Selection in Egalitarian Australia: Weighted Average or Motivational Gravity?

Abstract

AbstractAll else being equal, the Weighted Averaging Model of person perception (Anderson, 1981) predicts that the number of achievements listed on a job application will not influence the impression formed, whereas the concept of Motivational Gravity suggests (Carr, 1994) that there will be an inverted ’U’ function in work cultures that are egalitarian. In egalitarian Australia, a sample of 312 undergraduates rated their overall impression of an imaginary job candidate who had listed from 5 to 20 randomly generated, but job related and positive personality traits, or achievements, in a job application. Impressions first rose and then fell significantly, especially for female candidates and among raters who were anti-achievement. These findings support the Motivational Gravity model, as well as indicating a possible selection bias in Australian and other centripetal work cultures in the South Pacific region.