Tag Archives: self-efficacy

Thank you! Why do these two words mean so much?

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Topic:  Citizenship Behavior, Work Environment
Publication: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Article: A little thanks  goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior (JUN 2010)
Authors: A. M. Grant, and F. Gino
Reviewed by: Sarah Teague

 

In recent years, employees’ jobs and job tasks have become increasingly interconnected, necessitating an increase in teams and groups in the workplace. This integration means that employees must interact with many different people at work on a regular basis and places a high value on interpersonal skills, even for non-service jobs.  Modern organizations need employees who can function well in teams and work together to help achieve a common goal. As such, it is important for these organizations to understand how to promote prosocial (helping) amongst their employees.

One simple way to increase prosocial behavior is to express gratitude. That is, a simple “thank you” often does the trick … but WHY does this work? Grant and Gino (2010) proposed two competing explanations based on the dimensions of agency and communion. The agency perspective suggests that expressions of gratitude can enhance an individual’s feeling of competence (e.g.,), while communion predicts that gratitude increases feelings of social worth

The current article sought to determine whether expressions of gratitude make the helper feel more confident about his/her helping abilities or make him/her feel more valued.

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Which Employees Set the Bar Higher?

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Topic: Personality, Motivation, Goals
Publication: Personality and Individual Differences (JAN 2010)
Article: Individual differences in reactions to goal-performance discrepancies over time.
Authors: P.D. Converse, E. Steinhauser, and J. Pathak
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

By nature, a goal creates a discrepancy between an employee’s current performance and some future state. For example, though I have only written one and half sentences, my goal is to write a full review. Thus, by setting this goal, I have created a goal-performance discrepancy for myself. Research suggests that goal-performance discrepancies motivate employees to modify their goals (either up or down) and/or efforts toward attaining those goals (slack off or try harder).

A recent study by Converse, Steinhauser, and Pathak suggests that several individual differences predict how individuals behave in response to goal-performance discrepancies (which comes in the form of performance feedback). Converse et al.’s study was conducted on a sample of 90 college students taking an introductory psychology course.

Past research has found that, in general, individuals tend to set lower goals after receiving negative feedback (i.e., large goal-performance discrepancy) and set higher goals following positive feedback.  Converse et al. found that this trend is especially true for individuals with an internal locus of control (i.e., believe that they have control over outcomes). Individuals with an external locus of control (believe that they have little control over outcomes) do not follow this pattern, as they tend to set slightly higher goals following negative feedback.

Also, individuals high in self-efficacy tend to set higher goals for themselves, especially after receiving positive feedback. Highly efficacious people have more confidence in their ability and thus are more willing to challenge themselves by setting the bar a little higher. Finally, whereas conscientious individuals tend to increase effort following negative feedback, they may actually reduce effort following positive feedback. Converse et al. speculate that conscientious individuals may allocate resources away from the goal and consciously juggle other goals and/or priorities, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Converse, P.D., Steinhauser, E., & Pathak, J. (2010). Individual differences in reactions to goal-performance discrepancies over time. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 138-143.

Brains before Beauty…OR…Beauty and the Best

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Topic: Self Efficacy
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (MAY 2009)
Article:  Does it pay to be smart, attractive, or confident (or all three)?  Relationships among general mental ability, physical attractiveness, core self-evaluations, and income.
Authors: T.A. Judge, C. Hurst, L.S. Simon
Reviewed by: Larry Martinez

Who among us would be surprised to learn that those who are smart get more advanced degrees and higher paying jobs? That’s a just world, right? What if the same were true for those who are pretty? Judge, Hurst, and Simon investigated how pervasive the preference for attractiveness is.

Judge et al.’s literature review would lead you to believe that attractive individuals are given preference from their first breaths on. Teachers are more lenient and pay more attention to cute as opposed to homely kids, which can result in higher standardized test scores, better universities, more opportunities for professional degrees, and thus higher paying jobs. Not to mention that attractive individuals are positively reinforced with respect to their self-concepts, making them more confident and less likely to perceive financial strain.

The best combination, of course, is to be pretty and smart. However, the ugly ducklings among us can rest assured that the relationships were stronger between intelligence and education and income.  However, being attractive was more strongly related to confidence, which had a stronger relationship to income than education and a buffering effect with perceived financial strain. Maybe those extra ten minutes in the morning are worth it…

Judge, T. A., Hurst, C., & Simon, L. S.  (2009).  Does is pay to be smart, attractive, or confident (or all three)?  Relationships among general mental ability, physical attractiveness, core self-evaluations, and income.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 742- 755.