Constructive feedback in organizational team-building.

Ways constructive feedback can help an organization achieve and maintain a competitive advantage within and without the workplace is the topic of this chapter. An approach called 360 feedback is detailed, by which an employee is rated by workers at various levels in the organizational hierarchy instead of by a single supervisor.

Individual differences in spatial and identity information processing in iconic memory.

The literature on iconic memory has provided conflicting evidence on the rate of loss of spatial location and identity information from iconic storage in non-retarded individuals. Some studies which have used the partial report technique indicate that information on spatial location is lost more rapidly than information on identity, while others indicate no difference in the rate of loss for the two types of information. The present investigation was a replication and extension of previous studies to help resolve the discrepancies in findings and to provide a more refined definition of what is meant by information on spatial location and identity. Correlations indicate that there may be two distinct subgroups among the borderline to mild mentally retarded population in terms of their iconic processing abilities.

Progressive relaxation as a function of procedural variations and anxiety level.

Progressive relaxation is subject to many procedural variations. Although most investigators follow the 5-7 s tension interval advocated by Bernstein and Borkovec (1973), longer tension intervals may contribute to greater relaxation effects. This study compared tension intervals of 5, 15, and 45 s. Since the development of control over muscle tension requires attention to feedback signals, a focus on internal proprioceptive sensations was contrasted with an external condition in which the subjects silently subtracted numbers immediately following the tension-release cycle. Longer periods of tension resulted in lower EMG levels, with the 45-s tension interval producing the greatest relaxation. Those individuals who focused on physiological sensations during training were able to achieve greater levels of relaxation after the training phase was completed. There was a significant interaction between tension interval duration and focusing; subjects in the 45-s interval who focused on physiological functioning showed the greatest arousal reduction. Anxiety level did not differentially influence the effects of procedural variations in training. Clearly, additional parametric studies in relaxation training are needed.

Heart rate and reaction times for mentally retarded and nonretarded adults in subject- and experimenter-initiated tasks.

Reaction time (RT) and heart-rate measures were obtained for 10 retarded (mean IQ = 65) and 10 nonretarded young adults. Each subject initiated half of the trials themselves. The other half were initiated by the experimenter. These trials were distributed over preparatory intervals of 2-, 4-, and 8-second durations. We found that all subjects, when initiating the trial themselves, reduced both mean RT and response variability. Heart-rate patterns were similar for both intelligence groups on experimenter-initiated trials, but were markedly different when subjects initiated the trials themselves. Results suggest that self-initiated trials may benefit retarded subjects by overcoming some attentional problems, but difficulties with utilizing successful response strategies remain.

Locus of control and cardiac response to reaction time, mental arithmetic, and time-estimation tasks.

In Exp. 1 subjects, classified on the basis of locus of control scores, performed both reaction time and mental arithmetic tasks. In Exp. 2, similarly classified subjects were required to estimate the duration of a signal with feedback following each trial. Between-groups comparisons in Exp. 1 showed no differences on heart rate or performance measures. This does not support an explanation of differential heart rates during cardiac conditioning based upon cognitive styles of "rejecting" or "accepting" stimuli. Similar comparisons in Exp. 2 indicated significant differences for heart rate and proficiency in time estimation. These differences suggest greater task involvement for internally controlled subjects on feedback tasks, with cardiac acceleration a function of that involvement.

An independence of induced amnesia and emotional response.

A photograph of a nude was interpolated midway through a 30-item list. Recognition memory of items at various serial positions was measured by presenting 12 old and 12 new pictures on a test trial. Palmar conductance was also measured. Significantly decreased recognition memory and increased palmar conductance accompanied presentation of the picture of the nude. When the two measures were compared for individual subjects, however, no correlation was found. These data suggest that both responses are likely to occur to the presentation of the critical item but that the responses are independent.

Relationship of reaction time to deceleration and variability of heart rate in nonretarded and retarded persons.

Heart rate was monitored for nonretarded and retarded subjects during a simple reaction time (RT) TASK. Both groups were further divided into those receiving either a 4-second or 12-second preparatory interval (PI). For retarded subjects responding under 4-second PI conditions, it was found that (a) RT performance was poor, (b) heart-rate deceleration did not accompany the response, and (c) reduction in heart variability did not occur during the PI. The remaining groups responded more rapidly, showed heart-rate deceleration and variability reduction. These data were interpreted as supporting the view that retarded subjects cannot reliably make the biological adjustments necessary for rapid RT responding when operating under the constraints of a short PI.