Factor structure and predictability of successive stages of learning Morse code.

How can people best able to learn Morse code be identified? To find out, a battery of 14 ability tests was given 310 airmen. Their rate of progress in training was related to this test performance. "A factor analysis of the ability measures was carried out and the factor structure of the criterion measures determined." Tests work best for predicting who will do best in the initial periods of Morse code training. After that it depends more on specific habits acquired in training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer nominations on leadership as a predictor of the pass-fail criterion in naval air training.

After three months of pre-flight training, nine sections of cadets (N=268) were asked to nominate the three best-qualified and the three least qualified for military leadership in their sections. The leadership scores, ACE Test scores, Officer-Like-Qualities grade assigned by officers in charge, and final overall pre-flight average were correlated with a pass-fail criterion of flight training. The leadership score and the final pre-flight average were about equally predictive of the criterion (r of .27 and .28, respectively). The other two measures failed to correlate significantly with the criterion. A rationale for the predictive value of peer ratings for flight training success is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Across the thin blue line: Police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot.

Police officers were compared with community members in terms of the speed and accuracy with which they made simulated decisions to shoot (or not shoot) Black and White targets. Both samples exhibited robust racial bias in response speed. Officers outperformed community members on a number of measures, including overall speed and accuracy. Moreover, although community respondents set the decision criterion lower for Black targets than for White targets (indicating bias), police officers did not. The authors suggest that training may not affect the speed with which stereotype-incongruent targets are processed but that it does affect the ultimate decision (particularly the placement of the decision criterion). Findings from a study in which a college sample received training support this conclusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction between memories in the rat: Effect of degree of prior conflicting learning on forgetting after short intervals.

Gave 132 female Sprague-Dawley albino rats 0, 1, criterion, or criterion + 10 trials of passive-avoidance training. Ss were then given active-avoidance training and were tested for retention 3 min., 60 min., or 24 hr. later. Forgetting of active-avoidance learning after 1 or 24 hr. was increased among Ss given prior training on passive avoidance. The magnitude of this lapse in retention was greater among Ss given more prior opportunities to practice passive avoidance. However, retention after 3 min. was unaffected by prior training. Characteristics of memory retrieval may account for these results. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of peer nominations in predicting a distant performance criterion.

This paper reports the follow-up phase of a study of peer nominations begun in 1955 at the Naval OCS in Newport, Rhode Island. Over 700 trainees completed several peer nomination forms at various stages of training, 1 in particular on "success as a future Naval Officer" (FO). Subsequently, 639 trainees were identified who had gone on to duty as officers for about 3 yr. The average grade they secured on a key portion of the fitness report ratings assigned by their direct superior officers was used as a performance criterion; it had a split-half reliability of .90 In the prediction of this criterion, the FO peer nomination score from the 3rd wk. of training gave a validity of .40 which was as high as that for later FO scores and which was only slightly diminished after academic grades and popularity were partialed. The findings support the use of early peer nominations as a valid supplemental measure in predicting performance after training. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A competency-based model for teaching skills in the administration of intelligence tests.

The Criteria for Competent WISC-R Administration (CCWA) is introduced as a cost-effective instrument for assessing competence in administering the WISC-R. A training model demonstrated an effective way to teach such skills by utilizing the CCWA as a measuring and a teaching device. After 3 administrations of the WISC-R, this model brought 8 graduate students to criterion level for competent administration. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criterion-based training for Rorschach scoring.

This study addresses the effects of structured training on the development of Rorschach coding skills of graduate trainees and broadens the empirical base regarding student acquisition of these coding skills. A course outline for criterion based training in Rorschach scoring is reviewed. A training approach will be described that emphasizes a progressive "vertical" or "response segment" sequence to scoring training. The effects of this structured training protocol for graduate students Rorschach coding of Exner Comprehensive System criterion-scored protocols resulted in good to excellent levels of interrater reliability. The implications of these findings for training in Rorschach coding skills are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lifetime prevalence of "amotivational syndrome" among users and non-users of hashish.

Assessed the lifetime prevalence of amotivational syndrome (AMS) in 237 students at a Central European sports training facility using the criterion for AMS formulated by J. A. Halikas et al (1982). The group was regarded as being highly unlikely to have experienced an AMS. The criterion for AMS was met by 5.9% of the Ss compared to 5.2% of the Ss in the study by Halikas et al who were regular marihuana users. AMS as measured by this criterion was not significantly associated with history of marihuana use. Results cast doubt on the validity of the findings reported by Halikas et al. The AMS hypothesis was not supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Limitations of exemplar models of multi-attribute probabilistic inference.

Observers were presented with pairs of objects varying along binary-valued attributes and learned to predict which member of each pair had a greater value on a continuously varying criterion variable. The predictions from exemplar models of categorization were contrasted with classic alternative models, including generalized versions of a "take-the-best" model and a weighted-additive model, by testing structures in which interactions between attributes predicted the magnitude of the criterion variable. Under typical training conditions, observers showed little sensitivity to the attribute interactions, thereby challenging the predictions from the exemplar models. In a condition involving highly extended training, observers eventually learned the relations between the attribute interactions and the criterion variable. However, an analysis of the observers' response times for making their paired-comparison decisions also challenged the exemplar model predictions. Instead, it appeared that most observers recoded the interacting attributes into emergent configural cues. They then applied a set of hierarchically organized rules based on the priority of the cues to make their decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning and the prediction of performance: Development of trainability testing in the United Kingdom.

Distinguishes between the work-sample approach to personnel selection and a trainability-testing approach. Trainability tests are characterized by the inclusion of a structured and controlled period of learning and are used to select personnel for training rather than to choose people who are already competent. Work conducted on trainability tests over the past decade shows that such tests can be successfully used for semiskilled manual tasks, including areas in which existing written, psychometric tests are poor at predicting trainability. Illustrative examples of parts of tests are provided, and design and validation procedures are discussed. This approach to selection is linked with theoretical ideas advocating point-to-point correspondence between predictor and criterion, in which the relevant aspects of training content, method, and environment are incorporated into the test to ensure correspondence between the training criterion and the selection test. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies in management training evaluation: II. The effects of exposures to role playing.

(see 33: 11142) How effective is role playing as a tool in management human relations training? "A campus conference group of residential contractor foremen participated in this study." A film was shown and role players enacted completion of the criterion case. There were repeated exposures prepost Employee-orientation comparisons. Impact was the important thing-not repeated exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of Criterion II in accreditation.

Criterion II of the criteria for accreditation of the American Psychological Association (1986) speaks to the importance and centrality of individual and cultural diversity in doctoral education and professional training in psychology. It is unfortunate that the criterion is frequently misunderstood. This response to H. C. Rickard and C. B. Clements (see record 1993-31123-001) defines the qualities of training that are anchored in Criterion II and considers the decision making of the Committee on Accreditation regarding this decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of advanced level aviation performance criteria from early training and selection variables.

Considers the prediction problem in the case of designated aviators who are not successful in the replacement air group (RAG), or postgraduate, phase of instruction. The sample group consisted of 592 naval jet aviators assigned to RAG training in East and West Coast squadrons. Employing multiple correlation analysis to examine RAG completion as a remote criterion variable, undergraduate training grades significantly predicted RAG completion. Had the obtained regression weights been employed, the attrition rate of a cross-validation sample would have been reduced by 33.8%. Those skills in undergraduate training that were "mission oriented" as opposed to academic or flight skills contributed the most to the explained criterion variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between rifle steadiness and rifle marksmanship and the effect of rifle training on rifle steadiness.

In two replications (N = 148, N = 200) an ataxiameter test of rifle steadiness was administered to army recruits before and after rifle training, and scores were correlated with a post-training marksmanship criterion. The test seems to be a reliable instrument (split-half r = .82, .87), but a poor predictor of rifle marksmanship. "No evidence is found that rifle training affects rifle steadiness." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational interests of naval aviation cadets: Final results.

As a validity study of the Kuder Preference Record, 605 cadets entering flight training were administered the inventory. "The KPR demonstrated small but statistically significant validity for prediction of all categories of attrition. However, when differences in mechanical ability were controlled, this inventory did not show a significant relationship to the pass-fail criterion." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among seniority, past performance, interjob similarity, and trainability.

Examined the relationship between training performance and seniority, interjob similarity, and previous job performance in 106 textile workers (mean age 25.3 yrs) with a mean seniority of 3.3 yrs. Results indicate that seniority was unrelated to trainability, whereas previous job performance and interjob similarity were valid predictors of this criterion. Implications are discussed in terms of training costs to the firm and recommended procedures for operationalizing the ill-defined concept of appropriate work experience under labor contracts that accord this factor a role in staffing decisions. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting success in supervisory training programs by the use of psychological tests.

How valid are the Wonderlic, How Supervise?, and the F scale in predicting success in supervisory training programs? S were students in a supervisory training course in a night school. The criterion was the grade received in the course. "It can be concluded that in this preselected homogeneous group the use of the How Supervise? Scale and the F Scale predicts with a high degree of accuracy those who are able to successfully complete a supervisory training course." Early in the course, the Wonderlic had predictive value but not later. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assertion training with handicapped persons.

Investigated the effects of assertion training in 9 handicapped college students and 5 handicapped discharged rehabilitative medicare outpatients. Ss were matched on self-reported assertiveness and were assigned to 1 of 2 groups: (a) treatment Ss who received assertion training, and (b) waiting-list-control Ss who received no treatment for 5 wks and then received assertion training. Behavioral role playing, self-report, and activity budget pre- and posttest measures revealed that assertion-training Ss reported significantly greater gains in assertive behavior and showed greater improvement in performance on 7 criterion measures than did control Ss. 18 criterion measures did not show any differences between treatment and control groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A narrative and meta-analytic review of helping skills training: Time to revive a dormant area of inquiry.

The authors review previous narrative and meta-analytic reviews on the effectiveness of overall helping skills training programs. The authors then review narrative reviews and conduct a new meta-analysis of specific methods used to teach helping skills within these programs. Our meta-analysis found that, in the aggregate, training methods substantially outperformed no training conditions, and that effect sizes did not vary as a function of trainee educational level (graduate vs. undergraduate students) or the type of criterion measure (interview-based vs. analogue-based empathy measures). Direct comparison of the training methods revealed that modeling outperformed instruction and feedback, and multimethod outperformed single-method training. The authors critique the literature and suggest that the studies in the helping skills literature generally fail to meet contemporary methodological standards, thereby limiting the conclusions that can be drawn. The authors appeal for better research on helping skills training, especially as it is currently practiced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criterion measures for youth-work training programs: The development of relevant performance dimensions.

An empirical approach to criterion development was applied to outcome measures for work-training programs serving disadvantaged adolescents (mean age 17.9 yrs). Performance criteria at program completion ( n = 32) and 40 measures obtained 6 mo following training were factor analyzed to define their relevance within a dimensional structure. Four program completion (proximal) factors were readily interpretable (e.g., training program adjustment, work motivation, social-personal adjustment), as were 5 postprogram (distal) dimensions (e.g., job success and satisfaction, job search motivation). Relevance of the proximal criteria was also determined from their predictive relationships with the distal measures. Uses of the multidimensional aspects of a criterion domain as a basis for setting priorities in selecting criterion variables are discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)