Affirming the Self through Derogating Others - Essay Example

Registration Number: Unit Unit of Assignment: Answering Questions Based on Two Research Papers Word Count: Please put word count here after writing missing details Answering Questions Based on Two Research Papers 1st Paper Questions: Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others (Fein & Spencer, 1997). 1. State what the hypotheses are in Study 1? The null hypothesis in Study 1 is that a person is less likely to be prejudiced against others if his or her self esteem has been bolstered or positively affirmed. The alternative hypothesis would therefore be that a status of a person’s self esteem has no impact on whether he or she is ready to degrade a person or be prejudiced against them (Fein & Spencer, 1997, 32). 2. What were the independent variables in Study 1? The dependent variable is expected to change whenever there is a change made in the independent variable. The independent variables in Study 1 were the stereotypes being attached to the target or stimulus person who was the woman candidate, such as her name, image, dressing and ethnicity. The dependent variables were the stereotypical images being generated in the minds of the evaluators. 3. How did they measure the dependent variables in Study 1? To measure whether a dose of positive reinforcement of self esteem status would result in an individual being less likely to malign the esteem of others or becoming prejudiced, the authors exposed the evaluators to a target candidate who could alternatively be introduced as Jewish or Italian. In this case, Jewish or JAP was already considered a negative stereotype at the campus while Italian was undecided. In the first experiment, one group of subjects was told to focus on positive self esteem traits and why it was important to them; the other group was told to focus on how which value was least important to them and how they would consider it important to someone else. Subsequent evaluation of a target candidate resulted in the first group being far more likely to be less prejudiced or consider their ethnicity to be a threat to their self image. In the second experiment, a target candidate was manipulated to be Jewish or Italian and subjects were told to evaluate her as a candidate for a job as Personnel Manager on the basis of her qualifications and personality. 4. What inferential statistical method did they use in Study 1? The authors used the ANOVA test, a two way analysis of variance in Study 1. 5. In your own words briefly describe what the main findings were in Study 1. The main findings in Study 1 were that there was a less significant effect of affirmation, but a larger impact from the manipulation of the target person’s ethnicity by way of name and dressing. The candidate was rated more favorably for the job when she was portrayed as Italian rather than Jewish. Also the subjects exposed to the negative stereotyping exercise earlier tended to react more negatively to stereotyping than the candidates who were given the positive exercise- they did not consider it a threat to their own self image. 6. Can you think of how the findings from Study 1 may apply to behaviour in the workplace? Yes, I would imagine that candidates with strong personalities would be considered as a threat by their supervisors or evaluators, especially if the latter have weak personalities themselves. It is best to appear non-threatening to people in the organization you work for, and a friendly and non-competitive attitude can help you do this. Unless you have targets to attain and a lot of internal competition, it is best to remain as calm and composed as you can and avoid friction. Having a positive and hardworking attitude will do much to remove stereotypical impressions others might have about your ethnic group. Prejudgments on the basis of ethnicity are often made in workplaces all over the world, and only the best organizations have polices against this. 2nd Paper Questions: Brainstorming groups in context: Effectiveness in a product design firm. (Sutton & Hargadon, 1996) 7. Using your own words, briefly summarise what this paper is all about. This paper is about the usefulness of Brainstorming Sessions in organizations as a method of generating ideas. It looks at the bad press that brainstorming as an idea generation technique has been receiving in professional circles, and seeks to disprove this aspect. The authors have observed and conducted field studies at IDEO, one of the top idea generating firms in the USA, and have come to the conclusion that the brainstorming technique is still worthwhile as a useful technique for generating ideas. Based upon their observations, the authors maintain that brainstorming can serve the organization by (1) supporting organizational memory; (2) providing skill variety; (3) supporting an attitude of wisdom; (4) creating status auctions; (5) impressing clients and (6) providing income for the organization (Sutton & Hargadon, 1996, 697). The point is that these sessions have to be conducted in the right manner, with open-mindedness, lack of criticism and no fear of office politics or titles being used to indicate supremacy. If proper sessions were carried out with the aid and supervision of a good facilitator, it would be far superior to face to face sessions or the nominal group technique. 8. Based on the literature review in the paper, explain how the research in this paper differs from previous research in the field of brainstorming research. While previous research in the field of brainstorming has focused on the quantity of ideas produced rather than quality, and lamented the ineffectiveness of this technique due to fear of what others will think, this research looks into the actual use of brainstorming by IDEO, an organization that has used this technique to generate useful and practical ideas, where the process was facilitated by the use of an able and experienced facilitator, there was an attitude of openness and cooperation among all participants and adherence to the original principles as outlined by Osborne, it was found that brainstorming was still a good and practical technique to apply even today. Rather as the authors have suggested, the failure to use brainstorming effectively stems from wrong makeup of teams, no past or future task relevance, no past or future social relationships, where ideas were not used, and technical skills were lacking in using brainstorming effectively. For their research and fieldwork, the authors studied the processes used at IDEO for idea generation and were impressed that brainstorming when used correctly could produce such good results. 9. Does this article tell us anything about the benefits and shortcomings of quantitative and qualitative research methods? Yes, this article tells us that the previous studies while focusing on the quantitative techniques has evidently ignored the qualitative aspect, which is more important. Quite often we focus on the quantitative aspect of research, since it is easier to measure. The lack of evidence from qualitative studies could be a sign that more efforts need to be directed towards this end. 10. To what extent do you think their findings can be generalised to other organisational settings? Since it has been proven that new studies are being ignored simply because of lack of evidential research, the case study of IDEO can serve as an apt and cogent reminder that with the proper use of brainstorming techniques, this method can be resurrected in scientific and empirical studies. If everything is followed to the letter, the authors do not see why its use cannot be made more common and effective. The shortcomings of the brainstorming sessions as being used are well known and could be well attributed to the lack of cohesion, lack of relevance and other deficiencies that have been identified in the typical workplace setting (Sutton & Hargadon, 1996, 688). References Arnold, J., Randall, R., Patterson, F., Silvester, J., Robertson, I. T., Cooper, C.L., Burnes, B., Salies, S., Harris, D., Axtell, C., & Hartog, D. D. (2010). Work Psychology: Understanding Human Behaviour in the Workplace (5th ed.). Harlow, UK: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Fein, S. & Spencer. S.J. (1997). Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 31-44. Accessed online on 18 Nov 2011 at http://www.mediafire.com/?k5i7x1z2uiwh0df Sutton, R. I. & Hargadon, A. (1996). Brainstorming groups in context: Effectiveness in a product design firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 685-718. Accessed online on 18 Nov 2011 at http://www.mediafire.com/?9p8b9os2xq81kru Read More