Stephen Harkins - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Stephen Harkins

Self-Evaluation and Creativity

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Lack of evaluation potential leads to the social loafing effect, the finding that participants wo... more Lack of evaluation potential leads to the social loafing effect, the finding that participants working together expend less effort than participants working alone. In 1988 Bartis, Szymanski and Harkins replicated this effect, showing that the lack of potential for evaluation by the experimenter ...

The Potency of the Potential for Experimenter and Self-Evaluation in Motivating Vigilance Performance

Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Jun 7, 2010

Race of source effects in the Elaboration Likelihood Model

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Dec 1, 1994

In a series of experiments, we investigated the effect of race of source on persuasive communicat... more In a series of experiments, we investigated the effect of race of source on persuasive communications in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (R.E. Petty & J.T. Cacioppo, 1981, 1986). In Experiment 1, we found no evidence that White participants responded to a Black source as a simple negative cue. Experiment 2 suggested the possibility that exposure to a Black source led to low-involvement message processing. In Experiments 3 and 4, a distraction paradigm was used to test this possibility, and it was found that participants under low involvement were highly motivated to process a message presented by a Black source. In Experiment 5, we found that attitudes toward the source's ethnic group, rather than violations of expectancies, accounted for this processing effect. Taken together, the results of these experiments are consistent with S.L. Gaertner and J.F. Dovidio's (1986) theory of aversive racism, which suggests that Whites, because of a combination of egalitarian values and underlying negative racial attitudes, are very concerned about not appearing unfavorable toward Blacks, leading them to be highly motivated to process messages presented by a source from this group.

Persuasion: Two Views: Smilla's Sense of Persuasion

Psyccritiques, 1997

Procrustes at work

Psyccritiques, 1988

The Role of Task Complexity, and Sources and Criteria of Evaluation in Motivating Task Performance

Multiple Perspectives on the Effects of Evaluation on Performance, 2001

Social Context Effects in Persuasion: The Effects of Multiple Sources and Multiple Targets

Basic Group Processes, 1983

The Three-Variable Model: From Occam’s Razor to the Black Box

Multiple Perspectives on the Effects of Evaluation on Performance, 2001

The effect of evaluation on performance: Distinguishing mere effort from drive theory

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

A Mere Effort Account of the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Task Performance

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

Working memory as a mediator of stereotype threat effects

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

The Effect of Stereotype Threat on Performance of a Rhythmic Motor Skill

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2015

Many studies using cognitive tasks have found that stereotype threat, or concern about confirming... more Many studies using cognitive tasks have found that stereotype threat, or concern about confirming a negative stereotype about one's group, debilitates performance. The few studies that documented similar effects on sensorimotor performance have used only relatively coarse measures to quantify performance. This study tested the effect of stereotype threat on a rhythmic ball bouncing task, where previous analyses of the task dynamics afforded more detailed quantification of the effect of threat on motor control. In this task, novices hit the ball with positive racket acceleration, indicative of unstable performance. With practice, they learn to stabilize error by changing their ball-racket impact from positive to negative acceleration. Results showed that for novices, stereotype threat potentiated hitting the ball with positive racket acceleration, leading to poorer performance of stigmatized females. However, when the threat manipulation was delivered after having acquired some skill, reflected by negative racket acceleration, the stigmatized females performed better. These findings are consistent with the mere effort account that argues that stereotype threat potentiates the most likely response on the given task. The study also demonstrates the value of identifying the control mechanisms through which stereotype threat has its effects on outcome measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Sociometry, 1977

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact

The effects of nonconscious and conscious motivation on performance

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

Evaluation is necessary to produce stereotype threat performance effects

Social Influence, 2010

In the first direct test of the assumption that an evaluative source is necessary to produce ster... more In the first direct test of the assumption that an evaluative source is necessary to produce stereotype threat effects, we combined a traditional stereotype threat manipulation with a scoring manipulation. Participants in a “pooled” condition believed that their scores would be averaged across gender, whereas in a “segregated” condition participants were led to believe that their scores would be segregated

Persuasion: Two Views: Smilla's Sense of Persuasion

PsycCRITIQUES, 1997

Theory in Social Psychology: A Matter of Taste?

PsycCRITIQUES, 1994

Group research (broadly construed): Hale and hearty

PsycCRITIQUES, 1991

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2011

To study mediation, investigators sometimes examine the effect of an independent variable on an u... more To study mediation, investigators sometimes examine the effect of an independent variable on an unrelated filler task that precedes the focal task. This approach assumes that the same psychological process drives performance on both tasks. The authors tested this assumption in a stereotype threat paradigm by manipulating whether or not the intervening task was described as relevant to the gender-math stereotype. When performance was relevant to the stereotype, females outperformed controls on an intervening Stroop task, but not when it was irrelevant (Experiment 1). In fact, females anticipating taking a math test under threat withdrew effort and performed more poorly on the intervening task when performance was irrelevant (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that different processes may drive performance on irrelevant and relevant intervening tasks. As a result, performance on irrelevant filler tasks may actually tell scholars little about mediating mechanisms.

Self-Evaluation and Creativity

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Lack of evaluation potential leads to the social loafing effect, the finding that participants wo... more Lack of evaluation potential leads to the social loafing effect, the finding that participants working together expend less effort than participants working alone. In 1988 Bartis, Szymanski and Harkins replicated this effect, showing that the lack of potential for evaluation by the experimenter ...

The Potency of the Potential for Experimenter and Self-Evaluation in Motivating Vigilance Performance

Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Jun 7, 2010

Race of source effects in the Elaboration Likelihood Model

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Dec 1, 1994

In a series of experiments, we investigated the effect of race of source on persuasive communicat... more In a series of experiments, we investigated the effect of race of source on persuasive communications in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (R.E. Petty & J.T. Cacioppo, 1981, 1986). In Experiment 1, we found no evidence that White participants responded to a Black source as a simple negative cue. Experiment 2 suggested the possibility that exposure to a Black source led to low-involvement message processing. In Experiments 3 and 4, a distraction paradigm was used to test this possibility, and it was found that participants under low involvement were highly motivated to process a message presented by a Black source. In Experiment 5, we found that attitudes toward the source's ethnic group, rather than violations of expectancies, accounted for this processing effect. Taken together, the results of these experiments are consistent with S.L. Gaertner and J.F. Dovidio's (1986) theory of aversive racism, which suggests that Whites, because of a combination of egalitarian values and underlying negative racial attitudes, are very concerned about not appearing unfavorable toward Blacks, leading them to be highly motivated to process messages presented by a source from this group.

Persuasion: Two Views: Smilla's Sense of Persuasion

Psyccritiques, 1997

Procrustes at work

Psyccritiques, 1988

The Role of Task Complexity, and Sources and Criteria of Evaluation in Motivating Task Performance

Multiple Perspectives on the Effects of Evaluation on Performance, 2001

Social Context Effects in Persuasion: The Effects of Multiple Sources and Multiple Targets

Basic Group Processes, 1983

The Three-Variable Model: From Occam’s Razor to the Black Box

Multiple Perspectives on the Effects of Evaluation on Performance, 2001

The effect of evaluation on performance: Distinguishing mere effort from drive theory

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

A Mere Effort Account of the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Task Performance

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

Working memory as a mediator of stereotype threat effects

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

The Effect of Stereotype Threat on Performance of a Rhythmic Motor Skill

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2015

Many studies using cognitive tasks have found that stereotype threat, or concern about confirming... more Many studies using cognitive tasks have found that stereotype threat, or concern about confirming a negative stereotype about one's group, debilitates performance. The few studies that documented similar effects on sensorimotor performance have used only relatively coarse measures to quantify performance. This study tested the effect of stereotype threat on a rhythmic ball bouncing task, where previous analyses of the task dynamics afforded more detailed quantification of the effect of threat on motor control. In this task, novices hit the ball with positive racket acceleration, indicative of unstable performance. With practice, they learn to stabilize error by changing their ball-racket impact from positive to negative acceleration. Results showed that for novices, stereotype threat potentiated hitting the ball with positive racket acceleration, leading to poorer performance of stigmatized females. However, when the threat manipulation was delivered after having acquired some skill, reflected by negative racket acceleration, the stigmatized females performed better. These findings are consistent with the mere effort account that argues that stereotype threat potentiates the most likely response on the given task. The study also demonstrates the value of identifying the control mechanisms through which stereotype threat has its effects on outcome measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Sociometry, 1977

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact

The effects of nonconscious and conscious motivation on performance

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000

Evaluation is necessary to produce stereotype threat performance effects

Social Influence, 2010

In the first direct test of the assumption that an evaluative source is necessary to produce ster... more In the first direct test of the assumption that an evaluative source is necessary to produce stereotype threat effects, we combined a traditional stereotype threat manipulation with a scoring manipulation. Participants in a “pooled” condition believed that their scores would be averaged across gender, whereas in a “segregated” condition participants were led to believe that their scores would be segregated

Persuasion: Two Views: Smilla's Sense of Persuasion

PsycCRITIQUES, 1997

Theory in Social Psychology: A Matter of Taste?

PsycCRITIQUES, 1994

Group research (broadly construed): Hale and hearty

PsycCRITIQUES, 1991

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2011

To study mediation, investigators sometimes examine the effect of an independent variable on an u... more To study mediation, investigators sometimes examine the effect of an independent variable on an unrelated filler task that precedes the focal task. This approach assumes that the same psychological process drives performance on both tasks. The authors tested this assumption in a stereotype threat paradigm by manipulating whether or not the intervening task was described as relevant to the gender-math stereotype. When performance was relevant to the stereotype, females outperformed controls on an intervening Stroop task, but not when it was irrelevant (Experiment 1). In fact, females anticipating taking a math test under threat withdrew effort and performed more poorly on the intervening task when performance was irrelevant (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that different processes may drive performance on irrelevant and relevant intervening tasks. As a result, performance on irrelevant filler tasks may actually tell scholars little about mediating mechanisms.