Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

ABCDEFG225 E 86 StNY NY 10013QWERTYUI432 Elkins ParkPA 19283Industrial (Personnel) PsychologyB-5a third of employers may soon include online testing as a part of their screeningprocess. Employers want quick, inexpensive, and accurate ways to identify whetherapplicant qualifications, aptitudes, and personality traits match the position requirements.Common types of psychological tests are integrity/honesty tests, cognitiveability tests, mechanical aptitude tests, motor and sensory ability tests, and personalitytests.Let’s first examine the popularity of integrity tests, which came about largelybecause of legislation limiting the use of polygraph tests in the workplace. Accordingto the 2007 National Retail Security Survey (Hollinger & Adams), employeetheft accounted for approximately half of all retail losses, at $19.5 billion—wayahead of the $13.3 billion cost of shoplifting. The hiring of honest employees isdefinitely in the company’s best interest. Unfortunately, integrity tests are plaguedwith concerns about validity, reliability, fairness, and privacy (Karren & Zacharias,2007). Some researchers are working diligently to address issues like high rates offalse positives, and the ability to “fake” an honest answer (Marcus & others,2007). Despite these problems, several million integrity tests are administered inthe United States every year (Wanek & others, 2003).Cognitive ability tests measure general intelligence or specific cognitive skills,such as mathematical or verbal ability. The Wonderlic Personnel Test-Revised(WPT-R), was released in January 2007. This 12-minute test of cognitive ability,or general intelligence, has been taken by more than 125 million peoplesince 1937 (Press Release Newswire, 2007). Sample items from two cognitiveability tests are presented in Figure B.2. Mechanical ability tests measure mechanicalreasoning and may be used to predict job performance for engineering,carpentry, and assembly work. Figure B.3 on the next page presents sampleitems from the Bennett Test of Mechanical Comprehension. Motor ability testsinclude measures of fine dexterity in fingers and hands, accuracy and speed ofarm and hand movements, and eye–hand coordination. Sensory ability tests includemeasures of visual acuity, color vision, and hearing.selection device validityThe extent to which a personnel selectiondevice is successful in distinguishingbetween those who will become highperformers at a certain job and those whowill not.(a) 1. RESENT/RESERVE — Do these words1 have similar meanings2 have contradictory meanings3 mean neither the same nor opposite2. Paper sells for 21 cents per pad. What will 4 pads cost?(b)11 12 110 293847 6 5THE PHILADELPHIAFor each item find the picture that goes best with the picture in the first box.Draw a dark line from the upper right corner to the lower left corner in theproper box to show the right answer.Figure B.2 Sample Items from Two CognitiveAbility Tests Cognitive ability testscan measure either general intelligence orspecific cognitive skills, such as mathematicalability. (a) These two items are fromthe Wonderlic Personnel Test, which isdesigned to assess general cognitive ability.Employers assume that people whocannot answer most questions correctlywould not be good candidates for jobsthat require general knowledge and reasoningskills. (b) The chart is from the Non-Verbal Reasoning Test. It assesses reasoningskills apart from the potentiallyconfounding factor of skill with theEnglish language.Sources: Corsini (1958); Wonderlic (1998).