Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the possibility of using a pure tone, instead of verbal stimuli, as a stimulus which indicates a particular type of leadership. This study was based upon the P-M Leadership Theory (Misumi 1966). Subjects of this experiment were 25 college seniors who were divided into two groups, consisting 12 and 13 students respectively. The task required was to count and report the number of black dots on a white screen. A tutal 24 trials were divided into eight blocks. While the subjects were performing the task, a tone which was intermittent with one second intervals was presented on each odd block and was not presented on the even blocks. The first group (Tone-Performance condition or TP) was given the tone attributed to P-type leadership. The second group (Tone-Maintenace condition or TM) was given the tone attributed to M-type leadership. The physiological processes of each subject were checked by HR and amplitude of finger plethysmograph. The result of the experiment indicated the following : (1) In the TP condition, the tone in creased HR and decreased the amplitude of finger plethysmograph, while in the TM condition, the tone decreased HR and increased the amplitude of finger plethysmograph. (2) The tone increased the speed of the task performance in the TP condition, while the tone decreased the speed of the task performance in the TM condition. (3) During the presentation of the tone the subjects tended to perceive it as a psychological pressure to concentrate their attention upon performing the task in the TP condition. In contrast to this result, in the TM condition the subjects tended to perceive it as a psychological atmosphere which enabled them to perform task at their ease.
From these results, it was concluded that a pure tone can be used, instead of verbal stimuli, as a stimulus which means a particular type of leadership.
