Faking Fast and Slow: Within-Person Response Time Latencies for Measuring Faking in Personnel Testing

Purpose

Item response time (RT) latencies offer a potentially promising approach for measuring faking in personnel testing, but have been studied almost exclusively as either long or short RTs relative to group norms. As such, the ability to reliably assess faking RTs at the individual level remains a challenge. To address this issue, the present study set out to examine the usefulness of a within-person difference score index (DSI) method for measuring faking, in which “control question” (baseline) RTs were compared to “target question” RTs, within single test administrations.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Two hundred six participants were randomly selected to simulated faking or honest testing conditions, and were administered two types of integrity test items (overt and personality), whereby group classification (faking/honest) served as the main dependent variable.

Findings

Faking condition RTs were longer than honest condition RTs for both item types (overt: d = .43; personality: d = .47), and overt item RTs were slightly shorter than personality item RTs in both testing conditions (honest: d = .34; faking: d = .41). Finally, using a sample cut score, the DSI correctly classified an average of 26 % more cases of faking, and 53 % less false positives, compared to the traditional normative method.

Implications

The results suggest that the DSI can be an advantageous method for identifying faking in personnel testing scenarios.

Originality/Value

This is the one of the first studies to propose a practical method for identifying individual-level faking RTs within single test administrations.

     

In defence of high-speed memory scanning

This paper reviews some of the evidence that bears on the existence of a mental high-speed serial exhaustive scanning process (SES) used by humans to interrogate the active memory of a set of items to determine whether it contains a test item. First proposed in the 1960s, based on patterns of reaction times (RTs), numerous later studies supported, elaborated, extended, and limited the generality of SES, while critics claimed that SES never occurred, that predictions from SES were violated, and that other mechanisms produced the RT patterns that led to the idea. I show that some of these claims result from ignoring variations in experimental procedure that produce superficially similar but quantitatively different RT patterns and that, for the original procedures, the most frequently repeated claims that predictions are violated are false. I also discuss evidence against the generality of competing theories of active-memory interrogation, especially those that depend on discrimination of directly accessible “memory-strength”. Some of this evidence has been available since the 1960s but has been ignored by some proponents of alternative theories. Other evidence presented herein is derived from results of one relevant experiment described for the first time, results of another described in more detail than heretofore, and new analyses of old data. Knowledge of brain function acquired during the past half century has increased the plausibility of SES. The conclusion: SES is alive and well, but many associated puzzles merit further investigation, suggestions for which are offered.     

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS: AUTISM AND BEYOND

Over the past 60 years, applied behavior analysis (ABA) has made notable contributions to the literature involving populations with developmental disabilities. Practitioners and researchers have made impressive advances in addressing challenges posed by autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in particular. The focus on autism has resulted in an improved public image of ABA and, in turn, has helped highlight the need for increased awareness surrounding ASD. A summary of relevant research contributions is provided, and although the advances in autism are impressive, individuals with ASD constitute a minority portion of the educational system. A review of the existing literature, as well as a novel literature search, supports the suggestion that ABA has narrowed its focus to issues affecting populations with ASD, while concurrently being less attentive to problems faced by society as a whole, particularly general education. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating Open-Ended Parent Reports and Direct Preference Assessments to Identify Reinforcers for Young Children With Autism

Little research has evaluated open-ended parent reports to identify reinforcers for children with autism. This study evaluated open-ended parent reports and direct preference assessments for six young children with autism in home-based therapy. Results indicated little correspondence between parent reports and direct assessment assessments for all but one child. However, a follow-up reinforcer assessment with two children showed that the top ranked stimulus from both assessments functioned as reinforcers, with one child demonstrating higher levels of responding for the top ranked stimulus from the parent report. Results tentatively support open-ended parent reports to identify reinforcers for young children with autism.     

Activity Group Therapy of a Dull Boy with Severe Body EGO Problems

The presence of a time limit shapes the entire therapeutic process and culminates in the management of termination. This paper outlines a protocol for dealing with termination in time-limited psychotherapy groups: (1) Select suitable members with similar capacity to use a time-limited format; (2) use a closed group format; (3) clarify the time boundaries at the beginning; (4) reinforce the time frame during the last half of the group; (5) provide focused interventions; (6) forestall premature termination; (7) reinforce termination themes of deprivation, resentment and anger, rejection, grief and loss, responsibility for self; (8) structure the final session; and (9) plan a 4-month follow-up visit to encourage ongoing application. These guidelines provide the therapist with a general structure to ensure that major termination themes are systematically addressed. They deal with powerful concepts of maturation and self-responsibility and incorporate the principal strategies that distinguish time-limited from time-unlimited group psychotherapy.     

Why moral paradoxes matter? “Teflon immorality” and the perversity of life

“Teflon immorality’’ (or TI) is immorality that goes on unchecked—the wrongdoing is not stopped and its perpetrators, beyond the reach of punishment or other sanction, often persist in their immoral ways. The idea that the immoral prosper has been recognized as morally (and legally) disturbing presumably for as long as humanity has been reflective, and can be found already in the Bible. The reasons behind a great deal of successful immorality are important practically, but uninteresting philosophically. Sometimes, however, we face events that are more interesting philosophically, and Teflon immorality results from oddities such as moral paradoxes and perversions. These, however, have remained largely unnoticed. I will outline a tentative survey of this topic. After showing its pervasiveness and importance, I will briefly reflect on its relevance to the way we should think about morality and about the means to further it, and confront possible objections.     

Changing Concepts of Psychoanalytic Medicine Edited by Sandor Rado and George G. Daniels

A meta-analysis was conducted combining results from nine studies, using seventy-five outcome measures of 349 subjects. Only studies that contrasted group, individual, and control treatments with a pretest-posttest design were selected. Estimates of effect sizes were calculated for group, individual, and control treatments across all studies, according to treatment modality (psychotherapy, counseling, or psychoeducation), type of control (no treatment or some treatment), date of the study (1955–1969 or 1977–1982), and the subjects' age (adult, adolescent, or child). Results indicated that both group and individual treatments had a measurable effect that was consistently greater than that of controls. Further, (1) counseling produced much more of an effect than either therapy or psychoeducation; (2) the more recent treatments produced larger effects than the older studies; and (3) group treatments were more effective than individual methods in the treatment of adolescents, but were less effective in the treatment of children.     

Cross‐Cultural Integrity Testing as a Marker of Regional Corruption Rates

Despite the extensive research on integrity testing in personnel psychology, very little cross‐cultural evidence is currently available. The present study compares mean integrity test scores across 27 countries, based on data collected from 60,952 job applicants, and examines the relationship between these scores and a comparative index of country‐level corruption as a broad measure of cross‐cultural validity. G. S. Hofstede's cultural dimension indices are then used to explain these findings. The results indicate significant variance between cross‐cultural integrity test scores overall, and that this variance is significantly related to country levels of corruption (r=?.48), as well as Hofstede's power distance and collectivism dimensions, as hypothesized. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.