Lawrence A. Messe

Toward a more Complex Understanding of Acculturation and Adjustment Cultural Involvements and Psychosocial Functioning in Vietnamese Youth

This study examined possible links between acculturation and adjustment in 182 Vietnamese youths living in a primarily Anglo-American community. Extending past work, the present research employed a more complex perspective on both acculturation—cast as separate levels of involvement in the native and host cultures—and adjustment—measured across personal (distress, depression, self-esteem), interpersonal (family relationships), and achievement (school grade point average) domains. Results indicated that, as expected, involvement in the U.S. culture predicted positive functioning across all three adjustment domains, and involvement in the Vietnamese culture predicted positive family relationships. Contrary to hypotheses, involvement in the Vietnamese culture related negatively to personal adjustment (i.e., distress). These findings are discussed in terms of the apparent complexities of the acculturation-adjustment link, particularly with regard to the utility of viewing acculturation from a two-dimensional framework and the need to consider the type of adjustment indices examined and the social contexts in which ethnic groups reside.

Recall of childhood neglect and physical abuse as differential predictors of current psychological functioning

The differential effects of neglect and physical abuse on psychological functioning are not well understood. The present study examined the relationship between reported neglect and physical abuse and symptomatology and attachment styles in a sample of 236 male and 276 female undergraduates. In contrast to physical abuse, which must involve some parental involvement in a childs life, neglect is characterized by a lack of parent-child interaction. As such, it was hypothesized that childhood neglect would be more predictive of symptomatology and dysfunctional attachment styles than would physical abuse. Results confirmed the expected relationship between neglect and more severe psychological problems and anxious attachment styles. Implications of these results point to the need to focus both empirically and theoretically on neglect and physical abuse as potentially separate moderators of psychosocial functioning.

Psychological Mechanisms Underlying the Köhler Motivation Gain

Sometimes group work conditions lead to motivation gains rather than to social loafing. Two theoretical explanations for the Köhler motivation gain effect are identified, one stressing social comparison and a second stressing the indispensability of ones effort to the group. The results of three new experiments are reported. Experiment 1 suggested that both explanations are valid and contribute to the Köhler effect. Prior studies suggested that there might be gender differences in the relative importance of these two explanatory processes. Experiment 2 confirmed this suggestion. In Experiment 3, the gender difference was eliminated by priming women with a goal (viz., competition) presumed to be chronically more important to men. It is argued that the relative importance of these two motivational processes will depend on the immediate and chronic importance attached to more personal (viz., to achieve a favorable social comparison) versus collective (viz., to contribute to ones group) goals.

Toward understanding sex differences in pay allocation: Agency, communion, and reward distribution behavior.

This research examined the extent to which the personality characteristics of agency and communion are sex linked, and the extent to which differences in these orientations can account for sex differences in reward distribution behavior. In two studies, the agency and communion level of large samples of male and female undergraduates were assessed. As expected, males were more agentic and females were more communal. Moreover, when subjects who scored high or low on agency and high or low on communion were asked to allocate rewards between themselves and a co-worker, these personality differences were related to their allocation decisions. These results were used as the basis for discussing the role that sex-linked personality differences might play in distributive justice judgments.

Identifiability, Performance Feedback and the Kohler Effect

Research, starting with Köhler (1926), has demonstrated a type of group motivation gain, wherein the less capable member of a dyad working conjunctively at a persistence task works harder than comparable individuals. To explore possible boundary conditions of this effect, the current experiment systematically varied the amount and timing of performance feedback group members received. Results showed: (a) continuous feedback of both members’ performance was not necessary for producing the effect; (b) the effect was attenuated, but not eliminated by delaying and restricting feedback, such that group members only learned which of them was the less capable worker (but not how long s/he persisted) sometime after the task trial was completed; and (c) the motivation gain was eliminated in the absence of any performance feedback (i.e. when neither worker could tell who quit first nor how long either had persisted). Some implications of these results for currently viable explanations of the Köhler effect are discussed. It is concluded that the effect is likely to result from several distinct processes.

Sex differences in bystander reactions to physical assault

Abstract In a “psychodrama” situation, a “spontaneous” fight occurred between two male and/or female accomplices. As predicted, significantly more male Ss attempted to interfere with the fight than did female Ss. Contrary to prediction, however, none of six male Ss interferred when a male was “injuring” a female. A number of possible explanations for this latter finding were presented, among them the speculation that males obtained vicarious sexual and/or hostile gratification from seeing a male “hurt” a female.

Jurors' use of naked statistical evidence: Exploring bases and implications of the Wells Effect

G. L. Wells (1992) demonstrated that jurors react differently to probabilistic evidence indicating that there is an 80% chance the defendant committed an act than they do to 80% reliable evidence indicating the defendant committed an act. Even though jurors report that the probability of guilt is approximately 80% for both forms, they are much more likely to find against the defendant in the latter than in the former case, a phenomenon the authors term the Wells effect. Three experiments explore a variety of possible explanations for the Wells effect. Results provided the most consistent support for an ease-of-simulation mechanism, which holds that jurors are more reluctant to convict when they can easily simulate a scenario in which the defendant is not guilty.

The Influence of Psychological Needs on Helping Behavior

Summary The present study investigated the influence of safety and esteem needs on helping behavior. From an original pool of approximately 300 male students 60 Ss, who expressed a high need for safety (relative to esteem), a high need for esteem, or an equal and moderate need for both safety and esteem on a sentence completion test, were selected and placed in an experimental situation in which other bystanders refrained from coming to the aid of a female who accidentally dropped the materials she was carrying. As expected, the results indicated that help was related to level of esteem. Thus, the research demonstrated the influence of personality on helping behavior, which in the past has been examined primarily in terms of situational factors.

Evaluation Concerns and the Köhler Effect The Impact of Physical Presence on Motivation Gains

This study examined whether increasing evaluation concerns would increase the magnitude of the Köhler effect (i.e., one type of motivation gain that has been documented to occur in small groups). Evaluation concerns were manipulated by having participants work in the physical presence or virtual presence of their coworker. As anticipated, motivation gains were significantly greater for participants who worked in the physical presence of their coworker. These results suggest that evaluation concerns can potentially increase the magnitude of the Köhler effect. Furthermore, the findings have implications for practitioners and researchers interested in the differential impact that face-to-face and virtual mediums have on motivation in groups or teams.

An examination of the stability and persistence of the Köhler motivation gain effect

The current paper reports the findings of an experiment designed to investigate the persistence of motivation gains in small groups. The current study had participants work on a conjunctive task, where they believed that their performance was highly instrumental for the group to perform well. Building on prior work on the Kohler effect, although motivation gains became smaller over time, these gains in effort still remained statistically significant across several work trials. Moreover, the attenuation of the Kohler effect was found to be moderated by the stability of group membership. More specifically, as compared with people who worked with the same partner (i.e., closed groups), gains in effort were found to be more robust for participants who worked with several different partners (i.e., open groups). The current findings help fill an important gap in the motivation gains literature by demonstrating that motivation gains in groups can persist across multiple work trials.