Catherine E. Seta

Category size effects in recall: The roles of relational and individual item information.

Memory for events varies as a function of the number of events in a given class, but previous research from organization theory did not succeed in establishing a consistent function relating memory and category size. We suggest that prior research can be systematized within a framework of relational and individual item processing. Relational processing refers to the encoding of similarities among events, and individual item, processing refers to encoding of distinctive information for each event. Assuming the importance of both types of information for precise recall and that the type of information encoded will depend on category size and the subjects attention to relational or distinctive features, predictions are derived concerning the interaction of orienting activity and category size. The predicted interaction was obtained in two experiments that demonstrated that small categories are better recalled following relational processing, and large categories are; better recalled following individual item processing. Additional dependent measures (clustering, category recall, items per category recall, and cued recall) provided highly consistent converging evidence for the proposed theoretical analysis. The general conclusion is that theories of memory must explain the paradoxical fact of the simultaneous importance of both similarity and difference.

The Impact of Comparison Processes on Coactors' Frustration and Willingness to Expend Effort

Subjects worked on an identical simple motor task that was described as being either rhigh or low in value. They worked alone or with a coactor whose performance rate was slightly superior or very superior to their own. When they performed with a very superior coactor on a high-value task, subjects were more frustrated and produced an inferior level of performance relative to those working with the same coactor on a low-value task. When subjects performed alone, however, they were not more frustrated while working on a high-than low-value task. Nevertheless, their performance scores reflected differences in motivation-subjects working on a high-value task tended to perform better than those working on a low-value task. These data are discussed within a social comparison framework and a resource investment analysis of goal value. The implications of this analysis for self-evaluation maintenance and modeling are discussed.

Observers and participants in an intergroup setting.

High- and low-self-esteem participant and observer (control) Ss received evaluative feedback about the performance of in-groups and out-groups. Self-evaluations and evaluations of the groups were assessed. Results suggest that participant group members (vs. observers) enhance evaluations of both groups under conditions of failure feedback. Intergroup bias was obtained over and above these effects for participant high-self-esteem Ss. However, participant low-self-esteem Ss favored failing out-groups. Results suggest that individuals with different levels of self-esteem may differ in terms of their inferred status within groups

The Impact of Personal Equity Processes on Performance in a Group Setting

The aim of this chapter is to use the knowledge gained from research on value to further our understanding of performance in a group setting. In doing so, we hope to suggest processes that underlie both the assignment of value and performance in groups. Toward this goal, we will first describe a theory which was proposed to account for the assignment of value (i.e., personal equity theory, Seta & Seta, 1982), and then we will try to apply this knowledge to performance in a group situation. We will discuss how this process may affect individuals’ willingness to engage in performance and will highlight factors which may influence individuals’ inability to perform well even though they may be willing to do so.

Attributional Biases in the Service of Stereotype Maintenance: A Schema-Maintenance Through Compensation Analysis

Six experiments were conducted to test assumptions of a schema-maintenance through compensation analysis. The results of these experiments indicated that perceivers can compensate for the inconsistent action of one individual (the target) by altering their attribution concerning the action of a fellow group member. When the target performed an inconsistent behavior, perceivers compensated by making especially extreme stereotypically consistent attributions concerning a fellow group member’s subsequent action. In addition, in Experiment 5, perceivers compensated via a fellow group member for a target’s inconsistent action while maintaining their general view of group members. Experiments also provided tests of the capability and motivation assumptions of the schema-maintenance through compensation analyses.

Gender Stereotypes: Children's Perceptions of Future Compensatory Behavior Following Violations of Gender Roles.

Fifth-grade students were exposed to descriptions of men and women performing behaviors that were mildly inconsistent or highly inconsistent with traditional gender stereotypes. They then rated the likelihood that the person who performed the action (the deviant target) and another person (a fellow group member) would subsequently perform a gender-consistent behavior. The results indicated that children exposed to inconsistent information about a male target expected another man to perform a highly gender-consistent behavior. This expectation was not observed with respect to female targets. These findings were predicted from Seta and Setas schema-maintenance through compensation analysis (e.g., Seta & Seta, 1993) and support this models assumption that stereotype violations can result in the generation of compensatory expectancies that may help maintain extant stereotypic beliefs. In addition, the results suggest that these processes are intact rather early in gender-role development.

Dysfunctional counterfactual thinking: When simulating alternatives to reality impedes experiential learning

Abstract Using a multiple-trial stock market decision paradigm, the possibility that counterfactual thinking can be dysfunctional for learning and performance by distorting the processing of outcome information was examined. Correlational (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) evidence suggested that counterfactuals are associated with a decrease in experiential learning. When counterfactuals were made salient, participants displayed significantly poorer performance compared to their counterparts for whom counterfactuals were relatively less salient. A counterfactual salience × need for cognition (NFC) interaction qualified these findings. High NFC participants outperformed their counterparts when counterfactuals were not salient. Evidence for a memory-based mechanism was also supported.

Prefactual Potency The Perceived Likelihood of Alternatives to Anticipated Realities

Prefactual thoughts typically take the form of implied or explicit if–then statements that represent mental simulations of alternatives to what is expected to occur in the future. The authors propose that the multiplicative combination of “if likelihood” (the degree to which the antecedent condition of the prefactual is perceived to be likely) and “then likelihood” (the perceived conditional likelihood of the outcome of the prefactual, given the antecedent condition) determine the influence of prefactuals. This construct, termed prefactual potency, is a reliable predictor of the degree of influence of prefactual thinking on judgments of anticipated negative affect. Through three experiments, the authors demonstrate the predictive power of this construct and show that it plays a causal role in determining the strength of the effects of prefactual thought. Implications of prefactual potency as a central factor of prefactual influence are discussed.

Strategies for Reducing the Stress of Negative Life Experiences: An Averaging/Summation Analysis

Experiments 1 through 4 investigated how different orientations to stimulus events influenced whether the addition of a mildly negative stressor to a highly negative one did or did not decrease stress. In Experiment 1, reductions in stress levels were obtained when perceivers concentrated on the negative implications of each stressor but not when they concentrated on the implications associated with the entire situation. In Experiments 2 and 3, reductions in stress were obtained when participants were asked to think about a mildly negative event in addition to a highly negative one, but this effect was reduced when participants overtly appraised each stressor before reporting their overall stress reaction. In Experiment 4, stress reductions were obtained when participants were induced to think about either two or four of the negative implications associated with a single stressor but not when they thought about six negative implications.

Identifying the sources of social actions: The role of source cues in person memory.

Two studies are reported that explore peoples ability to remember consistent and inconsistent actions when recall is cued with the sources of the social actions (i.e., group affiliation and person cues). Accurate and inaccurate source identification measures were taken