INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN INTERVIEWER RATINGS: THE IMPACT OF STANDARDIZATION, CONSENSUS DISCUSSION, AND SAMPLING ERROR ON THE VALIDITY OF A STRUCTURED INTERVIEW

This research investigated empirical issues regarding the validity of individual interviewers'( N = 62) ratings collected after a structured interview. Each interviewer rated an average of 25 interviewees. One hypothesis examined but not supported was that systematic interviewer errors will attenuate interview validity when data are aggregated across interviewers. Also investigated was the validity of ratings averaged across interviewers compared to consensus ratings; consensus ratings were shown to have significantly but probably not practically higher validities. Third, a meta-analysis of individual interviewer validities revealed that all of the variance in validities could be attributed to sampling error. Results and implications are discussed.     

Extending Prediger's 4-2-1 Formula: Practical Applications for Career Counselors

This article extends a formula Introduced by Prediger (1981a, 1981b, 1982) to help clients locate themselves on the world-of-work map. The article suggests a way of generating one “overall” 3-letter code from a group of codes.     

Counselor Intentionality: Implications for the Training of Beginning Counselors

This article discusses how counselor intentions function within the process of counseling. Counselor intentions are discussed within the framework of the cognitive mediational paradigm. Implications of the use of counselor intentions for the training of beginning counselors are also delineated.     

Personality Consistency and Perceived Problem-Solving Behavior and Attitudes: An Extension of Holland's Typology

Holland's construct of consistency was used to predict self-perceived behavior and attitudes typically associated with “successful” problem solving. The results tend to support Holland's premise that the higher the degree of personality consistency, the more students perceive their problem-solving behavior and attitudes as successful.     

Cross-Cultural Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Historical Perspective,Implications for Research and Training

This article examines the development of cross-cultural and psychotherapy in the United States, and theoretical models and their implications for research and training are reviewed.     

Information retrieval systems in guidance

If information retrieval systems are to facilitate the dissemination of information for certain guidance functions, it is important that the factors which influence the use of such systems be understood. This article discusses information retrieval processes and the components of an information system. It also describes a number of currently operating systems which have direct relevance for guidance and counseling, and it stresses that in developing and using these systems, individual counselors, large guidance-oriented units, and guidance and counseling professional associations all have a vital role to play in this development.     

The Clergyperson as Counselor: An Inherent Conflict of Interest

Counseling is a function performed by many clergypersons as part of their overall role of minister in a congregational setting. There is an inherent conflict of interest when a clergyperson seeks to be an objective and therapeutic counselor to members of the very group on which he or she depends for both material benefits and volunteer help. The authors provide illustrations of this conflict of interest and then examine it in the light of codes of ethics of several professional counseling organizations. Clergy who do counseling are urged to adopt a professional code of ethics and abide by it, even if this involves cessation of the counseling function.     

TEST VALIDATION FOR SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING: TWO DEMONSTRATIONS OF AN APPROACH TO STUDYING PREDICTOR-CRITERION LINKAGES

This paper argues that a construct-oriented approach to test validation is likely to enhance scientific understanding of our predictor measures, performance criteria, and links between them. In particular, examining relationships between relatively homogeneous predictors and criteria tapping specific performance areas operationalizes earlier conceptual statements made by Guion and Dunnette about test validation for scientific understanding. Two demonstrations are offered to show how measures of predictor constructs have predictably different patterns of correlations with different criteria. In a study of Navy recruiters ( N = 267), individual personality scales had significantly different relationships with three different rating criteria; in a second study, with Army enlisted soldiers ( N = 8, 642), cognitive ability and personality construct measures also showed predictable patterns of correlations, with rating criteria measuring three different performance areas. The paper discusses scientific and practical implications of this construct-oriented approach to test validation.     

Group aggression among school children in three schools

"Mobbing", i.e. school children repeatedly ganging up on the same victims, was studied among 434 12–16 years old children in three schools in Finland. A group of bullies and a group of victims were selected on basis of peer ratings. 13.7% of the boys and 5.4% of the girls were involved in mobbing behaviour. The children's personality variables were studied with questionnaires. The victims had low self-esteem, were subjectively maladjusted, and experienced their peer relations negatively. The victims were physically weaker than well-adjusted children, and obesity and handicaps were more common among them. The bullies were physically strong, and handicaps were also among them more frequent than among well-adjusted children. The bullies held positive attitudes towards aggression, experienced their peer relations negatively, and held negative attitudes towards teachers and peers. They were unpopular among their peers, though not so unpopular as the victims.     

High-risk students in junior college: a special program

The college student who is considered a “high academic risk” offers to teachers, counselors, and curricula a great challenge. Most “bright” students have to exert little effort to achieve academic successs; however, there are other students for whom learning comes only with great personal effort, as well as great patience and concern on the part of their instructors, who can also benefit from higher education. The results of Project speed , representing one attempt to do something with high-risk students, strongly suggest that developmental programs can have a measurably positive influence upon their participants.