Mobility Factors as they Affect Workers' Attitudes and Conduct Toward Incentive Systems

Abstract

expressions of public opinion in the group as representing the real attitudes of the individual, or (2) the total effect may have been too confusing and therefore the respondent used some modification of his preconceived image of the group in estimating the group opinion. (3) Each respondent may have been interested only in the reactions of certain individuals in the group. Although from one point of view it is important to understand the various factors influencing the accuracy of the estimate of the group opinion, the significant factor which influences the person's behavior in the group is his subjective feeling and imagery with regard to the group norms regardless of how accurately this feeling and imagery may reflect the objective situation. 3. The Effect of the Definition of the Situation. We have already commented briefly upon the effect on the qualitative non-symbolic interaction in the group and will restrict the comments at this point to the effect upon the quantitative symbolic responses. In general, the individuals tended to conform to their conception of the group norms when giving their public opinion. The typical pattern is for the individual to compromise between his private opinion and his conception of the group opinion when expressing his public opinion. In addition to merely comparing the total scores, a more searching analysis of the data was made by making an item-by-item comparison of the three types of responses for each individual. This type of analysis indicated three types of adjustment to differences between the person's private opinion and his conception of the group norms. About 49 per cent of these adjustments followed the conformity pattern, 28 per cent followed the resistance pattern, and 22 per cent followed the reaction pattern. Most of the individuals did not fall clearly into one of these adjustment patterns but there was a wide variation in the proportion of each type of adjustment by each individual. However, there were three cases (see cases #19, #20, and #23 in Table 5) who were pure conformists and one case (#3) who showed no conformity in his adjustment pattern. 4. Causes of the Variation in Adjustment Patterns. Since the reliability of the responses had not been established, only the two extreme conformists and the two extreme non-conformists were selected in an attempt to explain these apparently opposite types of adjustment. The following factors were felt by the writer to be significant in explaining the varying degrees of conformity and may serve as hypotheses for a more precise and controlled study: (1) the degree of the person's identification with the group, (2) his conception of the group's attitude toward non-conformity, (3) his conception of his own role in relation to the group, and (4) special personality traits such as negativism.