The main objective of this research was to determine whether differences between group and individual accuracy on behavioral rating tasks are due to differences in memory sensitivity or to systematic differences in the type of decision criterion adopted. Group vs. individual differences in evaluative judgment and in confidence levels, and the effects of a five-day delay were also investigated. Lastly the relationship between response bias and prior evaluative judgment was explored. The results revealed a group memory superiority but also demonstrated that groups adopt a too-liberal decision criterion when rating the occurrence of effective behaviors. In addition, in the delayed rating condition, groups were found to be more confident in their correct responses than individual subjects. And finally, for individual subjects, prior evaluative decisions were positively related to response bias in the rating of effective behaviors and negatively related to response bias in the rating of ineffective behaviors.

It has been hypothesized that social influence processes are altered in computer-mediated-communication (CMC) due to the lack on non-verbal information available across a computer. In these three studies, confidence ratings were used in an attempt to replace some of the non-verbal cues lost in CMC. Subjects participated in group decision making tasks in which the distribution of preferences and confidences were simulated. The results of these three experiments suggest that confidence ratings do not have an effect on an individual's preference decision but may be used to assess one's probability of persuading the other members of the group. The confidence ratings did not increase the probability of a group reaching a consensus decision. In addition, the results suggest that communication patterns in CMC are altered and, together with the lack of non-verbal cues, may result in changes in the social influence process.

It has been theorized that leadership recognition is the product of an automatic categorization process in which individuals compare a set of observed behaviors to a leadership prototype and then, given a sufficient match, automatically recognize the target individual as a leader (Lord, Foti, & DeVader, 1984). The first goal of this research was to test this theory. A second goal was to investigate three potential moderators of the cognitive processes mediating leadership recognition: information load, need for leadership, and time delay. Three experiments were conducted in which subjects assumed the role of a work team coordinator for a small computer company. Their task was to identify an individual to fill an opening in a work team. During a study phase, subjects read a series of behavioral descriptions that were taken from recommendations written about former employees and one job candidate. A test phase followed in which the primary task was Jacoby's (1991) process-dissociation procedure (PDP), a recognition memory that generates estimates of automatic and controlled processes. Results from the experiments revealed that leadership recognition was mediated by a combination of automatic and controlled processes, with the balance clearly favoring automatic processes. That is, individuals operated in a primarily unintentional, unavoidable, and effortless manner when processing and integrating behavioral information about a potential leader. This balance of automatic and controlled cognitive processes was moderated by subjects' perceptions of the extent to which the work team needed a leader (Experiment 2 - Need for Leadership). Specifically, high-need-for-leadership subjects employed a more focused strategy of information processing than did their low-need counterparts. They appeared to expect and to give less scrutiny to behaviors that were consistent with leadership (increase in automatic processes), and to work more diligently to make sense of and integrate behaviors that were irrelevant to leadership (increase in controlled processes). The general primacy of automatic processes found in these experiments suggests that individuals are adept at forming impressions of potential leaders. This ability to identify leaders in a primarily effortless fashion is largely adaptive in light of the attentional scarcity that characterizes much of everyday life.

Studies examining processing of information which is consistent and inconsistent with an expectancy have not been able to conclusively determine which of these types of items has a memory advantage. Recent research indicates that one important determinant of this may be attention allocation to the different types of items. For example, a recent model of impression formation suggests that people process information along a continuum from using only a category label to using only individual attributes. It is proposed that motivational factors can influence attention allocation and thus memory for and use of consistent and inconsistent information. Two different communication sets were compared to assess their effects on information processing. It was hypothesized that whereas accountability would correspond with an advantage for inconsistent information, transmission tuning would correspond with an advantage for consistent information. Two experiments failed to confirm these hypotheses. There are several possible explanations for results.

Using a computerized information display board, subjects gathered information regarding applicants and subsequently evaluated the applicants. Results showed that subjects with prior impressions operated under a confirmatory bias during the information search and during the subsequent decision making process. This effect was greater for subjects under time pressure and with lesser cognitive complexity. Subjects having no prior impressions preferred to gather diagnostic information. Subjects under time pressure demonstrated a noncompensatory processing strategy by increasing the rate of processing, gathering less information, and showing greater variance in dimensional accesses. Subjects under severe time pressure demonstrated greater variance in applicant accesses, focused on the information dimensions most important to them, and had significantly more Type 4 (nonsystematic) transitions. Subjects with lesser cognitive complexity eliminated applicants from consideration sooner than did subjects with greater cognitive complexity. Subjects with lesser cognitive ability were more likely to immediately reaccess information and gathered less information.

With the introduction of advanced information technologies, organizations are able to work in many new arrangements which impact the way groups and individuals interact. This research examined the effects of working at a distance on the quality and quantity of communication, as well as LMX quality between a supervisor and subordinate. The impacts of using advanced information technologies to manage a distance situation were also investigated, and factors leading to choice of a particular communication mode were defined. The results suggest that neither the quality nor quantity of communication between a supervisor and employee is related to the distance between the two. The LMX quality of the pair is not related to distance either. However, while the communication seems to be the same for distance and non-distance workers, employees in non-traditional distance jobs feel as if they are more isolated and communicate less with their supervisors. These findings suggest that employees in non-traditional distance jobs may require more communication with their supervisors than those in other work scenarios. In addition, the results imply that advanced communication technologies can play a significant role in managing distance work. The overall media richness of the technology used by a pair to communicate moderates the effects of distance on LMX quality for non-traditional distance workers. In examining how individuals make choices concerning technology use, the results support suggestions put forth by the Social Information Processing Model (Fulk, Steinfield, Schmitz, & Power, 1987) and the Critical Mass Theory (Markus, 1987) and support generalization of these models to technologies other than electronic mail. In addition, the results reinforce ideas put forth by Daft and his colleagues (Daft et. al, 1987) concerning the match between the appropriate technology and a specific task. Overall, these two factors are very important in determining technology use. The results of this study also suggest that electronic mail has been integrated into corporate cultures to a great degree and seems to be a preferred method of communication. In contrast, very little use is currently being made of more advanced communication technologies such as computer conferencing and video conferencing.

Beginning with the critique of the typological single family "dream house," this thesis incorporates issues of gender concepts, image sustenance and consumerism to expose how the image of the body in the perception of self is manifested and sustained within the contemporary suburban landscape. An analogy is made between maintaining the image of self through the manipulation of the physical body--appearance--and the representation of the single family house--presence. Feminist Theory is employed to investigate how suppressive spatial relationships can control and reinforce predominant architectural and social constructs. The project demonstration challenges traditional design and decision-making processes for the design of an elementary school.

The effect of receipt of a realistic job preview (RJP) on employees' coping skills was explored. The RJP lowered employees' expectations, but did not result in better met expectations for those in the treatment group, in comparison to those in the control group, who did not receive an RJP. The RJP interacted with employees' tenure in affecting social coping; for the treatment group, as tenure increased, social coping decreased. In contrast, for the control group, social coping remained the same across months of tenure. Finally, the RJP interacted with negative affectivity. For the control group, as negative affectivity increased, controllability decreased. Treatment subjects' controllability ratings were similar across levels of negative affectivity. The study indicates that RJPs may have important outcomes beyond reducing turnover.

This study investigated feedback sign's relationship with performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy. It was expected that the magnitude of feedback sign's influence would differ by feedback type, personality, and with feedback repetition. The magnitude of feedback sign's influence on performance and self-efficacy was stronger for norm feedback than absolute feedback for individuals with high Conscientiousness or high Extraversion. The magnitude of feedback sign's influence became stronger over trials for self-efficacy, but its effect on satisfaction became weaker over trials for individuals with a high level of Conscientiousness. The direction of feedback sign's effect also varied. Negative feedback led to higher performance than positive feedback for individuals given norm feedback who had a high level of Conscientiousness or a low level of Extraversion, in all other cases positive feedback led to higher performance. These results indicate that feedback type, feedback sign, personality, and feedback repetition can influence reactions to feedback.

Role theory (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek & Rosenthal, 1964) provided a framework for an investigation of moderators of MSA agreement. Specifically, this study investigated moderating effects of different types of actual role conflict (person-role conflict, role sender dyad conflict, and inter-sender conflict), frequency of behavior observation, and feedback seeking behavior (feedback inquiry and feedback monitoring) on agreement between self, peer, superior and subordinate assessments within a 360 degree assessment. Data from 350 assessors of 27 managers and 124 professional employees produced 839 assessments (86% return rate). An exploratory factor analyses of results (prior to full analyses) indicated five behavioral categories of competence would best represent the data. These factors were used in Moderated Multiple Regression analyses. Results indicated weak to moderate support for moderating effects. Results replicated trends in past research regarding self-peer, self-superior, and peer-superior dyads.