Creativity Through Applying Ideas From Fields Other Than One’s Own: Transferring Knowledge From Social Psychology to Industrial/Organizational Psychology * Abstract Subfields of psychology can be arguably characterized as islands of unconnected knowledge. The underlying theme of this paper is that these subfields have much to gain by looking at and studying each other’s respective literature. This paper explains how the field of industrial/organiza- tional (I/O) psychology has benefited from theory and research in social psychology, and suggests ways it can ben- efit even more so. Specifically, moral development, the group-serving bias, as well as inducing feelings of hypocrisy so as to foster subsequent behaviour change are discussed. Their potential for leading to further insight into existing problems, refining existing theories, and for raising new questions in I/O psychology is described. Psychology is a behavioural science whose literature has grown rapidly. However, psychology has often failed to transfer knowledge across its subfields. Scientists and practitioners within the subfields fre- quently appear ignorant of ways they can benefit from cross-subfield research. These subfields, whether bio- logical, clinical, educational, social, or industrial, con- tain interdependent ideas that should be shared in order to advance psychology for all. Since the authors are researchers of organizational behaviour, this paper provides insights as to how trans- ferring knowledge from social psychology has already enriched the science and practice of I/O psychology. In addition, new ideas as to how I/O psychology can benefit from social psychology are explored. Benefits of Reading Literature Other than One’s Own The benefits of researching literature other than one’s own are at least four-fold. First, sharing concepts among psychology’s subfields allows researchers to extend their work to other areas (i.e., generalization). Second, it enables them to theorize and contextualize their research so as to connect their findings within larger conversations. Research designs often yield rela- tively sterile pieces of data that contribute little to knowledge and understanding when they are confined to narrow disciplines, or kept within the borders of a specific field (e.g., Locker, 1994; Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2001). Third, it helps researchers to be constructively critical of both the fields from which they draw information and of that in which they work. It can lead to proposals for using alternative method- ologies in a particular program of research. Fourth, it enables researchers to raise questions not previously considered. Sharing knowledge across subfields may even lead researchers who investigate the same phe- nomenon, but who are in different areas of psycholo- gy, and hence have different perspectives and instru- ments, to interact with one another in ways that facili- tate both knowledge creation and knowledge applica- tion. History I/O .

1. Creativity Through Applying Ideas From Fields Other
Than One’s Own: Transferring Knowledge From Social
Psychology to Industrial/Organizational Psychology *
Abstract
Subfields of psychology can be arguably characterized as
islands of unconnected knowledge. The underlying theme
of this paper is that these subfields have much to gain by
looking at and studying each other’s respective literature.
This paper explains how the field of industrial/organiza-
tional (I/O) psychology has benefited from theory and
research in social psychology, and suggests ways it can ben-
efit even more so. Specifically, moral development, the
group-serving bias, as well as inducing feelings of hypocrisy
so as to foster subsequent behaviour change are discussed.
Their potential for leading to further insight into existing
problems, refining existing theories, and for raising new
questions in I/O psychology is described.
Psychology is a behavioural science whose literature
has grown rapidly. However, psychology has often
failed to transfer knowledge across its subfields.
Scientists and practitioners within the subfields fre-
quently appear ignorant of ways they can benefit from
cross-subfield research. These subfields, whether bio-
logical, clinical, educational, social, or industrial, con-
tain interdependent ideas that should be shared in
order to advance psychology for all.
Since the authors are researchers of organizational
behaviour, this paper provides insights as to how trans-
ferring knowledge from social psychology has already

2. enriched the science and practice of I/O psychology.
In addition, new ideas as to how I/O psychology can
benefit from social psychology are explored.
Benefits of Reading Literature Other than One’s Own
The benefits of researching literature other than one’s
own are at least four-fold. First, sharing concepts
among psychology’s subfields allows researchers to
extend their work to other areas (i.e., generalization).
Second, it enables them to theorize and contextualize
their research so as to connect their findings within
larger conversations. Research designs often yield rela-
tively sterile pieces of data that contribute little to
knowledge and understanding when they are confined
to narrow disciplines, or kept within the borders of a
specific field (e.g., Locker, 1994; Sternberg &
Grigorenko, 2001). Third, it helps researchers to be
constructively critical of both the fields from which
they draw information and of that in which they work.
It can lead to proposals for using alternative method-
ologies in a particular program of research. Fourth, it
enables researchers to raise questions not previously
considered. Sharing knowledge across subfields may
even lead researchers who investigate the same phe-
nomenon, but who are in different areas of psycholo-
gy, and hence have different perspectives and instru-
ments, to interact with one another in ways that facili-
tate both knowledge creation and knowledge applica-
tion.
History
I/O researchers have already benefited from theories
and concepts (e.g., causal attribution, judgment
heuristics, impression management, power and com-
pliance, and leadership) developed within the field of

3. social psychology to predict, explain, and influence
the behaviour of individuals in organizational settings.
I/O researchers looked at the social psychological liter-
ature because social psychological processes influence,
to a great extent, an individual’s behaviour in organi-
zations. I/O researchers are pragmatic social scientists
who often have to deal with concrete issues in real-
world settings. Relative to other subfields, the bridge
between I/O and social psychology has always been
quite strong. These two subfields of psychology have
systematically examined similar ideas albeit in differ-
ent contexts, and in doing so, have advanced knowl-
edge by showing that conclusions from within these
two subfields have external validity.
The paper proceeds as follows. First, we provide two
examples, causal attribution and impression manage-
ment, to illustrate how I/O researchers have benefited
GERARD H. SEIJTS
BRANDON W. LATHAM
University of Western Ontario
* Accepted by the previous Editor, Dr. Vic Catano./Accepté par
le
Rédacteur en chef précédent, Vic Catano.
Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 44:3 2003
Creativity Through Applying Ideas From Fields Other Than
One’s Own 233
from concepts identified and developed in social psy-

4. chology. Second, we suggest additional avenues for
exploration, namely, the role of moral development,
the group-serving bias, and the effect of inducing feel-
ings of hypocrisy on subsequent behaviour change.
These topics are explored within an organizational
environment to illustrate how theories and empirical
research in social psychology can inform I/O
researchers. Other topics in social psychology could
easily be included, but are deleted for reasons of jour-
nal space. Third, we address barriers that exist in shar-
ing theories and concepts among the subfields of psy-
chology, and discuss strategies for the transfer of
knowledge.
Causal Attribution
The study of attribution processes began with the sem-
inal work of Heider (1946, 1958). The implicit
assumption is that people function as naïve scientists
(e.g., Heider, 1958; Jones & Davis 1965). That is, most
individuals strive to hold “correct” opinions and
beliefs. In doing so, they attempt to discover factors
that give rise to or explain an outcome, especially
those that are unexpected or aversive.
Kelley, a social psychologist, developed the co-varia-
tion model (e.g., Kelley, 1972). This model explains
how individuals process information to make causal
attributions for the behaviour of self and others.
People look for three sources of data to explain the
reason(s) individuals engage in a particular behaviour
or perform at a certain level. (1) The consistency of
the actor’s action (e.g., Does the person engage in the
behaviour on a regular and consistent basis?). (2) The
level of consensus (e.g., Do other people engage in
the same behaviour, or is it unique to the person?).
(3) The distinctiveness of the action (e.g., Does the

5. person engage in the behaviour on several occasions,
or is it distinctive to one situation?). These three fac-
tors in concert are used to determine internal or
external explanations for the person’s behaviour.
Such explanations or attributions, in turn, influence
the observer’s perceptions and future behaviour.
Mitchell, who was trained as a graduate student in
social psychology, was among the first I/O researchers
to use attribution processes to predict and explain
leadership and performance appraisal behaviour. In a
series of studies, he investigated factors that influence
a nursing supervisor’s causal attribution of behaviour
when confronted with incidents of poor work perfor-
mance on the part of an employee.
He found that the supervisors attributed poor per-
formance more to internal than external factors,
regardless of the surrounding circumstances (e.g., the
extent to which peers made similar errors) (e.g.,
Mitchell & Kalb, 1981; Mitchell & Wood, 1980). The
bias toward internal attributions for poor work perfor-
mance increased when the work history of an employ-
ee was poor. The supervisors’ behaviours chosen as
responses to the poor performance were related in a
predictable manner to their attributions. That is, the
more internal the attribution, the more disciplinary
action was recommended versus a training program
that would benefit the entire staff. Thus, consistent
with research in social psychology, Mitchell found that
individuals attempt to discover the root cause of inap-
propriate work behaviour, and that the information
gathered provides guidelines for individuals’ subse-
quent behaviour. Consistent with the co-variation
model, he found consistency, consensus, and distinc-

6. tiveness to be relevant dimensions on which supervi-
sors base attributions for job performance.
Researchers have also investigated the role of attri-
butions in areas other than performance appraisal,
including, but not limited to, helping behaviour in
teams (e.g., LePine & Van Dyne, 2001), sexual harass-
ment (e.g., O’Leary-Kelly, Paetzold, & Griffin, 2000),
and burnout and exhaustion (e.g., Moore, 2000).
They found that incorporating causal attribution theo-
ries in their research improved the constructs’ con-
ceptualization (e.g., the antecedents and conse-
quences).
In conclusion, the concept of causal attribution,
which had its origin in social psychology, has advanced
theory development and research in I/O psychology.
The application of attribution theories to content
domains such as performance appraisal and leader-
ship, among others, has helped I/O researchers to
gain insight as to how employees, supervisors, and
managers use information to arrive at causal explana-
tions for work-related events. In doing so, insight from
attribution theories have helped to advance our
knowledge and, in addition, refine our theories in
areas including, but not limited to, per formance
appraisal and leadership.
Impression Management
People engage in modification of presentation of the
self in order to increase their power in relationships
and maximize profitable outcomes (e.g., Schlenker,
1985; Schlenker, Pontari, Tesser, & Felson, 2000). For
example, a person may embellish ongoing behaviour
if she believes that she will gain valued tangible or
intangible outcomes through fostering a particular

7. impression in others. In addition, impression manage-
ment behaviours affect the images presented to the
self. This is because, as Fiske and Taylor (1991)
argued, “… the self is one’s own best and most impor-
tant audience” (p. 233).
234 Seijts and Latham
Impression management research in social psychol-
ogy has influenced I/O research in goal setting, feed-
back seeking behaviour, and the selection interview.
With regard to goal setting, Huber, Latham, and
Locke (1989) showed that employees can create a pos-
itive impression with their supervisors when they
engage in a number of goal-setting strategies, such as
taking the initiative to set goals, choosing challenging
goals, showing commitment to goals through persis-
tence and problem resolution, and succeeding in
attaining or approaching the goal. In contrast, super-
visors can create a favourable impression with employ-
ees through such behaviours as providing a rationale
for the goal, serving as a role model by setting and
attaining challenging goals, and allowing employees
to develop their own strategies to attain an assigned
goal. Other goal-setting researchers have obtained
similar findings (e.g., Dossett & Greenberg, 1981).
Seijts, Meertens, and Kok (1997) found that the
impression management motive is an antecedent of
goal commitment. Making a public commitment to a
goal increases goal commitment over that of assigning
a goal in private. Failure to attain the goal could hurt
one’s private and public image as observers come to
question the person’s abilities. As a result, people per-

8. sist in goal-directed behaviour.
The impressions that supervisors have of employees
are usually important because supervisors control
access to rewards such as compensation, promotion,
and training opportunities. Feedback seeking can
affect a super visor’s impression of an employee.
Ashford and Northcraft (1992) found that employees
tend to prefer nonsocial sources of feedback because
the act of asking for feedback from one’s peers
and/or supervisors may give observers the impression
that the person is insecure about his job performance,
or worse, incompetent. This finding suggests that
feedback seekers are faced with a conflict between
their need to obtain useful information to improve
job per formance, and the need to present a
favourable image to other members of the organiza-
tion. The impression management motive thus adds
complexities to the feedback seeking process.
A third area in which I/O researchers have begun
to incorporate the concept of impression manage-
ment is that of selection inter views. Among the
impression management tactics that are commonly
used in selection interviews are ingratiation, self-pro-
motion, assertiveness, excuses, and information filter-
ing (e.g., Fletcher, 1989). Researchers have investigat-
ed factors that affect the use of such impression man-
agement tactics, as well as the effect of these tactics on
actual inter view outcomes. In a campus setting,
Stevens and Kristof (1995) found that applicants
relied on assertive tactics such as explaining how
obstacles were overcome to a greater extent than
defensive tactics such as excuses or justifications.
These assertive impression management tactics, in

9. turn, had a positive effect on interviewers’ ratings of
the applicants, and subsequent site-visit invitations.
Future Benefits
In the above examples, there is a solid body of litera-
ture in social psychology suggesting straightforward
applications to I/O psychology. In the next section, we
discuss potential benefits from areas in social psychol-
ogy where there are as yet little or no extant applica-
tions to I/O psychology. Three examples are discussed,
namely, moral development, the group-serving bias, as
well as hypocrisy and subsequent behaviour change.
None of these areas have found their way into main-
stream I/O journals. Nevertheless, these areas have
the potential to lead to further insight into old prob-
lems, refinement of existing theories, and raise new
questions for I/O research and practice. These areas
were selected because they illustrate subject matter of
interest to I/O psychologists that are not well illustrat-
ed by existing I/O theory or research.
Moral Development
Individuals differ in their level of value development,
as well as in their perceptions of the appropriate
means to achieve valued ends or personal goals. For
example, those who have progressed to a mature level
of value development possess a different set of value
priorities than individuals who are at less mature
levels.
A model that has attracted widespread attention in
the literature is that of Kohlberg’s (1976, 1984) moral
reasoning. Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist,
identified three levels of value development. First, at
the preconventional level, values and moral reasoning
are based on personal needs or wants, as well as on the

10. consequences of an act in obtaining a reward or avoid-
ing punishment. Second, at the conventional level,
reasoning is based on conforming to, and upholding,
the conventions and expectations of others. Third, at
the postconventional level, right versus wrong and
good versus bad are judged on the basis of principles
that have been internalized by the individual.
Through experience, learning from others, and per-
spective-taking, the individual develops a set of core
values. These core values, in turn, are the basis for
decision-making and interaction with others. These
three levels appear in a fixed order of succession; pass-
ing each level is required for the formation of the fol-
lowing one. The postconventional stage represents the
highest or most mature level of value development.
Creativity Through Applying Ideas From Fields Other Than
One’s Own 235
Studies in social psychology have linked value
development to a number of dependent variables,
including antisocial acts such as disobedience, cheat-
ing, and aggression as well as moral domains such as
capital punishment and abortion. In a scenario exper-
iment, Berkowitz, Mueller, Schnell, and Padberg
(1986) found that high school and college students
who exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning
responded stronger to an aggressor’s intentions vis-à-
vis the consequences for the victim when rating the
aggressiveness of the act. The level of an individual’s
moral development has also been associated with acts
such as drug and alcohol abuse (e.g., Berkowitz,
Guerra, & Nucci, 1991).

11. What might the relevance of these findings be for
I/O researchers and organizations? Value develop-
ment and moral reasoning are research avenues for
I/O psychologists who study ethics in the workplace as
well as counterproductive behaviour. Employees can
engage in a wide spectrum of counterproductive, dis-
ruptive, antisocial, and deviant behaviours. Examples
include manipulation of the organization’s balance
sheet, insider trading, faking tests, theft, sabotage,
harassment, cheating, violence, not to mention avoid-
able tardiness and absenteeism. Kohlberg’s model and
Berkowitz’s findings might also have implications for
work-related domains such as conflict resolution, deci-
sion-making, and pro-social or organizational citizen-
ship behaviour.
How can organizations minimize, if not prevent,
counterproductive behaviours and deception in the
workplace? Should moral development be included in
efforts to predict and prevent such behaviours?
Research questions might include the following. (1) Is
moral development a predictor of ethical workplace
behaviour, counterproductive workplace behaviour, or
both? (2) Should moral development be a selection
criterion, and if so, under what conditions? (3) How
can I/O psychologists design instruments that mea-
sure moral development in the workplace, and that
are defensible in the courtroom? (4) Can organiza-
tions foster an individual’s moral development? What
contextual variables affect moral development?
Initiating a research program to answer such ques-
tions might a) help I/O psychologists discover motives
behind counterproductive behaviours, hence build
more “complete” models in psychology, and b) pro-
vide organizations with suggestions of how to best

12. avoid and manage counterproductive behaviour in
the workplace.
Vecchio (1981) provided preliminary evidence of
the benefit of research on moral reasoning for I/O
psychology. He used Kohlberg’s stages of value devel-
opment to reconcile the differential predictions gen-
erated by Adams’ (1965) equity theory and Vroom’s
(1964) expectancy theory for the condition of over-
payment on a piece-rate compensation scheme.
Undergraduate students were hired to interview fel-
low students on their opinions on controversial cam-
pus-life issues. Participants were assigned to either the
equitable payment condition or the overpayment con-
dition. The rate of conducting interviews and the aver-
age number of words recorded per interview were the
dependent variables. The more morally mature partic-
ipants were the most differentially affected by the
occurrence of inequity in the simulated work setting.
Vecchio’s study thus illustrates that I/O psychologists
can gain by looking at the knowledge developed in
other subfields of psychology.
Group-Serving Bias
The group-serving bias refers to the disparaging expla-
nations that members of a dominant group make for
the successes and failures of members of an “out-
group” relative to members of their “ingroup” (e.g.,
Dion & Dion, 2001; Schruijer, Blanz, Mummendey, &
Tedeschi, 1994). For example, the failure of an out-
group member is often seen as reflecting an internal
disposition (e.g., laziness, or low intellectual ability) to
a greater extent than the same failing of an ingroup
member. Moreover, members of the ingroup tend to
view successes of an outgroup member as an excep-

13. tional case, or due to luck or a special advantage (e.g.,
affirmative action policies). Achievements of outgroup
members, therefore, are discounted relative to the
same success that a member from the ingroup
attained. In conclusion, social psychologists have
found that group members tend to offer more
favourable explanations for the actions of ingroup
members than for those of outgroup members. Also,
their research has shown that prejudiced individuals
in particular tend to offer disparaging explanations
for the achievements of outgroup members (e.g.,
Hewstone & Ward, 1985; Pettigrew, 1979).
Social psychologists Dion and Dion (2001) exam-
ined the group-serving bias involving Blacks, Chinese,
Black Jamaicans, and White Anglo-Canadians, crossed
with age and gender. In addition, the moderating
influence of social dominance orientation (SDO),
reflecting a belief in the rightness of group hierar-
chies and personal acceptance of intergroup inequali-
ties, was investigated. They found that, across domains
such as athletic and academic performance, SDO cor-
related significantly with discounting attributions.
Those participants (all White students) with high SDO
tended to view the achievements of the disadvantaged
groups as reflecting luck, an exceptional case, or the
result of a special advantage. In addition, a main
236 Seijts and Latham
effect for ethnic background was obtained. The
results indicated greater discounting for Black than
for Chinese performers.

14. These findings have implications for I/O research
in the areas of selection, performance appraisal, pro-
motion, and employee access to training programs.
For example, does the group-serving bias help to
explain the different interviewer reactions to candi-
dates from various racial-ethnic backgrounds in selec-
tion interviews? Do racial minorities, women, and peo-
ple with disabilities have prior work-related achieve-
ments seen in a positive or negative light? Looking at
studies on the group-serving bias, in addition to stud-
ies in areas such as organizational justice and theories
of rating, might help I/O psychologists to better
understand the behaviour of individuals conducting
selection interviews.
The results might also have implications for mini-
mizing workplace aggression and harassment. For
example, Aquino (2000) defined victimization as “the
individual’s self-perception of having been exposed,
either momentarily or repeatedly, to aggressive actions
emanating from one or more other persons” (p. 172).
This definition implies that there could be a relation-
ship between the group-serving bias and victimization
in that individuals perceive the behavioural acts (e.g.,
issuing threats) of outgroup members as more aggres-
sive than the same acts of ingroup members. It might
also be that individuals ascribe a higher likelihood to
outgroup victims of aggression to retaliate than
ingroup victims of the same act of regression. Such
perceptions could lead to self-fulfilling prophecies.
Thus, based on the group-serving bias research, it
would appear that attributional processes at the group
level could help researchers discover ways to explain,
predict, and influence deviant behaviour in the work-
place.

15. The group-serving bias might also inform I/O
research on group-efficacy, defined as “a group’s
shared belief in its conjoint capabilities to organize
and execute the courses of action required to produce
given levels of attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p. 477).
Gist and Mitchell (1992) argued that perceptions of
efficacy are, in part, the result of an in-depth attribu-
tional process. However, the group-serving bias can be
expected to hinder people’s attempts to understand
the “true” causes of good or poor performance. As a
result, the shared perceptions of a group’s efficacy will
be inaccurate. This could be problematic, in particu-
lar when efficacy beliefs are unduly high because an
inflated sense of efficacy could result in overconfi-
dence and, in the long run, poor performance.
Inducing Feelings of Hypocrisy and Dissonance Reduction
Thus far, this paper has focused primarily on ways I/O
researchers might benefit from theory and research in
social psychology. I/O practitioners too may be able to
apply findings from social psychology directly to prac-
tice. An example is Aronson’s work on hypocrisy and
behavioural change.
Aronson and his colleagues (e.g., Aronson, 1999;
Aronson, Fried, & Stone, 1991; Dickerson, Thibodeau,
Aronson, & Miller, 1992) developed a technique to
induce feelings of hypocrisy, which is a form of cogni-
tive dissonance. Feelings of hypocrisy, in turn, can
lead to a relatively permanent change in behaviour.
In brief, individuals are asked to encourage (e.g.,
through writing a persuasive speech for an audience)
other people to perform worthwhile behaviours (e.g.,
using condoms to prevent AIDS). Then, these individ-
uals are reminded (e.g., through self-generated feed-

16. back such as completing a questionnaire) that, on
occasion, their own behaviour has not been consistent
with what they have advocated. As a result, these indi-
viduals come to realize that they do not “practice what
they preach.” This, in turn, generates feelings of
hypocrisy. For most individuals, behaving hypocritical-
ly is inconsistent with their self-concept of integrity.
Aronson’s program of research has shown that to fos-
ter the highest motivation to act in accordance with
one’s dominant attitudes, both public commitment to
the position one supports as well as mindfulness of
one’s occasional failure to act in accordance with that
position must be present.
Aronson tested his ideas in field settings. For exam-
ple, Stone, Aronson, Crain, Winslow, and Fried (1994)
found that sexually active young adults who publicly
advocated the importance of practicing safe sex to
prevent AIDS, and who were then made mindful of
their own past failure to use condoms, bought more
condoms, on average, than the participants in the
control condition. Similar research was conducted
using water conservation (e.g., Dickerson et al., 1992)
and recycling (e.g., Fried & Aronson, 1995) as depen-
dent variables.
The results that Aronson obtained in bringing
about a change in behaviour are both compelling and
provocative for practitioners as well as scientists. This
intervention technique would appear to be highly
applicable in organizational settings.
Managers are often guilty of not practicing what
they preach to their superiors, peers, and subordi-
nates. Examples include, but are not limited to, adher-
ing to fairness principles in performance reviews,

17. allowing input in the goal-setting process, abstaining
from alcohol during work time, using uniform stan-
dards in job promotion decisions, and so forth.
Creativity Through Applying Ideas From Fields Other Than
One’s Own 237
Consistent with the public commitment factor in
the hypocrisy paradigm, managers could be asked to
discuss, in public, the importance of behaving in a
prescribed or advocated manner. Second, managers
could be made mindful of their own failures to behave
in this prescribed fashion through having small discus-
sion groups work together to generate a list of the cir-
cumstances that make the advocated behaviour diffi-
cult. Through this discussion, managers’ own past
transgressions might become salient. This could be
the starting point for behavioural change. In addition,
the technique might be used as a post-transfer-of-train-
ing intervention to ensure behaviour maintenance on
the part of trainees. Research has shown that, within
work settings, the correlation between learning (e.g.,
knowledge and attitudes) and behaviour is weak. For
example, Alliger and Janek (1989) reported a .13 cor-
relation between these two variables, suggesting that
while employees know how to behave as well as the
rationale for doing so, they do not do so. Inducing
cognitive dissonance through Aronson’s methodology
might be an effective intervention to strengthen the
relationship between cognition and behaviour.
Discussion
Social psychologists tend to do laboratory experi-
ments involving undergraduate students. This is also

18. true of I/O psychologists. Nevertheless, laboratory
findings usually generalize to organizational settings
(Locke, 1986). Most social psychologists, as do I/O
psychologists, prefer quantitative to qualitative
research, and prefer where possible to conduct
research in field settings. There are few, if any, philo-
sophical underpinnings for refusing to embrace one
another’s respective literature. Social psychology, for
example, could benefit from I/O research findings
regarding the danger of using difference scores as
well as the perils of using single items as a dependent
measure. Yet, mixing the various subfields, not to
mention disciplines, evokes fear and resistance among
many scientists (e.g., Hansson, 1999; Locker, 1994;
Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2001) for at least five rea-
sons. First, the entrenched organization of the sub-
fields is traditional in psychology; psychologists accept
the structure as a given. Second, crossing boundaries
requires even more time and effort than research in a
traditional defined field (e.g., one has to keep up with
the reading in multiple fields, not just one). Third,
the likelihood that researchers make conceptual mis-
takes when concepts are imported from other fields
increases (e.g., taking concepts out of context or mis-
application of concepts). Fourth, there is a risk to
championing theories that may be subsequently dis-
counted in the host field. Fifth, there is often a fear
that research that crosses fields and disciplines will be
treated unfavourably. That is, reviewers will rate
papers from their own discipline more favourably
than mixed-bag papers. However, Steele and Stier
(2000) found that papers in the environmental sci-
ences that drew information from a diverse set of jour-
nals were cited to a greater, not lesser, extent than
papers that had smaller or more narrow focused bibli-

19. ographies. Whether this is the case in the discipline of
psychology as well is unknown and warrants empirical
investigation.
Science and practice is needed to discover ways to
combat bias toward crossing boundaries and transfer-
ring knowledge in psychology. One potential strategy
is for PhD students to be encouraged to write truly
comprehensive examinations; their supervisors can
encourage them to take courses from other subfields
of psychology. This might encourage people to look
beyond their narrow subdiscipline, and might lead to
an appreciation for other subdisciplines that would
last a lifetime.
Arguably more important is the need for a theory
of diffusion for not only disseminating results across
psychology’s subfields, but empowering or motivating
scientists and practitioners to approach their own
work in a new way, with new vigour to learn about
overlapping subfields, seek to apply findings from
other fields to their own, and so forth. Short of that, a
framework or conceptual scheme is needed concern-
ing desirable connections among subfields. This
would enable psychologists to draw on material more
selectively to bolster and elaborate upon their
research and practice.
The willingness of I/O psychologists to take advan-
tage of the social psychology literature reflects well on
them and says something about the kind of person
drawn to I/O psychology. I/O psychologists are prag-
matic social scientists who often have to deal with con-
crete issues of applied psychology in real-world set-
tings. As such, the social – I/O transfer is an example
of a symbiosis between a basic area (viz., social psy-

20. chology) and an applied area (viz., I/O psychology).
As psychologists, we should all have a vested interest
in giving our science away, of “advancing psychology
for all.”
This research was supported by the Richard Ivey School of
Business MBA ‘96 Faculty Fellowship. A modified version
of this paper was presented as part of the symposium
“Bringing down the walls: Creating a boundaryless psy-
chology” presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian
Psychological Association, St. Foy, Quebec, June, 2001.
We thank Kenneth Dion, Gary Latham, John Meyer,
and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on an
238 Seijts and Latham
earlier draft of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be
addressed to Gerard H. Seijts, Richard Ivey School of
Business, The University of Western Ontario, London,
Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 (E-mail: [email protected]).
Résumé
On peut à juste titre décrire les sous-champs de la psy-
chologie comme des îles abritant des connaissances qui ne
sont pas reliées entre elles. Le thème sous-jacent du
présent article se résume ainsi : les sous-champs de la psy-
chologie ont beaucoup à gagner de la consultation et de
l’étude de la documentation sur laquelle s’appuie chacun
d’eux. Dans notre article, nous expliquons en quoi le
champ de la psychologie industrielle-organisationnelle
(I/O) a tiré profit de la théorie et de la recherche en psy-

21. chologie sociale et nous suggérons des moyens qui lui per-
mettraient d’en profiter encore davantage. En particulier,
nous discutons du développement moral, du biais cognitif
de groupe, ainsi que du développement de sentiments
d’hypocrisie de manière à favoriser un futur changement
de comportement. Enfin, nous décrivons le potentiel
qu’offrent ces concepts pour entraîner de nouvelles
façons de comprendre des problèmes existants, pour
préciser les théories actuelles et soulever de nouvelles
questions dans le champ de la psychologie I/O.
References
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L.
Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social
psychology, 2, 267-299. New York: Academic Press.
Alliger, G. M., & Janek, E. A. (1989). Kirkpatrick’s levels of
training criteria: Thirty years later. Personnel Psychology,
42, 331-342.
Aquino, K. (2000). Structural and individual determinants
of workplace victimization: The effects of hierarchical
status and conflict management style. Journal of
Management, 26, 171-193.
Aronson, E. (1999). Dissonance, hyprocrisy, and the self-
concept. In E. Harmon-Jones & J. Mills (Eds.), Cognitive
dissonance: Progress on a pivotal theory in social psychology
(pp. 103-126). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Aronson, E., Fried, C., & Stone, J. (1991). Overcoming
denial and increasing the intention to use condoms
through the induction of hypocrisy. Public Health Briefs,
81, 1636-1638.

22. Ashford, S., & Northcraft, G. (1992). Conveying more (or
less) than we realize: The role of impression-manage-
ment in feedback-seeking. Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, 53, 310-334.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New
York: Freeman.
Berkowitz, M., Guerra, N., & Nucci, L. (1991). Sociomoral
development and drug and alcohol abuse. In W. M.
Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behav-
ior and development (pp. 35-53). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Berkowitz, M., Mueller, C., Schnell, S., & Padberg, M.
(1986). Moral reasoning and judgments of aggression.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 885-891.
Dickerson, C. A., Thibodeau, R., Aronson, E., & Miller, D.
(1992). Using cognitive dissonance to encourage water
conservation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22, 841-
854.
Dion, K. L., & Dion, K. K. (2001, June). Social dominance
orientation and the ultimate attribution error. Paper pre-
sented at the annual convention of the American
Psychological Society. Toronto, ON.
Dossett, D., & Greenberg, C. (1981). Goal setting and per-
formance evaluation: An attributional analysis. Academy
of Management Journal, 24, 767-779.
Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition. New
York: McGraw-Hill.

23. Fletcher, C. (1989). Impression management in the selec-
tion interview. In R. A. Giacalone & P. Rosenfeld (Eds.),
Impression management in the organization (pp. 269-281).
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Fried, C. B., & Aronson, E. (1995). Hypocrisy, misattribu-
tion, and dissonance reduction. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 21, 925-933.
Gist, M. E., & Mitchell, T. R. (1992). Self-efficacy: A theo-
retical analysis of its determinants and malleability.
Academy of Management Review, 17, 183-211.
Hansson, B. (1999). Interdisciplinarity: For what purpose?
Policy Sciences, 32, 339-343.
Heider, F. (1946). Attitudes and cognitive organization.
Journal of Psychology, 21, 107-112.
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations.
New York: Wiley.
Hewstone, M., & Ward, C. (1985). Ethnocentrism and
causal attribution in Southeast Asia. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 48, 614-623.
Huber, V., Latham, G., & Locke, E. (1989). The manage-
ment of impressions through goal setting. In R. A.
Giacalone & P. Rosenfeld (Eds.), Impression management
in the organization (pp. 203-217). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Jones, E. E., & Davis, K. E. (1965). From acts to disposi-
tions: The attribution process in person perception. In
L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychol-

24. ogy, 2, 220-266. New York: Academic Press.
Kelley, H. H. (1972). Attribution in social interaction. In
E. E. Jones, D. E. Kanouse, H. H. Kelley, R. E. Nisbett,
S. Valins, & B. Weiner (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the
causes of behavior (pp. 1-26). Morristown, NJ: General
Creativity Through Applying Ideas From Fields Other Than
One’s Own 239
Learning Press.
Kohlberg, L. (1976). Moral stages and moralization, the
cognitive-developmental approach. In T. Lickona
(Ed.), Moral development and behavior (pp. 31-53). New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development.
San
Francisco, CA: Harper and Row.
LePine, J. A., & Van Dyne, L. (2001). Peer responses to low
performers: An attributional model of helping in the
context of groups. Academy of Management Review, 26,
67-84.
Locke, E. A. (1986). Generalizing from laboratory to field set-
tings. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Locker, K. (1994). The challenge of interdisciplinary
research. Journal of Business Communication, 31, 137-151.
Mitchell, T,. & Kalb, L. (1981). Effects of outcome knowl-
edge and outcome valence on supervisor’s evaluations.

25. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 604-612.
Mitchell, T., & Wood, R. (1980). Supervisor’s responses to
subordinate poor performance: A test of an attribution-
al model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Processes, 25, 123-138.
Moore, J. E. (2000). Why is this happening? A causal attri-
bution approach to work exhaustion consequences.
Academy of Management Review, 25, 335-349.
O’Leary-Kelly, A. M., Paetzold, R. L., & Griffin, R. W.
(2000). Sexual harassment as aggressive behavior: An
actor-based perspective. Academy of Management Review,
25, 372-388.
Pettigrew, T. F. (1979). The ultimate attribution error:
Extending Allport’s cognitive analysis of prejudice.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 5, 461-479.
Schlenker, B. R. (1985). The self and social life. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Schlenker B. R., Pontari, B., Tesser, A., & Felson, R.
(2000). The strategic control of information:
Impression management and self-presentation in daily
life. In A. Tesser & R. B. Felson (Eds.), Psychological per-
spectives on self and identity (pp. 199-232). Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
Schruijer, S., Blanz, M., Mummendey, A., & Tedeschi, J.
(1994). The group-serving bias in evaluating and
explaining harmful behavior. Journal of Social Psychology,
134, 47-53.
Seijts, G. H., Meertens, R. M., & Kok, G. J. (1997). The

26. effects of task importance and publicness on the rela-
tionship between goal difficulty and task performance.
Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 29, 54-62.
Steele, T. W., & Stier, J. C. (2000). The impact of interdisci-
plinary research in the environmental sciences: A
forestry case study. Journal of the American Society for
Information Science, 51, 476-484.
Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). Unified psy-
chology. American Psychologist, 56, 1069-1079.
Stevens, C., & Kristof, A. (1995). Making the right impres-
sion: A field study of applicant impression management
during job interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80,
587-606.
Stone, J., Aronson, E., Crain, A. L., Winslow, M. P., &
Fried, C. B. (1994). Inducing hypocrisy as a means of
encouraging young adults to use condoms. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 116-128.
Vecchio, R. P. (1981). An individual-differences interpreta-
tion of the conflicting predictions generated by equity
theory and expectancy theory. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 66, 470-481.
Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley.
Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CLIMATE
CHANGE 1
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CLIMATE CHANGE
2
Annotated Bibliography of Climate Change

27. Student
Institution
Date
IPCC (2007): Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report.
Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change [Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K and Reisinger,
A.(eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 104 p.
This report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
summarizes research that was carried out by three groups on
climate change. the first group based its research on the science
of climate change as well as its past, current, and future effects
on weather patterns and the environment. It also did the
projections of climate change for the next 20, 50, and 100 years.
The second group based their research on how climate change
may impact or is impacting people in their local environment in
different geographical locations of the world. The third group
explored mitigations of climate change. This article is relevant
to this study since it is based on climate change. It will provide
useful information relating to cause of climate change, its
effects and mitigations for climate change. Understanding this
issue of climate change is possible through going through this
article.
Anisimov, O.A.; Vaughan, D.G.; Callaghan, T.V.; Furgal, C.;
Marchant, H.; Prowse, T.D.;
Vilhjálmsson, H.; and Walsh, J.E. (2007): Polar regions (Arctic
and
Antarctic), in Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth

28. Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge p.
653-685.
This article by Anisimov and colleagues is based on climate
change. The authors narrow down their research to give
summary of wide range of scientific research, both social and
natural, that has been done by different scientists relating to the
vulnerability of Antarctic and arctic ecosystems and
communities to the effects of climate change, and the capacity
of these ecosystems and communities to adapt the these effects.
Another important thing that is discussed by the authors is
traditional knowledge, which provides different sides of
indigenous cultures that will be impacted by climate change.
The methods for coming up with adaptation strategies for
communities to respond to climate change are also discussed by
the authors. This article is relevant to this study of climate
change. It gives useful information related to how certain
ecosystems and communities will be affected by climate change.
Projecting change to the climate of certain regions can be made
possible through the use of this article.
Strayer, D. L. and D. Dudgeon (2010). "Freshwater biodiversity
conservation: recent progress
and future challenges." Journal of the North American
Benthological Society 29(1): 344-358.
This article by Strayer and Dudgeon is one of the best
discussions relating to the state of freshwater biodiversity and
climate change. The article is well written and designed for
scientific audiences. The article describes severity and urgency
of the threat caused by climate change to fresh water
biodiversity. It also touches on extinctions together with
continued exploitation of water resources by humans. Other
things that are described in the article are anthropogenic threats,
geographic patterns, policy that is in existence, and

29. management. The authors state that there is the need for urgent
action and research with regards to climate change, policy, and
management. This article is relevant since it gives details
relating to climate change and its effect on freshwater
biodiversity. It is useful because it acknowledges that the effect
of climate change is threatening biodiversity. The bad thing
with this article is that very little relating to climate change has
been discussed.
Hellmann, J. J., J. E. Byers, et al. (2008). "Five potential
consequences of climate change for
invasive species." Conservation Biology 22(3): 534-543.
Hellmann and colleagues based their research on climate change
and invasive species. The authors give clear explanation of
main ways through which climate change will alter the location
and effect of invasive species. The authors use scientific
language that is readable. Descriptive and accessible assessment
relating to the link between climate change and invasive species
is given. It ties together what people have learned from models
and what has been learned from experimentation and
observation. Also addressed is how the management of invasive
species may change with regards to climate change. This section
is not very long, but the good thing is that it has been explained
well. The relevance of the article is that it is based on climate
change. There are few article based on climate change and its
effect on invasive species, but this article gives useful
information relating to the relationship between the two.
Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources
(2008): NWT Climate Impacts and
Adaptation Report 2008; Government of Northwest Territories,
NWT.
This article is a good source of information for the effect of

30. climate change in different regions. However, it has been
narrowed down to focus on Northwest Territories. It also
discusses adaptation methods that governments of different
territories are considering and developing to deal with the
effects of climate change. Also there is future planning for
adaptation strategies that are effective when it comes to dealing
with future effects caused by continued trends of climate
change. The effects of climate change are well organized since
they are categorized relating to the following themes:
precipitation, ice condition, permafrost and water, wildlife,
forest, culture and heritage, and human health. The categories
give good them for analyzing the effects of climate change.
Information on how climate change affects different areas can
be gotten from this article. This means it is relevant are useful
for this study. How to deal with this problem of climate change
can be understood through reading this article.
Inkley, D., M. G. Anderson, et al. (2004). Global climate
change and wildlife in America. K. E. M. Galley. Bethesda
Maryland, The Wildlife Society.
Inkley and colleagues give a more detailed as well as technical
approach to examining and assessing the effects of climate
change on species in the United States. Some climate models
seen in the country are given. How the models are likely to
affect ecosystem, such wildlife is discussed. The authors give
profound analysis of how climate change will impact different
regions and species. The implication of climate change to
protected areas has been explained well. Finally, the authors
give recommendations relating to policy and management. This
article is relevant to this study since it is based on climate
change. It will provide crucial information relating to cause of
climate change, its effects on species, and mitigations for
climate change. Getting to know issue on climate change is
possible through going through this article. This makes this
article to be important for this research. Climate change is

31. something that cannot be ignored.
References
Anisimov, O.A.; Vaughan, D.G.; Callaghan, T.V.; Furgal, C.;
Marchant, H.; Prowse, T.D.;
Vilhjálmsson, H.; and Walsh, J.E. (2007): Polar regions (Arctic
and
Antarctic), in Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge p.
653-685.
Hellmann, J. J., J. E. Byers, et al. (2008). "Five potential
consequences of climate change for
invasive species." Conservation Biology 22(3): 534-543.
Inkley, D., M. G. Anderson, et al. (2004). Global climate
change and wildlife in America. K. E. M. Galley. Bethesda
Maryland, The Wildlife Society.
IPCC (2007): Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report.
Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change [Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K and Reisinger,
A.(eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 104 p.
Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources
(2008): NWT Climate Impacts and
Adaptation Report 2008; Government of Northwest Territories,
NWT.
Strayer, D. L. and D. Dudgeon (2010). "Freshwater biodiversity
conservation: recent progress

32. and future challenges." Journal of the North American
Benthological Society 29(1): 344-358.