Career-Planning and Placement Services: Evaluations by College Recruiters and Placement Directors

Fifty-five college recruiters and 64 placement directors rated 19 career-planning and placement services and 8 kinds of student data on their value to recruiters. They also evaluated the most appropriate times for the use of student data. Significant differences between their ratings were found for 16 of the services and none of the kinds of student data. Significant differences between the groups' evaluations of the most appropriate times for the use of student data were found for 4 of 8 types. Recruiters and directors seem to be in complete agreement about the values of services and student data but in less agreement about the best times for using the student data.     

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL CLIMATE AND A VIE MODEL FOR WORK MOTIVATION1

The present study examined relationships between psychological climate and components of a valence-instrumentality-expectancy model. Data were obtained from 504 managerial employees of a large health care company. A principal component analysis of responses to 35 composites representing perceptions of the job, leadership, workgroup, and organization yielded six psychological climate components. Similar analyses were conducted separately for 20 valence items and 20 instrumentality items. Considerable similarity was found among the instrumentality and valence components, with one component in each area representing intrinsic outcomes, one component representing organizationally-mediated extrinsic outcomes, one representing negative or neutral outcomes, and one representing leader and workgroup-mediated extrinsic outcomes. Relationships among psychological climate and valence-instrumentality-expectancy components were significant and supported several hypotheses proposed in the literature.     

Personality Correlates of College Age Bulimics

This study was conducted to examine the relationships between bulimia and the personality characteristics of assertiveness, masculinity, femininity, masculinity-femininity, and externality. The results showed low but statistically significant negative relationships between assertiveness, masculinity, and masculinity-femininity and high bulimia test scores, and even greater predictive ability was obtained when these variables were combined.     

ATTRIBUTIONS FOR THE POORLY PERFORMING BLACKJACK DEALER: IN THE CARDS OR INABILITY?

This study examined the effects of task and supervisory experience on causal attributions and recommendations for corrective action following poor performance. One hundred twenty subjects employed in a casino reviewed an evaluation form describing the poor performance of a blackjack dealer in the casino. Subjects included first-and second-level supervisors with task and supervisory experience, dealers with task experience only, and employees with neither task nor supervisory experience. Subjects were told that the dealer being evaluated had 2, 6, or 12 months of task experience. Results indicate that task and supervisory experience did affect attributions to specific causal factors; however, the effects were not consistently in the predicted direction. Specifically, supervisors viewed lack of effort and poor supervision as more important and task difficulty as less important causes of poor performance than did dealers. Subjects without task experience viewed poor work conditions and task difficulty as stronger causes of poor performance than did dealers. Task experience of the ratee interacted with rater task experience such that dealers and controls differed in their attributions for employees with 12 months' experience but did not differ if the ratee had 2 or 6 months' experience. Causal attributions for an employee's poor performance were related to subsequent corrective recommendations.     

THE EFFECTS OF ITEM CONTEXT IN FAKING PERSONNEL SELECTION INVENTORIES1

Little is known about the fakability of empirically developed measures when such measures are removed from their original instrument or battery for use in selection decisions. A research design was created that experimentally induced motivation similar to that in employment settings. Experimental group subjects were randomly assigned to two conditions. One condition required S's to complete the entire Strong Vocational Interest Blank while the other condition required subjects to complete only those items which are scored on the psychologist's scale. When results of the two conditions were compared for the “motivated” subjects, those presented with the psychologist scale items only obtained significantly higher scale scores than those who completed the entire SVIB. Although additional research on other instruments should be conducted, these results indicate caution in the practice of retaining only the valid scale items for instruments used in employment settings. While maintaining the original context does not totally eliminate the problem of response distortion it makes the problem much less pronounced.     

The Challenge to Affirmative Action

The Bakke case is the latest and most serious challenge to the constitutionality of voluntary affirmative action programs. Bakke, a white male, challenged the constitutionality of the University of California Davis Medical School Special Admissions Program, which admitted 16 minority students with lower objective scores. Although a poor case for Supreme Court review, it was brought before the Court by the Davis Medical School despite the protests of many minority groups. If Bakke is upheld, it could virtually wipe out efforts to include minorities in most professional schools and some government employment.     

Religion As Experience in the Family

The simple fact is that whatever is seen or heard has its impact on the person seeing or hearing it. Anything that is seen and/or heard by a person asks that person to make an explanation to himself about it. As we've seen so many times before, if there is no opportunity to check out the explanation, then that explanation becomes the “fact.” The “fact” may be accurate or inaccurate, but it will be the basis upon which the individual will base his actions and opinions. This is the reason I believe so many children grow up to be adults who see themselves as versions of saints or devils instead of living, breathing human beings who feel.