) or individualistic interests (impression management) are more likely to underlie the Köhler motivation gain effect. Results replicated overall motivation gains and showed only slight effects of the anonymity variation, suggesting that the motivation gains are more a product of collective motives than individualistic interests. In Experiment 2, spontaneous goal setting processes were explored as a possible mediator of the Köhler motivation gain effect. Comparing conjunctive and additive task conditions for weaker group members again demonstrated that high instrumentality is crucial for the Köhler motivation gain effect. Moreover, while there was no reliable difference between these conditions in reported goal setting, simulating high instrumentality goals by explicit instruction in another additive task condition did lead to significant motivation gains.

Job newcomers coping with stressful situations: A micro-analysis of adequate coping and well-being 1This article is based on the research project “Studying and enhancing coping of young adults entering the work force” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation within the Swiss Priority Program “Switzerland: Towards the Future” (Grant No. 5004-47900 to M. Reicherts); the project is part of the project network “Work Experience and Quality of Life in Switzerland: Work, Stress and Personality Development”; research assistants: Sandrine Pihet, Isabelle Carrard, Barbara Kuebel; student assistants: Patrick Bonvin, Catherine Ukelo; palmtop programming: dipl.ing. Ian Law. The authors thank the Wilsdorf Foundation, Geneva, for the support

Aiming at a micro-analytic in-depth study of daily-life stress and coping and their effects on well-being, a new self-monitoring method combining event-based (stress episodes) and hourly time-based recordings (state monitoring of well-being indicators) has been developed and implemented on a palmtop computer. The study presents results of the first measures of a longitudinal design. N = 30 young adults entering the work force (nurses, cooks, electronic technicians, salesmen and bank clerks) are analyzed in this self-monitoring study, which includes training session, 15-day self-observation, and post-monitoring session. Subjects show good acceptance and compliance, and validity and reliability of the data are satisfying. Results reveal the stressful episodes recorded (compared to a student reference group) as less frequent but more “stressful”, the emotional stress reactions of the subjects as more anxious and angry. Coping behaviors evaluated through the behavior-rules approach (Reicherts, 1999) are rather functional. Agglutination of individual time series parameters reveals a marked, immediate impact of the stressful events on well-being indicators (e.g. mood, physical tension). Adequate coping has positive short-term effects in attenuating the stress impact on well-being and facilitates long-term adaptation (positive changes and well-being). Differences between occupational and non-occupational stress episodes are analyzed, and indications to enhance adequate coping of young adults are presented.

Who Takes the Lead in Risky Decision Making? Effects of Group Members' Risk Preferences and Prototypicality

In two experiments, we studied the effects of (a) the extent to which group members are risk seeking in comparison with others in the group and (b) group member prototypicality (the extent to which individuals hold group-typical risk preferences) on the likelihood that group members will take the lead in risky decision making. Participants were led to believe that they engaged in a four-person group discussion and received bogus feedback about their own risk preferences, the risk preferences of the other group members, and the risk preferences of their group as a whole. In Experiment 2, we also manipulated the framing of the decision problem (gain vs. loss frame). Results supported the hypotheses that (a) more risk seeking members are more likely to take the lead and (b) prototypical members are more likely to take the lead when the problem facing the group is ambiguous (i.e., when group risk preferences and decision framing are incongruent), whereas nonprototypical members are more likely to take the lead when the problem facing the group is relatively clear-cut (i.e., when group risk preferences and decision framing are congruent). Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Das Setzen und Verwirklichen von Zielen

Zusammenfassung: Die historischen Wurzeln des Zielkonzepts werden im Behaviorismus, im Mentalismus sowie in der deutschen Willenspsycholgie gesucht. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, daß die Psychologie des Zielstrebens in den letzten 20 Jahren eine Wiederbelebung erfahren hat. Die moderne Zielpsychologie beschäftigt sich mit Phänomenen der Zielsetzung und der Zielverwirklichung. In Hinblick auf die Zielsetzung werden sowohl inhaltstheoretische Ansätze als auch selbstregulatorische Ansätze diskutiert. Die inhaltstheoretischen Ansätze versuchen, erfolgreiche Zielsetzung aufgrund von prägnanten Zielmerkmalen vorherzusagen (z. B. fremdgesetzte versus selbstgesetzte Ziele, konkrete versus abstrakte Ziele, Ideal- versus Sollziele, Leistungs- versus Lernziele). Die selbstregulatorischen Ansätze dagegen untersuchen Prozesse, die eine erfolgreiche Zielsetzung begünstigen (z. B. mentale Kontrastierung von Zukunft und Realität, Stärkung von Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen). Schließlich kommt die Verwirklichung von Zielen zur Sprache. Auch hier werden inhaltliche oder strukturelle Zielmerkmale (z. B. materielle versus ideelle Ziele, proximale versus distale Ziele, Annäherungs- versus Vermeidungsziele) einerseits und selbstregulatorische Prozesse (z. B. planende Bewußtseinslage, Vorsatzbildung, Handlungskontrollstrategien, Anstrengungssteigerung, Diskrepanzreduktion) andererseits identifiziert. Abschließend werden zielpsychologische Phänomene diskutiert, die bislang in der Psychologie des Zielstrebens weitgehend unberücksichtigt geblieben sind (z. B. Zielkonflikte, das Aufgeben von unpassenden Zielen).

Determinants of nurses' adherence to universal precautions for venipunctures

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to predict and explain nurses' adherence to Universal Precautions (UPs) when performing venipunctures.

METHODS

Data were gathered from 156 registered nurses working at a regional hospital. A self-administered questionnaire assessing the psychosocial variables (intention, attitude, subjective norm, perceived control, etc) was completed at baseline, and behavior was self-reported 3 months later.

RESULTS

The regression of intention on the variables yielded an adjusted R(2) of 0.68, with perceived barriers (beta =.62, P <.001), social norm (beta =.17, P <.01), and personal normative belief (beta =.19, P <.01) being the significant variables. With respect to the 3-month follow-up, 28% of the variance associated with UPs adherence was explained by intention (beta =.37, P <.001) and perceived behavioral control (beta =.23, P <.05). Moreover, high (n = 116) and low intenders (n = 40) differed on several normative beliefs (P =.0003) and perceived barriers (P =.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

It is suggested that perception of control, assessed either globally or by means of a belief-based measure, is a key factor in adherence. Specifically, the perceived difficulties associated with adherence to UPs appear to be related to a nurse's training on UPs and to the existence of suboptimal working conditions.

Nature and Mechanisms of Loss of Motivation

Loss of motivation refers either to the weakening of a motive q or to the loss of energy and persistence with which some subordinate goal p is planned for and pursued in view of q. Although interrelated, such aspects can be kept distinct, and the present work focuses on the loss of strength of the subordinate goal. An analysis is provided of such mental attitudes as subjective frustration, negative expectation, disappointment, and discouragement so as to clarify their respective roles in favoring loss of motivation. The necessary cognitive conditions for the occurrence of loss of motivation are singled out; namely, goal p should be an intention, and a disappointment should occur in regard to the instrumental relationship between p and q, p‘s attainability, or p‘s convenience. Both advantages and limits of the model are discussed.

Effects of evaluative (in-)consistency and perceived self-efficacy on attitude formation *This research was supported by Grant Jo 182/2 from the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)”. The present experiments were conducted in partial fullfilment of the first author's requirements for a doctoral degree at the University of Tübingen, under the direction of the other two authors. We would like to thank Jörg Conzelmann, Denis Fischer, Anja Rüther, Mechthild Weber, and Felix Weichholt for carrying out the experiments, Diana Raysz, and several anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper

In accordance with dual-process theories of attitude change, we predict that attitude judgments about unfamiliar objects are affected by the evaluative inconsistency of relevant attributes. Drawing upon self-efficacy theory, we further predict that individuals' perceived self-efficacy moderates the effect of inconsistency on attitude latencies: Individuals with high perceived self-efficacy in regard to systematic processing are expected to persist in their judgmental process and to show deliberative processing when information is inconsistent but not when it is consistently positive or consistently negative. Evaluatively consistent information should lead to an elimination of or even a reversal of this difference between high- and low-efficacy individuals. The results of two experiments are supportive of these hypotheses.

«Es musste eigentlich so kommen»: Rückschaufehler bei der Bundestagswahl 1998

Zusammenfassung: Psychologieanfänger/innen an der Universität Leipzig gaben drei Monate vor der Bundestagswahl 1998 Prognosen für den Stimmenanteil verschiedener Parteien und für die Regierungsbildung ab. Die erinnerten Prognosen einen Monat nach der Wahl zeigten eine deutliche Annäherung an das tatsächliche Wahlergebnis und außerdem Hinweise auf eine umgekehrte Beeinflussung des Wissens über das Wahlergebnis durch die vorherigen Prognosen. Bei den Erinnerungen an die prognostizierte Regierungskoalition zeigten sich auf Gruppenebene deutliche Vereinfachungs- und Polarisierungstendenzen. Ein Vergleich mit bisherigen Studien zum Rückschaufehler bei politischen Wahlen mittels eines einheitlichen Indexes ergibt den bisher höchsten Rückschaufehler in unserer Studie. Es werden spezifische kognitive und motivationale Wirkmechanismen bei politischen Rückschaufehlern sowie eine mögliche Dissoziation verschiedener Komponenten eines «Rückschau-Syndroms» diskutiert.

Sadness and susceptibility to judgmental bias: the case of anchoring

In a wide range of empirical paradigms, sadness has been associated with more extensive and detail-oriented thinking than happiness, resulting in reductions in judgmental bias that arise from reliance on stereotypes and other simple decision heuristics. It was hypothesized that anchoring would constitute a significant exception to this general pattern. Recent research on anchoring indicates that an active thought process underlies the emergence of this bias. If sad people are likely to think more actively about the judgmental anchor than their neutral-mood counterparts, their subsequent judgments should be more likely to be assimilated toward this reference point. This prediction was confirmed in two experiments demonstrating that sad people are indeed more susceptible to anchoring bias than are people in a neutral mood. Moreover, this effect generalized over judgments in positive, neutral, and negative content domains.

Intuitive und heuristische Urteilsbildung - verschiedene Prozesse?

Zusammenfassung: In dieser Arbeit werden eine deutschsprachige Skala zur Erfassung intuitiver und rationaler Verarbeitung (Übersetzung des Rational-Experiential Inventory [REI]; Epstein, Pacini, Denes-Raj & Heier, 1996 ) sowie neue Skalen zur Verwendung und Bewertung verschiedener Persuasionsheuristiken vorgestellt. Das deutsche REI weist gute Itemcharakteristika und hohe Reliabilität auf und repliziert die zweidimensionale Struktur der Originalskala mit den Subskalen «faith in intuition» und «need for cognition». Beide Dimensionen sind unabhängig von sozialer Erwünschtheit, und Korrelationen mit verschiedenen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen belegen ihre Konstruktvalidität. Weitere korrelative Ergebnisse zeigen Unterschiede in der selbstberichteten Nutzung verschiedener Persuasionsheuristiken in Abhängigkeit von «faith in intuition» und «need for cognition», die darauf hinweisen, dass zwischen Regel basierten und assoziativen heuristischen Prozessen unterschieden werden kann. Zudem zeigen unsere Befunde auf korrelativer Basis, dass eine konzeptuelle Trennung von heuristischer und intuitiver Verarbeitung geboten scheint.

The WWW as a research medium: an illustrative survey on paranormal belief

Data collected with a short World Wide Web (WWW) survey on paranormal belief, age, sex, locus of control, extraversion, emotional and physical well-being, and mood were compared with findings from recent literature while controlling for effects of self-selection. Each variable was measured with one item. The sample comprised 342 women, 648 men, and 8 participants of unknown sex, of whom 76.7% were self-selected and 23.3% did not select themselves. There was a weak but, given the large sample, significant effect of self-selection regarding paranormal belief (rpb 932 = .08) but no relationships for paranormal belief and the examined variables. In the entire sample, statistically significant correlations ranging from .13 to .07 between paranormal belief and female sex, scores on external locus of control, good mood, extraversion, and emotional well-being corresponded with previous offline results.

Using implementation intentions to increase attendance for cervical cancer screening

This article evaluates an intervention based on P. M. Gollwitzer's (1993) concept of implementation intentions. Women registered at a medical practice in rural England (N = 114) completed measures of the theory of planned behavior variables before a manipulation that induced one half of the sample to form implementation intentions specifying when, where, and how they would make the appointment. Subsequent attendance was determined from medical records. Findings show that the theory of planned behavior variables and previous delay behavior provided good prediction of attendance. However, despite equivalent motivation to attend, participants who formed implementation intentions were much more likely to attend for screening compared with controls (92% vs. 69%). Evidence also suggests that implementation intentions attenuated the relationship between previous delay behavior and subsequent attendance.

Causes of low attendance at national immunization days for polio eradication in Bushenyi district, Uganda

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing attendance for polio National Immunization Days (NIDs) using the Attitudes-Social-influence-self-Efficacy (ASE) model as a guiding theoretical framework. The data was collected in Bushenyi district of south-western Uganda in 6 focus group discussions about outcomes of attendance at NIDs, about who decides on attendance, and about attendance barriers and supports. The purpose of NIDs - eradicating polio - was not known to the informants. The main reason mentioned for attending NIDs and other immunization was to weaken childhood diseases or to strengthen the children's capability in fighting diseases, whether they are immunizable or not. However, it was strongly believed that the previous NIDs had caused a severe malaria epidemic with a very high mortality, and this led to most parents not attending the next. Sources of social influence were mostly opinion and local leaders in communities, health workers, friends and relatives. Opinion leaders who did not immunize their children were said to hinder attendance at NIDs by other lay people. NIDs cards, on the other hand, were regarded as valuable means of support for attendance. Thus to improve immunization coverage, there is need for issuing NIDs cards, for using health education to change the belief that NIDs cause malaria, and to encourage local leaders to attend NIDs.

Einstellungsbildung: Erlebte Ambivalenz, subjektive Schwierigkeit und Antwortlatenz bei evaluativ inkonsistenten, konsistenten und neutralen Informationen

Zusammenfassung. Ambivalenz gegenüber Einstellungsobjekten resultiert aus simultan positiven und negativen Bewertungstendenzen (z. B. Thompson, Zanna & Griffin, 1995 ). Demnach entstehen ambivalente Einstellung zu unvertrauten Objekten, wenn relevante Informationen evaluativ inkonsistent sind ( Jonas, Diehl & Brömer, 1997 ). In der hier vorgestellten Untersuchung soll gezeigt werden, daß bei evaluativer Inkonsistenz mehr Zeit für die Bildung neuer Einstellungen benötigt wird als bei positiver, negativer oder neutraler Information und daß dieser Effekt der Ambivalenz durch die subjektive Schwierigkeit der Einstellungsbildung vermittelt wird. Ferner sollte Need to Evaluate ( Jarvis & Petty, 1996 ), d. h. die Tendenz, spontan Einstellungen zu bilden, die Höhe der Ambivalenz, die subjektive Schwierigkeit und die Antwortlatenzen moderieren. Die Hypothesen werden in einem 6-stufigen Within-Design überprüft (N = 30), in dem ein unvertrautes Objekt entweder durch stark, moderat oder schwach evaluativ inkonsistente Informationen oder durch positive, negative oder neutrale Informationen charakterisiert wird. Es werden Unterschiede und Bezüge zur Eindrucksbildung diskutiert.

When children tell their friends they have AIDS: possible consequences for psychological well-being and disease progression

OBJECTIVE

Past research has demonstrated that self-disclosure of traumatic or secretive information produces observable health benefits. Self-disclosure has also been linked, albeit less consistently, to improved psychological health. The present study examined the physiological and psychological consequences of children's self-disclosure of their HIV/AIDS status to friends.

METHODS

Data were collected twice, one year apart, from 64 caregiver-child dyads in which all of the children were infected with HIV. Dependent variables included the child's CD4%, self-concept, and level of behavioral problems.

RESULTS

Children who had disclosed their HIV+ diagnosis to friends during the 1-year course of the study had a significantly larger increase in CD4% than children who had told their friends before the study or those children who had not yet disclosed their HIV+ diagnosis to friends. This effect remained significant when the child's age and level of medication (protease inhibitors) were statistically controlled. Self-disclosure to friends did not impact the child's behavior or self-concept.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study to investigate the effect of self-disclosure in children. The results were consistent with previous studies showing the positive health consequences of self-disclosure in adults, and suggest potentially important implications for professional and familial care givers of HIV/AIDS individuals.

Falsifikationismus und Holismus in der experimentellen Psychologie: Logische Grundlagen und methodologische Konsequenzen

Zusammenfassung: Anhand einer Rekonstruktion des hypothesentestenden Forschungsprozesses in der experimentellen Psychologie wird die Unhaltbarkeit der wissenschaftstheoretischen Position des Falsifikationismus dargestellt. Als Gegenmodell wird der wissenschaftstheoretische Holismus vorgestellt, der a) eine Lösung deduktionslogischer Probleme des Falsifikationismus bietet, b) wissenschaftshistorische Phänomene (z. B. Paradigmata, wissenschaftliche Revolutionen) erklären kann und c) im Falsifikationismus nicht integrierbare, in der empirischen Psychologie jedoch allgemein akzeptierte methodologische Konventionen unmittelbar impliziert. Konsequenzen für Forschung und Lehre werden diskutiert.

Vorurteile beeinflussen die Enkodierung stereotypinkonsistenter Informationen

Zusammenfassung: Bislang wurde in der Stereotypenforschung vor allem die Kenntnis eines Stereotyps, nicht aber ein tatsächlich vorhandenes Vorurteil gemessen. Darüber hinaus wurden zumeist entweder Enkodierungs- oder Erinnerungseffekte stereotyper Informationen fokussiert. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, im Kontext sexistischer Vorurteile beide Effekte in ein- und demselben Gedächtnistest aufzuzeigen: Hoch sexistische Personen sollten zwar einerseits inkonsistente Informationen besser erinnern können (Inkonsistenzeffekt), aber andererseits zugleich aufgrund ihrer sexistischen Einstellungen auch stereotypgeleitet antworten (Konsistenzeffekt). Vpn sollten sich entweder einen Eindruck über eine Zielperson bilden oder sie charakterisierende Merkmale einprägen. Diese Merkmale waren entweder geschlechtsstereotyp-kongruent oder -inkongruent. Abschließend wurden Wiedererkennensurteile und Sexismuswerte erhoben. Die Ergebnisse bestätigten die Erwartungen. Die Implikationen dieser Befunde für den Bereich des Personengedächtnisses und der Stereotypenliteratur werden diskutiert.

Further explorations of medical decisions for individuals and for groups

BACKGROUND

Important discrepancies between clinical practice and health policy may be related to the ways in which physicians and others make decisions about individuals and groups. Previous research has found that physicians and laypersons asked to consider an individual patient generally make different decisions than those asked to consider a group of comparable patients, but this discrepancy has not been observed in more recent studies. This study was designed to explore possible reasons for these findings.

METHODS

Prospective jurors (N = 1,013) each made a recommendation regarding a risky treatment for an incurable blood condition. Perspective (individual vs group) was crossed with uncertainty frame (probability vs frequency) and response wording (original vs revised) in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-participants design.

RESULTS

When the strength of participants' recommendations was considered, the effects of perspective, uncertainty frame, and response wording were not statistically significant. When recommendations were dichotomized, participants in the revised-response-wording conditions were more likely to recommend treatment to the group than to the individual.

CONCLUSIONS

These results conflict with previous findings for this scenario and suggest that reported differences between decisions for individuals and decisions for groups are not robust.