A new group problem-solving structure entitled the Stepladder technique is introduced. The stepladder technique is intended to allay the problems associated with group decision making by structuring the entry of group members into a core group and by ensuring that each member contributes to the decision-making process. Four-person groups, randomly assigned to either the Stepladder group condition (15 groups) or the conventional group condition (15 groups), performed Johnson and Johnson's (1987) winter survival exercise. Stepladder groups produced significantly (p < .05) higher quality decisions than did conventional groups (in which all members entered and worked on the problem at the same time). Furthermore, Stepladder groups' decisions surpassed the quality of their best individual members' decisions 56% of the time. In contrast, conventional groups' decisions surpassed the quality of their best members' decisions only 13% of the time.
Studied the perceived locus of control, expected academic performance, and relative importance of 5 causal factors (ability, effort, luck, task difficulty, and quality of instruction) in the academic performance of a stimulus student. Both the race (Black vs White) and social class (middle vs lower) of the stimulus student were varied. Ss were enrolled in elementary education (n = 64) or introductory psychology (n = 64). Results indicate that middle-class Ss were expected to receive higher grades than lower-class Ss (p < .001), and that White middle-class Ss were held more internally responsible for failure than any other student type (p < .01). Elementary education Ss estimated higher grades than did introductory psychology Ss (p < .001), and the former saw quality of instruction as a more important factor in academic performance (p < .005). Also, elementary education Ss viewed task difficulty as less important in the performance of Black middle-class Ss (p < .01), whereas introductory psychology Ss regarded task difficulty (p < .01) and quality of instruction (p < .01) as more important for White lower-class Ss than any other student group. Results are discussed by constructing 4 student profiles that highlight the salience of environmental factors in the impressions of lower-class students. Implications of the findings for stereotyping research in general are also discussed.
Actors and observers were exposed to behavioral manipulations of distinctiveness and consensus information. Both actors' and observers' physiological reactions to musical presentations were manipulated using a modification of the false feedback technique in a 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 (Sex X Distinctiveness X Consensus X Role) factorial design. As predicted, high distinctiveness produced stronger environmental and weaker personal attributions than did low distinctiveness. Low consensus produced stronger personal and weaker environmental attributions than did high consensus. Actor^observer differences were evidenced in an actor preference for basing causal ascriptions on distinctiveness and observer preferences for basing attributions on consensus information. These data indicated that actor-observer attributional tendencies may derive, in part, from information preference as well as information availability differences. The data also suggested that causal ambiguity theoretically obtained by conflicting distinctiveness and consensus information may not be phenomenologically represented. Discrepancies between the present and previous findings were discussed in terms of the distinction between passive and coacting observers. Heider (1958) initially suggested that person perception involves a process of causal attribution. Simply, any behavior can be seen as resulting from personal causes (within the actor) or from environmental causes (external to the actor). The central task of the perceiver is to determine the relative contribution of these two causal classes in producing an observed behavior. Two recent attribution theories of particular interest draw heavily on Heider's work and focus on those factors that influence attribution to person or environment. Kelley (1967) specified three types of information that determine causal attributions: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus. Stable attribution to either a personal or environmental cause requires that the ob-This article is based on a dissertation submitted by the first author to the Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree. This research was supported in part by University of Connecticut Research Foundation Grant 0215-35-179 to the second author. The authors are indebted to D. Beardslee, K. Hakmiller, and V. O'Leary for their comments.Requests for reprints should be sent to Ranald D.
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