Toward the more efficient use of assessment center technology in personnel selection

Empirical research has consistently supported the validity and business utility of the assessment center method as a selection instrument. Nonetheless, the method as typically applied may be unnecessarily costly and inflexible. This paper begins by describing how the model for assessment center design that is widely used today came to be accepted as a standard. Then modifications in design and operation are discussed. These suggested modifications are intended to enhance the utility and flexibility of assessment centers, while at the same time maintaining, or even increasing, the validity of the process.Seymour Adler is Associate Professor of Applied Psychology at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, and Vice President of Assessment Systems Incorporated, a New York-based consulting firm.     

Cognitive, perceptual, and personal-social development of prematurely born preschoolers

This study was designed to determine possible differences in the cognitive, perceptual, and personal-social development of prematurely and maturely born 3-yr.-olds which might foreshadow later learning problems. The subjects were 40 prematurely born graduates of a neonatal intensive care unit (birth weight less than 2,500 gm, less than 37 wk. gestation) matched on the pair-level with full-term controls on sex, race, post-conceptual age, and socioeconomic background. All subjects were singletons and parity was matched at the group level. No differences were found between the groups on tests of higher mental processes including the General Cognitive, Verbal, Quantitative, and Memory Scales of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, and researcher-devised measures of problem-solving competence. No differences in parental reports of personal-social development were noted. Prematures did not perform as well as controls on perceptual performance tasks, and this difference was interpreted as reflecting relatively impaired visual-motor coordination.     

Youth Testimony at the Opening Prayer of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches

This is the text of the youth testimony at the opening prayer of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches on 31 August 2022.     

The sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of COVID-19 vaccine concerns among urban college students

COVID-19 vaccine concerns remain high among Americans. Although recent studies have investigated the sociodemographic disparities in vaccine concerns, less attention has been given to reasons for vaccine skepticism and psychosocial factors that may explain it. The current study examined specific types of vaccine concerns among a diverse sample of college students (N = 1985) living in New York City. Participants who identified as Black, younger, with later immigrant generational status, and those with more conservative political leanings reported more vaccine concerns. Concerns regarding vaccine side effects were the most frequently reported source of concern. Reason for getting vaccinated, personal experiences with COVID, and COVID stress was also associated with vaccine concerns. Study results emphasize the importance of sociodemographic factors and COVID knowledge and stress in examining and addressing vaccine concerns.     

EMG waveform duration: A validation method for the surface electromyogram

The electromyogram (EMG) recorded with surface electrodes was examined using a triggered oscilloscope technique. When all but the high-amplitude waveforms in a given segment of activity were excluded from analysis, it was found that the duration of the remaining waveforms was specific to the muscle that produced them. That is, waveforms of a given duration were recorded whenever conventional indices-observable contraction, joint movement. needle recordings-showed activity in a specific muscle. This led to the suggestion that waveform duration might be used to validate the surface EMG. The suggestion. which is limited by the need to control posture and electrode placement, both of which may influence waveform duration, was illustrated in application to psychological research.     

Contrast and assimilation in lightness judgments

Experiments studied how assimilation and contrast varied as a function of the reflectance of figures above and below the reflectance of a gray background. The results showed that for the experimental conditions investigated: (a) contrast always occurs when the reflectance of lines is above the reflectance of the background, (b) assimilation occurs when the reflectance is below that of the background, (c) circles produce the same degree of assimilation and contrast as lines of equal width, and (d) repeated judgments do not affect contrast but reduce assimilation; as line darkness and line width increase assimilation gives way to contrast following repeated judgments. The results are discussed in connection with the hypothesis that assimilation and contrast arise from opponent processes in the visual system,     

Psychiatry under tyranny: A report on the political abuse of Romanian psychiatry during the ceausescu years

Romanians suffered incredible deprivations of every sort during the decades of Communist dictatorship. Most of the country’s 1,000 psychiatrists, and most of their patients, were victimized by the political system. A few psychiatrists actively engaged in practices amounting to torture. Many, however, became willing or unwilling participants in the political abuse of their profession. Such political abuses were fostered by abusive legislation and abusive law enforcement by the secret police. Abuses included: mass detentions in psychiatric hospitals of dissidents and political undesirables; abusive interpretation of the laws in detaining persons not suffering from mental illness; false, politically motivated diagnoses and treatment; and detention in secret facilities. While there are honest efforts to come to grips with the past, to compensate victims of psychiatric abuse, and to institute proceedings against abusers, there is also much resistance to reform. Reform-minded Romanian psychiatrists deserve the support of their western colleagues in the effort to restore Romanian psychiatry. In particular, professional colleagues all over the world are asked to comment on the draft law currently pending before the Romanian parliament, which is intended to restore the rule of law to the practice of psychiatry in Romania. Report of a consultative mission to Bucharest, on behalf of the Geneva Initiave on Psychiatry, 7 June to 12 June 1992, by Nanci Adler, Historian-Sovietologist, Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; G.O.W. Mueller, Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice, Rutgers — The State University of New Jersey, U.S.A.; Mohammed Ayat, Professor of Criminology and Penal Law, Université de Fes, Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales, FEs, Morocco. The Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization, dedicated to the introduction and preservation of ethical practices in the psychiatric profession, in accordance with medical ethics, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and U.N. standards and guidelines. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the organization is currently providing technical and financial assistance to the newly established free, independent, democratic psychiatric associations in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and other countries. The General Secretary of the organization is Robert van Voren; the board is composed of professionals from some twenty countries. This article was based on meetings at governmental and parliamentary offices, nongovernmental organizations, and embassies as well psychiatric institutions with, among others, the following persons: Dr. Lucian Alexandrescu, V-P Radu Ciuceanu, Mr. Comsa, Proc. Gen’l. Ulpiu Cereceanu, Mr. Nistor Cristea, Mr. Dinu Ianculescu, Prof. Dr. George Ionescu, Miss Cristina Luzoscu, Dr. Zaharia Nicolae, Mr. Iancu Petrescu, Dr. Dan Prelipcianu, Min. Mircea Ionescu-Quintus, Dr. Aurel Romila, Av. Nicolae Stefanescu-Draganesti, Dir. Dr. Tomescu, Dr. Alexandru Trifan, Dr. Valeriu Tuculescu, and numerous victims, diplomats, and Romanian citizens.     

CHANGING PROTECTIVE AND RISKY BEHAVIORS TO PREVENT CHILD-TO-PARENT TRANSMISSION OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS

Child-to-parent transmission of cytomegalovirus may be reduced by increasing protective behaviors (handwashing and glove use) and decreasing risky behaviors (intimate contact between child and parent). This study showed that an educational intervention resulted in increases in reported and objective measures of protective behaviors and decreases in reported risky behaviors. Further study must determine if changes in protective and risky behavior are maintained and prevent cytomegalovirus transmission.