SIOP Organizational Behavior & Performance 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which reinforcement schedule produces the highest and most persistent rate of responding and is most resistant to extinction?
- Fixed ratio
- Variable ratio (Correct answer)
- Fixed interval
- Variable interval
Correct answer: Variable ratio
Variable ratio schedules produce the most persistent responding because the unpredictability of reinforcement timing makes extinction very slow.
Question 2: An employee consistently attributes her team's failures to external factors (e.g., market conditions) but attributes successes to her own efforts. This best illustrates:
- Fundamental attribution error
- Self-serving bias (Correct answer)
- Actor-observer effect
- Halo effect
Correct answer: Self-serving bias
Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors to protect self-esteem.
Question 3: According to Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model, which psychological state is directly produced by task identity and task significance?
- Experienced responsibility for outcomes
- Knowledge of results
- Experienced meaningfulness of work (Correct answer)
- Intrinsic motivation
Correct answer: Experienced meaningfulness of work
Experienced meaningfulness of work is the psychological state linked to skill variety, task identity, and task significance in the JCM.
Question 4: A company uses 360-degree feedback. Which of the following is the MOST significant psychometric concern with peer ratings in this system?
- Central tendency error
- Leniency bias from friendship effects (Correct answer)
- Recency effects from short observation windows
- Restriction of range due to limited behavioral samples
Correct answer: Leniency bias from friendship effects
Peers who are friends with the ratee tend to inflate ratings, making leniency bias driven by friendship the primary psychometric concern in peer feedback systems.
Question 5: In expectancy theory, the term 'instrumentality' refers to:
- The belief that effort will lead to performance
- The perceived value of the reward offered
- The belief that performance will lead to a specific outcome (Correct answer)
- The degree to which a goal is perceived as attainable
Correct answer: The belief that performance will lead to a specific outcome
Instrumentality is the perceived probability that achieving a performance level will result in a desired outcome or reward.
Question 6: Which type of organizational justice is most strongly associated with employees' evaluations of their supervisors?
- Distributive justice
- Procedural justice
- Informational justice
- Interpersonal justice (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Interpersonal justice
Interpersonal justice, reflecting respectful and dignified treatment by supervisors, is most strongly linked to supervisor-directed attitudes and behaviors.
Question 7: An organization implements a gain-sharing plan. This is BEST described as a form of:
- Individual merit pay tied to appraisal ratings
- Group-based variable pay linked to productivity improvements (Correct answer)
- Skill-based pay for competency acquisition
- Profit-sharing distributed annually from net earnings
Correct answer: Group-based variable pay linked to productivity improvements
Gain-sharing rewards work groups with a share of financial gains achieved through improved operational efficiency or productivity.
SIOP Organizational Behavior & Performance 2
Which reinforcement schedule produces the highest and most persistent rate of responding and is most resistant to extinction?