This study examined the impact of task engagement and task familiarity on frequency rating accuracy using an objective measure of task frequency. By contrasting findings from the memory literature on frequency estimation with current task analysis practices, this research proposed that task performers and novel experienced respondents would generate more accurate frequency estimates compared to task observers and familiar experienced respondents. Participants were randomly assigned to a task engagement condition (performer vs. observer) as well as to a task familiarity condition (novel vs. familiar). In support of the hypotheses, performers and novel experienced subjects demonstrated greater accuracy in their frequency ratings. These findings were illustrated using several different measures of accuracy. The use of an objective measure of task frequency revealed that discrepancies in frequency ratings are due to respondents' varying job perceptions as opposed to differences in actual task frequency. Implications for task analysis research and practices are discussed.

The interview is one of the most widely used instruments of selection available, yet it has been shown to have both poor reliability and validity. Numerous models of the interview process have attempted to both explain and improve these reliabilities and validities. One model, the Process Model (Dipboye, 1982; 1985), appears to hold promise as such a tool. Focusing on one prediction of the Process Model, the present project investigated the hypotheses that interviewer commitment to preinterview information will effect the impressions formed about candidates and the memory for information from the interview. Commitment was manipulated at three levels by varying the explicitness of inferences made about candidates during the preinterview phase. Subjects viewed interviews with three candidates and then completed a series of postinterview impression and memory measures. Commitment was found to effect postinterview impressions, but failed to show any effect on postinterview recognition and recall. Implications for the Process Model and the interview are discussed.

The popular literature on time control claims that learning time control behaviors results in increased job performance and fewer job tensions. This study examines the relationships of one's control of time to job stress, job performance and job satisfaction from a correlational perspective. In addition, a test of a time and stress management seminar and its effect on job performance, job satisfaction and job stress in an organizational setting is made. Time control is defined as consisting of not only the typically taught behaviors (making lists, goal setting) but also a perception of control of time. 178 employees of a large southwestern social service agency completed several scales including the Time Control instrument (see Macan et al., 1987) and provided demographic information. Supervisors provided performance ratings. In general, the results do not support the conventional notions of time management. First of all, Time Control was not found to be a unitary concept. Instead, Time Control was found to be multi-dimensional, consisting of four relatively individual factors. The factors were: perceived control of time, goal setting/prioritizing, mechanics--scheduling, planning, and work organization. Only those who perceived control of their time reported fewer job-induced and somatic tensions and were more satisfied in their job situation. The relationship between time control and job performance was non-significant. In addition, perceived control of time was not significantly correlated with the other factors. Overall, those tending toward Type B and those on the job fewer months accounted for the variance in individual differences on three of the four time control factors. Individual differences due to education, age and minority/nonminority also played a role. In addition, an evaluation of a time and stress management training seminar was made. Acknowledging the limitations of the data on 20 training and 24 control group participants, the results of this study do not support the claims made by time management consultants. The findings indicated that time control training was not related to increased job performance ratings or fewer tensions four- to-five months following training. Taken as a whole, the present results call into question the assertations made by advocates of time management training.

The effects of contrast and assimilation in person and sensory perception tasks were reviewed and examined within and across psychosocial and psychophysical research domains. A wide range of effect sizes that varied in both magnitude and direction were found. Meta-analysis of 57 studies containing 172 effect sizes across the total sample revealed a mean corrected d and variance of $-.21$ and 1.06, respectively, indicating contrast. The mean corrected d for studies in the psychosocial domain was $-.22,$ and the mean corrected d for psychophysical studies showed little effect, $-.04.$ Effect sizes were corrected for sampling error and unreliability in the dependent measure, accounting for little variance in study outcome. Sufficient variance remained both within and across domains after correcting for statistical artifacts to justify the search for moderator variables. Across the total sample, effect size was moderated by type of rater and stimulus presentation order. Serial presentation of context and target stimuli resulted in contrast effects, and simultaneous presentation resulted in assimilation effects. Graduate students produced ratings with the greatest magnitude of contrast effects, followed by psychology undergraduates, and unspecified undergraduates. The ratings of nonprofessional adult subjects showed assimilation. Contrast effects resulted when studies were published in perceptual psychology journals, when stimuli were presented simultaneously, and when the degree of discrepancy was high. Type of rater did not moderate effect size within the psychophysical domain. Within the psychosocial area, contrast effects were seen when the study was unpublished or found in the education literature, when the context and target stimuli were presented in similar forms, when the research was conducted in an applied lab setting, when stimuli were presented serially, when subjects were instructed to form an impression or evaluate performance, and when subjects actively rated the contextual stimuli. Assimilation effects were found in this domain when nonprofessional, unspecified adults served as subjects, when subjects were familiar with the stimuli, and when subjects were not trained in the rating process. The degree of discrepancy between the context and target stimuli, the time span between observation and rating, the presence of a distracter task, and subjects' interaction with other did not moderate effect size within the psychosocial domain. The findings suggest that, although contrast and assimilation may be pervasive, many variables moderate the magnitude and direction of the effects. In addition, integration across psychophysical and psychosocial domains may not be appropriate. Limitations of meta-analysis, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of attractiveness and sex on subsequent evaluations of job applicants for both masculine and feminine managerial jobs. Several (Heilman & Saruwatari, 1979) researchers have suggested that attractive women are undervalued for the typical managerial job. However, few studies have examined the evaluations of attractive male applicants for feminine managerial positions. The first experiment was used to scale 200 photographs on the attractiveness continuum and to determine the type of traits or qualities that are characteristic of males or females. The second experiment applied these traits to create a feminine or masculine managerial job. Results of Experiment 2 indicated that attractive males were preferred to attractive female job candidates. Likewise, males were evaluated more favorably than females for the masculine managerial position. For the feminine managerial job, there was no significant difference between the evaluations of male or female applicants.

This study examined whether a memory or response bias mediated the effects of performance cues on observers' recollections of a work group's behavior. Fifty-nine subjects observed a film of a group at work. Then, immediately or one week later, subjects rated the group's performance using behavioral, evaluative, and objective outcome rating instruments. Prior to observing the group, subjects were given performance cues that led them to believe the group had either performed well or poorly in the task. Results identified a systematic response bias and not a memory bias as the cognitive process mediating the effects of performance cues in work behavior ratings: Subjects adopted a more liberal decision criterion when attributing effective (ineffective) behaviors in response to positive (negative) performance cues. Unlike the behavioral ratings, recollections of specific group outcomes were immune to the biasing effect of performance cues.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether prior performance variations within and among job candidates affect evaluations of present performance and whether these variations result in ratings that are exaggerated or erroneous. There were three conditions: a consistent performance condition (CP), a within candidate performance variation condition (WCV), and a between candidate performance variation condition (BCV). Contrast effects were found in both the BCV and WCV conditions. In addition, ratings obtained when there were performance variations within and among candidates were significantly more accurate than those obtained when there were no performance variations. Practical implications and future research suggestions are discussed.

The goal difficulty effect--the assertion that difficult specific goals lead to higher performance than vague or easy goals--has received a great deal of empirical support. Little research, however, has been directed toward discovering why this effect is obtained. This study reports an experiment designed to examine the extent to which the Valence-Instrumentality-Expectancy (VIE) and Naylor-Pritchard-Ilgen (NPI) theories of motivation can explain processes underlying the goal difficulty effect. Questions designed to elicit motivational force, as defined by NPI and VIE theories, were answered by 121 subjects who participated in a four (goal difficulty level) by two (experimental session) factorial experiment. Goal difficulty is not related to performance in this study. Although subjects in the hard goal condition achieved the highest performance in Session 2, subjects given easy goals increased their performance on the puzzles over experimental session slightly more than subjects given hard goals. Very hard goals failed to motivate high increases in performance and subjects given moderately hard goals exhibited a mean decrease in performance. NPI motivational force accurately predicted the direction of performance change across sessions--positive force values are associated only with increases in performance whereas negative force values are associated only with performance decrements. VIE motivational force is not significantly related to performance. Though much work is needed to standardize and streamline the collection of NPI motivational components, NPI is likely to contribute to the understanding of the goal difficulty effect and the development of a goal process model.

Assessment center dimensions have often been found to be low in convergent and discriminant validity (Hinrichs & Haanpera, 1976; Sackett & Dreher, 1982; Sackett & Hakel, 1979; Turnage & Muchinsky, 1982). Assessors' use of prototypes may interfere with assessment center ratings. Reliance on prototypes may be especially pronounced when dimensions are abstract. In this study, the influence of concrete dimensions on assessors observations, classifications, rating accuracy, and convergent and discriminant validity was investigated in an assessment center simulation. Sixty-six university students were trained as assessors. Using either concrete or abstract dimensions, they then evaluated the performance of confederates in three situational exercises. Subjects who rated concrete dimensions classified behaviors more accurately, rated dimensions more accurately according to two accuracy measures, and produced somewhat better convergent and discriminant validity than did subjects who rated abstract dimensions. Subjects who rated abstract dimensions had more accurate ratings according to one accuracy measure than did subjects who rated concrete dimensions.

Reports of discrimination in employment practices are filed with the courts on a frequent basis (e.g., Labor Law Reports, 2004). Organizations manage the benefits and costs of diversity by implementing diversity training for employee participation. The present study takes a step toward building the area of diversity training research to support the practices in place within organizations. An integrated model for training evaluation was used based upon work by Kirkpatrick (1976), Alliger and colleagues (1997), and Kraiger and colleagues (1993). The results of the evaluation showed that trainees attending diversity training reacted with less backlash toward the training, exhibited greater behavioral and cognitive learning, and used race and gender to a lesser degree in a hiring decision task than trainees in a control training condition. There was no difference between these individuals in terms of their self-efficacy, attitudes toward diversity, perceptions of team processes, or conflict situational judgment test (SJT) scores. In addition to the training evaluation, design features (trainer race and gender, focus of training) were examined. The results showed that reactions toward the trainer were dependent on the trainer's race and gender as well as the content of the training course. Furthermore, those trainees attending diversity training who reacted more favorably toward the trainer exhibited greater affective and cognitive learning. These trainees also perceived more favorable group processes in a simulated diverse team and relied on qualifications in addition to race and sex of the applicant in a hiring task. There was no difference between trainees with low and high reactions toward their trainer in terms of conflict SJT scores. Finally, trainees who focused on similarities scored higher on a conflict SJT than trainees who focused on differences. The use of applicants' race or gender in the hiring task was dependent on the trainees' focus during training; however, there was no difference between these trainees in their perceptions of a simulated team's processes. This study shows that diversity training can be effective in terms of modifying trainees' reactions, learning, and transfer outcomes and can be further enhanced by the design features, such as trainer characteristics and the training focus.