The impact of corrections for faking on the validity of noncognitive measures in selection settings

In selection research and practice, there have been many attempts to correct scores on noncognitive measures for applicants who may have faked their responses somehow. A related approach with more impact would be identifying and removing faking applicants from consideration for employment entirely, replacing them with high-scoring alternatives. The current study demonstrates that under typical conditions found in selection, even this latter approach has minimal impact on mean performance levels. Results indicate about .1 SD change in mean performance across a range of typical correlations between a faking measure and the criterion. Where trait scores were corrected only for suspected faking, and applicants not removed or replaced, the minimal impact the authors found on mean performance was reduced even further. By comparison, the impact of selection ratio and test validity is much larger across a range of realistic levels of selection ratios and validities. If selection researchers are interested only in maximizing predicted performance or validity, the use of faking measures to correct scores or remove applicants from further employment consideration will produce minimal effects.     

Part-list cuing in speeded recognition and free recall

The primary question was whether part-list cuing decrements would occur in a speeded yes/no recognition task and free recall. After studying category exemplars, participants were tested either after re-presentation of a subset of the exemplars (cues) or without re-presentation. Free recall of all study items followed the recognition task in each trial. Across two experiments, results demonstrated part-list cuing impairment in two ways: significant slowing of target recognition and lower free recall of target items in cued than in uncued trials. These findings extend the limited research on part-list cuing in recognition and support retrieval inhibition and retrieval competition interpretations of the phenomenon. Moreover, despite arguments for the necessity of the presence of cues for part-list inhibition, the present experiments demonstrate that the negative effects of cues can persist in their absence.     

Meritocracy and opposition to affirmative action: making concessions in the face of discrimination

Typically, people who strongly endorse the merit principle and believe that outcomes should be given to those most deserving oppose affirmative action (AA) programs that violate this principle. However, how do they respond to AA when faced with a great deal of workplace discrimination? The authors hypothesized that people who care strongly about merit should be motivated to combat discrimination because it biases the assessment of merit. Consequently, these individuals should make concessions for AA. The authors found support for their hypothesis when investigating (a) participants' preexisting perceptions of workplace discrimination and (b) experimentally induced perceptions of discrimination. They discuss the implications of these results for the psychology of meritocracy and for resistance to AA.     

Toward the reduction of population obesity: macrolevel environmental approaches to the problems of food, eating, and obesity

The authors reviewed the evidential basis of three environmental approaches to reducing population obesity: What are the effects of (a) taxing or subsidizing foods, (b) manipulating the ease of food access, and (c) restricting access to certain foods? A narrative review evaluated evidence using National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute criteria. There was strong evidence that subsidization influences food purchases, but not necessarily food consumption or body weight. Ease of food access may influence food purchases, and possibly food intake and body weight. Data on restriction were lacking. More studies are needed to justify that altering these macro-environmental variables will necessarily reduce population obesity. A proposed conceptual model posits that the steps through environmental interventions may exert intended and unintended influences on body weight and obesity prevalence. Contemplated policy changes should weigh scientific evidence with social judgments and values concerning changes to the environment.     

Memory demands on facial composite identification

Face composites created with FACES 3.0 composite software were used to identify target photographs under varying conditions of memory load. Composites created while viewing a mugshot were presented concurrently with a five‐photograph lineup of actual criminal suspects, immediately preceding the lineup, or with a filled delay between composite and lineup. Compared to a baseline using the mock witness technique, results demonstrated above‐chance identification of target photographs from their composites in all four experiments. Identification was highest with concurrent composite‐lineup presentation and lower under immediate, 30‐second‐delayed, and 4‐minute‐delayed conditions, with no significant identification differences across the three memory conditions. Confidence ratings in target selection only weakly predicted identification accuracy at best. These findings extend the limited research on computerized facial composite systems while addressing composite software use, efficacy, guidelines and limitations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of message quality and congruency on perceptions of tailored health communications

Recent research has documented the effectiveness of tailoring health behavior change messages to characteristics of the recipients, but little is known about the processes underlying these effects. Drawing from the elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), we examined the role of message scrutiny in moderating the congruency effect (Mann, Sherman, & Updegraff, 2004). One hundred and thirty-six undergraduate participants read either a strong or weak message promoting regular dental flossing with a frame (gain vs. loss) that either matched or mismatched their motivational orientation (approach vs. avoidance). Results showed that participants were sensitive to argument quality in the matched but not mismatched conditions. Further, argument quality moderated the effect of congruency on participants’ attitudes and perceived norms regarding flossing, as well as their subsequent self-reported flossing behavior. Results suggest that increased message scrutiny underlies message tailoring effects.     

Authoritarian dynamics and unethical decision making: high social dominance orientation leaders and high right-wing authoritarianism followers

When dilemmas require trade-offs between profits and ethics, do leaders high in social dominance orientation (SDO) and followers high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) make decisions that are more unethical than those made by others? This issue was explored in 4 studies with female participants performing managerial role-playing tasks. First, dyads comprising a person who was either low or high in SDO and a person who was either low or high in RWA negotiated for a leadership position. People high in SDO were more likely to obtain leader positions than to obtain follower positions. No other effects were significant. Second, leaders high in SDO partnered with an agreeable (confederate) follower made decisions that were more unethical than those of leaders low in SDO. Third, followers high in RWA were more acquiescent to and supportive of an unethical (confederate) leader than were followers low in RWA. Fourth, high SDO leader-high RWA follower dyads made decisions that were more unethical than those made in role-reversed dyads because leaders had more influence. Implications of these results for conceptualizing SDO, RWA, and authoritarian dynamics are discussed.     

Generating Race,Gender, and Other Subgroup Data in Personnel Selection Simulations: A pervasive issue with a simple solution

In the past 25 years, organizational researchers and practitioners have relied heavily on computer simulation research to understand how group mean differences and correlations affect overall validity and adverse impact in protected groups (e.g., racial/ethnic groups and gender) as they relate to personnel selection practices. We point out a multilevel issue affecting nearly all past simulations: The total correlations that these simulations intended to specify are somewhat distorted after group mean differences were introduced into the data. Although this distorting effect is minimal in most cases, it matters in some cases, and after all, the main virtue of statistical simulations is precision, both in the population parameters and sample data and statistics those parameters are supposed to generate. We demonstrate this distorting effect through one specific example, based on multiple predictors and meta‐analytic data, followed by a broader simulation for single predictors across a wide variety of selection conditions. Rather than merely point out this problem, we also provide a straightforward solution: multilevel formulas that incorporate both between‐ and within‐group correlations that always correct for this biasing problem, yielding more accurate simulation results. We conclude by discussing applications and promising extensions of this work.