Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social evaluations'

Bien que la littérature comptable fasse largement référence aux construits d'évaluation sociale dans leur ensemble, elle est restée principalement axée sur l'examen de la production (e.g. Andon et al., 2014 ; Çakmaklı et al., 2020 ; Courtois & Gendron, 2020 ; Kirkham & Loft, 1993 ; Michelon et al., 2019 ; O'Dwyer et al., 2011 ; Power, 2003b ; Robson et al., 2007) et le maintien (e.g. Carnegie & O'Connell, 2012 ; Dermarkar & Hazgui, 2022 ; Durocher et al., 2016 ; Harrington, 2019 ; Mitchell et al., 1994 ; Robson et al., 1994 ; Whittle et al., 2014a) de la légitimité. Bien qu'important, se concentrer sur la légitimité de la profession ne permet que partiellement de comprendre comment la comptabilité peut être définie et perçue comme une profession qui jouit des privilèges dont elle bénéficie par rapport à d'autres professions. De plus, là où les études comptables font allusion à d'autres évaluations sociales, telles que la réputation et le statut, elles sont souvent traitées comme des caractéristiques auxiliaires de la légitimité, mentionnées en passant, et restent souvent indéfinies ou sous-développées. De même, et peut-être parce que les professions sont le plus souvent associées à des évaluations sociales positives (c'est-à-dire la légitimité, le statut et la réputation), la stigmatisation a tendance à être négligée dans la littérature comptable. Cette thèse cherche à aborder ces questions en synthétisant d'abord la littérature par le biais d'une revue systématique ainsi qu'en développant davantage les connaissances relatives aux constructions de la stigmatisation et du statut à travers deux essais empiriques. Par exemple, et en ce qui concerne la stigmatisation, notre compréhension de la façon dont les professionnels comptables font face à la stigmatisation semble confinée aux individus stigmatisés sur le lieu de travail (Stenger & Roulet, 2018) et aux réponses institutionnelles aux scandales d'entreprise (Neu & Wright, 1992). Cette thèse examine un contexte dans lequel les professionnels comptables fournissent des services aux entreprises souffrant de stigmatisation fondamentale (Hudson, 2008 ; Hudson et Okhuysen, 2009), mettant ainsi en lumière la façon dont la profession fait face aux risques de stigmatisation de manière plus persistante. De même, alors qu'il existe un nombre croissant de travaux qui illustrent comment le statut d'élite est atteint et perpétué parmi les membres de la profession, en particulier dans les grands cabinets de services professionnels, l'attention a principalement été portée sur les processus de socialisation qui se déroulent au sein de ces organisations, après que les membres ont déjà été intronisé (p. ex. Anderson-Gough et al., 2000a; Carter et Spence, 2014a). Cette thèse se concentre plutôt sur les processus de socialisation qui se déroulent plus tôt dans la vie (c'est-à-dire à la maison et à l'école) afin d'expliquer plus en détail les moyens par lesquels les individus se frayent un chemin dans les organisations professionnelles d'élite et, de fait, s'intègrent dans les cercles sociaux de haut niveau. Dans l'ensemble, cette thèse apporte des contributions théoriques en traitant la légitimité, le statut, la réputation et la stigmatisation comme des constructions autonomes et en fournissant à l'érudition une base pour mieux comprendre comment la comptabilité parvient à maintenir le professionnalisme aux yeux d'un public social critique. En considérant le professionnalisme, c'est-à-dire les caractéristiques qui distinguent une profession des autres professions, à travers ces construits d'évaluation sociale, cette thèse approfondit notre compréhension de la capacité de la profession comptable à "convaincre" de son expertise, à justifier de son autonomie, de son autorité sur les autres, et de son altruisme présumé (Anteby et al., 2016)
Though the accounting literature makes ample reference to social evaluation constructs overall, it has remained principally focused on examining the production (e.g. Andon et al., 2014; Çakmaklı et al., 2020; Courtois & Gendron, 2020; Kirkham & Loft, 1993; Michelon et al., 2019; O'Dwyer et al., 2011; Power, 2003b; Robson et al., 2007) and maintenance (e.g. Carnegie & O'Connell, 2012; Dermarkar & Hazgui, 2022; Durocher et al., 2016; Harrington, 2019; Mitchell et al., 1994; Robson et al., 1994; Whittle et al., 2014a) of legitimacy. While important, focusing on the profession's legitimacy only partially fulfills a comprehensive understanding of how accountancy can be defined and perceived as a profession that enjoys the privileges that it does relative to other occupations. Further, where accountancy studies do allude to other social evaluations, such as reputation and status, they are often treated as ancillary features of legitimacy, mentioned in passing, and often remain undefined or under-developed. Similarly, and perhaps because professions are most often associated with positive social evaluations (i.e. legitimacy, status, and reputation), stigma has tended to be neglected in the accountancy literature. This dissertation seeks to address these issues by first synthesizing the literature through a systematic review as well as by further developing knowledge relating to the constructs of stigma and status through two empirical essays. For instance, and with regards to stigma, our understanding of how professional accountants contend with stigma seems confined to stigmatized individuals in the workplace (Stenger & Roulet, 2018) and institutional responses to corporate scandals (Neu & Wright, 1992). This dissertation examines a context in which accounting professionals provide services to firms suffering from core-stigma (Hudson, 2008; Hudson & Okhuysen, 2009), thus shedding light on how the profession contends with the risks of stigma on a more persistent basis. Similarly, while there is a growing body of work that illustrates how elite status is attained and perpetuated among members of the profession, particularly in large professional services firms, attention has primarily been paid to socialization processes that unfold within these organizations, after members have already been inducted (e.g. Anderson-Gough et al., 2000a; Carter & Spence, 2014a). This dissertation focuses instead on the socialization processes that unfold earlier in life (i.e. in the home and in schooling) in order to further explicate the means by which individuals make their way into elite professional organizations and, indeed, integrate into high status social circles. Overall, this dissertation makes theoretical contributions by treating legitimacy, status, reputation and stigma as stand-alone constructs and providing scholarship a basis for better understanding how accountancy manages to uphold professionalism in the eyes of critical social audiences. By viewing professionalism, that is features that distinguish professions from other occupations, through these social evaluation constructs, this dissertation furthers our understanding of how accountancy is able “to convince audiences” of its expertise, its justification for autonomy, its authority over others, and its presumed altruism (Anteby et al., 2016)

Previous research has suggested that infants exhibit a preference for familiar over unfamiliar social groups (e.g., preferring individuals from their own language group over individuals from a foreign language group). However, it is not clear whether such intergroup preferences are driven by positivity toward the familiar group and/or negativity toward the unfamiliar group. Using a novel habituation paradigm modeled conceptually after the Implicit Association Test, experiments 1-3 demonstrated that infants around 1-year of age positively evaluate the familiar language group, but do not negatively evaluate an unfamiliar language group. Experiments 4-5 addressed alternative interpretations of this core finding. Experiment 6 conceptually replicated Experiments 1-3, demonstrating that infants also expect members of the familiar language group (but not members of an unfamiliar group) to engage in prosocial behaviours. Together these data suggest that children’s early social group behaviours (e.g., toy choice, preferential looking) may be shaped by positive evaluations of familiar group(s), rather than negative evaluations of unfamiliar groups.
Arts, Faculty of
Psychology, Department of
Graduate

A great deal of evaluations are commissioned and conducted every year in social work, but research reports a lack of use of the evaluation results. This may depend on how the evaluations are conducted, but it may also depend on how social workers use evaluation results. The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyse evaluation practice in social work from an empirical, normative, and constructive perspective. The objectives are partly to increase the understanding of how we can produce relevant and useful knowledge for social work using evaluation results and partly, to give concrete suggestions on improvements on how to conduct evaluations. The empirical data has been organised as four cases, which are evaluations of temporary programmes in social work. The source materials are documents and interviews. The results show that findings from evaluations of temporary programmes are sparingly used in social work. Evaluations seem to have unclear intentions with less relevance for learning and improvement. In contrast, the evaluators themselves are using the data for new purposes. These empirical findings are elaborated further by using the knowledge form phronesis, which can be translated into practical wisdom. The overall conclusion is that social work is in need of knowledge that social workers find relevant and useful in practice. In order to meet these needs, researchers and evaluators must broaden their knowledge view and begin to include practical knowledge instead of solely relying on scientific knowledge when conducting evaluations. Finally, a new evaluation model is suggested. It is called phronesis-based evaluation and is argued to have great potential to address and include professionals’ praxis-based knowledge. It advocates a view that takes social work’s dynamic context into serious consideration and acknowledges values and power as important components of the evaluation process.

The role of grievances in drawing public concern and activist support is a surprisingly understudied topic in modern social movement literature. This research is the first to parse grievances into core components to understand whether some grievances are more successful than others in evoking mobilizing, affective and cognitive reactions that can ultimately benefit social movements. I find that not all grievances are created equal when it comes to concern, support and interest in activism, and that the content of grievances can be studied in systematic ways to identify the types of grievances likely to be more powerful injustice events.

This dissertation bridges social psychology and social movements by applying concepts from Affect Control Theory (such as evaluation ratings and deflection) to grievance evaluations. To understand the differential effects of grievances, I break grievances into three basic building blocks—a Perpetrator (Actor), the act itself (Behavior), and the victim (Object). I then use measures of cultural perceptions of the goodness or badness of behaviors and identities to investigate how people react to different configurations of good or bad perpetrators, behavior and victims in injustice events. I posit that two mechanisms—concern about the wellbeing of others and desire for consistency in meanings about the world—drive reactions to the goodness or badness of elements in a grievance. I test hypotheses using an experimental design, specifically a vignette study.

I find strong support, across outcomes, that bad behavior, particularly when directed toward good victims, constitutes a form of grievance that promotes strong mobilizing, affective and cognitive reactions. I also find that the perpetrator matters for many outcomes, but that the effect of perpetrator is weaker than the effect of behavior and its target, tends to be insignificant for measures specific to behavioral activism, and largely disappears in cases of bad behavior toward good victims. In general, bad perpetrators produce higher levels of concern and emotion than do good perpetrators. The results also show that while concerns about the wellbeing of others dominate grievance evaluations, expectations about how the world should be (and deflection from those expectations) are useful for understanding reactions to perpetrators and to injustice events involving good behavior.

The conclusions from this dissertation contribute to a number of social movement arenas, including participation, movement outcomes, framing and emotions. Further, it has the real world implications of suggesting how well particular social issues might fare in attracting public concern and activist attention. This provides insights into both the types of movements more likely to be successful as well as the types of social problems less likely to draw public attention, increasing the chances that such problems persist.

Patient chronic illness and disability impacts the health of family members and household members who experience psychological distress and care burden. These impacts, known as ‘health spillovers’, are typically ignored in economic evaluations, despite being relevant to ensuring maximum health benefits from scarce resources. This thesis explores methods for including health spillovers in economic evaluation. Three empirical studies were carried out. The first study generated evidence supporting the validity of the EQ-5D-5L and SF-6D for measuring health spillovers. The second study examined the health spillover from a behavioural intervention on related household members’ outcomes. Further trials are warranted which measure household member outcomes for patient health interventions. The third study demonstrated and applied a methodology which could be used to include health spillovers in a cost-utility analysis. The general conclusion is that family member costs/outcomes should be systematically accounted for in extra-welfarist economic evaluations, and though there remains uncertainty about the best way to achieve this, the findings from this thesis show that this is possible and advance the methods forward.

La plupart des interactions sociales humaines font intervenir des objets, et ceci dès le plus jeune âge. Dans ces interactions, les enfants semblent prendre en compte qui est le propriétaire de l’objet. La notion de propriété ne concerne donc pas seulement une personne et un objet, mais constitue une relation entre différentes personnes vis-à-vis d’un objet. Cette relation est régie par un ensemble de règles ou droits de propriété. Nos travaux portent sur la compréhension qu’ont les enfants de la notion de propriété. A quel âge les enfants acquièrent-ils la compréhension des droits de propriété ? Avant de manier la notion de propriété de manière explicite, les enfants en ont-ils une compréhension plus implicite ? Plus particulièrement, nous avons exploré la compréhension et l’évaluation de transferts de propriété illégitimes et légitimes chez des enfants de 5 mois à 5 ans. Nous avons étudié deux types de transgressions de propriété : l’acquisition illégitime d’un objet (sans intention de transfert de la part du propriétaire) et l’absence de restitution d’un objet à son propriétaire. L’ensemble de nos études ont consisté à présenter aux enfants des transferts de propriété entre deux personnages de manière non verbale, dans des dessins animés ou des films mettant en scène des marionnettes, puis à mesurer la compréhension et l’évaluation de ces transferts par les enfants. Les études du Chapitre 2 (Etudes 1 et 2) se sont intéressées à l’évaluation que font les enfants de l’acquisition d’un objet. Les deux expériences de l’Etude 1 ont exploré la compréhension et l’évaluation de transferts de propriété illégitimes et légitimes par des enfants de 3 ans et 5 ans, ainsi que des adultes (population contrôle). Cette étude est la première à examiner simultanément la compréhension explicite et implicite qu’ont les enfants de la notion de propriété. En effet, les questions posées concernent respectivement les droits de propriété, ainsi que l’évaluation sociale et morale des agents impliqués. Dans l’Etude 1a, les participants ont vu un personnage acquérir un objet soit de manière illégitime (condition vol), soit de manière légitime (condition réception par don). Dans l’Etude 1b, c’est une action illégitime (condition vol) qui était comparée à une action légitime (condition don). Les enfants de 5 ans (comme les adultes) ont montré une compréhension de la notion de propriété à la fois implicite par leur évaluation sociale/morale, en préférant l’agent de la condition légitime (receveur du don ou donneur) par rapport à l’agent de la condition illégitime (voleur), et explicite par leur capacité à attribuer des droits de propriété différents selon la légitimité du transfert. Les enfants de 3 ans n’ont pas distingué les conditions illégitime et légitime, ni dans leur évaluation, ni dans leur attribution de droits de propriété. Ces résultats suggèrent que les enfants acquièrent simultanément les compréhensions implicite et explicite de la propriété. Dans l’Etude 1, aucune réaction émotionnelle n’était présente. Nous avons examiné dans l’Etude 2 le rôle des émotions du premier possesseur dans l’évaluation que font les enfants de 3 ans de l’acquisition d’un objet. En présence d’indices émotionnels (les mêmes dans la condition légitime et illégitime : le premier possesseur étant triste après le transfert dans les deux cas), les enfants de 3 ans sont parvenu à distinguer les deux conditions dans leur évaluation sociale/morale. Cette distinction n’a pu être basée uniquement sur la présence de l’émotion négative étant donné que l’émotion présentée était la même dans les deux conditions. Nous suggérons que les enfants de 3 ans ont détecté la transgression morale dans le cas du vol, et se sont basés sur l’émotion négative pour la confirmer. Les études du Chapitre 3 (Etudes 3 à 5) se sont intéressées à l’évaluation que font les enfants de la restitution d’un objet à son propriétaire…
Since a very young age, the majority of human social interactions involve objects. In these interactions, children seem to take into account who owns what. The notion of ownership thus does not involve only a person and an object, but is a relationship between several persons with respect to an object. This relationship is organized by a set of rules or property rights. Our work deals with children’s understanding of the notion of ownership. At what age do children acquire the understanding of property rights? Before an explicit mastery of the notion of ownership, do children have a more implicit understanding of it? More precisely, we explored the understanding and evaluation of illegitimate and legitimate transfers of property in children from 5 months to 5 years of age. We studied two types of ownership transgressions: illegitimate acquisition of an object (without owner’s intention to transfer it), and absence of restitution of an object to its owner. In all our studies, we presented to children property transfers between two characters using non-verbal animated cartoons or movies with puppets as actors, and then measured children’s understanding and evaluation of those transfers. The studies in Chapter 2 (Studies 1 and 2) assessed children’s evaluation of different modes of acquisition of an object. The two experiments of Study 1 explored 3- and 5-year-olds’s understanding and evaluation of illegitimate and legitimate property transfers. Adults were also tested as a control population. This study is the first one to investigate simultaneously children’s explicit and implicit understanding of the notion of ownership, by asking questions about property rights, as well as social and moral evaluations of the characters implicated in the transfers, respectively. In Study 1a, participants saw a character acquiring an object either in an illegitimate way (theft condition) or in a legitimate one (gift-reception condition). In Study 1b, an illegitimate action (theft) was compared to a legitimate action (giving). 5-year-old children (as adults) showed both an implicit understanding of ownership through their social/moral evaluation (preferring the legitimate agent (gift recipient or giver) compared to the illegitimate agent (thief)), and an explicit understanding of ownership through their ability to attribute different property rights considering the legitimacy of the transfer. 3-year-old children did not make any distinction between the illegitimate and legitimate conditions in their evaluation, neither in their attribution of property rights. These results suggest that children acquire implicit and explicit understanding of ownership at the same time. In Study 1, no emotional reaction was present. We examined in Study 2 the role of the first possessor’s emotions in 3-year-olds’ evaluation of object acquisition. The same cue was present in the legitimate and illegitimate conditions: the first possessor being sad after both transfers. In the presence of this emotional cue, 3-year-olds managed to distinguish between the two conditions in their social/moral evaluation. This distinction could not have been based solely on the presence of a negative emotion, as the emotion displayed was the same in both conditions. We suggest that 3-year-old children detected the moral transgression in the theft condition, and used the negative emotion to confirm it. The studies in Chapter 3 (Studies 3 to 5) examined children’s evaluations of the restitution of an object to its owner. Young children (2-3-year-old) have a bias to consider that the first possessor of an object is its “owner” and that the object cannot be definitively transferred to someone else. We thus investigated whether 3-year-old children (Studies 3 and 4) implicitly evaluate the absence of restitution as a transgression, and evaluate it negatively compared to the restitution of an object to its first possessor…

Littérature sur l'évaluation sociale a principalement analysé la dyade “audience-candidat”,laissant La recherche sur les évaluations sociales s’est principalement focalisé sur la dyade “audiencecandidat”,sans s’intéresser à la façon dont l’audience principale (par exemple un agent exerçant uncontrôle social) influence l’évaluation d’une autre audience. Cette thèse explore la question desévaluations sociales dans un contexte d’audiences multiples. Elle se focalise sur les comportementsorganisationnels condamnables – une important forme d’évaluation sociale, pourtant en partieignorée par la recherche – et pose la question suivante : “Pourquoi une audience change-t-elle sonévaluation après un comportement organisationnel condamnable?”. Les trois essais s’intéressent àune différente forme d’audience (ou d’évaluation) : les individus (plaintes), les investisseurs (prix del’action) et les médias (évaluation de la presse écrite). Deux contextes novateurs et données uniquesont été utilisés : l’auto régulation du secteur de la publicité en Grande-Bretagne, et Calciopoli, lescandale qui a affecté la Série A en Italie en 2006. Les résultats montrent qu’en cas de comportementorganisationnel condamnable, l’évaluation des agents de contrôle social influence l’évaluation d’autreaudience, mais cet effet n’est pas mécanique. Trois modérateurs sont identifiés : l’ambiguïté de lanorme, la proéminence de l’évènement, et à quel point les transgresseurs sont des acteurs locaux. Enrésumé, cette thèse montre que les normes sociales sont mieux comprises dans un cadre triadique :“candidat – agent de contrôle social – autre audience”. Les normes sociales ne sont pas exogènes,mais sont crées de manière endogène par les actions des candidats et les évaluations de deuxaudiences au moins
Literature on social evaluations has mainly analyzed the “audience-candidate” dyad,leaving underexplored the way the evaluation of a main audience (e.g. a social-control agent)influences the evaluation of another audience. This dissertation looks at social evaluations in amultiple-audience context. It focuses on organizational social misconduct - an important, yetunderstudied social evaluation - and it investigates “Why does an audience change its evaluationfollowing organizational social misconduct?”. Each of the three essays focuses on a differentaudience (evaluation): people (people’s complaints), investors (share price) and the media(newspapers’ evaluation). Two novel settings and unique databases were used: advertising selfregulationin the UK and Calciopoli, the scandal that affected the Italian Serie A in 2006. Resultsshow that in case of organizational social misconduct, the evaluation of a social control agent doesinfluence the evaluation of another audience, however this effect is not mechanical. Three primarymoderators emerge from the three essays: the ambiguity of the norm, the saliency of the event, andlocalness of the transgressors. In summary, this dissertation shows that social norms are betterunderstood in a triadic framework: “candidate – social-control agent – another audience”. Socialnorms are not set exogenously, but are endogenously created by the actions of the candidates andthe evaluations of (at least) two audiences

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs are becoming increasingly diversified and sophisticated. Despite the wide use and rapid evolution of CSR practices, existing marketing research, which examines across CSR strategies, and the many shades of CSR, is scant (Peloza and Shang 2011). The goal of this dissertation is, therefore, to understand whether various strategic orientations of CSR can potentially translate into differential consumer responses. Two inter-related studies were conducted to fulfill this research goal. Study 1 aims to provide preliminary evidence in bridging the different CSR forms (Philanthropic, Promotional, and Shared-value) with individuals' corporate brand evaluations, as well as their construed CSR motives. Study 2 seeks to uncover the consumer pathways for realizing the differential effects of the diverse CSR forms from the consumer persuasion perspective. Taken together, the findings of these two studies demonstrate that consumers reward companies embracing Shared-value CSR, as opposed to Philanthropic and Promotional CSR, in two ways: 1) enhanced image-related responses (i.e., CSR image and trustworthiness); 2) enhanced competence-related judgment (i.e., perceived corporate ability), as well as product-related expertise and innovation capacity. This research identifies the boundary conditions of the above effects by introducing the moderating role of "corporate competence", and further sheds light on consumers' psychological processes that underlie their judgment.
Les programmes de responsabilité sociétale institutionnelle (RSE) se retrouvent de plus en plus diversifiés et sophistiques. Malgré l'usage rependu et l'évolution rapide de ces pratiques, peu de recherches marketing visent à examiner les nombreuses nuances de diverses stratégies de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle (Peloza and Shang 2010). Par conséquent, le but de cette thèse est de comprendre comment les diverses orientations stratégiques de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle peuvent donner naissance à des réponses différentes de la part du consommateur. Deux études inter-reliées ont été menées pour parvenir à ce but. L'étude 1 vise à démontrer de façon préliminaire comment les différentes formes de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle (Philanthropique, Promotionnelle et Création de Valeur) sont corrélées avec des évaluations individuelles distinctes de marques institutionnelles qui ont à la base des motivations de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle différentes.L'étude 2 démontre le processus utilisé par les consommateurs pour classifier les divers effets des différentes formes de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle rencontrées. Ensembles, nos études démontrent que lorsque la forme de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle Création de Valeur est perçue comme étant supérieure à celle Philanthropique ou Promotionnelle, les consommateurs attribuent aux institutions misant sur la première forme de responsabilité sociale: 1) une meilleure image (ex : meilleure image et crédibilité de responsabilité sociale institutionnelle); 2) de meilleurs jugements de compétences (ex : meilleure habilité institutionnelle perçue) ainsi qu'une meilleure expertise des produits et une capacité supérieure d'innover. Cette recherche illustre les conditions-limites des effets démontrés ci-dessus en identifiant le rôle modérateur des « compétences institutionnelles » et, par conséquent, contribue à clarifier davantage les processus psychologiques des consommateurs en ce qui a trait aux diverses formes de responsabilité sociale institutionnelles.

One of the major tasks of the early childhood years is to learn positive and socially acceptable ways of interacting with others and much of this learning occurs within the context of the peer group. Positive peer interactions thus make a substantial contribution to children's social and emotional development and rejection from the peer group in childhood has been linked to a variety of negative outcomes including early school withdrawal, delinquency and mental health problems (Asher, Oden & Gottman, 1977; Kupersmidt, Coie & Dodge, 1990; Parker & Asher, 1987). The perceived power of peer rejection as a predictor variable for future maladjustment has led to increasing concern by researchers to identify the factors involved in the establishment and maintenance of negative peer status. In addition to such potential determinants as physical attributes, social cognition and communication patterns (Black & Hazen, 1990; Kurdek & Krile, 1982; Shaffer, 1988) behavioural characteristics appear to be strongly related to the development of peer social status. However, although initial behaviours serve to rapidly establish children's status within groups of previously unacquainted peers (Dodge, 1983), there is increasing evidence which suggests that, once status is established, behaviour change in itself may not be sufficient to improve social status (Mize & Ladd, 1990). The present study arises from the premise that children's reputation may have an influence on the ways in which their peers both perceive and respond to their behaviour. In other words, a prior reputation may serve to maintain a negative peer status even when behaviour is improved. The present study was therefore designed to examine the extent to which a preschool child's social status or reputation, once established, affects peer perception of his or her subsequent behaviour. Of additional interest were possible sex and status differences in social information-processing. Subjects were 62 children (35 boys and 27 girls) from three local Community Preschools. The children ranged in age from 4 years, 7 months to 6 years, 1 month of age. Prior to commencement of the main study socio-metric interviews were conducted consisting of a combination of limited choice positive nomination and a three point rating scale. Children were then assigned to one of five status groups: rejected, neglected, average, popular or controversial. Children unable to be classified were designated "other". In conjunction with socio-metric testing, teachers were asked to complete a twelve item Teacher Assessment of Social Behaviour Questionnaire (Cassidy & Asher, 1992). After completion of sociometric testing children took part in individual interviews in which they were presented with information regarding the liked or disliked status of a hypothetical same sex peer and reputational information in the form of social information pictures depicting the target child engaged in social interactions. From this information children made inferences about the hypothetical peer's general disposition by rating the likelihood that he or she would behave in either pro-social or antisocial ways. Children were then presented with two types of hypothetical situations, other involved and self involved. The other involved hypothetical event consisted of presentation of a picture showing the same sex target peer and another same sex child involved in a conflict situation. The self involved event consisted of a hypothetical situation involving the subject and the target child in which the intentions of the target peer were ambiguous but a negative outcome for the subject resulted. Children were asked their perceptions of the target peer's involvement in the hypothetical events along the dimensions of locus of control, intent and stability for the other involved event, and locus of control and intent for the self involved event. Presentation order of popular versus unpopular target peer and self involved versus other involved hypothetical events was counterbalanced across subjects. The results clearly demonstrated that preschool children's evaluations of the target peers varied as a function of the target child's reputation and the subject's gender. Overall, children made significant distinctions between popular and unpopular peers both when making dispositional evaluations of the target peer and situational attributions about the target child's involvement in the hypothetical events. In contrast to expectations, no status differences in social information-processing were found. Sex differences in the use of reputational information were evident both for dispositional inferences and situational attributions. Specifically, girls made greater distinctions between popular and unpopular peers than boys both when making inferences about the target child's disposition, and when making attributions of intent. Relative to boys, girls rated the popular peer as more friendly, more helpful and more liked and the unpopular peer as more likely to get angry, fight and hurt others. Girls also rated the unpopular peer as acting intentionally more often than boys and were less likely to ascribe intent to the popular peer. Sex differences were also observed for teacher ratings of aggression, disruption and sociability. Teachers rated boys more highly on the dimensions of aggression and disruption while girls were rated high on sociability. These dimensions were also significantly correlated with children's evaluations of the target peer. Specifically, boys rated as highly aggressive or disruptive were likely to make more negative evaluations of a popular peer on pro-social items whereas sociable children of both sexes made more positive evaluations of an unpopular peer's involvement in a self involved negative event. Overall, these results replicate previous research (Cirino & Beck, 1990; Dodge, 1980; Hymel, 1986; Waas & Honer, 1990), indicating that children vary their perceptions of and explanations for behaviour as a function of the liked or disliked status of the target peer. Additionally however, the present study extends previous research efforts by demonstrating that reputational bias interpretations of behaviour is present in a much younger age group than that previously studied. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for intervention programs and research into children's peer relations.

Le but principal de cette thèse est d'explorer le sentiment d'amour passionnel dans les relations romantiques. L'amour passionnel est définit comme « un état de désir intense à d'union avec un autre ». Ce construit est généralement considéré comme une expérience universelle fortement associée à l'attraction sexuelle et possédant un impact considérable sur les dimensions émotionnelles, cognitives et comportementales. Le but principal de cette thèse était d'apporter de nouveaux éléments montrant que les expériences subjectives de l'amour passionnel sont culturellement et contextuellement déterminées et qu'il existe néanmoins une certaine universalité des cognitions et comportements lorsque les personnes déclarent être amoureuses. De plus, nous avons étudié l'effet de l'amour passionnel sur les processus cognitifs. Au total, 1000 étudiants ont participé à 4 études différentes. Des sujets français et brésiliens ont répondu à l’Échelle d'Amour Passionnel (PLS) dans le but d'étudier leurs sentiments d'amour passionnel sur la base des composantes cognitive, émotionnelle et comportementale. Les représentations sociales de l'amour passionnel de ces mêmes groupes ont été explorées à partir d'analyses structurelles d'associations de mots. Les processus cognitifs de l'amour passionnel ont été testés dans une étude sur la relation entre l'amour passionnel et les expériences sensorielles et une étude sur l'effet de l'amour passionnel sur les productions créatives. Les résultats obtenus avec la PLS ont montré les mêmes propriétés psychométriques en France et au Brésil. Dans les deux cas, l'analyse factorielle a révélé une composante principale avec des consistances internes élevées. Les sujets qui ont déclaré être amoureux ont semblé aimer avec le même niveau de passion dans les deux cultures mais des différences de genre ont été retrouvées au Brésil. L'analyse des associations de mots a indiqué des différences contextuelles, culturelles et de genre. En ce qui concerne les processus cognitifs, l'amour passionnel a un effet positif sur l'attraction physique et l'expérience sensorielle mais nous n'avons pas trouvé de relation entre l'amour passionnel et la créativité (pensées divergentes et convergentes). Les résultats de ces différentes études sont présentés et discutés en s'appuyant sur les perspectives interculturelle, neuropsychologique et évolutionniste de l'amour romantique. L'amour passionnel peut être vécu de plusieurs façons mais ses manifestations sont universelles. Nous concluons que l'amour passionnel est principalement un phénomène biologique qui peut être influencé par la culture, assurant des reproductions réussies de notre espèce
The main goal of this thesis is to explore the romantic feelings of passionate love widely defined as a state of longing with another. This construct is generally considered to be a universal experience strongly associated with sexual arousal and capable of having a strong effect in emotional, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. The main goal of this project is to provide further evidence about the contention that although subjective experiences of passionate love are culturally and contextually determinate, people all over the world present the same symptoms of passionate love with the same intensity when they consider being in love. Plus, the influences of passionate love on cognitive processes were tested in other studies. A total of 1000 college students participated in 4 different studies. The Passionate Love Scale (PLS) was administrated on Brazilian and French subjects in order to explore their evaluation of passionate love through cognitive, emotional and behavioral components. The social representations of these same groups about passionate love were explored with a structural analysis of word associations. Cognitive processes were tested through one study about the relationship between passionate love and sensory experience and another one about the effect of passionate love in creative productions. The results found with the PLS indicated the same psychometric properties in France and in Brazil. In both cases, the factorial analysis indicated one stronger dimension with high internal consistencies. Subjects in love seemed to love with equal passion in both cultures but gender differences were found in Brazil. The analysis of the word association revealed contextual, cultural and gender differences. Passionate love had a positive effect in low cognitive processes (physical attraction and sensory experience) but no effect in high cognitive tasks (divergent and convergent thinking). The results of these different studies are presented and discussed in the light of cross-cultural, neuropsychological and evolutionary perspectives on romantic love. Passionate love might be experienced in a number of ways but its manifestation is universally the same. It is concluded that passionate love might be mainly a biological phenomenon with minor cultural variations directed to insure reproductive success in our species

This thesis examines factors, which influence responses on “paper and pencil” evaluations, commonly used with training programmes. A series of ten studies investigated evaluations of a wide range of courses, some taught by the researcher. It was emphasised, evaluations should take into account the educational variables of type of training, type of student and course content. Open ended evaluations were found to be influenced by a desire to react in a socially desirable manner. This interpretation was supported by student's responses on a questionnaire. The value of open ended evaluations as a probing mechanism was emphasised. Activity measure evaluations were found to relate more closely to the effort involved in the task than the to merits of a particular aspect of a course. Likert style structured rating scales were subject to a ‘halo effect'. Students also tended to answer using the favourable end of scales regardless of their real feelings. Combining two evaluation techniques was found to have a dramatic effect on response rate on open ended evaluations and thus validity. In addition response patterns produced conflicting findings between open ended and Likert style scales.. It is suggested the way people complete evaluation forms is partly a reflection of the impact of a range of influences, not formerly linked by research methods texts to evaluation form. It was stressed the educational aims of any evaluation should be established before methods of evaluation are decided.

This exploratory study examined the evaluations of a mindfulness-based social and emotional learning program, MindUP, reported by 189 fourth to seventh grade students from eight classrooms across seven public elementary schools in a large urban school district in Western Canada. Qualitative and quantitative data from a written post-program participant satisfaction survey were examined in order to investigate the following questions: (1) What were students’ evaluations of the program? Specifically, what aspects did they like and/or dislike, and why would they recommend the program to a friend or not? (2) What skills and concepts did students report learning in the MindUP program? and (3) How did students extend what they learned beyond the program? Gender and grade differences among responses were also investigated. The vast majority of students reported that they enjoyed taking part in the MindUP program (88%), that they learned something new (96%), and that the things they learned were valuable for them in school and home life (95%). Most students would recommend the MindUP program to a friend (69%). Mindfulness activities were cited most often as the part of the program students enjoyed most, especially mindful sensing activities, such as mindful eating. Gaining skills for well-being and self-regulation were also frequently mentioned in response to open-ended questions. Although girls tended to provide higher ratings to survey questions in support of MindUP than boys, in most cases the differences were not statistically significant and effect sizes were small. Significant Grade by Gender interactions were observed in two items: Grade 4 and 5 girls reported learning more than grade 4 and 5 boys, and grade 6 and 7 girls were more likely to recommend the program to a friend than grade 6 and 7 boys. No other significant differences in grade were observed. In sum, most students were in favour of including mindfulness-based SEL in schools. The participant satisfactory survey that contain closed-ended and open-ended question was shown to provide reliable and valuable insights from students. Including similar surveys in future studies may be a time- and cost- efficient method of ensuring students’ voices are heard in program evaluations.
Education, Faculty of
Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
Graduate

This study examined the effects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on service recovery in terms of customer satisfaction, repeat patronage, word of mouth, and consumer trust in casual dining restaurants. More specifically, this study proposed that CSR will have a halo effect on negative service recovery incidents and mitigate the adverse effects of the poor recovery. An experimental study consisting of a 3x2 between subjects factorial design was used. Three CSR conditions (positive, negative, and no CSR) were matched with two service recovery conditions (positive or negative). Four hundred and eighteen subjects were recruited by a reputed marketing research firm. Results of this study showed that CSR and service recovery have a significant effect on customer satisfaction, repeat patronage, word of mouth, and consumer trust in casual dining restaurants. Furthermore, the results showed that CSR enhances the positive effects of good service recovery.
ID: 031001374; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Adviser: .; Title from PDF title page (viewed May 21, 2013).; Thesis (M.S.)--University of Central Florida, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-63).
M.S.
Masters
Hospitality Services
Hospitality Management
Hospitality and Tourism Management

Emerging adulthood is a time rife with transitions, and is thus an important time period to study the various ways in which people both connect with and move away from others, or how they are socially oriented. Previous research has suggested a number of factors that contribute to social orientations, including social motivations, the self in relation to others, other-directed emotions and cognitions, and actual social behaviors. The current study examined what types of social orientations exist and how they relate to indices of relational and individual well-being in a sample of US emerging adults (N = 787). Using latent profile analysis, results suggest five types of social orientations, each showing a distinct pattern of moving toward and/or away from others and links to varying degrees of relational and individual well-being. Overall, results suggest that being overly oriented toward or away from others presents both relational and individual challenges, whereas more balanced approaches tend toward optimal outcomes. This study presents a unique and novel view of how emerging adults move toward and away from others, allowing for a more detailed discussion of social and nonsocial subtypes and the nuances of how and why they relate differentially to well-being. This is the first study to consider multiple aspects of social orientations, and as such provides one of the clearest and most detailed descriptions of social subtypes in emerging adulthood to date.

Bullying at school is associated with negative social, psychological and academic outcomes for both the victimised student and the perpetrator. As a consequence, national strategies to address bullying have been implemented in numerous countries, and education sectors and schools have increasingly directed resources to the problem. To ensure resources are allocated to programs and strategies that will prevent and successfully respond to bullying in schools, and therefore prevent harm to students, evidence of program effectiveness is required. Evaluations of anti-bullying programs in schools have had mixed results and there is a lack of robust evidence as to their impact. Several factors have been proposed and investigated as explanations for the varying effectiveness of programs, including the lack of strong study designs and rigorous methods in many program evaluations. The aim of this doctoral research was to investigate methodological challenges identified in the reviews of evaluations of school anti-bullying programs and to determine the implications of these challenges for such evaluation studies. Recommendations for future methodological research practice were also developed. Threats to the validity of findings from evaluations of anti-bullying programs, as identified in the literature reviewing these evaluations, were investigated within a theoretical framework for assessing the methodological quality of program evaluations. This research utilised existing large data sets from three studies, one national cross-sectional survey and two group-randomised controlled trials. Self-report measures of bullying victimisation and perpetration comprised the key outcomes. Various advanced statistical techniques were applied to investigate specific threats to the construct, internal and statistical validity of findings from an evaluation. Approval for research was obtained from the relevant authorities and conducted according to the appropriate ethical standards. This research details how the validity of findings from a program evaluation can be threatened as a result of the instruments used to measure bullying behaviours; response shift bias or raised awareness of bullying within the intervention group; active only parental consent procedures; the use of data analysis methods unsuited to bullying outcomes; and insufficient sample sizes. Strategies for minimising these threats, such as suitable approaches to sample size determination and the use of novel statistical techniques, are described. With careful planning and sufficient resources, evaluations of bullying programs in schools can provide valid evidence of their efficacy. Apart from the usual methodological considerations, the limitations of many evaluation studies can be addressed through the use of strong study designs; suitable methods to determine sufficient sample sizes; strategies to maximise response and consent rates when recruiting subjects; appropriate instruments to measure bullying behaviours; measures to assess and account for response shift; and appropriate data analysis methods.

This dissertation examines the relationship between two social psychological theories: Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954) and Construal Level Theory (Liberman & Trope, 1998). More specifically, this research assesses how a person's level of mental abstraction (i.e., construal level) might influence the way social comparison information from individuals or aggregates is used to form self-evaluations. Typically, comparison information from individuals (versus information about aggregates) is given disproportionate weight when forming self-evaluations; in other words, there is a "local" (i.e., individual) dominance effect in the utilization of social comparison information (e.g., Zell & Alicke, 2010). It is predicted that with greater mental abstraction (i.e., higher construal level), this tendency will be reversed, and instead comparison information from aggregates will be relied upon more when evaluating the self. In other words, abstract mindsets (versus concrete mindsets) should result in a "global" (i.e., aggregate) dominance effect in the weighting of social comparison information. Six studies examine the influence of construal level on the use of aggregate versus individual social comparison information. Two pilot studies provide initial evidence that abstract mindsets lead to a global dominance effect. The generalizability of these effects is tested by providing comparison feedback on different tasks (Study 1 and Study 4), testing the influence of different construal mindset manipulations (Study 2), as well as manipulating the psychological distance (an antecedent of construal level; e.g., Trope and Liberman, 2003) of social comparison targets (Studies 3 - 4). Additionally, the relative weighting of individual versus aggregate comparison targets is directly tested by comparing self-evaluations with only aggregate comparison information, and with both aggregate and individual comparison information (Study 2 and Study 4). Results across all studies indicate that while social comparisons with better off or worse off targets typically result in robust effects, evidence of local dominance and effects of construal manipulations are much more subtle. Theoretical implications for Social Comparison Theory and Construal Level Theory and practical implications are discussed.

This thesis is focused on re-examining the link between mastery goals and social comparisons in accordance to the original achievement goals theory (Nichols, 1989). For the first time, a statistical model and manipulation procedures captured the specific effect of an achievement goal profile featuring high mastery and low performance goal endorsements. It has been soundly demonstrated that students who adopt a ‘pure’ mastery approach goal profile disregard favourable comparisons, but remain sensitive to unfavourable ones.

Forty percent of employed parents report that they experience work-family conflict (Galinsky, Bond, & Friedman, 1993). Work-family conflict (WFC) exists when role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible. WFC is associated with decreases in family, job, and life satisfaction and physical health; intention to quit one's job; and increases in workplace absenteeism. Women may be more impacted by WFC than men, as women report completing 65-80% of the child care (Sayer, 2001) and spend 80 hours per week fulfilling work and home responsibilities (Cowan, 1983). Research suggests that WFC can be reduced with social support, such as co-workers providing assistance when family interferes with work (Carlson & Perrewe, 1999). It is unclear whether parents 'get a break' or are penalized by co-workers. The purpose of the present study was to examine co-workers' reactions to individuals who experience WFC. Based on sex role theory and attribution theory, it was predicted that women, people who experience family interference with work, and those who have more control over the work interference would be helped less and evaluated more poorly on a team task than men, people who experience non-family related work interference, and those who have less control over the work interference. A laboratory experiment was conducted in which participants signed up for a team-based study. The teammate was a confederate who was late for the study. Teammate control over the tardiness (unexpected physician's visit versus forgotten physician's appointment), type of work conflict (self- versus family-related), and gender of the teammate were manipulated. After learning about the reasons for the tardiness of their teammate, the 218 participants (63% female; 59% Caucasian) decided whether to help the late teammate by completing a word sort task for them or letting the late teammate make up the work after the experiment. When the teammate arrived, the participants completed a team task and then evaluated the task performance of their teammate. None of the hypotheses were confirmed in this study. However, exploratory analyses showed that people who had more control over the tardiness were rated lower than people who had less control over the tardiness. Contrary to expectations, exploratory analyses also showed that men rated women who were late to the study for a family-related reason higher than women who were late due to a self-related reason. These findings suggest that male co-workers may give women a break when they experience family interference with work. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Sciences
Psychology PhD

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 112 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-90). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

This thesis addresses the issue of weighted cost-benefit analysis (WCBA). WCBA is a welfare evaluation model where income distribution effects are valued by distributional weighting. The method was developed already in the 1970s. The interest in and applications of this method have increased in the past decade, e.g. when evaluating of global environmental problems. There are, however, still unsolved problems regarding the application of this method. One such issue is the choice of the approach to the means of estimating of the distributional weights. The literature on WCBA suggests a couple of approaches, but gives no clues as to which one is the most appropriate one to use, either from a theoretical or from an empirical point of view. Accordingly, the choice of distributional weights may be an arbitrary one. In the first paper in this thesis, the consequences of the choice of distributional weights on project decisions have been studied. Different sets of distributional weights have been compared across a variety of strategically chosen income distribution effects. The distributional weights examined are those that correspond to the WCBA approaches commonly suggested in literature on the topic. The results indicate that the choice of distributional weights is of importance for the rank of projects only when the income distribution effects concern target populations with low incomes. The results also show that not only the mean income but also the span of incomes, of the target population of the income distribution effect, affects the result of the distributional weighting when applying very progressive non-linear distributional weights. This may cause the distributional weighting to indicate an income distribution effect even though the project effect is evenly distributed across the population.

One rational for distributional weighting, commonly referred to when applying WCBA, is that marginal utility of income is decreasing with income. In the second paper, this hypothesis is tested. My study contributes to this literature by employing stated preference data on compensated variation (CV) in a model flexible as to the functional form of the marginal utility. The results indicate that the marginal utility of income decreases linearly with income.

Under certain conditions, a decreasing marginal utility of income corresponds to risk aversion. Thus the hypothesis that marginal utility of income is decreasing with income can be tested by analyses of individuals’ behaviour in gambling situations. The third paper examines of the role of risk aversion, defined by the von Neumann-Morgenstern expected utility function, for people’s concern about the problem of ‘sick’ buildings. The analysis is based on data on the willingness to pay (WTP) for having the indoor air quality (IAQ) at home examined and diagnosed by experts and the WTP for acquiring an IAQ at home that is guaranteed to be good. The results indicate that some of the households are willing to pay for an elimination of the uncertainty of the IAQ at home, even though they are not willing to pay for an elimination of the risks for building related ill health. The probability to pay, for an elimination of the uncertainty of the indoor air quality at home, only because of risk aversion is estimated to 0.3-0.4. Risk aversion seems to be a more common motive, for the decision to pay for a diagnosis of the IAQ at home, among young people.

Another rationale for distributional weighting, commonly referred to, is the existence of unselfish motives for economic behaviour, such as social inequality aversion or altruism. In the fourth paper the hypothesis that people have altruistic preferences, i.e. that they care about other people’s well being, is tested. The WTP for a public project, that ensures good indoor air quality in all buildings, have been measured in three different ways for three randomly drawn sub-samples, capturing different motives for economic behaviour (pure altruism, paternalism and selfishness). The significance of different questions, and different motives, is analysed using an independent samples test of the mean WTPs of the sub-samples, a chi-square test of the association between the WTP and the sample group membership and an econometric analysis of the decision to pay to the public project. No evidence for altruism, either pure altruism or paternalism, is found in this study.

In this dissertation I examine the link between status and perceptions of just rewards. Specifically I focus on how an individual's status-valued attributes shape their perceptions of just rewards, or the amount of a good that they deem fair. According to equity theorists, status-valued attributes constitute one 'input' that shapes perceptions of just rewards, but the precise nature of this relationship has been heretofore unspecified. Drawing from reward expectations theory, which is one of the equity theories, I develop a set of equations to estimate point predictions of just rewards based on individual's status-valued attributes. The model quantifies the commonly held belief that individuals with the more positively evaluated states of status-valued attributes expect to receive relatively more rewards from a distribution of valued goods. The model borrows the quantification of reward expectations states from reward expectations theory, which requires reducing all status differences to two states of relatively high and relatively low. This is an unnecessary simplifying assumption that requires throwing away the relative magnitude of status-valued attributes. In the interest of increasing the precision and realism of the formal model of just rewards, I also extend the mathematics of reward expectations theory to account for status-valued attributes with more than two states (e.g., occupational prestige or education). This extension not only increases the precision of the formal model of just rewards, but is also applicable to all of the expectation states theories, which account for a large body of scholarship and have a broad domain of applicability. To evaluate these ideas I use a variety of quantitative methodologies, including an experiment, a vignette study and the analysis of secondary data from thirteen countries. Across these methods, I find support for both the formal model of just rewards and the procedure for modeling status-valued attributes with more than two states. I conclude the dissertation with the implications of this research and future directions of the project.

Les évaluations faciales sont un élément central des comportements sociaux, influençant un large spectre de décisions, allant du choix du romantique au choix politique, mais sont également le sujet de grandes variations individuelles. Dans cette thèse, je propose que l'analyse des différences individuelles dans l'utilisation de différents signaux sociaux, notamment ceux de coopération et de pouvoir, lors des évaluations faciales est un outil prometteur pour l'étude des comportements sociaux ; j'applique cette approche de deux façons. Dans un premier temps, pour examiner l'hypothèse selon laquelle la motivation sociale correspond à une adaptation aux environnements coopératifs. À travers six études, je montre que la motivation sociale est associée à une plus grande importance donnée aux signaux de coopération, confirmant ainsi une prédiction centrale de cette théorie. Dans un second temps, j'étudie les mécanismes cognitifs impliqués dans les choix politiques, en examinant leurs réponses à différents signaux de l'environnement. Dans un premier travail expérimental, je montre que l'expérience précoce de la précarité est associée à une préférence pour les hommes forts. À partir de ces résultats, je développe une théorie originale sur les préférences politiques selon laquelle les choix politiques sont orientés vers les individus perçus comme les plus aptes à réussir en tant qu'individus et non en tant que chefs de groupe. En résumé, tout au long de cette thèse, je présente un nouveau cadre de travail pour l'étude des décisions sociales et je montre comment il permet éclairer les mécanismes cognitifs sous-tendant les comportements sociaux ainsi que leurs bases évolutives
Face evaluations are a crucial component of social behavior, influencing a large range of social decisions from mating to political vote. Face evaluations are also susceptible to substantial individual differences. In this thesis, I propose that individual differences in face evaluations constitute a promising tool to investigate social behavior through the analysis of variations in the weight granted to different social signals, and notably cooperation- and power-related cues. I apply this approach in two ways. First, I examine the hypothesis that social motivation can be construed as an adaptation to highly cooperative environments. Across six studies, I confirm a central prediction of this theory, by revealing that highly socially motivated individuals grant a higher importance to cooperation-related signals. Second, I investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying political choices by examining their responses to different environmental signals. In a study on leader preferences in children and in adults, I show that early exposure to environmental harshness is associated with a preference for stronger leaders. Building on these results, I then develop an original theory on political choices stating that leader preferences are biased towards the candidates perceived as the most competent for succeeding in the current context, independently of their leadership abilities. To summarize, my thesis puts forward a new framework to investigate social decisions based on individual variations in face evaluations and sheds light on the cognitive processes underlying social behavior as well as their evolutionary bases

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of core self-evaluations (CSEs) and core external-evaluations (CEEs) on performance evaluations. It was hypothesized that people with higher levels of CSEs and CEEs would be more lenient in their performance ratings, when rating neutral performance. The second hypothesis of the study was that people with higher and lower CSEs would engage more in halo when rating neutral performance compared to people with average levels of CSEs. It was further hypothesized that CEEs would moderate the relationship between CSEs and performance ratings given. A total of 129 students from the Middle East Technical University participated in this study. They were given the core self- and external-evaluations scales, as well as two distractor scales (PANAS and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). They were later assigned randomly to either the neutral or the good performance vignette conditions, and asked to rate the performance of a departmental secretary whose performance was described in the vignette using two different performance rating forms that included the relevant performance dimensions and behaviors of the secretary. The first one of these forms is the Behavior Observation Scale (BOS) and the second one is the Graphic Rating Scale (GRS). The results showed that CSEs did not have a significant effect on the performance evaluations given. When the mood of the participants was controlled, however, people who had higher CSEs gave lower performance ratings to neutral performance than people who had lower CSEs, with the GRS as the rating form. Thus, the first hypothesis was not supported and even an opposite effect emerged. The second hypothesis found no support, as the standard deviations of the performance ratings given by people with high, low or average CSEs did not differ significantly from each other for the neutral performance vignette condition, even when the mood of the participants was controlled. However, the standard deviations of the ratings given by participants with average CSEs were higher than that of the participants with low and high CSEs for the good performance vignette condition. Hypothesis three was not supported either, as CEEs were not found to moderate the relationship between CSEs and the performance ratings.

This thesis investigated the influence of mindset on the accuracy and bias of relationship evaluations. Because deliberation about important decisions is a time when people are more realistic and impartial in processing information about themselves and the world, a deliberative mindset was expected to increase the predictive accuracy of relationship appraisals compared to an implemental mindset. Four studies using different methodologies tested this hypothesis. In Study 1, relationship mindset assessed via content coding interacted with commitment in predicting the survival of the relationship 4 months later. In Study 2, mindset assessed via closed questions about academic goals interacted with explicit forecasts in predicting the survival of the relationship 9 months later. In studies 3 and 4, an experimental manipulation of mindset interacted with explicit forecasts or relationship assessments of relationship constructs in predicting relationship survival 6 months later. Overall, a deliberative mindset increased the accuracy of relationship predictions and the validity of relationship constructs in predicting the dissolution of a relationship compared to an implemental mindset. Importantly, deliberatives were not more pessimistic than were implementals; they were more realistic. Nonetheless, a deliberative mindset about an important goal in the relationship can be threatening. Previous work found that boosting perceptions of partner superiority is one way to cope with such threat (Gagne & Lydon, 2001, Study 1). Study 5 further showed that participants in a deliberative mindset boosted their perceptions of partner superiority only if they were sufficiently committed to their relationships. Those in an implemental mindset boosted their perceptions of partner superiority irrespective of their commitment level. In sum, a deliberative mindset about the relationship increases the accuracy of evaluations serving epistemic needs (i.e., relationship predictions) while n

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2009.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 7, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: 4077. Advisers: Bernice Pescosolido; Eliza Pavalko.

L'increment de l'atenció en la investigació en la relació entre les avaluacions dels empleats de les activitats socialment responsables de les seves empreses i les seves reaccions a aquestes avaluacions ha portat a certes inconsistències en els conceptes i perspectives teòriques utilitzades per entendre aquesta relació. Aquesta tesi busca aclarir algunes ambigüitats existents en la literatura actual i pretén ampliar la nostra comprensió de la relació reunint corrents incongruents que es troben en la literatura. La dissertació es basa en tres assajos, cadascun dels quals intenta aclarir un aspecte únic de la relació entre les avaluacions per part dels empleats de la responsabilitat social empresarial (RSE) i les seves reaccions respecte a les mateixes empreses. El primer assaig té com a objectiu sintetitzar les diverses construccions que s’han utilitzat en la literatura anterior per captar les avaluacions dels empleats del comportament socialment responsable de les seves empreses. L’assaig conclou amb la identificació de cinc avaluacions conceptualment diferents que els empleats fan mitjançant l’anàlisi de factors exploratoris i confirmatoris i utilitza el modelatge d’equacions estructurals per identificar l’estructura d’interrelacions entre aquestes diferents avaluacions. El segon assaig explora les perspectives teòriques que s’han utilitzat en la literatura per explicar per què els empleats responen a les activitats socialment responsables de les seves empreses. L'assaig recull idees tant de la teoria de la justícia organitzativa com de la teoria de la identitat social per desenvolupar un marc que incorpori idees des de les dues perspectives. L'assaig conclou que la millora de l'efectivitat laboral té una influència més gran com a mecanisme de mediació entre la percepció dels empleats de la RSE i les reaccions dels empleats a la mateixa RSE. L’últim assaig presenta una explicació teòrica alternativa per a la relació entre les percepcions dels empleats de la RSE i les seves actituds envers l’empresa, basada en la idea de consistència cognitiva, mitjançant la teoria de l’equilibri de les actituds. Una explicació de la relació basada en un desig de consistència cognitiva permet que la relació entre les avaluacions de la RSE dels empleats i les seves actituds cap a l'empresa flueixin en totes dues direccions. Mitjançant un entorn experimental, en l’assaig es presenten proves a la bidireccionalitat de la relació.
El aumento de la investigación centrada en la relación entre las evaluaciones de los empleados de las actividades socialmente responsables de sus empresas y sus reacciones a estas evaluaciones ha llevado a ciertas inconsistencias en los constructos y perspectivas teóricas utilizados para comprender dicha relación. Esta disertación busca aclarar algunas ambigüedades existentes en la literatura actual, y expandir nuestra comprensión de la relación al reunir corrientes incongruentes encontradas en la literatura. La disertación se basa en tres ensayos, cada uno de los cuales intenta aclarar un aspecto único de la relación entre las evaluaciones de los empleados sobre la responsabilidad social empresarial (RSE) y sus reacciones hacia sus empresas. El primer ensayo tiene como objetivo sintetizar las diversas construcciones que se han utilizado en la literatura anterior para captar las evaluaciones de los empleados sobre el comportamiento socialmente responsable de sus empresas. El ensayo concluye con la identificación de cinco evaluaciones conceptualmente distintas que los empleados realizan mediante análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio, y utiliza modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para identificar la estructura de las interrelaciones entre estas distintas evaluaciones. El segundo ensayo explora las perspectivas teóricas que se han utilizado en la literatura para explicar por qué los empleados responden a las actividades socialmente responsables de sus empresas. El ensayo reúne ideas tanto de la teoría de la justicia organizativa como de la teoría de la identidad social para desarrollar un marco que incorpore ideas desde ambas perspectivas. El ensayo concluye identificando que la mejora del significado del trabajo tiene el mayor efecto en términos del mecanismo de mediación entre las percepciones de los empleados de la RSC y las reacciones de los empleados a dicha RSC. El último ensayo presenta una explicación teórica alternativa para la relación entre las percepciones de los empleados sobre la RSC y sus actitudes hacia la empresa, basada en la idea de consistencia cognitiva, utilizando la teoría del equilibrio de actitudes. Una explicación de la relación basada en un deseo de consistencia cognitiva permite que la relación entre las evaluaciones de RSE por parte de los empleados y sus actitudes hacia la empresa fluya en cualquier dirección causal. Utilizando un entorno experimental, en el ensayo se presentó evidencia de la bidireccionalidad de dicha relación.
Increased research focus on the relationship between employee evaluations of the socially responsible activities of their firms and their reactions to these evaluations has led to certain inconsistencies in the constructs and theoretical lenses used to understand the relationship. This dissertation seeks to clarify some ambiguities existing in current literature, and seeks to expand our understanding of the relationship by bringing together incongruent streams found within literature. The dissertation is based on three essays, each of which attempts to clarify a single aspect of the relationship between employees’ evaluations of corporate social responsibility and their reactions towards their firms. The first essay aims to synthesize the diverse constructs that have been used in prior literature to capture employees’ evaluations of their firms’ socially responsible behavior. The essay concludes by identifying five conceptually distinct evaluations that employees make using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and uses structural equation modelling to identify the structure of interrelationships among these distinct evaluations. The second essay explores the theoretical lenses that have been used in literature to explain why employees respond to the socially responsible activities of their firms. The essay brings together insights from both organizational justice theory and social identity theory to develop a framework that incorporates ideas from both perspectives. The essay concludes by identifying the enhanced job meaningfulness has the largest effect size in terms of the mediating mechanism between employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee reactions to CSR. The last essay presents an alternative theoretical explanation for the relationship between employee perceptions of CSR and their attitudes towards the firm, based on the idea of cognitive consistency, using the balance theory of attitudes. An explanation of the relationship based on a desire for cognitive consistency allows for the relationship between employee evaluations of CSR and their attitudes towards the firm to flow in either causal direction. Using an experimental setting, evidence for the bi-directionality of the relationship was presented in the essay.

Interdependent work, where men and women work together in groups, is becoming an increasingly common part of today’s workplace. In these interdependent settings, gender is not just an attribute of an individual (target gender), but also an attribute of the group as a whole (group gender composition). Recent research suggests that, in these interdependent contexts, it is group gender composition, rather than a target’s gender, that affects group members’ evaluations of their group-mates (West, Heilman, Gullett, Moss-Racusin, & Magee, 2012). The current research is the first to explore when and why group gender composition influences intragroup evaluations.

Across three studies, I tested two hypotheses. First, I hypothesized that group gender composition would influence intragroup evaluations via one of two routes—either via the target’s behavior or via the perceiver’s biased evaluations of the target. My second hypothesis was that increasing the amount of outcome interdependence (i.e. the extent to which group members are rewarded based on the group’s performance instead of their own individual performance) experienced by a group would improve evaluations in female relative to male dominant groups. Consistent with past research, I expected that under conditions of low outcome interdependence intragroup evaluations would be more negative in female dominant than male dominant groups. However, under conditions of high outcome interdependence, I argue that a task may appear more female gender-typed (i.e. emphasize traits typically associated with women, like cooperation), and as a result, the influence of group gender composition on intragroup evaluations should dissipate.

Findings suggest that group gender composition biases perceivers’ evaluations of their group-mates. In Studies 1 and 2, there was no evidence that target behavior mediated the relationship between group gender composition and intragroup evaluations; moreover, in Study 3, group gender composition influenced intragroup evaluations even when targets’ behavior was held constant.

Consistent with my second hypothesis, level of outcome interdependence moderated the relationship between group gender composition and intragroup evaluations. For Studies 1 and 3, I found the expected interaction between group gender composition and level of outcome interdependence. When groups experienced low outcome interdependence, members of male dominant groups evaluated each other more positively than members of female dominant groups. Results reversed under conditions of high outcome interdependence, such that members of female dominant groups evaluated each other more positively than members of male dominant groups, albeit not significantly so. However, there was no evidence that moderation by outcome interdependence was due to changes in the perceived gender type of the task. Findings from Study 3 suggest that participants who experienced conditions of high outcome interdependence did not believe that the task was more female gender-typed than participants who experienced conditions of low outcome interdependence. Moreover, other methods for making a task appear more female gender-typed (using female gender-typed materials and framing a task as requiring female gender-typed skills) did not moderate the relationship between group gender composition and intragroup evaluations.

Results from these studies are the first to provide insight into when and why gender composition affects intragroup evaluations in interdependent task groups. The current research suggests that it is possible to improve intragroup evaluations for female dominant groups, relative to male dominant groups, and reduce bias based on group gender composition by rewarding group members based on group rather than individual performance. Additionally, the current research suggests making a task appear more female gender-typed (e.g. using traditionally female materials) may not be effective at reducing gender bias in group contexts.

In accordance with the stereotype-fit model of discrimination (Dipboye, 1985), the results of past research indicate that the extent to which jobs are sex stereotyped dictates whether or not a main effect for rate sex is present in performance evaluations. The purpose of this study was to further examine the relationship between the sex stereotype of the job and the presence of sex bias in evaluation. Two hundred and five undergraduate psychology students viewed one of eight videotapes of a confederate job applicant performing a work sample task and evaluated the observed performance. A 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design was used to test for the effects of the sex stereotype of the job, sex of rate, and level of rate performance on performance ratings. As performance was found. A significant three-way interaction was found, which implies that when rates perform a job that is stereotyped as sex role incongruent their performance is more likely to be noticed and closely evaluated than when they perform a job that is sex stereotyped as belonging to their sex. Sex bias was found only for the low performing woman on the female job, which indicates she was over-evaluated.

This degree project was carried out at the transport design office Setec International, in Paris, from August 3rd to December 18th, 2020. I was part of the team in charge of the post-evaluation of the A150 highway.Permanent observatories are organizations that bring together public and private actors in order to collect early and systematically data to analyze the effects of a transport infrastructure. They have been set up since the 1980s, mainly on French highways. In particular, they contribute to the production of a posteriori assessments known as "LOTI". The objective of this project is to qualitatively evaluate the contribution of these observatories to socio-economic evaluations, both for "classic" and "wider economic" effects. The methods used are the "practical" experience of carrying out the LOTI assessment of the A150, the study of reports describing the results of the A39 and A71 observatories, and the analysis of reports from the State services on the quality of LOTI assessments.The permanent observatories limit some of the pitfalls of ex-post assessments linked to the measurement of classic effects, especially traffic and journey times. They also highlight the effects of a construction site and the strategies of the economic actors. However, they retain certain limitations of ex-post assessments such as the spatial and temporal scale, or the concessionaire's willingness not to disclose certain data. Thanks to early and regular data collection, permanent observatories seem to contribute significantly to the analysis of classic and wider economic effects, they limit the risk of poor quality analyses. Nevertheless, they do not seem indispensable for the production of studies of satisfactory quality.The rare data available on the cost of the observatories suggest that it is very low compared to the amounts invested in construction. Thus, in comparison with these costs, this end-of-study project gives a positive qualitative assessment of the contribution of permanent highway observatories to socio-economic studies. However, this study is limited by the amount of data available due to the non-mandatory nature of setting up permanent observatories.

There are concerns that many national parks worldwide are ineffective at conserving biological diversity and ecosystem processes, are socially unjust in their relations with Indigenous communities, or both. This dissertation asks: can national parks protect ecological integrity and concurrently address social equity issues? It presents empirical results of a systematic evaluation of six case study national parks in Canada and South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to select the six case study national parks. Data sources included State of the Park Reports; park ecological monitoring data; archival data; and semi-structured interviews with park biologists, managers, and Indigenous members of park co-management boards. Status and trend assessments and effectiveness evaluations of park ecological monitoring data were used to evaluate how effectively the parks addressed three ecological integrity criteria. Results show that all six parks effectively addressed the priority indicators for which they had monitoring data. However, the effectiveness ratings of each park decreased when all indicators, including those identified as priorities but lacking monitoring data, were analysed. This indicates that the parks had generally identified more priority indicators than they were actually able to address (for reasons including lack of budget or trained staff, managerial challenges). Thematic coding of semi-structured interview and archival data, and the assignation of numerical ratings to these data, were used to evaluate how effectively the parks addressed three equity criteria. Results show that all but one of the case study parks were equitable, parks with more comprehensive co-management and support from neighbouring Indigenous groups were more equitable than parks with lower levels of co-management, the parks with settled land claims were not necessarily more equitable overall, and a few parks were found to be co-managed in name only. The overall results of this evaluation demonstrate that parks effective at protecting ecological integrity can also successfully address social equity, but that further efforts to integrate these two realms are both possible and necessary. A logical starting point would be to build upon those existing integrative processes already institutionalised in many parks and protected areas: the co-management and integrated conservation and development efforts.

This study focuses on how the presence or absence of an overall rating item on a performance evaluation form affects levels of halo error and satisfaction with the form. Participants included undergraduate college students who were randomly assigned to groups receiving a form with or without an overall rating item at the beginning of the form. A satisfaction item was included on both forms. The analyses included a z-test for correlations from independent samples to determine the difference between the two evaluation forms and a t-test to determine the difference between the satisfaction scores of the two forms. The analyses indicated that the differences between the groups were not significant for levels of halo error or satisfaction.

Facial expressions of positive emotions are recognized faster than negative expressions. This happy face advantage is larger for faces belonging to more positively evaluated social groups, for instance young or female faces. The current research demonstrated that this influence on emotion recognition is not limited to facial cues signalling social categories. It is also found for attractive faces and faces recently associated with positive character information or belonging to an artificially created social ingroup.

Existing research has shown that gender stereotypes regarding characteristics of men and women influence others' perceptions of their fit with organizational roles, including leadership roles (cf. Eagly & Karau, 2002). However, little research has examined stereotypes regarding other demographic characteristics (e.g., race, sexual orientation) and how they may interact with gender stereotypes to influence leadership evaluations. The current study examined whether leader gender and sexual orientation interact to influence subordinates' evaluations of leader effectiveness, likability, and boss desirability using an experimental design. In addition to examining whether leader gender and sexual orientation interacted to predict leader evaluations, the present study also examined why, or the mechanisms, that underlie these effects. Specifically, the present study evaluated two potential mediators: (1) role incongruity, perceptions that there is a misfit between the characteristics of an individual and the role on communality (or warmth) and agency (or competence) and (2) moral outrage, affective reactions of contempt, anger, and disgust toward individuals and/or groups who violate societal mores. Results indicate that gay and lesbian leaders were perceived to be less agentic and more communal than their heterosexual counterparts, though leader gender and sexual orientation did not interact in predicting perceptions of agency and communality. Furthermore, in the full sample, leader gender and sexual orientation interacted to predict moral outrage. When examining moderated mediation analyses, moral outrage mediated the relationship between leader demographics and evaluations of leader effectiveness (but not leader likability) for gay male leaders. Results from the present study helps to inform researchers and practitioners regarding how and why stereotypes influence others' leadership evaluations and suggest entry points for interventions designed to minimize discrimination against sexual minorities in organizational settings.