Coal handling, steamfitting, psychology, and law.

Discusses 2 court cases where invalid psychological tests were administered to exclude blacks from employment and promotion as examples of breaches of professional standards. The 1st case involved promotion from laborer (all black) to coal handler (all white) in a North Carolina power plant. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that tests could be used only when demonstrably related to job performance. The 2nd case in New York City involved 2 blacks who were barred from apprenticeship training in steamfitting on the basis of an irrelevant test of verbal analogies. Neither the American Psychological Association (APA) manual of test standards nor its casebook of ethical standards discusses these abuses. In addition to updating these volumes, the APA is urged to play a greater role in educating lawyers, government officials, and businessmen on the technical aspects of test validation in light of the Supreme Court decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)