TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction to I/O Psychology. 2. Job Analysis and Evaluation. 3. Legal Issues in Employee Selection. 4. Employee Selection: Recruiting and Interviewing. 5. Employee Selection: References and Testing. 6. Evaluating Selection Techniques and Decisions. 7. Evaluating Employee Performance. 8. Designing and Evaluating Training Systems. 9. Employee Motivation. 10. Employee Satisfaction and Commitment. 11. Organizational Communication. 12. Leadership. 13. Group Behavior and Conflict. 14. Organization Development. 15. Stress Management: Dealing with the Demands of Life and Work. Appendix: Working Conditions and Human Factors. Glossary. References. Name Index. Subject Index.

Industrial/organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach

Since the beginning of time, individuals have had to make ‘people decisions’: who to marry, to employ, to fight. In recent decades, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology have suggested that many of these apparently (quasilogical) decisions are based on powerful people markers that we respond to, but are unaware that we are doing so. We assess people on a daily basis. There is, however, in every culture, a rich and interesting history of the techniques groups have favoured in making people decisions. Many of these techniques have quietly passed into history but others remain in use despite being rigorously tested and found wanting. It appears that there have always been schools of thought with their ingenious methods that assess and reveal the ‘true nature’ of individuals, specifically their qualities, abilities, traits and motives. It is patently obvious that people are complex, capricious and quixotic. They are difficult to actually read, to understand and therefore to predict. Neither their virtues or values nor their potential for disaster are easily apparent. People are deceptive, both in the impression management and self-delusional sense. Some are self-aware: they know their strengths, limitations, even what really motivates them; they may even be able to report their condition. Many others are not. 

Charlatans, snake-oil salesmen and their ilk find easy pickings among those who feel they need to evaluate or assess others for work purposes. The odd thing is that many of these disproved, pre-scientific, worthless and misleading systems still exist. They have advocates who still ply their trade despite lack of evidence that their systems actually work in the sense of providing reliable and valid assessments (see Section 2.6 and Figure 2.7 for an explanation of the technical meaning of ‘reliability’ and ‘validity’, which are the two main psychometric requirements that accurate instruments ought to fulfil). We shall consider some of these. These are essentially pre-scientific methods that pre-date the beginning of the twentieth century. Most have been thoroughly investigated and shown to be both unreliable and invalid. That is, there is ample evidence to suggest it is very unwise to use these methods in selection. However, they continue to be used. One reason for this is that scientific methods are often based on more common sense than these pre-scientific, counterintuitive approaches are. Ironically, counterintuitive methods and approaches have wider appeal than simple, logical methods. In that sense employers and companies are fooled by non-qualified consultants because, like Oscar Wilde, they ‘believe anything as long as it is incredible’. Some of these discredited but still used methods are reviewed in this chapter.

https://assets.cambridge.org/97805216/87874/frontmatter/9780521687874_frontmatter.pdf

The Psychology of Personnel Selection

Given the importance of trial consultants to the modern day practice of law, Scientific Jury Selection is designed to be informative for psychologists, other professionals interested in trial consulting (e.g., sociologists, communication experts, marketing researchers, psychiatrists, and social workers), and attorneys. The authors provide a thorough review of the most common techniques used to select jurors, and a critical evaluation of the ultimate effectiveness of these methods. This critique is based upon an examination of the social science literature. Psychologists and other social scientists as well as practicing trial consultants who read the book should gain a better understanding of the current state of research relevant to scientific jury selection, and areas where new research needs to be conducted to advance the field. Attorneys who read the book should be better able to decide whether or not to hire consultants to assist in future litigation, and if so, what types of services these consultants should provide.

Scientific Jury Selection

The aim of the present work was to examine validity of the graphological method to assess personality traits. The results of two studies are described. In Study 1, the Big Five Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 101 university students who provided a sample of a handwritten text. Two graphologists were asked to detect the same dimensions and facets measured by the Big Five Questionnaire using a 9-point scale. Correlations between the Big Five Questionnaire and graphological evaluations did not confirm the capability of handwriting analysis to measure Big Five personality traits. Also, interrater reliability was very low. Study 2 (N = 102) was carried out using handwritten texts with autobiographical content for the graphological analysis. Two different graphologists and two laypersons were involved. No evidence was found to validate the graphological method as a measure of personality.

Graphology and personality: an empirical study on validity of handwriting analysis.

Although certainly not alone, the field of police and criminal psychology seems to be an area that is highly susceptible to myths and misinformation. Whether it is the notion that police have highe...

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Reducing Misconceptions and False Beliefs in Police and Criminal Psychology

Among the various tests employed in personnel selection, handwriting analysis, or graphology, has enjoyed long-standing international popularity despite being highly contentious. This report contains not only an evaluation of the current published scientific reviews on the use of graphology in personnel selection, but also an evaluation of several additional studies graphologists provided that seemed to have been overlooked. The latter were obtained by contacting nine of the foremost institutes offering graphological training, consulting services, or both to ensure that the graphologists themselves would be fairly represented. Even with this additional information we found no reason to counter conclusions the scientific community has reached, namely that (a) the continued use of graphology in personnel selection could prove harmful to many individuals and firms, and (b) it fails to approach the level of criterion validity of other widely available and less expensive screening devices used for personnel se...

Marvin L. Simner

Papers

A Position Statement by the International Graphonomics Society on the Use of Graphology in Personnel Selection Testing