The current study examined two means of reducing uncertainty in visual search: 1) visual relatedness of a prime to the target (a data-driven, bottom-up processing) and 2) expectancy (a top-down process based on the proportion of validly primed trials). The two processes were decoupled using a short and a long inter-stimulus interval (ISI) to examine their time course in visual search. Competing hypotheses were contrasted in order to determine whether relatedness is associated with iconic memory (Neely, 1977) or a longer lasting visual-structural implicit memory (Schacter and Cooper, 1995) and what role participant expectancy plays in visual search performance. Twelve participants engaged in a discrimination task and a visual search task. The obtained results suggest that visual relatedness is a bottom-up process, probably mediated by a short-term iconic store that affects search performance early, but whose effects rapidly decay. They also suggest that expectancy is a top-down process that requires time to build up before it can affect visual search performance, but whose effects are more long lasting than visual relatedness.

Differential framing occurs when individuals with different latent motives assign qualitatively different meanings to the same attributes or events in the environment (James&Mazerolle, 2002; James&McIntyre, 1996). The implications of this phenomenon for the explanation and prediction of behavior are substantial: In perfectly logical fashions, individuals in exactly the same situation have qualitatively different experiences. In this way, differential framing mediates the relationship between motives and the behaviors that comprise traits. This dissertation tested several propositions associated with this phenomenon, and the results tentatively suggest that individuals with contrasting motives form qualitatively distinct impressions of the same organizational cultures.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-153).

The purpose of this study was to develop and test an index of primigravidas' Performance Incongruency as represented by the difference between the scores on the two forms of the Schroeder Labor Locus of Control Scale (SLLOC). The first form measured primigravidas' expectations for control during labor and delivery. The second form indexed primiparas' perceptions of the actual control they had during their childbirth experience. The convenience sample of primigravida included 34 subjects from one prenatal clinic and 27 from another. Of this sample of 61, 50 delivered during the study and comprised the primipara sample. A descriptive design was used for validity and reliability estimates. The results indicated that the content validity of the pre-labor form of the SLLOC met the established criterion of 90% interrater agreement. Criterion validity estimates on both forms did not achieve the established criterion nor did the convergent-discriminant estimates of construct validity within the instrument. Convergent-discriminant validity external to the scale, however, approached the established criterion. Test-retest reliability estimates of the pre-labor form demonstrated stability (r = .81). The Internal subscale of both forms of the SLLOC was internally consistent with coefficient Alphas of .81 for the pre-labor form and .71 for the post-delivery form. The External-Chance subscale of both forms approached the criterion for internal consistency, but the External/Powerful Others subscale did not. The findings for the index of Performance Incongruency supported literature reports suggesting that primigravidae who had participated in childbirth education classes experienced less control than they had anticipated whereas those who had not participated in childbirth education classes experienced more than they expected.

As automated technologies continue to advance, they will be perceived more as collaborative team members and less as simply helpful machines. Expectations of the likely performance of others play an important role in how their actual performance is judged (Stephan, 1985). Although user expectations have been expounded as important for human-automation interaction, this factor has not been systematically investigated. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect older and younger adults expectations of likely automation performance have on human-automation interaction. In addition, this study investigated the effect of different automation errors (false alarms and misses) on dependence, reliance, compliance, and trust in an automated system. Findings suggest that expectancy effects are relatively short lived, significantly affecting reliance and compliance only through the first experimental block. The effects of type of automation error indicate that participants in a false alarm condition increase reliance and decrease compliance while participants in a miss condition do not change their behavior. The results are important because expectancies must be considered when designing training for human-automation interaction. In addition, understanding the effects of type of automation errors is crucial for the design of automated systems. For example, if the automation is designed for diverse and dynamic environments where automation performance may fluctuate, then a deeper understanding of automation functioning may be needed by users.

Identifying and locating specific objects amidst irrelevant, distracting items can be difficult when one is unsure of where, or even what, to look for. Priming the perceptual/cognitive system for specific features or objects is one way of helping observers to locate and identify target items (e.g., Grice&Gwynne, 1985; Laarni and Hakkinen, 1994). Past research has demonstrated that priming single features does indeed affect search performance (e.g., Hailston&Davis, 2006; Huang&Pashler, 2005). But, what happens when more than one feature is primed? Does priming two features result in better performance than priming only one? What about three features? How does feature priming compare to simply priming the entire object itself? The current research addressed these questions with a series of three visual search experiments. In the first experiment performance in simple feature search was compared against triple-conjunction search performance. Three prominent models of visual search were compared to see which best predicted actual performance. In the second and third experiments the effects of multiple feature priming on search accuracy were examined in a triple-conjunction search (Experiment 2) and a whole-object search (Experiment 3). Moreover, in Experiment 3 the effectiveness of whole-object primes were compared to multiple-features primes. Results show that none of the three models can accurately predict performance in all cases, suggesting some modification of each is necessary. Furthermore, valid primes resulted in performance benefits, and these benefits increased with the number of primed features. Finally, no performance costs of invalid priming were observed in the current experiments.

"Strong situations" have been shown to decrease behavioral variability, thereby attenuating the criterion-related validity of non-ability individual differences for criteria such as job performance (Barrick&Mount, 1993; Meyer, Dalal,&Bonaccio, 2009). However, it has been suggested that individuals, based on individual differences in implicit motives, may impute discrepant psychological meaning to social stimuli like situational strength--a process sometimes known as differential framing (James&McIntyre, 1996). If different psychological interpretations are attached to strong situation stimuli (e.g., Meyer, Dalal,&Hermida, 2010), an interesting behavioral "double-edged sword" is possible. On the one hand, behaviors pertinent to "primary criteria" (i.e., criteria for which external situational influences and pressures lead to targeted behavioral homogeneity) may occur among those who would not normally engage in them. But, at the same time, behaviors pertinent to "secondary criteria" (i.e., unintended, unforeseen, and potentially reactionary behaviors and/or attitudes) might also increase for some individuals (i.e., those with certain implicit motive characteristics). In other words, high situational strength may simultaneously constrain behavioral variability in primary criteria while serving as a stimulus for differential framing, thereby expanding variability on secondary criteria. The purpose of the present dissertation was twofold: 1) to explore the degree to which situational strength is differentially framed, and 2) to ascertain how the differential framing of situational strength may lead to unintended secondary outcomes. Study 1 findings indicate that, to a partial extent, situational strength is differentially framed by individuals with different implicit motives. Study 2 findings are largely consistent with extant situational strength theory, though partially inconsistent with study predictions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Family and Child Ecology, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Nov. 20, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-146). Also issued in print.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Hamburg.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.