Use Of Personality Tests Research Articles

Development and preliminary validation of a semi-structured interview for the screening of law enforcement candidates.

A standard practice among most law enforcement agencies is to include psychological screening in the selection of job candidates. Although the use of personality tests in predicting job performance of law enforcement officers has received empirical support (e.g., the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Inwald Personality Inventory), there is a conspicuous absence of data regarding the reliability and validity of interview procedures. The present study represents the first step in the development of a standardized, semi-structured interview for use in the screening of law enforcement personnel. This interview, the Law Enforcement Candidate Interview, was constructed using content areas drawn from measures used in the screening of law enforcement personnel (e.g., Inwald Personality Inventory) and assessment of personality functioning (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders). This interview was then administered by two doctoral students to a group of law enforcement academy cadets (n=34). A modest degree of inter-rater reliability was achieved, although internal consistency was somewhat lacking. Interview scores were correlated with measures of academy performance (final grade-point average and peer and supervisor ranking of academy performance). Results of these analyses suggest the LECI is a modest predictor of academy performance. Potential uses of the LECI and future research indications are outlined.

APPLICANT REACTIONS TO PERSONALITY TESTS: EFFECTS OF ITEM INVASIVENESS AND FACE VALIDITY

In a simulated employee selection exercise, two hundred and ten participants responded to a personality test that varied in terms of item invasiveness and item face validity. A third factor of empirical job-relatedness was manipulated via test instructions. Reactions to the test, the organization, and behavioral intentions about accepting a job offer were measured. Results indicated that item invasiveness and face validity interacted in the prediction of all dependent variables. Specifically, item invasiveness affected the dependent variables only when face validity was low. Implications for the use of personality tests and integrity tests were discussed.

Using personality testing to reduce adverse impact: A cautionary note.

Adding a personality test to an ability test for employee selection has been suggested as a means of enhancing validity while reducing adverse impact of the selection system. Adverse impact was examined with different weightings of ability and personality testing at varying selection ratios using data from two large applicant samples. This demonstration indicated that the use of personality testing did not compensate for the adverse impact related to cognitive ability testing and that applicant pool characteristics and the nature of the personality measure may be important considerations. Overall, results suggest caution in presuming a reduction in adverse impact by the addition of personality measures.

Constructing Paper Dolls: The Discourse of Personality Testing in Organizational Practice

Recent developments in managerial theory and practice practically ensure the continued widespread use of personality testing (Miller & Rose, 1990). In this article I argue why communication theorists ought to attend to the ontology of personhood implied in the discourse of personality exams and the biopolitics associated with the exams, implementation in organizational life. I specifically focus on how the exams function as a form of government by providing authorities with a technique for engineering the workplace and for disciplining unruly employees. I also address how personality exams function as a subjectifying technology by providing individuals with a formalized discourse for “self-knowledge.” I conclude by discussing the tensions that follow from the exams' simultaneous invocation of autonomous individualism and race-, class-, and gender-based articulations of the normal individual.

P=f(M X A): Cognitive Ability as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Personality and Job Performance

This study tested the validity of the use of personality tests with aptitude tests as predictors of performance for 203 warehousers using an interactive model. Results indicated cognitive ability explained a significant 2% of the variance in performance, with the interaction between cognitive ability and personality explaining a significant incremental 9% of the variance in performance. These results indicate a need to expand our models of the relationship between personality characteristics and job performance.

Perceived fairness of personality tests and the impact of explanations for their use

Utilizing a sample of 138 printing firm employees, this field experiment tested two hypotheses regarding the perceived fairness of using personality tests in employment contexts. The results largely supported Hypothesis 1, which proposed that a selection procedure utilizing both an employment interview and a personality test would receive significantly lower fairness ratings than an interview-only selection procedure. In contrast, the results provided only partial support for Hypothesis 2, which proposed that negative fairness perceptions of personality tests can be reduced via the use of explanations for the use of such tests. In total, these findings suggest that it may be difficult to overcome negative perceptions toward the use of personality tests in employment contexts.

Twenty‐one traits of personality

Reports on a study conducted to examine the factor structure of the occupational personality questionnaire (OPQ) on two independent samples of 1,000 participants (2,000 for the study in total) drawn from the general population of Great Britain. The results suggest that there may be too many dimensions in the 31‐scale concept model and too few in the 14‐scale factor model. An alternative 21‐factor solution seems to be more satisfactory, both in psychometric terms and by providing personality test users with a sufficient number of scales. This means that the OPQ could be more sensitive in discriminating real differences in personality traits between individuals than is currently the case. If the 21‐factor model were adopted, the OPQ would be a more sensitive tool for use in personnel selection, development and counselling. However, the use of personality tests in selection still remains controversial.

P= f( MXA): Cognitive ability as a moderator of the relationship between personality and job performance

This study tested the validity of the use of personality tests with aptitude tests as predictors of performance for 203 warehousers using an interactive model. Results indicated cognitive ability explained a significant 2% of the variance in performance, with the interaction between cognitive ability and personality explaining a significant incremental 9% of the variance in performance. These results indicate a need to expand our models of the relationship between personality characteristics and job performance.

Optimal Stimulation Level

The effectiveness of the selection process used by organizations to recruit new sales personnel is depcndent on know- ing what qualities to look for in a recruit. One popular approach in screening sales personnel has been the use of personality tests. This article proposes, in addition, the concept of Optimal Stimulation Level as a discriminating variable in the seleclion process. Accord- ing to this view, recruits characterized as high sensation seekers are thought of as having a higher probability of success in sales perfor- mance than low sensation seekcrs. An empirical study which dealt with sales personnel from four major real estate agencies was con- ducted to ascertain correlations between levels of sensation seeking and sales performance. Evidcnce from the study confirms that OSL correlates positively with sales performance. Based on these results, the concept of Optimal Stimulation Level provides a useful discrimi- nating tool in the selection of sales personnel. Variations in the level of sensation seeking can easily be measured through a number of available standardized inventories such as the Zuckerman's General Sensation Seeking Scale (GSSS).

ABILITY AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND JOB PERFORMANCE.

This study tested the validity of the use of personality tests with aptitude tests as predictors of performance for 203 warehousers. Results indicated cognitive ability explained a significant 2% o...

A personality profile of the hotel manager

The increasing use of personality tests for management selection in the hospitality industry establishes a need to examine personality profiles of hotel managers. This paper describes the personality profile of effective hotel managers from one major company and relates these to characteristics of the managers job. The profile is compared with a profile for managers in other industries. A number of specific differences are identified.

Personality Assessment and Children: A Critical Appraisal and Emerging Trends

An analysis of the criticisms of children's personality assessment and a discussion of emerging trends are offered in this review. A distinction is made between the assessment of personal and social functioning, implicit in all educational decisions, and the use of personality tests and techniques. It is noted that personality research has not been directly concerned with the professional practice issues inherent in children's personality assessment. Finally, guidelines for personality assessment are offered.

Personality Tests in Executive Selection

The use of personality tests in executive selection is a controversial one. Characterised by low validity and reliability, they are of limited value. Yet, this has not stopped Australian managers from subjecting job applicants to the persanality test mind probe. But for how much longer?

Constancy of adult personality structure in males: longitudinal, cross-sectional and times-of-measurement analyses.

Constancy or change in adult personality organization can be assessed by comparing the factor structure of personality instruments at different ages, and some studies have reported cross-sectional differences in structure. The present study compares the factor structure of the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey scales longitudinally in three administrations 6 years apart and cross-sectionally in three age cohorts. Additional analyses compare first administration data collected in two successive decades to test for variation in structure resulting from cultural change over that period. Subjects were 769 male volunteers in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, aged 17 to 97 at the time of the first administration. Three varimax-rotated principal components were extracted in each of eight analyses. Results show no systematic evidence of variation in structure in any of these groups, with coefficients of factor congruence ranging from .83 to .99. This longitudinally demonstrated invariance of personality structure is discussed in terms of the implications for the stability of personality organization throughout the adult years and for the use of personality tests in elderly groups.

Biographical data, personality, and vocational interests of family nurse practitioners.

This report suggests that family nurse practitioners who are successful in practice may not have unique biographical, vocational, or personality profiles. The results for 63 family nurse practitioners, including 3 males, on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, the Omnibus Personality Inventory, and Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, indicate this group was most similar to the general population. The results of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator did show clusters in some types. The study suggests that descriptive studies in themselves may not be useful in predicting success but that the use of personality tests to measure the variables at work in practitioner-patient interaction may be a more fertile research area.

The “Correct” Use of Personality Tests: A View from Industrial Psychology

The “Correct” Use of Personality Tests: A View from Industrial Psychology

The human use of personality tests: a dissenting view.

The human use of personality tests: a dissenting view.

Classroom Choice Status Related to Scores on Components of the California Test of Personality

SINCE THE PIONEERING WORK of Moreno (7) and Jennings (4) many sociometric studies have been made. Most of these studies have used elementary, secondary, and college students as subjects. Repre sentative studies have shown a positive relationship to exist between choice status and the following factors: propinquity (8,11); frequency of association (3,9, 10); age (3,12); size (3, 12); intelligence (3, 12); maturity (3); scholarship (12); parental occupation (8); similarity of interests (2); and personality traits (1, 2, 5). Personality data have been obtained by asking students to rate one another on such traits as cheerful, friendly, enthusiastic, etc.; by having students list the qualities they admire in persons chosen as best friends; and by the use of personality tests. The last method has been used less frequently than the other two. Two previous studies (1, 6) have made use of the California Test of Personality. Neither of these studies is strictly comparable to the present study, however, since different choice criteria were used. The criterion of choice in Sister Alexandra's study (1) was election to scout, church or school offices. Choice status in the present study was determined by fre quency of choice as a fellow worker on a classroom committee. It is quite possible that persons chosen as fellow workers would not have the same personality characteristics as those chosen as leaders. This fact should be kept in mind in making comparisons between the two studies. In the study by McClelland and Ratcliff (3) choice status was determined by asking students whom they would choose as companions for fpur varied types of activities.