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Environmental structure and the perceived similarity‐satisfaction relationship: Traditional and alternative schools 1
Author(s) -
Ellison Thomas A.,
Trickett Edison J.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1978.tb00602.x
Subject(s) - psychology , similarity (geometry) , salience (neuroscience) , social psychology , salient , valence (chemistry) , embodied cognition , semantic differential , cognitive psychology , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics)
A bstract The relationship between perceived self‐environment similarity and satisfaction with the environment was tested in two differing kinds of organizational structures. It was hypothesized that the perceived similarity‐satisfaction relationship was mediated by the salience or importance of the particular reference group involved. Two kinds of public high schools—traditional and alternative—were selected as examples of organizations where the same reference groups (e.g., teachers and students) play differentially salient organizational roles. Using a semantic differential technique, 46 traditional school students and 40 alternative school students rated various reference groups and school satisfactions. Differing patterns of perceived similarity and satisfaction found in the two schools support the notion that organizational structure—as embodied in organizational roles—causes the perceived similarity‐satisfaction relationship to be different in different settings. The relationship of the findings to prior research is discussed and the importance of evolving more sophisticated notions of person‐environment relationships is stressed.