Attitude-behaviour consistency: the role of group norms, attitude accessibility, and mode of behavioural decision-making

The interplay between two perspectives that have recently been applied in the attitude area-the social identity approach to attitude-behaviour relations (Terry & Hogg, 1996) and the MODE model (Fazio, 1990a)-was examined in the present research. Two experimental studies were conducted to examine the role of group norms, group identification, attitude accessibility, and mode of behavioural decision-making in the attitude-behaviour relationship. In Study I (N = 211), the effects of norms and identification on attitude-behaviour consistency as a function of attitude accessibility and mood were investigated. Study 2 (N = 354) replicated and extended the first experiment by using time pressure to manipulate mode of behavioural decision-making. As expected, the effects of norm congruency varied as a function of identification and mode of behavioural decision-making. Under conditions assumed to promote deliberative processing (neutral mood/low time pressure), high identifiers behaved in a manner consistent with the norm. No effects emerged under positive mood and high time pressure conditions. In Study 2, there was evidence that exposure to an attitude-incongruent norm resulted in attitude change only under low accessibility conditions. The results of these studies highlight the powerful role of group norms in directing individual behaviour and suggest limited support for the MODE model in this context. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Does normal processing provide evidence of specialised semantic subsystems?

Category-specific disorders are frequently explained by suggesting that living and non-living things are processed in separate subsystems (e.g. Caramazza & Shelton, 1998). If subsystems exist, there should be benefits for normal processing, beyond the influence of structural similarity. However, no previous study has separated the relative influences of similarity and semantic category. We created novel examples of living and non-living things so category and similarity could be manipulated independently. Pre-tests ensured that our images evoked appropriate semantic information and were matched for familiarity. Participants were trained to associate names with the images and then performed a name-verification task under two levels of time pressure. We found no significant advantage for living things alongside strong effects of similarity. Our results suggest that similarity rather than category is the key determinant of speed and accuracy in normal semantic processing. We discuss the implications of this finding for neuropsychological studies. © 2005 Psychology Press Ltd.

Too Busy to Be Fair? The Effect of Managers’ Perceived Workload on Their Core Technical Performance and Justice Rule Adherence

Despite the organizational benefits of treating employees fairly, both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that managers do not behave fairly towards their employees in a consistent manner. As treating employees fairly takes up personal resources such as time, effort, and attention, I argue that when managers face high workloads (i.e., high amounts of work and time pressure), they are unable to devote such personal resources to effectively meet both core technical task requirements and treat employees fairly. I propose that in general, managers tend to view their core technical task performance as more important than being fair in their dealings with employees; as a result, when faced with high workloads, they tend to prioritize the former at the expense of the latter. I also propose that managerial fairness will suffer more as a result of heightened workloads than will core technical task performance, unless managers perceive their organization to explicitly reward fair treatment of employees. I find support for my hypotheses across three studies: two experimental studies (with online participants and students respectively) and one field study of managers from a variety of organizations. I discuss the implications of studying fairness in the wider context of managers’ complex role in organizations to the fairness and managerial work demands literatures.

Go or no-go? Developmental improvements in the efficiency of response inhibition in mid-childhood

This experiment used a modified go/no-go paradigm to investigate the processes by which response inhibition becomes more efficient during mid-childhood. The novel task, which measured trials on which a response was initiated but not completed, was sensitive to developmental changes in response inhibition. The effect of inducing time pressure by narrowing allowable response time was also examined. While increasing time pressure did not reduce the inhibitory demands of the task for either age group, older children (aged 9-to-11 years) were able to inhibit their responses at an earlier stage of movement than younger children (aged 5-to-7 years). This shows that as children get older they become more efficient at controlling their behaviour which drives developmental improvements in response inhibition.

How do servant leaders ignite absorptive capacity?: the role of epistemic motivation and organizational support

This study examines the role of servant leadership in absorptive capacity. Data from manufacturing and service sector organizations found that: a) there was moderation of servant leadership influence on knowledge identification through POS by high need for cognition, b) there was moderation of servant leadership influence on knowledge application through POS by low time pressure, and c) POS mediated relationship between servant leadership and knowledge dissemination. The findings illustrate and support the importance of a comprehensive model integrating servant leadership, POS, and epistemic motivation in determining absorptive capacity.

Quantum of Vision

Visual inputs to artificial and biological visual systems are often quantized: cameras accumulate photons from the visual world, and the brain receives action potentials from visual sensory neurons. Collecting more information quanta leads to a longer acquisition time and better performance. In many visual tasks, collecting a small number of quanta is sufficient to solve the task well. The ability to determine the right number of quanta is pivotal in situations where visual information is costly to obtain, such as photon-starved or time-critical environments. In these situations, conventional vision systems that always collect a fixed and large amount of information are infeasible. I develop a framework that judiciously determines the number of information quanta to observe based on the cost of observation and the requirement for accuracy. The framework implements the optimal speed versus accuracy tradeoff when two assumptions are met, namely that the task is fully specified probabilistically and constant over time. I also extend the framework to address scenarios that violate the assumptions. I deploy the framework to three recognition tasks: visual search (where both assumptions are satisfied), scotopic visual recognition (where the model is not specified), and visual discrimination with unknown stimulus onset (where the model is dynamic over time). Scotopic classification experiments suggest that the framework leads to dramatic improvement in photon-efficiency compared to conventional computer vision algorithms. Human psychophysics experiments confirmed that the framework provides a parsimonious and versatile explanation for human behavior under time pressure in both static and dynamic environments.

Assessing Decision Making Skill in Complex and Dynamic Environments Using Representative and Simulated Tasks

Traditional decision making research has often focused on one's ability to choose from a set of prefixed options, ignoring the process by which decision makers generate courses of action (i.e., options) in-situ (Klein, 1993). In complex and dynamic domains, this option generation process is particularly critical to understanding how successful decisions are made (Zsambok & Klein, 1997). When generating response options for oneself to pursue (i.e., during the intervention-phase of decision making) previous research has supported quick and intuitive heuristics, such as the Take-The-First heuristic (TTF; Johnson & Raab, 2003). When generating predictive options for others in the environment (i.e., during the assessment-phase of decision making), previous research has supported the situational-model-building process described by Long Term Working Memory theory (LTWM; see Ward, Ericsson, & Williams, 2013). In the first three experiments, the claims of TTF and LTWM are tested during assessment- and intervention-phase tasks in soccer. To test what other environmental constraints may dictate the use of these cognitive mechanisms, the claims of these models are also tested in the presence and absence of time pressure. In addition to understanding the option generation process, it is important that researchers in complex and dynamic domains also develop tools that can be used by `real-world' professionals. For this reason, three more experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a new online assessment of perceptual-cognitive skill in soccer. This test differentiated between skill groups and predicted performance on a previously established test and predicted option generation behavior. The test also outperformed domain-general cognitive tests, but not a domain-specific knowledge test when predicting skill group membership. Implications for theory and training, and future directions for the development of applied tools are discussed.

Under great pressure, a diamond is being formed: The SBS over time

This article observes a paradox in the recent history of the Special Broadcasting Service. It is argued that, in contrast to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the role and general direction of SBS were not extensively debated as part of the ‘culture wars’ that occurred during the years of the Howard government. While that made SBS a less fraught space during that period, it may now be a factor in the comparative lack of support being given by the Rudd Labor government to SBS in comparison with the ABC, as some of the ‘special’ status of SBS has been blunted by its drift towards more mainstream programming and a mixed economy of commercial advertising, as well as government funding.

Dynamic, invivo, real-time detection of retinal oxidative status in a model of elevated intraocular pressure using a novel, reversibly responsive, profluorescent nitroxide probe

Changes to the redox status of biological systems have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of disorders including cancer, Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury and neurodegeneration. In times of metabolic stress e.g. ischaemia/reperfusion, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production overwhelms the intrinsic antioxidant capacity of the cell, damaging vital cellular components. The ability to quantify ROS changes in vivo, is therefore essential to understanding their biological role. Here we evaluate the suitability of a novel reversible profluorescent probe containing a redox-sensitive nitroxide moiety (methyl ester tetraethylrhodamine nitroxide, ME-TRN), as an in vivo, real-time reporter of retinal oxidative status. The reversible nature of the probe's response offers the unique advantage of being able to monitor redox changes in both oxidizing and reducing directions in real time. After intravitreal administration of the ME-TRN probe, we induced ROS production in rat retina using an established model of complete, acute retinal ischaemia followed by reperfusion. After restoration of blood flow, retinas were imaged using a Micron III rodent fundus fluorescence imaging system, to quantify the redox-response of the probe. Fluorescent intensity declined during the first 60 min of reperfusion. The ROS-induced change in probe fluorescence was ameliorated with the retinal antioxidant, lutein. Fluorescence intensity in non-Ischemia eyes did not change significantly. This new probe and imaging technology provide a reversible and real-time response to oxidative changes and may allow the in vivo testing of antioxidant therapies of potential benefit to a range of diseases linked to oxidative stress