Interviewer validity as a function of interview structure, biographical data, and interviewee order.

Investigated effects of degree of interview structure, presence or absence of interviewee biographical information, and interviewee order on interviewer validity. 54 undergraduates in personnel management and 36 social-worker supervisors serving as judges rated 6 currently employed social workers assuming the role of job applicants in videotaped interviews. Low validities, calculated using interview ratings and performance-measure criterion scores based on a job analysis of the social-worker position, were obtained in all treatment conditions. Analysis of variance revealed that only interviewee order had an appreciable effect on interviewer validity. Analysis of the interview ratings revealed the presence of halo error and low interrater reliability. Possible design limitations and future research suggestions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The contribution of interview and situational performance procedures to the selection of supervisory personnel.

2 groups of supervisors (each N = 40), selected to be as similar as possible on a set of control predictor variables "known to be predictive of supervisory performance" (basic abilities test score, supervisory practices score, age, service, job level) and to be maximally different on criterion scores of supervisory effectiveness ratings, were used to try out 5 experimental supervisory performance predictors: panel interview, individual interview, group discussion problem, role playing situation, and small-job management. Each group was divided into a high and low subgroup on the basis of the control predictor variables. The predictor battery validity increased from an average of .27 for the control predictors alone to .30-.34 when various of the experimental predictors were added. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of age differences in job performance.

In a meta-analysis, 40 samples were classified into 3 categories according to the types of performance measures used: (a) supervisory ratings, (b) peer ratings, and (c) individual productivity. Results show a pattern of increases in performance, as measured by productivity indices, at higher ages. Conversely, supervisory ratings showed a slight tendency to be lower for older employees. Performance ratings showed more positive relations with age for professionals than for nonprofessionals. Implications concerning personnel policies regarding older employees are discussed. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing Personality With a Structured Employment Interview: Construct-Related Validity and Susceptibility to Response Inflation.

The authors evaluated the extent to which a personality-based structured interview was susceptible to response inflation. Interview questions were developed to measure facets of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. Interviewers administered mock interviews to participants instructed to respond honestly or like a job applicant. Interviewees completed scales of the same 3 facets from the NEO Personality Inventory, under the same honest and applicant-like instructions. Interviewers also evaluated interviewee personality with the NEO. Multitrait-multimethod analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided some evidence for the construct-related validity of the personality interviews. As for response inflation, analyses revealed that the scores from the applicant-like condition were significantly more elevated (relative to honest condition scores) for self-report personality ratings than for interviewer personality ratings. In addition, instructions to respond like an applicant appeared to have a detrimental effect on the structure of the self-report and interview ratings, but not interviewer NEO ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The value of the interview: an orientation and a pilot study.

The most valuable interview is reported to be a standardized one, designed to assess complex, dynamic constellations of traits rather than relatively isolated, static traits. A standardized preemployment interview yielding six "attitude" scores was given to 46 workers, and validated against supervisory ratings. "It is concluded that, properly used, the interview can play a reliable part in the overall assessment of an individual's qualities." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The validity of the interview in police officer selection.

The selection interview is widely used in law enforcement agencies for making decisions about police academy appointments. The present study examined the validity of the interview for predicting on-the-street performance of police officers in the Dade County (Florida) Public Safety Department. Data were gathered in a 1-yr period during which 399 White male applicants were interviewed and 150 of them were hired. The ratings made by the "oral board" at the end of each interview comprised the predictor variables. A principal components analysis of the averaged interview trait ratings indicated that there were 3 major components in the trait ratings. A principal components analysis of supervisory ratings of performance identified 4 oblique performance factors. A validity analysis demonstrated rated performance could be predicted from averaged interview factor scores but not from averaged overall recommendations of the interviewers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among criteria of police performance.

Job performance measures consisting of 35 objective indices and ratings on 8 behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) were available for 795 nonminority (mean age, 29.8 yrs) and 147 minority (mean age, 28.2 yrs) police officers. Eight of the 35 objective measures, plus age and job tenure, were used as predictors of the sum of the 8 BARS. Identical predictor sets validly forecast supervisory ratings in both minority and nonminority groups whether or not age and tenure were included. Unit weights were inferior to regression weights in both groups. It is concluded that supervisory ratings are linearly predictable from objective performance indices for both minority and nonminority subordinates, a finding that comports with civil rights legislation and recent US Supreme Court decisions. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A field study of race and age similarity effects on interview ratings in conventional and situational interviews.

Examined the effects of interviewer and interviewee race and age similarity on interview outcomes under 2 different interview formats: a conventional structured panel interview and a situational panel interview. A total of 2,805 applicants were interviewed. The panels consisted of same-, mixed-, or different-race and same-, mixed-, or different-age groups. Analyses revealed stronger same-race effects with the conventional structured interview than with the situational interview. Furthermore, these same-race effects could be avoided by using mixed-race interview panels. No age similarity effects were detected with either interview procedure. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Psychological Price of Media Bias.

Media bias was investigated through the effects of a TV interviewer's preferential behavior on the image of the interviewee in the eyes of the viewers. Judges viewed a political interview with either a friendly or a hostile interviewer then rated their impressions of the interviewed politician, whose behavior was identical in all conditions. The preferential nonverbal behavior of the interviewer (controlling for recognition and comprehension of verbal content) systematically influenced viewers' ratings of the politician. The effect consisted mainly of damage to the politician in the hostile interviewer condition. Describing the interviewee as a professor yielded a similar preferential behavior effect. A strong halo effect was identified, but it was ruled out as the mechanism accounting for the interviewer effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's judgments of their own and their peers' academic competence.

A standardized open-ended interview was used to study how 96 4–8 yr old children judged their own and their classmates' abilities. Ss were asked to explain how they knew who in their class was best and who was worst at various tasks and who was the best and who was the worst thinker. Ss also rated themselves and their classmates on how smart each was and explained their ratings. Content analyses of responses revealed that younger Ss, particularly males, were more likely than older Ss to refer to sociability in their ability judgments; they were less likely to base their judgments on social comparisons or on the difficulty level of the task. Ss at all age levels frequently explained ability judgments in terms of effort or work habits, although work habits tended to be referred to less by preschool-age Ss than by older Ss. Ss' ratings of their own ability declined with grade; ratings for peers were lower than self-ratings and did not change as a function of grade level. Self-ability ratings of Ss in kindergarten through the 3rd grade and their ratings of classmates were significantly correlated to teacher ratings of relative academic standing. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of procedure and outcome accountability on interview validity.

This study tested effects of holding interviewers accountable for either the procedure they follow to make interview judgments (procedure accountability) or the accuracy of their judgments (outcome accountability) on interview validity. Undergraduates (N=338) simulated employment interviewers in an experiment that crossed 2 levels of procedure accountability with 2 levels of outcome accountability. They watched videotapes of 60 managers answering an interview question and rated the managers on leadership potential. The dependent variable was the correlation between their interview judgments and supervisory ratings of the managers' actual leadership performance on the job. Results showed that procedure accountability increased interview validity and outcome accountability lowered it. Participants' apparent attentiveness fully mediated effects of procedure accountability on interview validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and change in strategies of psychiatric patients and normal interviewees.

A social competition model of interpersonal encounter was applied to examine stability and change in interviewee strategies across a pair of quasi-therapeutic interviews held 1 wk apart. Interviews were of 2 possible kinds-either permitting or denying interviewees a good outcome. These 2 types were designated as win or lose interviews, respectively. Interviewees were 56 short- or medium-stay psychiatric inpatients (mean age = 32 yrs) and 39 hospital-staff and university-student controls (mean age = 24 yrs). Ss were stratified on the basis of sex, psychiatric status, and scores on Byrne's Repression-Sensitization scale, and were assigned randomly to the 4 possible combinations of interview and to various interviewer combinations in a partially-crossed factorial design. Stability in competitive strategy obtained only across successive win interviews, where initial strategies were successful. Measures of Ss affect and motivation were more generally stable. In comparison with repressors, sensitizers showed an initial deficiency in offensive capability. However, in the case of sensitizing patients, this deficiency vanished following an initial lose interview. Experience of an initial win interview resulted in a weakening of subsequent offensive strategy among all groups. Data are interpreted as encouraging investigation of the potential of attack therapies for weak-strategy patients and of more yielding therapeutic approaches for strong-strategy patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Erratum to Cascio and Valenzi.

Reports an error in the original article by Wayne F. Cascio and Enzo R. Valenzi (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1978, Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 22-28). In the last sentence of the Results section of the article, the values are incorrect. The corrected values for line 33 of page 26 are provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1979-24955-001.) Job performance measures consisting of 35 objective indices and ratings on 8 behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) were available for 795 nonminority (mean age, 29.8 yrs) and 147 minority (mean age, 28.2 yrs) police officers. Eight of the 35 objective measures, plus age and job tenure, were used as predictors of the sum of the 8 BARS. Identical predictor sets validly forecast supervisory ratings in both minority and nonminority groups whether or not age and tenure were included. Unit weights were inferior to regression weights in both groups. It is concluded that supervisory ratings are linearly predictable from objective performance indices for both minority and nonminority subordinates, a finding that comports with civil rights legislation and recent US Supreme Court decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of uniform and religious status on interviewees.

Assessed the effects of uniform and religious status of interviewers on male and female Catholic and non-Catholic interviewees. 128 16–21 yr old Ss had interviews with a nun dressed either in lay clothing or a habit or with a non-nun dressed either in lay clothing or a habit. The design was a 4?×?2?×?2 factorial. The main effects were the 4 interviewer combinations (Religious Status?×?Dress), sex of interviewee, and religious preference of interviewee. The dependent variables were length of interview and scores on an attitude measure, an experience scale, and an interviewer rating scale. ANOVAs revealed significant main effect differences in (a) length of interview (interviewees spent more time speaking to nuns dressed in a habit) and (b) interviewee attitude (female interviewees responded more conservatively than males, Catholics responded more conservatively than non-Catholics, and all Ss responded more conservatively to nuns than non-nuns). (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Participation effects in appraisal interviews conducted in a training situation.

Participation, order, and interviewee personality effects were studied in appraisal interviews conducted as a part of a training program. 3 groups of Ss were used: 16 undergraduate education majors, 25 graduate students, and 12 high school students. Nonparticipative appraisal interviews brought about greater behavior change and interviewee satisfaction than participative interviews. Order of presentation did not affect interview outcome, and personality variables were not found to moderate the effectiveness of type of interview. The importance of the training situation is discussed in relation to the results of the study. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)