THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS

This study investigated the relation of the "Big Five" personality dimensions (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) to three job performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled). Results indicated that one dimension of personality, Conscientiousness, showed consistent relations with all job performance criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining personality dimensions, the estimated true score correlations varied by occupational group and criterion type. Extraversion was a valid predictor for two occupations involving social interaction, managers and sales (across criterion types). Also, both Openness to Experience and Extraversion were valid predictors of the training proficiency criterion (across occupations). Other personality dimensions were also found to be valid predictors for some occupations and some criterion types, but the magnitude of the estimated true score correlations was small (ρ < .10). Overall, the results illustrate the benefits of using the 5-factor model of personality to accumulate and communicate empirical findings. The findings have numerous implications for research and practice in personnel psychology , especially in the subfields of personnel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal.     

Blacks' and Whites' Perceptions of Verbal Aggression

Eighty Black and 80 White undergraduate and graduate women were presented with a set of materials depicting two women as verbally aggressive. In a between-subjects design, each participant was presented with a set of materials depicting one of the following: two women who were (a) of the same race as the participant, (b) of a different race from the participant, or (c) a mixed racial pair. Each participant was asked to rate the randomly chosen identified aggressor on several variables related to aggression. Results of a 2×2×2 MANOVA (race of participant, race of identified aggressor, race of target) indicated a main effect for race of participant such that the White participants viewed all episodes as more aggressive than the Black participants. There were no other significant main effects or interactions.     

Exploring the Different Levels of Multicultural Counseling Training in Counselor Education

The authors discuss the various approaches to multicultural counseling training currently being used in counselor education programs. In doing so, they outline a developmental framework that describes the types of training thought to be available to counseling students at this time. Los autores discuten los diferentes tipos de entrenamiento multicultrual que se usan hoy en día en los programas educativos de consejería. Al hacerlo, proporcionan un esquema del estado actual de desarrollo que describe los tipos de entrenamiento que se cree que están disponibles actualmente para los estudiantes de consejería.     

Enhancing Consultation by Matching the Consultee's Perspectives

A concern in consultation is the consultee's failure to implement an intervention due to the intervention's lack of acceptability. This study investigated a consultation technique designed to increase the acceptability of an intervention. It was hypothesized that intervention acceptability would be increased by using individualized intervention rationales that match the consultee's perceptions. Matched rationales were congruent with perceptions that consultees expressed about themselves, the target problem, and their theory. Three rationale conditions were used: matching the consultee's perceptions, mismatching the perceptions, or using no rationale. The results suggested that a matching rationale was associated with greater acceptance of the intervention than was a mismatched rationale.     

Gameplay Decisions of University Badminton Students

This study used a modified multiple baseline approach across groups to determine the effects of a creative problem-solving intervention series on the game-play decision making of university badminton students. All subjects were videotaped five times (once per week) in five-minute game play sessions with the same partner each time. One group (experimental) underwent creative problem-solving interventions on a weekly basis. Following the interventions and videotaping, each five-minute segment was coded via computer for frequencies of occurring tactical decisions. Results suggest that although certain categories did not generate positive support, the experimental intervention tended to continually improve decision-making in the most strategic categories (running opponents and jamming them) during game play in badminton.     

A TALE OF TWO JOB MARKETS: ORGANIZATIONAL SIZE AND ITS EFFECTS ON HIRING PRACTICES AND JOB SEARCH BEHAVIOR

Small firms employ half the U.S. private sector workforce, yet recruitment research has traditionally focused on large firms. The present study attempts to advance knowledge on how recruitment practices vary with firm size. Results suggest that the recruitment practices of larger firms are generally more formal and bureaucratic than those of smaller firms. In addition, the study demonstrates that many job seekers have distinct preferences regarding firm size, and that preferred firm size is related to job search behavior. Taken together, these findings suggest that firm size is an overlooked and important aspect of the recruitment/job search context. The processes involved in matching employers and applicants differ so much as a function of firm size that one might argue that large and small firms comprise separate labor markets.     

Loss of Faith: A Qualitative Analysis of Jewish Nonbelievers

Through in-depth interviews with 9 adult Jewish nonbelievers, this study explored the onset of their nonbelief and the degree of their spiritual well-being and compares these results with 9 Jewish believers. Findings indicate a need to revise current theories of religious development and also suggest the potential value of counseling intervention for these nonbelievers.     

Impact of attachment style on reactions to accommodative dilemmas in close relationships

Four studies examined reactions to accommodative dilemmas in ongoing close relationships, exploring the association between adult attachment style—secure, avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent—and four possible modes of reaction—exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect. Consistent with predictions, it was shown that which close partners enact potentially destructive behaviors, insecurely attached individuals tend to react in a more defensive and destructive manner. Specifically, in comparison to secure individuals, insecure individuals were more likely to react to accommodative dilemmas with exit and neglect, and were less likely to react with voice. Contrary to predictions, individuals with avoidant and anxious-ambivalent styles did not differ in their reactions to accommodative dilemmas. The implications of these findings for understanding reactions to emotionally threatening interpersonal situations are discussed.     

Responsibility and Planning

We are planning agents and we are, or so we suppose, responsible agents. How are these two distinctive aspects of our agency related? In his "Freedom and Resentment" Peter Strawson understands responsible agency in terms of "reactive attitudes" like resentment and gratitude, attitudes which are normally embedded in "ordinary inter-personal relationships." I draw on Strawson's account to sketch an answer to my question about responsibility and planning. First, the fact that an action is plan-embedded can influence the agent's degree of culpability for that action; for such embeddings can constitute or indicate important facts about the quality of the agent's will. Second, general planning incapacities can to some extent exempt an agent from normal judgments of responsibility. My argument for this second claim appeals to the normal roles of planning in "ordinary inter-personal relationships."     

CORRELATES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE: AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLIMATE APPROACH TO WORK ENVIRONMENT PERCEPTIONS

Correlates of subordinates' perceptions of their psychological influence on supervisors' decisions were examined for 126 subordinates in high technology jobs and 205 subordinates in low technology, production line jobs. Based on the psychological climate perspective of work environment perceptions, it was predicted that perceptions of psychological influence would be related significantly to (a) situational attributes, including supervisor behaviors, (b) individual characteristics, and (c) person by situation interactions. Results supported these assumptions and suggested that a cognitive information processing model assists in explaining environmental perceptions.