REACTION OF EMPLOYEES TO PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL INTERVIEWS AS A FUNCTION OF THEIR PARTICIPATION IN RATING SCALE DEVELOPMENT

A substantial amount of research has been conducted on the performance appraisal feedback interview. The purpose of the present field study was to see whether employee involvement in the development of rating scales used in the feedback interview affected ratees' perceptions of the interview. Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) were developed for five job families in a midwestem hospital. A participation group consisted of employees from each of the job families who were involved in all phases of BARS construction. A nonparticipation group involved an equal number of employees from each of the job families who were not involved in the BARS development. The results showed that participation in BARS construction led to favorable perceptions regarding the performance appraisal interview process as well as positive outcomes.     

VULNERABILITY OF CONTRAST TESTS TO SIMPLER INTERPRETATIONS:

Abstract— The recent article in this journal by Rosnow and Rosenthal (1995) amplified on previous pleas that in analyses of variance, priority be given single-degree-of-freedom contrasts focused on specific hypotheses. The present commentary supports this plea, but notes a problem in choosing appropriate contrasts when global predicted patterns link two or more local effect predictions. Misleading claims can arise in very simple experimental designs, because global patterns are often confounded with relatively uninteresting simple effects or main effects. This problem is illustrated with a 1 × 3 example and a discussion of the 2 × 2. With careful attention to what points are of most interest in the data, and an appreciation of the potential sensitivity of some contrasts to banal alternative interpretations, this problem can be avoided.     

DEVIATIONS FROM MATCHING AS A MEASURE OF PREFERENCE FOR ALTERNATIVES IN PIGEONS

Preferences for larger or smaller formally defined response classes were investigated in a concurrent schedule procedure. Twelve pigeons were run on a series of concurrent variable-interval reinforcement schedules, from which baseline matching functions were obtained. An experimental phase followed, in which a second response key was available in one concurrent schedule alternative. For half the birds, the second key was programmed identically with the first; for the other half, the added key was programmed for extinction, with position irrelevant. Comparison of baseline and experimental matching functions revealed no systematic changes in either slope or intercept for birds in the latter group. Systematic shifts in function intercepts in the former group indicate a response bias toward the response-constrained (single-key) schedule alternative. Although contrary to the literature of preference for choice, this finding may be interpretable through an account dealing with imposed variability of responding.     

THE MEASUREMENT OF TRUST AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SELF-DISCLOSURE

This study examined the relationship of trust to self-disclosure. A measure of individualized trust was developed and used in conjunction with a multidimensional measure of disclosure to reassess the relationship between the two. A modest, linear relationship between individualized trust and various dimensions of self-disclosure was discovered. Moreover, a higher level of trust (as opposed to lesser trust as well as distrust) was found to be associated with more consciously intended disclosure and a greater amount of disclosure.     

TWO CULTURES OF RELIGION AS OBSTACLES TO PEACE

Abstract. There are two contrasting cultures in every religious tradition, the holy war and peaceable garden cultures. Examples are given for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Conflict is basic to human existence, stemming from the uniqueness of human individuals and their groups. Churches, instead of helping their societies develop the middle-ground skills of negotiation and mediation, have insisted on a choice between two extreme behaviors: unitive love or destruction of the enemy. In international affairs this has led to the identification of the church with the state in wartime and kept it from claiming the important middle ground of peacemaking. Institutionalized religion can pick up its missed opportunities.     

EFFECT OF SITUATIONAL INTERVIEWS, CONVENTIONAL STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS, AND TRAINING ON INTERVIEW RATING AGREEMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

The present study examines the degree to which agreement in interviewer ratings may be influenced by training, use of structured conventional interviews, or situational interviews. Results of an experimental study conducted among 42 managers who were experienced as interviewers revealed no training effect on rating agreement, but the impact of the situational format on consistency in assessments of applicant suitability was significant. Implications of these findings for usefulness of situational employment interviews and future research investigating the reliability of situational interview formats are discussed.     

LOGIC-BASED MEASUREMENT OF VERBAL REASONING: A KEY TO INCREASED VALIDITY AND ECONOMY

The purpose of this paper is to define logic-based measurement as a method of measurement in which all measures (test items) are constructed according to the applicable inferential formulae of logic. Such a method of test construction brings into verbal reasoning tests the inferential objectivity of numerical reasoning tests. The availability of such a technology has powerful implications in personnel selection regarding real-life prediction of inferential performance, the legal defensibility of personnel selection tests, the design of economical, inferentially nonredundant tests, and the design of test taxonomies in which basic inferential processes can be thoroughly sampled. These implications are discussed in this paper. Also the paper includes a discussion of the linkage of logic-based measurement with other recently developed technologies such as validity generalization and computer-tailored testing.     

THE MEASUREMENT OF SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES PRESUMABLY RELATED TO HYPNOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY

Å s , A., O'H ara , J. W. & M unger , M. P. The measurement of subjective experiences presumably related to hypnotic susceptibility. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 47–64.—An instrument to register a variety of subjective experiences presumably related to hypnotizability was constructed on the basis of certain theoretical notions of hypnosis. A comparison of the responses of 471 college students with the findings of another investigator shows a high degree of response consistency. Some sex differences are discussed. A cluster analysis and a factor analysis of a representative selection of Experience Inventory items and item groups indicate that existing theoretical notions of hypnosis have much in common and may be reduced to a set of very few variables.     

THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF OVERT AND COVERT INTEGRITY TESTS TO COACHING AND FAKING

Abstract— Although previous research has indicated that faking can affect integrity test scores, the effects of coaching on integrity test scores have never been examined We conducted a between-subjects experiment to assess the effects of coaching and faking instructions on an overt and a covert integrity test Coaching provided simple rules to follow when answering test items and instructions on how to avoid elevated validity scale scores There were five instruction conditions "just take,""fake good,""coach overt,""coach covert," and coach both All subjects completed both overt and covert tests and a measure of intelligence Results provided strong evidence for the coachability of the overt integrity test, over and above the much smaller elevation in the faking condition The covert test apparently could be neither coached nor faked successfully Scores on both integrity tests tended to be positively correlated with intelligence in the coaching and faking conditions We discuss the generalizability of these results to other samples and other integrity tests, and the relevance of the coachability of integrity tests to the ongoing debate concerning the prediction of counterproductive behavior     

PUNISHMENT AS DETERRENCE: REPLY TO SPRAGUE

In my 'A Deterrence Theory of Punishment', I argued that a deterrence system of punishment can avoid the charge that it illegitimately uses offenders if its punishments are carried out 'quasi-automatically': threats are issued by a legislature for deterrent purposes, but those who carry out the punishments have no authority to take deterrent considerations into account. Sprague has objected that under such a system, those who carry out punishments will be unable to justify their actions. I reply that if it is justifiable to set up the system in this way in the first place, then this justification will transmit to all actions carried out under it; and that it is justifiable to set up an institution of punishment in this way.