Reconsidering vocational interests for personnel selection: the validity of an interest-based selection test in relation to job knowledge, job performance, and continuance intentions

Although vocational interests have a long history in vocational psychology, they have received extremely limited attention within the recent personnel selection literature. We reconsider some widely held beliefs concerning the (low) validity of interests for predicting criteria important to selection researchers, and we review theory and empirical evidence that challenge such beliefs. We then describe the development and validation of an interests-based selection measure. Results of a large validation study (N = 418) reveal that interests predicted a diverse set of criteria—including measures of job knowledge, job performance, and continuance intentions—with corrected, cross-validated Rs that ranged from .25 to .46 across the criteria (mean R = .31). Interests also provided incremental validity beyond measures of general cognitive aptitude and facets of the Big Five personality dimensions in relation to each criterion. Furthermore, with a couple exceptions, the interest scales were associated with small to medium subgroup differences, which in most cases favored women and racial minorities. Taken as a whole, these results appear to call into question the prevailing thought that vocational interests have limited usefulness for selection.     

Sleep EEG changes during adolescence: An index of a fundamental brain reorganization

Delta (1–4 Hz) EEG power in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep declines massively during adolescence. This observation stimulated the hypothesis that during adolescence the human brain undergoes an extensive reorganization driven by synaptic elimination. The parallel declines in synaptic density, delta wave amplitude and cortical metabolic rate during adolescence further support this model. These late brain changes probably represent the final ontogenetic manifestation of nature’s strategy for constructing nervous systems: an initial overproduction of neural elements followed by elimination. Errors in adolescent brain reorganization may cause mental illness; this could explain the typical age of onset of schizophrenia. Longitudinal studies of sleep EEG are enhancing our knowledge of adolescent brain maturation. Our longitudinal study of sleep EEG changes in adolescence showed that delta power, which may reflect frontal cortex maturation, begins its decline between ages 11 and 12 years and falls by 65% by age 17 years. In contrast, NREM theta power begins its decline much earlier. Delta and theta EEG frequencies are important to sleep theory because they behave homeostatically. Surprisingly, these brain changes are unrelated to pubertal maturation but are strongly linked to age. In addition to these (and other) maturational EEG changes, sleep schedules in adolescence change in response to a complex interaction of circadian, social and other influences. Our data demonstrate that the daytime sleepiness that emerges in adolescence is related to the decline in NREM delta as well as to altered sleep schedules. These longitudinal sleep data provide guideposts for studying cognitive and behavioral correlates of adolescent brain reorganization.     

The influence of heightened body‐awareness on walking through apertures

The reported study measured the ratio between aperture‐width and hip‐width that marked the critical transition from frontal walking to body rotation for male and female participants. Half of the participants of each sex wore form‐fitting lycra clothes and half loose‐fitting jogging suits. Participants wearing the form‐fitting clothing reported heightened body awareness relative to those wearing the loose‐fitting clothing. For male participants this difference was reflected in a smaller aperture‐to‐hip ratio in the form‐fitting than loose‐fitting clothing condition. That is, males walked frontally through smaller apertures when wearing form‐fitting than when wearing loose‐fitting clothing. For females there was no difference in walking action as a function of clothing style. Results are discussed in terms of the perception of action opportunities in the environment, the influence of body awareness on such perception and sex differences. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intent to harm or injure? Gender and the expression of anger

Gender differences in aggressive behaviour but not in anger suggest that women may express anger through behaviours that lack intent to harm or injure. Angry behaviours (injurious and noninjurious) were rated in terms of their likelihood of use when angry (N=888). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a direct aggression factor and two further scales: explosive acts (e.g. throwing objects when alone) and defusing acts (e.g. talking to a third party). Men exceeded women on direct aggression and explosive acts, whereas women exceeded men on defusing acts. Expressive beliefs about aggression (as a loss of self-control) were higher among women and strongly associated with use of defusing acts and the avoidance of direct aggression. Instrumental beliefs about aggression (as a means of control over others) were higher among men and showed the opposite pattern of associations. We highlight the need for further work on actors' intention in relation to angry behaviours and the impact of context on these intentions.     

Acquired flavour preferences: contextual control of adaptation-level effects

This experiment investigated the role of context in the expression of conditioned flavour preferences. Rats were trained on a mixture of almond and sucrose and were then given intermixed exposures to almond in one context (Context A) and to sucrose in a second context (Context S). Finally, choice tests were given in both contexts, with one group given almond-versus-water tests and the other almond + sucrose-versus-sucrose tests. Preference for almond over water was greater in Context A than in Context S. Conversely, preference for almond + sucrose over sucrose was greater in Context S than in Context A. These results suggest that the perceived sweetness of a flavour depends on the context in which it is presented and confirm that expression of a flavour preference depends on the type of test employed.     

Egos inflating over time: a cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory

ABSTRACT A cross-temporal meta-analysis found that narcissism levels have risen over the generations in 85 samples of American college students who completed the 40-item forced-choice Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) between 1979 and 2006 (total n =16,475). Mean narcissism scores were significantly correlated with year of data collection when weighted by sample size (β=.53, p <.001). Since 1982, NPI scores have increased 0.33 standard deviation. Thus, almost two-thirds of recent college students are above the mean 1979–1985 narcissism score, a 30% increase. The results complement previous studies finding increases in other individualistic traits such as assertiveness, agency, self-esteem, and extraversion.     

Suicide survivors seeking mental health services: a preliminary examination of the role of an active postvention model

Archival data from suicide survivors presenting for treatment from 1999-2005 at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center (BRCIC) were used to examine differences in those who received an active model of postvention (APM; n=150) compared to those who received a traditional passive postvention (PP, n=206). APM presented sooner for treatment (48 days) than PP (97 days). APM survivors were more likely to have been the survivor of a violent suicide. APM were more likely than PP to attend survivor support group meetings and APM attended more groups. To better understand the efficacy of APM in helping survivors, a prospective evaluation is needed.     

Go or no‐go? Developmental improvements in the efficiency of response inhibition in mid‐childhood

This experiment used a modified go/no‐go paradigm to investigate the processes by which response inhibition becomes more efficient during mid‐childhood. The novel task, which measured trials on which a response was initiated but not completed, was sensitive to developmental changes in response inhibition. The effect of inducing time pressure by narrowing allowable response time was also examined. While increasing time pressure did not reduce the inhibitory demands of the task for either age group, older children (aged 9 to 11 years) were able to inhibit their responses at an earlier stage of movement than younger children (aged 5 to 7 years). This shows that as children get older they become more efficient at controlling their behaviour which drives developmental improvements in response inhibition.     

The signing brain: the neurobiology of sign language

Most of our knowledge about the neurobiological bases of language comes from studies of spoken languages. By studying signed languages, we can determine whether what we have learnt so far is characteristic of language per se or whether it is specific to languages that are spoken and heard. Overwhelmingly, lesion and neuroimaging studies indicate that the neural systems supporting signed and spoken language are very similar: both involve a predominantly left-lateralised perisylvian network. Recent studies have also highlighted processing differences between languages in these different modalities. These studies provide rich insights into language and communication processes in deaf and hearing people.