The requirements and design of a standard group task

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32060/1/0000104.pd

MEASURING BUSINESS VALUE FOR INVESTMENTS IN POINT-OF-SALE TECHNOLOGY

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Exposure effects in person perception: Familiarity, similarity, and attraction

Two experiments explored the relationship between familiarity, similarity, and attraction. In the first experiment, subjects viewed photographs of faces at various exposure frequencies and then rated them for likeableness and similarity. Familiar people were regarded by the subjects as both more likeable and more similar to themselves. The effects of familiarity on perceived similarity were primarily mediated by changes in attraction, although some evidence of a direct link between familiarity and perceived similarity was also found. In the second experiment, subjects viewed the same stimuli at a single exposure frequency, and received bogus information regarding the similarity of the people shown therein. Subsequent ratings of likeableness and perceived familiarity revealed that people who seemed similar to the subjects were regarded as both more likeable and more familiar. The effects of similarity on perceived familiarity were almost entirely mediated by changes in attraction. Some of the theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23882/1/0000121.pd

Social facilitation of dominant and subordinate responses

The hypothesis was examined that, because it is drive-producing, the presence of an audience enhances the emission of dominant responses and inhibits the emission of subordinate responses. Thirty-nine subjects performed a pseudo-recognition task in which their guessing responses were based on dominant and subordinate habits, previously established by means of differential training. The probability of dominant responses was found to be higher for subjects working in the presence of an audience than for those working alone. The opposite result, however, was observed for subordinate responses. These findings are related to others in the area of social facilitation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33455/1/0000859.pd

A strong test of exposure effects

A strong test of exposure effects was made by eliminating confounding demand characteristics through the use of a between-subject design. Each subject viewed novel stimuli at a single frequency level, and then rated them on several affective scales. Frequency of stimulus exposure was systematically varied across subjects. Stimuli were rated more positively with increasing exposure, despite the fact that subjects were unaware of any differences in exposure frequencies, and clearly unable to identify the experimental hypothesis. An awareness of the relationship between repeated exposure and affect was thus shown to be an unnecessary condition for the occurrence of exposure effects.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21817/1/0000217.pd

Group risk-taking under various group decision schemes

This study examined individual choice behavior when it occurs in groups engaged in joint decision-making. Ninety-six subjects made binary choices between "risky" and "conservative" alternatives acting alone and acting as members of three-man groups in a series of 360 trials. The groups operated under the majority rule, unanimity, and the so-called "minimal quorum" rule. It was found that under unanimity and the minimal quorum rule there were strong pressures toward uniformity. However, individual members in these groups did not succumb to these pressures by modifying their overall choice preferences. Instead they arranged their sequences of choices so that the joint choice of all members would be congruent with their acceptable level of risk-taking. The findings also indicated that there was a slight shift toward conservatism when individuals joined groups. The results on individual risk-taking supported a parameter-free model, and the model also accommodated the present group data when some new assumptions were made about the effects of pressures toward uniformity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34182/1/0000471.pd

MEASURING BUSINESS VALUE FOR INVESTMENTS IN POINT-OF-SALE TECHNOLOGY

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Individual and group risk-taking in a two-choice situation

Individual and group decision making under uncertainty was explored in an attempt to determine whether individual risk preferences change under group conditions. Subjects predicted which of two differentially probable stimulus events would occur, and were paid for correct anticipations in a series of 360 trials. The expected value of the choices was held constant by varying payoff inversely with the frequency of the two events. After 180 trials, individuals either continued alone or were formed into three-man groups. Groups showed consistent and significant shifts in the conservative direction, while individuals remaining alone did not shift. The data were examined in the light of various group-decision models and in the light of other explanations of the risky-shift phenomenon. Changes in individual risk preferences were interpreted as deriving from a change in subjective utilities of outcomes which occurs in the group situation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33235/1/0000625.pd

Group risk-taking in a two-choice situation: Replication, extension, and a model

In an attempt to determine if individual risk preferences change under group conditions, individuals and groups were observed when making binary decisions. The expected values of the outcomes were held constant while the probabilities of the two events varied across conditions. As previously, it was found that when the probabilities of the two events are .6 and .4, a conservative shift is obtained. When these probabilities are .8 and .2, however, there was a tendency for groups to shift toward risk. A two-stage parameter-free model was suggested to account for individual and group choices.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32987/1/0000371.pd

Social facilitation and imitation in group risk-taking

The role of social facilitation and imitation in group risk-taking was explored in two experiments. The first experiment tried to determine if individual risk preferences can be changed by the mere presence of others and if these changes can account for shifts toward risk. Subjects predicted which of two differentially probable stimulus events would occur in a series of 360 trials. Expected value of the choices was held constant by varying the payoff inversely with the frequency of the two events. After 180 trials alone, subjects were put into one of four conditions, Control, Audience, Coaction, and Group. In the two social facilitation conditions, Audience and Coaction, there was an enhancement of dominant responses (i.e., conservative choices). But the Group condition showed a change in the risky direction, indicating that social facilitation processes cannot account for risky shifts. Experiment II replicated the social facilitation effects found in Experiment I, but failed to find pronounced tendencies of individuals to make their choices consistent with those of others. These weak imitation effects were found for a situation in which only knowledge of others' choices was accessible to the subject and in a situation in which both this knowledge was accessible and others were actually present. The implications of these findings for theories of risky shift were discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32828/1/0000203.pd