One factor with potential links to performance evaluation is evaluator power. In a meta-analytic review of the available literature, the relation between power and performance evaluation was examined. Results indicate that as power levels increase, evaluations of others become increasingly negative and evaluations of the self become increasingly positive. We examined moderators of these relations, and methodological variables caused the most differences in effect sizes across studies. The article addresses implications of these findings for businesses and social psychological theories of power.

This study explores the effects of power, positional threat, and expectancies on interactions between powerholders and subordinates. Two hundred and forty-two participants were randomly assigned to power role (boss or employee). Bosses were further randomly assigned to levels of positional threat (power role secure or insecure) and expectancy regarding subordinates' problem-solving ability (negative or positive). Evidence for a self-fulfilling prophecy was obtained, such that dyads where bosses held negative expectancies of their subordinates rated the subordinate and experience most negatively and awarded less potential prize money to the subordinates. Expectancy interacted with positional threat in a consistent manner such that the most negative effects were obtained for dyads where bosses were both positionally threatened and held negative expectancies of subordinates. Implications for theories of power are discussed.

Research on group processes published in the social psychological literature over a 15-year period was examined to evaluate the impact of published critiques and recommendations by methodologists concerning the effects of nonindependence of observations on analyses of data from individuals in groups. The examination revealed modest progress in dealing with the nonindependence problem. Although more group researchers acknowledge the nonindependence problem than ever before, there is little evidence that they are using optimal strategies to address the problem. The most prevalent strategy is to use the group as the unit of analysis even when the data are gathered from individual group members and the research questions concern the effects of the group on its members. Although hierarchical linear modeling is a superior strategy for analyzing data from members of groups, there is no evidence of its use in the published literature during the 15 years considered.

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This study investigated how personality affects individuals’ life narratives of teasing and their perceptions of childhood teasing events. Participants viewed videotaped interactions of a childhood teasing incident in which victim responses to teasing were varied. Personality and teasing history information was collected and life narratives of past teasing experiences were elicited from participants. Personality strongly affected participants’ reactions to the videotaped teasing incident; many of these personality effects occurred in interactions between personality and situational cues (victim responses). Personality also affected life narratives of teasing. Structural equations modeling (SEM) using a levels of analysis approach suggested that the effects of personality on life narratives were both direct and mediated by teasing history.