Sex discrimination in job opportunities for women

The object of this study was to examine the extent of sex discrimination in the job market for accountants. The research design involved sending application letters to job advertisements appearing in the press. These letters came from males and females of varying race and marital backgrounds, although all had identical qualifications and work experience. The responses to these applications were then analyzed and formed the basis of the tests for discrimination. The results showed a significant level of discrimination against women and this was enhanced for those who were Colored, and/or those who were married and had children.     

The effects of specifying job requirements and using explicit warnings to decrease sex discrimination in employment interviews

To determine the relative effectiveness of instructions designed to reduce sex discrimination in employment interviews, 96 students rated resumes for both a male and a female applicant. In one instructional condition subjects were told the specific requirements necessary for success on the job. In a second condition subjects were warned that it was illegal to discriminate on the applicant's sex. A third condition received both instructions, and a fourth received neither. Results revealed a series of interactions suggesting that the use of legal warning alone tended to increase the ratings of male applicants in some cases and influenced how male evaluators rated all applicants in other cases. The major implications were that legal warnings may actually bias ratings in favor of male applicants and may occasionally lead male evaluators to make lenient ratings. The specification of job requirements was suggested as a viable method of reducing discrimination.This work was supported in part by funds from the Foundation of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and from the State of North Carolina. The author wishes to thank P. S. Siegfried, J. Thomas Puglisi, and an anonymous reviewer for their comments and revisions of an earlier draft.     

The accuracy of lay integrity assessments in simulated employment interviews

Two studies were conducted to determine if lay judges could accurately assess another individual’s integrity level when using overt and covert integrity inventories. In Study 1, participants took part in simulated employment interviews and then both the participants and lay interviewers completed an overt integrity test comparable to the Reid Report integrity survey [Reid London House. (2004). Abbreviated Reid Report. Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson]. Self-lay judge agreement and peer-lay judge agreement were used as the criteria for accuracy. In Study 2, participants took part in either a simulated structured, unstructured or informal employment interview format and completed both overt and covert integrity inventories. The results suggest that lay judges (as well as acquaintances) are fairly accurate in assessing others’ integrity levels based upon a very brief 10-min interaction with an individual, when using either an overt or covert integrity inventory. The findings also suggest that the informal interview format can significantly enhance the accuracy of a lay-judge’s assessment of the participant’s integrity level when a covert measure of integrity is used.     

Distance discrimination in a simulated space environment

The just noticeable difference (JND) for distance was investigated by a paired-comparisons method using successive comparisons. The research utilized an optically simulated large target located in a textureless environment at distances along the saggital plane out to 12, 800 ft. The value of ΔD/D varied from less than 3% at 200 ft to about 7% at 12, 800 ft. The results confirmed a power function relationship between distance threshold and observation distance.     

Communicating the validity of structured job interviews with graphical visual aids

The structured job interview is often resisted by human resource (HR) professionals despite its superior predictive validity compared to the traditional unstructured interview. However, HR professionals may underestimate the utility of structured interviews because of how validity information is presented. Three online experiments with MTurk samples were conducted to examine the effect of statistical visual aids (Binomial effect size display; expectancy chart; icon array) on people's perceived usefulness of validity information and intentions toward using the structured interview. Results showed that graphical visual aids (expectancy chart and icon array) were perceived as more useful for communicating validity evidence than a nongraphical effect size display. People also judged the structured interview as more useful and were more willing to use it when validity evidence was presented graphically. Individual differences in graph literacy and nationality were also examined.     

Frequency of stuttering during challenging and supportive virtual reality job interviews

This paper seeks to demonstrate the possibility of manipulating the frequency of stuttering using virtual reality environments (VREs). If stuttering manifests itself in VREs similarly to the way it manifests itself in real world interactions, then VREs can provide a controlled, safe, and confidential method for treatment practice and generalization. Though many researchers and clinicians recognize the need for generalization activities in the treatment of stuttering, achieving generalization in a clinical setting poses challenges to client confidentiality, safety, and the efficient use of a professionals’ time. Virtual reality (VR) technology may allow professionals the opportunity to enhance and assess treatment generalization while protecting the safety and confidentiality of their clients. In this study, we developed a VR job interview environment which allowed experimental control over communication style and gender of interviewers. In this first trial, persons who stutter (PWS) experienced both challenging and supportive VR job interview conditions. The percentage of stuttered syllables was calculated for both interviews for each participant. Self-reported ratings of communication apprehension and confidence were also obtained, and were not significantly correlated with stuttering severity. Results indicated that interviewer communication style affected the amount of stuttering produced by participants, with more stuttering observed during challenging virtual interviews. Additionally, the amount of stuttering observed during the VR job interviews was significantly, positively correlated with the amount of stuttering observed during an interview with the investigator prior to VR exposure. Participants’ subjective reports of the VR experience indicate reactions similar to those they report experiencing in the real world. Possible implications for the use of VR in the assessment and treatment of stuttering are discussed.

Educational objectives: After reading this article, the reader will be able to—(1) list some of the challenges to treatment generalization; (2) describe how virtual reality technology can assist in alleviating some of these challenges; (3) describe how the frequency of stuttering varies across two different virtual environments.     

Interrogative pressure in simulated forensic interviews: The effects of negative feedback

Much experimental research on interrogative pressure has concentrated on the effects of leading questions, and the role of feedback in influencing responses in the absence of leading questions has been neglected by comparison. This study assessed the effect of negative feedback and the presence of a second interviewer on interviewee responding in simulated forensic interviews. Participants viewed a videotape of a crime, answered questions about the clip and were requestioned after receiving feedback. Compared with neutral feedback, negative feedback resulted in more response changes, higher reported state anxiety and higher ratings of interview difficulty. These results are consistent with Gudjonsson and Clark's (1986) model of interrogative suggestibility. The presence and involvement of a second interviewer did not significantly affect interviewee responding, although trait anxiety scores were elevated when a second interviewer was present. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are considered.     

Age differences in discrimination of simulated single-formant frequency transitions

We studied auditory discrimination of simulated single-formant frequency transitions that resembled portions of certain speech consonants. Significant age differences in transition discrimination occurred; both children and older adults required larger acoustic differences between transitions for discrimination than did teenagers/young adults. Longer transitions were more easily discriminated than shorter transitions by all listeners, and there were no differences between discriminations of rising and falling transitions. Teens/young adults and older adults, but not children, required larger frequency differences to discriminate frequency transitions followed by a steady-state sound than for transitions alone. There were also age differences in discrimination of steady-state sounds. These developmental-perceptual differences may help explain why children and older adults who have good pure-tone sensitivity may experience difficulty in understanding speech.     

Impaired reception of nonverbal cues in women with premenstrual tension syndrome

The ability to perceive nonverbal facial cues was tested in 30 White, middle-class females. Pre- and post-menses responses of 15 subjects diagnosed as having Premenstrual Tension Syndrome (PMS) were compared to the responses of age-matched controls. Each subject was asked to interpret videotaped facial cues of individuals engaged in a gambling task. Interpretive ability fluctuated during the menstrual cycle and was significantly impaired during the premenstrual phase.     

Effects of emotion regulation strategies on anxiety during job interviews in Chinese college students

Background and objectives: Few studies related to the impact of different emotion regulation strategies on anxiety have used externally and ecologically valid emotion-eliciting stimuli or Eastern populations. The present study compares the effects of reappraisal, suppression, and acceptance on anxiety induced by a simulated job interview in a Chinese sample. Methods: Eighty-two subjects were randomly assigned to one of four instructions: reappraisal, suppression, acceptance, or no-regulation strategies during a simulated job interview. Anxiety was assessed with an observer-based behavior rating scale during the interview and the State Anxiety Inventory before, during, and after the interview. Results: A repeated-measures MANOVA indicated a significantly greater reduction in anxiety in the reappraisal and acceptance groups compared to the control group during the interview (reappraisal: d = 1.42; acceptance: d = 1.30; each p < .001), but not during the recovery stage. The suppression and control group did not differ in any stage. Suppression led to a higher (p_max < .04) anxiety than reappraisal/acceptance in the anticipation (d = 0.65/0.68), interview (d = 0.87/0.79), and recovery stages (d = 0.94/1.03). No significant differences were found between reappraisal and acceptance. Conclusions: In Chinese students reappraisal and acceptance seem to be more effective anxiety regulation strategies than suppression.     

The impact of within country heterogeneity in vocational specificity on initial job matches and job status

This paper analyses the impact of vocational specificity on school-to-work transitions in terms of initial job mismatches and socioeconomic status at the individual level. Considering heterogeneity amongst the various qualifications in Austria, the study finds that the positive impact of specificity on initial labour market placement known from cross-country research also holds within the highly stratified Austrian system in which various vocational specialisations are provided at the upper secondary level. Independent of the level and field of the qualification obtained, vocational specificity facilitates initial labour market placement, resulting in a reduced mismatch risk and an increase in initial jobs status. In the course of subsequent labour market adjustments, however, holders of general qualifications attain higher status gains when changing jobs. Likewise, the overqualified can make up for a good part of their initial status penalty on labour market entrance through job changes. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Self‐presentation style in job interviews: the role of personality and culture

Chronic self‐promoters may thrive in job interviews where such behavior is encouraged. In Study 1, 72 participants were videotaped as they simulated the job applicant role. Accountability was manipulated by the expectation of expert versus nonexpert interviewers. As accountability increased, self‐promotion tended to decrease among non‐narcissists but increase among narcissists. Ingratiation showed no interaction or main effects. In Study 2, 222 raters evaluated applicant videos varying in narcissism (high vs. low) and ethnicity (European heritage vs. East Asian heritage). Chronic self‐promoters (i.e., European‐heritage narcissists) were given the most positive evaluations. Detailed behavior analyses indicated that the narcissism advantage was derived primarily from frequent self‐praise and the European‐heritage advantage from use of active ingratiation tactics. In sum, self‐presentation styles that pay off in the (Western) interview context are highly selective.     

Development and initial validation of the job loss grief scale

Background: Research on complicated grief (CG) symptoms following job loss is surprisingly rare. Involuntary job loss can turn someone’s world upside down and can result in loss of identity, social contacts, and self-worth. In this study, we drew on the literature on major life events in conceptualizing involuntary job loss as a significant and potentially devastating life event.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an instrument that measures job loss-related CG symptoms, the Job Loss Grief Scale (JLGS). The purpose of the JLGS is to foster systematic research on CG symptoms following job loss.

Design: A cross-sectional study

Methods: We recruited Dutch workers who had lost their job, 130 men and 158 women with an average age of 49.6 years. To examine the psychometric properties of the JLGS and its associations with other concepts we conducted correlational and confirmatory factor analyses.

Results: CFA revealed that the JLGS was a one-dimensional instrument, and that CG symptoms were distinguishable from depression and anxiety symptoms.

Conclusion: The JLGS is a reliable and valid instrument to measure job loss-related CG symptoms. The availability of the JLGS could stimulate systematic research on the antecedents and consequences of involuntary job loss.     

From prejudice to discrimination: The legitimizing role of perceived threat in discrimination against immigrants

This research analyses the mediational role of threat perception in the relationship between prejudice and discrimination (opposition to immigration and opposition to naturalization of immigrants). In the first study, using representative samples in 21 European countries (N = 36 566) from European Social Survey (2002), we showed that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration was more strongly mediated by realistic than by symbolic threat perceptions. In Study 2, using representative samples in two countries with different traditions of immigration (Switzerland, N = 940; Portugal, N = 1514), we showed that realistic threat more strongly mediated the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration, while only symbolic threat perception mediated the link between prejudice and opposition to naturalization. The theoretical implications of considering threat perceptions as factors that legitimize discrimination are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Process‐orientated psychoanalytic work in initial interviews and the importance of the opening scene

From the very first moment of the initial interview to the end of a long course of psychoanalysis, the unconscious exchange between analysand and analyst, and the analysis of the relationship between transference and countertransference, are at the heart of psychoanalytic work. Drawing on initial interviews with a psychosomatically and depressively ill student, a psychoanalytic understanding of initial encounters is worked out. The opening scene of the first interview already condenses the central psychopathology – a clinging to the primary object because it was never securely experienced as present by the patient. The author outlines the development of some psychoanalytic theories concerning the initial interview and demonstrates their specific importance as background knowledge for the clinical situation in the following domains: the ‘diagnostic position’, the ‘therapeutic position’, the ‘opening scene’, the ‘countertransference’ and the ‘analyst's free‐floating introspectiveness’. More recent investigations refer to ‘process qualities’ of the analytic relationship, such as ‘synchronization’ and ‘self‐efficacy’. The latter seeks to describe after how much time between the interview sessions constructive or destructive inner processes gain ground in the patient and what significance this may have for the decision about the treatment that follows. All these factors combined can lead to establishing a differential process‐orientated indication that also takes account of the fact that being confronted with the fear of unconscious processes of exchange is specific to the psychoanalytic profession.     

Assessment of identity status in college women using Outer Space and Inner Space interviews

Ego identity status was assessed using two interviews, one based on Outer Space issues and the other based on Inner Space issues, as described by Erikson. Sixty-nine college women were classified in one of four identity statuses for each interview. Additional data were obtained on age, level of ego development, and cognitive style. As predicted, subjects in the high identity statuses (Moratorium and Achievement) showed higher levels of ego development and a more mature cognitive style than subjects in the low statuses (Diffusion and Foreclosure). Outer Space statuses showed a positive relationship to age, but Inner Space statuses did not. Factor analysis showed that the interviews measure separate aspects of identity. Consideration of these results led to the suggestion that Outer Space as well as Inner Space issues are central to female identity status.This article is based on a dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Temple University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree.