Influence of applicant's dress on interviewer's selection decisions.

Investigated the effect of female applicants' dress on interviewers' selection decisions for management positions by having 77 personnel administrators view videotaped interviews of 4 applicants in different costumes and make hiring recommendations for each applicant. Three-way ANOVA was used to determine the effect of costume on hiring decisions independent of the effects of person, sequence of showing, and costume?×?person interaction. Results confirm that masculinity of the female applicant's dress had a significant effect on interviewers' selection decisions. There was a positive relationship between masculinity of the applicant's costume and favorability of hiring recommendations received by the applicants. The influence of person on selection decisions also was significant. It is concluded that female applicants' clothing is an avenue for influencing the selection decision for management positions. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Designing pareto-optimal selection systems: Formalizing the decisions required for selection system development.

The article presents an analytic method for designing Pareto-optimal selection systems where the applicants belong to a mixture of candidate populations. The method is useful in both applied and research settings. In an applied context, the present method is the first to assist the selection practitioner when deciding on 6 major selection design issues: (1) the predictor subset, (2) the selection rule, (3) the selection staging, (4) the predictor sequencing, (5) the predictor weighting, and (6) the stage retention decision issue. From a research perspective, the method offers a unique opportunity for studying the impact and relative importance of different strategies for reducing adverse impact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of organizational citizenship behaviors on selection decisions in employment interviews.

This article reports on an experiment examining the effects of job candidates' propensity to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) on selection decisions made in the context of a job interview. We developed videos that manipulated candidate responses to interview questions tapping task performance and citizenship behavior content in 2 administrative positions. Results obtained from 480 undergraduates provided support for our hypotheses that job candidates who exhibited higher levels of helping, voice, and loyalty behaviors were generally rated as more competent, received higher overall evaluations, and received higher salary recommendations than job candidates who exhibited lower levels of these behaviors. These effects held even after taking into account candidate responses regarding task performance. We also found that candidate responses to OCB-related questions tended to have a greater effect on selection decisions for the higher level position (supervisor of administrative personnel) than for the lower level one (administrative assistant). Finally, content analyses of open-ended responses indicated that participants' selection decisions were particularly sensitive to candidates who exhibited low levels of voice and helping behaviors. Implications and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interviewers' perceptions of person–organization fit and organizational selection decisions.

Amodel of person–organization fit and organizational hiring decisions is developed and tested, using data from 38 interviewers making hiring decisions about 93 applicants. Results suggest that interviewers can assess applicant–organization values congruence with significant levels of accuracy and that interviewers compare their perceptions of applicants' values with their organizations' values to assess person–organization fit. Results also suggested that interviewers' subjective person–organization fit assessments have large effects on their hiring recommendations relative to competing applicant characteristics, and that interviewers' hiring recommendations directly affect organizations' hiring decisions (e.g., job offers). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interviewers'' perceptions of persons-organization fit and organizational selection decisions

The Escherichia coli DnaA protein is a sequence-specific DNA binding protein that promotes the initiation of replication of the bacterial chromosome, and of several plasmids including pSC101. Twenty-eight novel missense mutations of the E. coli dnaA gene were isolated by selecting for their inability to replicate a derivative of pSC101 when contained in a lambda vector. Characterization of these as well as seven novel nonsense mutations and one in-frame deletion mutation are described here. Results suggest that E. coli DnaA protein contains four functional domains. Mutations that affect residues in the P-loop or Walker A motif thought to be involved in ATP binding identify one domain. The second domain maps to a region near the C terminus and is involved in DNA binding. The function of the third domain that maps near the N terminus is unknown but may be involved in the ability of DnaA protein to oligomerize. Two alleles encoding different truncated gene products retained the ability to promote replication from the pSC101 origin but not oriC, identifying a fourth domain dispensable for replication of pSC101 but essential for replication from the bacterial chromosomal origin, oriC.     

Explanations for selection decisions: Applicants' reactions to informational and sensitivity features of explanations.

The effects of explanation features on participants' reactions toward a selection decision were examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, students were provided with scenarios where informational (justification, procedural, personal, control) and sensitivity (sensitive or control) features of explanations were crossed with a selection decision to assess their effects on 3 applicant reactions: process fairness, self-perceptions, and organizational perceptions. In general, personal information enhanced fairness and organizational perceptions but harmed the reported self-perceptions of students role-playing rejected applicants. Explanations given in a sensitive manner accentuated these effects. Study 2 used a similar methodology to assess the effects of giving different types of procedural information. Self-reported reactions were influenced by the interactive effects of the type of procedural information provided and the selection decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group decisions.

Cites the example of decision making regarding the location of 118 overseas plants by US firms to show that decisions made by either a task force or the board of directors were rated as more effective than were those made by a single executive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimating the number of different selection decisions resulting from the use of alternate predictor composites.

A method was described whereby d, the number of different selection decisions resulting from the use of alternate predictor composites may be rapidly estimated from the proportion of applicants accepted and the correlation between the composites. It was further demonstrated that the correlation between 2 optimally weighted composites based upon m and n variables (m n) is equal to the ratio of the 2 multiple correlations. 2 examples were used to illustrate the use of d in evaluating selection strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond the Psychology Fair.

Comments on the article by Benjamin et al (see record 1978-30211-001) which discussed the college psychology fair as a vehicle for providing the public with a view of experimental psychology, a view shared by and Perloff and Perloff (see record 1977-28555-001). The current author agrees that providing high school students with an insight into the science of psychology is important, but suggests that psychology departments and the APA need to encourage the teaching of a scientific attitude to undergraduates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual unionization decisions.

An important component of the employee unionization process is the prediction of the individual's decision to vote for or against union representation. We propose and test a path model that includes the following variables: wage level, extrinsic job satisfaction, satisfaction with administration, perceived union instrumentality, voting intentions, and report on vote. We derived data on the relations among these variables through meta-analyses of the results of 14 individual-level unionization studies. The results of the path analyses suggest that (a) a sequential structure exists among predictors, (b) the relation between intent to vote and report on vote is one of measurement rather than causality, and (c) many individuals do not go through a complete sequential decision process. In view of these findings, we discuss some of the major substantive and research implications for the prediction of the individual's unionization decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the success ratio and the utility of fixed hiring rate personnel selection decisions.

Using simple simulation methods, the author verifies that the formulas used to estimate both the expected success ratio of a selection and the expected average criterion score of the selectees overestimate the real gain one may expect to obtain when hiring a preestablished proportion of employees from a finite sample of applicants. To correct for this deficiency, the present article shows how an exact estimate of the expected payoff can be obtained. In addition, it indicates how the new approach can be used to assess the sampling variability of the utility estimates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

International Science Fair Winners.

Notes that the winner of the Twentieth International Science Fair held in Ft. Worth, Texas, May 1969, is Michael B. Ellerin of High Point Senior High School, Greenbelt, Maryland. Ellerin won APA's first prize of a $100 savings bond. His project, "Color and Slate: How They Rate," employed a 64-cell multivariate design in an effort to determine the best color of chalk and of chalkboard for classroom learning. 46 exhibits were examined before final selections were made for APA's Committee on Pre-College Psychology. Certificates of Merit recipients are also listed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of recruiter authoritarianism and applicant sex on evaluation and selection decisions in a recruitment interview analogue study.

Investigated the role of authoritarianism in Ss' judgments of male and female candidates in a job selection interview. Male and female personnel officers were randomly selected from a pool of 144 volunteers (males' ages 23–58 yrs, females' 21–50 yrs) and were assigned on the basis of Revised California F Scale scores to high, moderate, and low authoritarian groups, until 14 males and 14 females constituted each group. It was hypothesized that high authoritarian Ss of both sexes (a) would rate male job applicants more favorably than females when they were presented in simulated videotaped recruitment interviews and (b) would subsequently make more job offers to male than female job applicants. Results support both hypotheses and indicate the usefulness of extending this approach to other aspects of the employment setting and to other nonemployment settings, such as vocational counseling. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is Affirmative Action Fair? Comment.

Comments on the article by Crosby et al (see record 2003-03405-003) which attempts to bring psychological research to bear on an examination of the policy of affirmative action. In their article, the authors support affirmative action on the grounds of fairness, merit, and equality. It is the current author's belief, however, that Crosby et al have failed to address the world of affirmative action as it is practiced today. Discussion focuses on 4 problem areas: discrepancies in affirmative action policies and practices, especially as they relate to "blind racial preference" practices; the premise that the underrepresentation of certain groups is mainly the result of societal prejudice when this underrepresentation is the complex result of countless factors-cultural, psychological, historical, biological-all of which are not fully understood; the push for affirmative action for all members of the group, even if many members have not experienced prejudice; and the fact that psychological science, empirical studies, and theory cannot decide among these values or between differing conceptions of justice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and the National Science Fair.

Discusses the involvement of the American Psychological Association in the 1964 and 1965 National Science Fair-International. Psychologists are urged to come forward and offer to serve as judges at local science fair competitions and at the National Science Fair-International. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discounting behavior and environmental decisions.

Discounting plays a major role in the life cycle of environmental and natural resource policies. Evaluating centuries-scale problems like climate change with standard discount rates yields results that many find ethically unacceptable. Paradoxes abound. Low discount rates are urged for determining the net benefits of climate change, while households fail to undertake energy conservation actions that have payback periods of only a few years. Efforts to uncover discount rates from revealed and stated preferences suggest that a variety of confounding factors may be simultaneously in play. Common property resources provide an example of how market failures can lead to behavior consistent with extreme discounting that can be addressed through effective policy. Finally, politicians who make ultimate policy decisions may have incentives to act in accordance with discount rates not socially optimal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

False memories for end-of-life decisions.

Objective: To examine people's false memories for end-of-life decisions. Design: In Study 1, older adults decided which life-sustaining treatments they would want if they were seriously ill. They made these judgments twice, approximately 12 months apart. At Time 2, older adults and their self-selected surrogate decision makers tried to recall the older adults' Time 1 decisions. In Study 2, younger adults made treatment decisions twice, approximately 4 months apart. At Time 2, younger adults tried to recall their Time 1 decisions. Main Outcome Measures: Percentage of participants who falsely remembered that their original treatment decisions were the same as their current decisions. Results: In Study 1, older adults falsely remembered that 75% of their original decisions were the same as their current decisions; surrogates falsely thought that 86% of older adults' decisions were the same. In Study 2, younger adults falsely remembered that 69% of their original decisions were the same as their current decisions. Conclusion: Age alone cannot account for people's false memories of their end-of-life decisions; we discuss other mechanisms. The results have practical implications for policies that encourage people to make legal documents specifying their end-of-life treatment decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)