INFORMATION PROCESSING MODELS OF PEER NOMINATIONS

This paper describes the development of an information processing theory of the judgmental process in which individuals engage while rating their peers. Using protocol tracing methods, decision process models were constructed of how individuals rate their peers on seven widely used sociometric questions. The protocols revealed that individuals evaluate their peers along five primary behavior categories: (1) Mutual Influencing, (2) Categorizing/Summarizing, (3) Social‐Directive, (4) Quantity of Verbal Communication, and (5) Listening. Models for each sociometric question were tested by comparing model predictions with actual group peer ratings. Using linear models only, high Spearman rank correlations (r8 range to 1.00) were obtained between predicted and actual peer rankings. Findings have implications for research in person perception and the attribution of leadership. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved

Duke Scholars

Author Arie Y. Lewin Fuqua School of Business