Worker estimation of ability requirements of their jobs

A modified version of the Minnesota Job Requirements Questionnaire (MJRQ), representing the GATB aptitudes, was used by workers in 11 selected jobs to rate the ability requirements of their jobs. Worker MJRQ ratings were compared with supervisor MJRQ ratings. Modified Occupational Ability Patterns (OAPs) derived from worker ratings were compared with OAPs based on supervisor ratings, OAPs from expert ratings in the DOT, and OAPs from the empirical GATB approach. Reliability of worker MJRQ ratings was comparable to that of supervisor ratings. Comparisons of mean ratings and variability of ratings of workers in a job category with workers in other jobs, and with supervisors rating the same job, showed construct validity for worker MJRQ ratings, as did intercorrelations of the worker ratings. OAPs derived from worker MJRQ ratings compared favorably with OAPs derived from supervisor MJRQ ratings, from the DOT, and from the GATB. Differences among workers on variables such as satisfaction, age and tenure did not significantly affect their MJRQ ratings. Implications of the worker MJRQ ratings are discussed.     

Supervisor estimation of abilities required in jobs

The Minnesota Job Requirements Questionnaire (MJRQ) was developed and administered to supervisors of 11 selected jobs who rated the ability requirements of the job they supervised. The MJRQ represented each of nine GATB aptitudes by five items in a Likert-type format. MJRQ ratings were compared with expert ratings in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and Occupational Ability Patterns (OAPs) derived from administration of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). Reliability of MJRQ ratings was shown by high Hoyt reliability coefficients. Comparison of mean ratings and variabilities of ratings by supervisors in a job showed construct validity for the MJRQ approach, as did intercorrelations of MJRQ ratings. OAPs derived from the MJRQ compared favorably with those derived from the GATB and DOT, showing promise for the parsimonious MJRQ approach to the development of OAPs.     

A validation of the Worker Trait Groups in the DOT

An empirical validation of the 114 Worker Trait Groups (WTG) of the Third Edition of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) was performed by comparing the factor structure of the worker trait components of the 114 WTG's with the factor structure of a random sample of 800 of the 4000 jobs used as the basis for the DOT, Third Edition. Six factors were compared and cosines between .8997 and .9657 obtained on the matched factors, thus providing a measure of empirical validity for the 114 WTG's based on the worker trait components.     

Factors Influencing the Inflation of Task Performance Ratings for Workers With Disabilities and Contextual Performance Ratings for Their Coworkers

Contrary to many myths regarding their potential performance, workers with disabilities generally receive performance ratings similar to their nondisabled coworkers. However, their ratings possibly may be inflated above their actual performance levels. In a laboratory experiment, we constrained the performance of a worker with a disability to an extremely low level and assessed the effects of helping behavior, presence and type of disability in the worker, and the perceived attributions of controllability of the disability on task performance ratings for the workers with disabilities and on contextual performance ratings for their coworkers. We found that the perception that a worker is not responsible for the onset of a disability and that having any disability, regardless of type, artificially inflates task performance ratings. We also found inflated contextual performance ratings for coworkers who work with persons who are perceived as being responsible for the onset of their own disability.     

特质模糊性对大学生人格判断准确性的影响

该研究从大学生样本中抽取19名目标被试、57名熟人被试和76名陌生人被试,采用词汇评定方法考察了特质模糊性对人格判断准确性的影响,结果表明：（1）自我、熟人及陌生人对清晰特质判断的一致性比模糊特质的一致性更高,这种差异在自我—陌生人及熟人—陌生人一致性中尤为显著;（2）无论是模糊特质还是清晰特质,自我—熟人判断一致性显著高于自我—陌生人和熟人—陌生人一致性,后两者差异不明显;（3）随着特质模糊性的增加,被试判断间一致性差异总体上呈不断增大的趋势,清晰特质判断一致性的差异较小,模糊特质判断一致性的差异较大。     

Sex-specific variation in facial masculinity/femininity associated with autistic traits in the general population

Reports linking prenatal testosterone exposure to autistic traits and to a masculinized face structure have motivated research investigating whether autism is associated with facial masculinization. This association has been reported with greater consistency for females than for males, in studies comparing groups with high and low levels of autistic traits. In the present study, we conducted two experiments to examine facial masculinity/femininity in 151 neurotypical adults selected for either low, mid-range, or high levels of autistic traits. In the first experiment, their three-dimensional facial photographs were subjectively rated by 41 raters for masculinity/femininity and were objectively analysed. In the second experiment, we generated 6-face composite images, which were rated by another 36 raters. Across both experiments, findings were consistent for ratings of photographs and composite images. For females, a linear relationship was observed where femininity ratings decreased as a function of higher levels of autistic traits. For males, we found a U-shaped function where males with mid-range levels of traits were rated lowest on masculinity. Objective facial analyses revealed that higher levels of autistic traits were associated with less feminine facial structures in females and less masculine structures in males. These results suggest sex-specific relationships between autistic traits and facial masculinity/femininity.     

Validity of observer ratings of the five-factor model of personality traits: a meta-analysis

Conclusions reached in previous research about the magnitude and nature of personality-performance linkages have been based almost exclusively on self-report measures of personality. The purpose of this study is to address this void in the literature by conducting a meta-analysis of the relationship between observer ratings of the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits and overall job performance. Our results show that the operational validities of FFM traits based on observer ratings are higher than those based on self-report ratings. In addition, the results show that when based on observer ratings, all FFM traits are significant predictors of overall performance. Further, observer ratings of FFM traits show meaningful incremental validity over self-reports of corresponding FFM traits in predicting overall performance, but the reverse is not true. We conclude that the validity of FFM traits in predicting overall performance is higher than previously believed, and our results underscore the importance of disentangling the validity of personality traits from the method of measurement of the traits.     

Influence of job characteristics on the acceptability of employee drug testing

Measures of the acceptability of employee drug testing were obtained from a sample of college students (N = 371) and a second sample of nontraditional, older college students (N = 112) and were correlated with job-analysis data from the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) and Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) databases, and with measures of perceived danger from impaired performance in each job. Both PAQ and DOT data accounted for variance in ratings of acceptability. Perceptions of danger were the best single predictor of acceptability and appeared to mediate the relationships between job characteristics and the acceptability of employee drug testing.     

Hierarchies in the Structure of Personality Traits

An emerging body of findings indicates that hierarchy is critical to integrating the Big Trait models – the Big Five, Big Four, Big Three, and Big Two – within a common structural framework. These findings, in addition to providing a unifying framework for understanding personality traits, confirm that hierarchy is an intrinsic and pervasive feature of trait structure. Here, fundamental concepts of trait hierarchies are reviewed, as is the empirical literature about hierarchies in personality trait structure. Important questions remain to be answered about the nature and form of hierarchies found in trait structure, as well as the methods used to understand them.     

Nice or smart? Task relevance of self-characteristics moderates interpersonal projection

Two studies investigated the impact of trait relevance to a specific task on people's projection of their characteristics onto a cooperative partner. We either measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2) the relevance of a trait to a specific cooperative task. In both studies, participants first rated themselves on a list of traits. Then they imagined completing a cooperative task with an unknown partner. Finally, they rated the partner on the same list of traits. In Study 1, we found partner ratings to be positively influenced by self ratings and the idiosyncratic measure of trait relevance. In Study 2, participants rated the self and the partner on competence and warmth traits while completing an intellectual or a social task. We found partner ratings to be positively influenced by self ratings more on competence than on warmth in the intellectual task, but more on warmth than on competence in the social task. These results suggest that people project onto others in a way that maximizes their chances to succeed in cooperation.     

ACCURACY OF INTERVIEWER JUDGMENTS OF JOB APPLICANT PERSONALITY TRAITS

This study investigated whether interviewers can assess Big Five personality traits during a job interview. Four raters (self, interviewer, friend, and stranger) assessed the applicant's personality. Results from ratings for 73 applicants demonstrated that interviewer ratings of applicant personality correlate higher with self-ratings ( = .28) than do stranger ratings ( = .09) but less than ratings from close friends ( = .39). However, correlations between interviewer ratings and self-ratings were smaller for the two job-relevant personality traits, Conscientiousness ( = .16, n.s.) and Emotional Stability ( = .17, n.s.) than for the other three personality traits. Variance in ratings suggested the applicants managed their self-presentation on these two traits during the interview. Thus, although interviewers can and do assess personality during the interview, they are not able to assess those traits that would best predict later job success. Finally, the moderating effect of interview design (i.e., structure and content) was assessed. The results revealed that job-relevant interviews, situational interviews, and behavioral interviews did not affect an interviewer's ability to assess personality. Although there was a small (positive) effect for more structured interviews, this affect was modest. The results of this study suggest that future research should examine whether the interview can be designed to assess personality directly, and what the gains to predictive validity are by doing so.     

The accuracy of roommate ratings of behaviors versus beliefs

We evaluated the accuracy of peer ratings of roommates’ personality characteristics, against roommate self-ratings, as a function of rating domain observability. Instead of the usual ratings of broad personality traits, however, our domains represented peer ratings of narrow exemplars of personality traits. Specifically, we compared roommate ratings on (a) observable trait-related behaviors with (b) unobservable trait-related attitudes or beliefs. We observed greater self-peer agreement in rating behaviors, in general, than in rating beliefs. We also observed greater tendency of raters to adopt an assumed similarity heuristic when judging their roommates’ attitudes and beliefs than their behaviors. We discuss the contribution of these findings to understanding the determinants of accuracy in personality judgments and developing best practices for personality assessment.     

Implicit Personality Theory and the Five-Factor Model

The Big Five have not only been identified in ratings of knowledgeable informants, but also in ratings of strangers, in co-occurrence likelihood ratings of traits, in semantic similarity ratings of trait pairs, and in prototypicality ratings of acts for traits. This article describes the shared and distinctive characteristics of correlations among trait ratings and implicit personality theory and reviews studies that compare the structure of memory-based ratings and of on-line behavior counts. Three hypotheses suggested in the literature to account for these correlations are delineated and discussed: an accurate reflection hypothesis, a distortion hypothesis, and an overlap hypothesis. It is concluded that the distortion hypothesis, has been discredited and that an overlap model best accounts for the available evidence. This implies that traits are real and accurately perceived, provided that the judges have the necessary information.     

Asymmetry in judgments of personality: others are less differentiated than the self

Previous evidence suggests that judges rely more heavily on implicit personality theories when they rate relatively unfamiliar others. One further implication of this evidence is that correlations among traits should be stronger in other ratings than in self-ratings, particularly when (a) judges lack trait relevant information and/or (b) motivational accuracy is low. We tested these predictions by comparing self- versus other ratings on the Big Five in two studies. Study 1 used previously published data to demonstrate clear self/peer differences in the average relations between Big Five dimensions (excluding Extraversion). Study 2 was based on self- versus other ratings in 12 samples. Overall, the intercorrelations among Big Five traits (excluding Extraversion) tended to be significantly stronger in peer ratings than in self-ratings. The most consistent effect involved the relation between Neuroticism and Agreeableness (overall r=-.43 and -.29 in the peer ratings and self-ratings, respectively). In addition, as expected, the degree of relation among traits varied depending upon the type of target being rated (i.e., spouse vs. dating partner vs. friend vs. stranger). Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Expert vs. general working sample differences in KSAO improvability ratings and relationships with measures relevant to occupational and organizational psychology

A broad sample of workers from the U.S. workforce as well as a group of Ph.D.s in Applied or I‐O Psychology rated a varied set of KSAOs in terms of the extent to which each KSAO could be improved by people through effort. Results in the general working population reflected a type of ‘Horatio Alger myth’ of work‐related human capability, or a belief that it is possible to change most of any work‐related attribute of oneself through effort. Expert psychologists did not agree with the worker sample, differentiating among KSAOs to a greater extent and rating KSAOs as less improvable overall. We initiated a taxonomy of perceived improvability of KSAOs, providing some indication of the expected perceived improvability of KSAOs. Within the worker sample, observed differences in ‘improvability’ ratings could be attributed mainly to individual differences in people. These individual differences related to a broad set of other important individual measures relevant to occupational and organizational psychology, including motivation for employee development, attitudes towards selection tests and performance appraisal systems, learning/performance goal orientation, and job analysis ratings of KSAO importance and needed at job entry. The total set of results strongly suggests that KSAO improvability ratings may be an additional tool that can be used effectively to understand some aspects of occupational and organizational psychology.     

CHILDREN'S PERSON PERCEPTION: THE GENERALIZATION FROM TELEVISION PEOPLE TO REAL PEOPLE

This study investigated children's perceptions of television people and the extent to which these perceptions are generalized to impressions of peers. Elementary school children (W=172) completed questionnaires measuring viewing, knowledge of, identification with, and the perceived reality of television characters, and ratings of peers on 11 traits (e.g., funny, attractive, kind, nice). Two criterion variables were studied: children's mean rating of peers on each of the traits and the variance in the ratings of peers on each trait. Multiple regression analyses (controlling for grade and sex) revealed that: (1) identification with television characters was a significant predictor of the mean evaluation of peers on the traits; (2) television viewing was a significant predictor of the variance in children's ratings of peers; and (3) the relationship between television viewing and the variance in trait ratings was lower for attributes found in past studies to be suggested by television presentations. Implications of these findings for the traditional concern that television standardizes perceptions of people through stereotyping are considered.     

社会等级加工的神经基础

社会等级是社会组织的基本原则。社会地位高低的再认与面孔再认及视觉注意均表现出N200的激活, 并不同程度地共享了情感、奖赏回报、数字等级及共情特质等加工的脑区网络, 涉及额区、杏仁核、纹状体、顶内沟和前扣带回皮质等。社会等级加工与5-羟色胺递质多态性等神经递质及内分泌系统具有复杂的交互作用。未来应立足于综合研究和系统分析的视角探讨社会等级加工与神经生物学基础的作用机制并致力于服务人类生活。     

Personality,Autonomy, and Contextual Performance of Managers

This study contributes to research on assessment centers' (AC) external construct-related validity by investigating a potential moderator of the relationship between personality and AC dimension ratings. On the basis of recent insights in person-situation contingencies we hypothesized that individual differences in people's perception of situational demands moderate the relationship between personality and conceptually related AC dimension ratings. The hypotheses were tested with 108 individuals in two leaderless group discussion exercises. Results confirmed the hypotheses for two of the three traits (i.e., Agreeableness and Conscientiousness). In particular, people high on these traits who identified the situational demands received higher AC dimension ratings. People high on these traits who did not identify the situational demands received lower AC dimension ratings.