Interpersonal Interaction, Affective Forecasting, and Harassment in the Workplace

本研究采用科学框架来研究男性员工直接对女性同事的行为对经历该行为的人（例如，潜在投诉人）。此外，它还测试了那些经历过所谓骚扰的人、那些观察到所谓骚扰的人（例如，同事和证人），以及那些从间接证据中预测行动潜在影响的人（例如，法官和陪审团）。PI的初步工作表明，预测者希望那些经历过行动的人报告更多的骚扰，更多的负面情绪，以及更多的表现下降，而不是实际报告的行动。本研究以一个法律的决策模式为基础，以更好地理解人际互动的影响、情感预测以及不当行为的普遍性和严重性的作用。具体而言，研究解决：1）不当行为必须有多严重或普遍，才能引发投诉人、证人、法官和陪审团的反应，以满足敌对工作环境骚扰的法律的要求？2)不同层次的经验和预期的情绪能解释这些反应吗？以及，3）潜在的投诉人，证人和陪审团/法官之间的反应有什么不同？为了验证这些问题，PI将进行一系列的3项实验研究，让学生和社区参与者体验，观察和预测不同严重程度和普遍程度的行为的影响，以测试对骚扰判断，情绪和工作绩效的影响。这项工作有可能产生具有理论和实践意义的新知识。研究结果将解释某些形式的人际互动如何影响骚扰的看法，情绪和工作表现的投诉人，潜在的证人，法官，陪审员和调解员的角度。它还为解释和减少这些实体之间的差异提供了一个模型和潜在的干预措施。

This research applies a scientific framework to examine the effects of actions that male workers direct toward female coworkers on judgments of harassment, emotional reactions, and work performance for people who experience the action (e.g., potential complainants). In addition, it tests differences between those who experience the alleged harassment, those who observe the alleged harassment (e.g., co-workers and witnesses), and those who predict the potential impact of the action from indirect evidence of it (e.g., judges and juries). Preliminary work by the PIs has shown that predictors expect those who experience the action to report more harassment, more negative emotions, and more performance decrements than experiencers of actions actually report. The research relies on a model of legal decision-making to better understand the influence of interpersonal interaction, affective forecasting, and the roles of pervasiveness and severity of the misconduct. Specifically, the research addresses: 1) How severe or pervasive must misconduct be to trigger reactions among complainants, witnesses, and judges and juries to satisfy the legal requirements of hostile work environment harassment? 2) Do different levels of experienced and anticipated emotion explain these reactions? And, 3) what are the differences in reactions between potential complainants, witnesses, and juries/judges? To examine these questions, the PIs will conduct a coordinated set of 3 experimental studies in which student and community participants experience, observe, and predict the impact of actions, which vary in severity and pervasiveness, to test the effects on harassment judgments, emotions, and work performance.This work has the potential to generate new knowledge with theoretical and practical significance. The findings will explain how certain forms of interpersonal interaction affect harassment perceptions, emotions, and work performance from the perspectives of complainants, potential witness, and judges, jurors, and mediators. It also provides a model and potential intervention to explain and reduce the differences between these entities.