Effects of frame-of-reference training and information configuration on memory organization and rating accuracy.

It was hypothesized that encoding conditions would substitute for, or neutralize, the effects of frame-of-reference (FOR) training on rating accuracy by encouraging or impeding the person organization of behavior in memory. Undergraduates (N=121) were trained with FOR or control procedures, observed videotaped manager performance in a blocked or a mixed order, rated the managers on 3 performance dimensions, and free-recalled target performance vignettes. FOR training and blocked information improved rating accuracy and led to person-based recall; however, person organization was uncorrelated with accuracy. Results are discussed in terms of R. S. Wyer and T. K. Srull's (1989) model of person memory and judgment from which it is proposed that memory organization for behaviors may be unnecessary for rating accuracy