THE "BIG FIVE" PERSONALITY FACTORS IN THE IPI AND MMPI: PREDICTORS OF POLICE PERFORMANCE

Rational and empirical linkages were formed between the "Big Five" personality factors and two personality inventories: the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI), which is a personality inventory designed especially for use in the selection of corrections officers, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). A criterion-related validation of the study was then conducted to assess the validity of these two measures of the Big Five in predicting various measures of police performance. Results indicated that while both inventories provided adequate measures of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, neither inventory consistently contributed incremental validity over the Civil Service exam.     

TURNOVER AND RETIREMENT: A COMPARISON OF THEIR SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

This study sought to demonstrate that turnover and retirement intentions were distinct forms of organizational withdrawal and to empirically examine the similarities and differences between their antecedents. In a sample of 375 (126 men and 247 women) working adults, a confirmatory factor analysis supported the contention that items measuring turnover intent and retirement intent were related to 2 separate constructs. In addition, the correlation between the 2 measures was low and not significant. The influence of common and unique variables that influence turnover intent and retirement intent were then examined. The results suggested that there were significant differences between the predictors of turnover intentions and retirement intentions. These findings suggest that there are important differences between turnover and retirement and it is necessary to treat them separately for some purposes.     

Opiate Addicts and Their Parents

A minority of opiate addicts, especially young males, maintain close ties with their parents. These families, referred to here as “addict-families,” are characterized by: (a) much greater success by the parents in meeting reality demands than by the addicts; (b) apparent congeniality and closeness but an absence of effective communication; (c) unsuccessful attempts by the parents to control the addict's behavior; (d) a tendency for the father to dominate the mother; (e) extreme overindulgence of the addict by one or both parents; (f) absence of parental support for movement toward adult responsibility in the addict; (g) family consensus in perceiving the addict as failing by conventional values. The characteristics seem to perpetuate the addiction, and the addiction appears to maintain the stability of the family.     

needed: more evaluation,not research

The mandate for greater and more thorough accountability is here. The authors of this article point out that more traditional kinds of research per se are not needed; what is needed is more evaluation. They briefly clarify some of the terminology (namely, accountability, evaluation, and research) and illustrate some of the characteristic differences between evaluation and research. The authors point to some reasons that little evaluation is taking place and, with tongue in cheek, mention some of the more commonly used evaluative approaches. Finally, they provide five basic steps to good evaluation, along with examples.     

CEU: Stimulating Manpower Personnel Training in Higher Education

Manpower personnel training programs in higher education settings have suffered a variety of ills. This article describes a promising way to cure many of them—the Continuing Education Unit (CEU). Salient features of CEU are described, implementation guidelines are suggested, and further references are provided for those desiring more complete information about the CEU training program. The article makes a plea to those in higher education and in manpower agency settings to close the gap between available university training resources and the expressed training needs of manpower personnel.     

Training Creativity in Adolescence: A Discussion of Strategy*

Contemporary psychologists are beginning to do more than identify those traits characteristic of creative adolescents, for while a trait approach to creativity is indeed informative, it fails to suggest precisely how creativity may be enhanced. In the following paper, Davis suggests that creativity profitably may be conceptualized as consisting mainly of three trainable components, (1) appropriate creative attitudes, the most critical of which is a favorable attitude toward highly imaginative problem solutions, (2) various cognitive abilities which facilitate whatever mental abstracting, combining, perceiving, associating, filling in gaps, etc., contribute to the fluent production of original ideas, and (3) techniques for the conscious and systematic production of new combinations of ideas. Further, by incorporating many concepts and principles from this three-part model, Davis describes a novel program for developing creativity in adolescents.     

THE AVAILABILITY AND HELPFULNESS OF SOCIALIZATION PRACTICES

This study reports on the socialization practices most available to new employees and the extent to which these practices are seen by newcomers as being helpful in becoming effective organizational members. The results showed that socialization practices are differentially available to newcomers, and perceptions of their helpfulness vary. The helpfulness of various socialization practices as reported by newcomers appears to affect their feelings of subsequent job satisfaction and commitment.     

Work Attitudes and Values of College Women

Despite woman's fast emergence into the working world, few studies have focused on individual changing attitudes and values that become initially responsible for setting future employment trends in our society. Following a historical perspective, a survey is presented that samples the inner feelings of young college women and their personal stand on the world of work. The results indicate a general rejection of much of the traditional work ethic. Although the attitudes expressed in this survey are simply contemporary, their hidden strength hints to the shape of a future American society that will potentially change the life-style of every individual.     

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATION SCALES FOR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PURPOSES

Behavioral items ( N = 78) critical to the job success of logging supervisors were developed from 1204 critical incidents, the frequency with which a supervisor ( N = 300) engaged in each behavior was rated on a 5-point Likert type scale by two sets of observers. A factor analysis reduced the items to 38 and 33, respectively, for the two sets of observers which in turn constituted 10 and 11 factors or criteria for performance evaluation purposes. Multiple regression equations based on composite scores were used to predict cost-related measures of logging crew effectiveness. The shrinkage in Rs after double cross-validation was moderately small. Moreover, the behavioral observation scales (BOS) that were developed by factor analyzing the observation ratings had moderately high reliability and accounted for more variance in the cost-related measures than did the BOS developed by traditional judgmental clustering techniques. The similarities and differences between BOS and BES procedures are discussed.