scholarly journals Comparisons of Animal “Smart” Using The First Four Stages of the Model of Hierarchical Complexity

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansi J. Shah ◽  
Michael L. Commons ◽  
William J. Harrigan
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Behavioral Model ◽  
Ordinal Scale ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Respondent Conditioning ◽  
Hierarchical Complexity ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data

The Model of Hierarchical Complexity is a behavioral model of development and evolution of the complexity of behavior. It is based on task analysis. Tasks are ordered in terms of their hierarchical complexity, which is an ordinal scale that measures difficulty. The hierarchical difficulty of tasks is categorized as the order of hierarchical complexity. Successful performance on a task is called the behavioral stage. This model can be applied to non-human animals, and humans. Using data from some of the simplest animals and also somewhat more complex ones, this analysis describes the four lowest behavioral stages and illustrate them using the behaviors of a range of simple organisms. For example, Stage 1 tasks, and performance on them, are addressed with automatic unconditioned responses. Behavior at this Stage includes sensing, tropisms, habituation and, other automatic behaviors. Single cell organisms operate at this Stage. Stage 2 tasks include these earlier behaviors, but also include respondent conditioning but not operant conditioning. Animals such as some simple invertebrates have shown respondent conditioning, but not operant conditioning. Stage 3 tasks coordinate three instances of these earlier tasks to make possible operant conditioning. These stage 3 performances are similar to those of some invertebrates and also insects. Stage 4 tasks organisms coordinate 2 or more circular sensory-motor task actions into a superordinate “concept”. This explanation of the early stages of the Model of Hierarchical Complexity may help future research in animal behavior, and comparative psychology.

scholarly journals The Impact of Perceived Subgroup Formation on Transactive Memory Systems and Performance in Distributed Teams

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yide Shen ◽  
Michael J. Gallivan ◽  
Xinlin Tang
Keyword(s):  
Team Performance ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Transactive Memory ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Group Members ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

With distributed teams becoming increasingly common in organizations, improving their performance is a critical challenge for both practitioners and researchers. This research examines how group members' perception of subgroup formation affects team performance in fully distributed teams. The authors propose that individual members' perception about the presence of subgroups within the team has a negative effect on team performance, which manifests itself through decreases in a team's transactive memory system (TMS). Using data from 154 members of 41 fully distributed teams (where no group members were colocated), the authors found that members' perceptions of the existence of subgroups impair the team's TMS and its overall performance. They found these effects to be statistically significant. In addition, decreases in a group's TMS partially mediate the effect of perceived subgroup formation on team performance. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for managerial action, as well as for researchers, and they propose directions for future research.

Experimental deception: Science, performance, and reproducibility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrianne John R. Galang
Keyword(s):  
Internal Validity ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Replication Studies ◽  
Control Of Variables ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Control ◽  
Efficient Transmission ◽  
Experimental Deception

Experimental deception has not been seriously examined in terms of its impact on reproducible science. I demonstrate, using data from the Open Science Collaboration’s Reproducibility Project (2015), that experiments involving deception have a higher probability of not replicating and have smaller effect sizes compared to experiments that do not have deception procedures. This trend is possibly due to missing information about the context and performance of agents in the studies in which the original effects were generated, leading to either compromised internal validity, or an incomplete specification and control of variables in replication studies. Of special interest are the mechanisms by which deceptions are implemented and how these present challenges for the efficient transmission of critical information from experimenter to participant. I rehearse possible frameworks that might form the basis of a future research program on experimental deception and make some recommendations as to how such a program might be initiated.

Factors Affecting Goal Difficulty and Performance When Employees Select Their Own Performance Goals: Evidence from the Field

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Webb ◽  
Scott A. Jeffrey ◽  
Axel Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Behavioral Model ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Performance Goal ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Goal Difficulty ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT: This study examines factors influencing the difficulty of self-set goals and performance in a setting where employees were able to choose their performance goal from a menu of three choices established by management. Rewards for goal attainment were increasing in the difficulty of the goal. We develop a behavioral model of the factors expected to affect employees’ goal choices and performance. Anticipated influences on goal difficulty include employees’ impression management intentions, past performance, experience, and prior eligibility for rewards. We also expect performance to be related to goal difficulty. We use a unique combination of archival and questionnaire data from 476 employees at several call centers of a financial services company to test our hypotheses. All predictions are supported: the difficulty of self-set goals is negatively associated with employees’ impression management intentions; employees with better past performance set more difficult goals; and both prior performance and goal difficulty are positively associated with current period performance. We conduct supplementary analysis examining the extent to which employees selected attainable goals and the impact this had on performance. We also analyze the extent to which ratcheting concerns may have influenced actual performance for those employees who attained their goal. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

International experiential diversity and performance at project organizations

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winfried Ruigrok ◽  
Peder Greve ◽  
Martin Engeler
Keyword(s):  
Team Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Project Organizations ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to shed new light on the link between diversity in project teams and team performance by examining the effects of players’ international career diversity on the performance of national football teams.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws upon the literature on project organizations and experiential diversity in teams. Using data on players’ international career backgrounds and team performance from the FIFA World Cup 2006, the authors test two hypotheses linking experiential diversity in teams and a measure of relative team performance. The dataset includes detailed individual background profiles of the 736 participating players and performance data from the 64 games played at the tournament.FindingsThe findings suggest that different types of experiential diversity have contrasting effects on team performance in a time‐limited project team setting.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings encourage team diversity researchers to further examine the impact of experiential diversity in teams on team process and performance outcomes in future research.Practical implicationsThe findings particularly highlight the need to carefully manage experiential diversity in project team settings in order to benefit from access to diverse tacit resources, while at the same time avoiding that the integrative capacities of teams becoming overstretched.Originality/valueThe paper is a step towards a better understanding of how diversity of individual career backgrounds affects team performance outcomes in project teams.

Collaborative e-business efforts and firm performance

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anwar Alsheyadi
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Complementarity Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Complementarity Effects

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how e-business (EB) practices and performance are directly and indirectly related, and to examine the complementary effects of adopting various types of EB practices on both business and operational performance, where the latter is conceptualized as a mediator between EB practices and business performance.Design/methodology/approachThe structural equation modelling was used to examine the conceptual model using data collected through a survey of 108 Omani manufacturing firms. EB was conceptualized as a second-order factor resulted from a production of a simultaneous adoption of three distinct groups of EB practices to examine the complementarity effect of EB practices on performance.FindingsControlling for the variations of firm size and age effects, the empirical analysis of this study found support for the superior effects of the complementarities amongst various EB practices on business performance, but this effect will be indirect through the operational performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe research findings may lack generalisability due to the possible effects of other contextual factors which should be considered by future research studies.Practical implicationsSeveral implications are highlighted for the effective deployment of collective EB competencies, and for the role of operational performance on achieving higher business benefits.Originality/valueThis paper satisfies the need to validate the complementarity effects model in different contexts such as EB, and the need to investigate the mediating effect of other factors on EB practices and business performance.

scholarly journals Differential attainment in the MRCPsych according to ethnicity and place of qualification between 2013 and 2018: a UK cohort study

2020 ◽  
pp. postgradmedj-2020-137913
Author(s):  
Paul A Tiffin ◽  
Lewis W Paton
Keyword(s):  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Clinical Knowledge ◽  
Pass Rates ◽  
Potential Bias ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
First Time

Purpose of the studyTo explore if differential pass rates exist in the clinical component of the UK postgraduate clinical psychiatry exam, the Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC), according to ethnicity and place of qualification (UK vs EEA vs overseas graduates).Study designObservational study using data from the UK Medical Education Database for 2140 doctors sitting the CASC for the first time between 2013 and 2018.ResultsAfter controlling for age, sex, time of sitting and performance in the written components of the MRCPsych, differences in CASC pass rates persisted between UK graduates self-identifying as Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) and non-BME (OR for passing 0.36, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.56, p<0.001). Both EEA (OR 0.25, 0.15 to 0.40, p<0.001) and overseas graduates (OR 0.07, 0.05 to 0.11, p<0.001) were less likely to pass the CASC at first attempt, even after controlling for the influence of educational and background variables. These groups, on average, had lower scores on written exams with substantial content relating to procedural skills (eg, critical appraisal) rather than pure recall of factual knowledge.ConclusionsSubstantial differences exist in clinical examination performance between UK BME and non-BME candidates, as well as between UK and non-UK graduates. These differences are not explained by differing levels of clinical knowledge. In the interests of equality, this situation requires further investigation and remediation. Future research should focus on understanding how potential bias may be acting within different stages of recruitment, training and assessment within psychiatry.

Workplace Ostracism and Its Negative Outcomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 143-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Zheng ◽  
Jun Yang ◽  
Hang-Yue Ngo ◽  
Xiao-Yu Liu ◽  
Wengjuan Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Affective Commitment ◽  
Psychological Capital ◽  
Intention To Leave ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Workplace Ostracism ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. Workplace ostracism, conceived as to being ignored or excluded by others, has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years. One essential topic in this area is how to reduce or even eliminate the negative consequences of workplace ostracism. Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the current study assesses the relationship between workplace ostracism and its negative outcomes, as well as the moderating role played by psychological capital, using data collected from 256 employees in three companies in the northern part of China. The study yields two important findings: (1) workplace ostracism is positively related to intention to leave and (2) psychological capital moderates the effect of workplace ostracism on affective commitment and intention to leave. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for organizations and employees, along with recommendations for future research.

Siblings and Illness

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Sawyer Vanderwerp
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Birth Order ◽  
Family Size ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Chronically Ill ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mother And Child ◽  
Using Data

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Mother and Child samples, I investigated the relationships among child and adolescent depressive symptoms, having a chronically ill sibling, and other child and familial demographic variables. From research on social support and social role transitions, with the Stress Process as a theoretical model, I hypothesized that children with chronically ill siblings experience more depressive symptoms. Specifically, I looked at age, gender, birth order and family size as potentially reducing the effect size of having a chronically ill sibling. Findings showed that having a chronically ill sibling is associated with demonstrating more depressive symptoms both in the bivariate and multivariate analyses. Although age, gender, birth order and family size do not interact significantly with having a chronically ill sibling in predicting depressive symptoms, they do present interesting findings about childhood depressive symptoms in general. Thus, the results of this study suggest specific and meaningful paths for future research.

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