Abstract

The present study attempted to further explore our previous research on the negativity effect. It also examined whether the negativity effect in a performance appraisal situation showed a different pattern from the effect in a social judgment situation. In study 1, to test which and whose information were more influential among multiple source-multiple raters in the negativity effect, the raters who showed a neutral position in their initial rating of the ratee made re-evaluation after receiving positive(6-point) or negative(2-point) feedback. The result showed that negative feedback of 360 degree had stronger impact than positive one. Thus, the negativity effect was replicated and differential impact of the source was obtained with regards to information integration process of the 360 degree feedback. In study 2, we investigated uniqueness of the negativity effect in the performance appraisal situation in comparison with social one. The participants were divided into three groups depending on their intial rating(positive: above 5, neutral: 4, and negative: below 3). After receiving positive or negative feedback, they made re-evaluation and it was compared with their initial rating. In results, the impact of positive or negative multiple source feedback information was different depending on the positiveness of the initial rating. The trend appeared regardless of the source, which shows the uniqueness of the negativity effect in the performance appraisal.