FORCED ATTENTION TO SPECIFIC APPLICANT QUALIFICATIONS: IMPACT ON PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS AND SEX OF APPLICANT BIASES

The effect of forced postponement of a hiring decision until after specific qualifications had been evaluated was examined as a procedure to reduce sex and physical attractiveness discrimination. Ninety six male and 148 female undergraduates evaluated the qualifications of an attractive, average, or unattractive male or female applicant. Ratings of specific qualifications preceded or followed an overall and hiring decision rating. Results indicated that the order variable influenced ratings of specific qualifications but not the overall or hiring decision. Sex of subject and attractiveness did affect the hiring decision with male and attractive applicants being preferred.     

Attachment theory and psychoanalysis Some remarks from an epistemological and from a Freudian viewpoint1

The author examines Bowlby's attachment theory and more recent versions of it from an epistemological viewpoint and subjects it to questioning on whether they are in line with central concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis. He argues that Bowlby's basic tenets regarding attachment theory, which later attachment theorists never seriously questioned, do not conform to scientifi c standards, and that psychoanalytic issues such as the dynamic unconscious, internal confl icts, interaction of drive wishes and the role of defence in establishing substitutive formations are either ignored or not treated in suffi cient depth. In the light of this, Fonagy's assertion that psychoanalytic criticism of attachment theory arose from mutual misunderstandings and ought nowadays to be seen as outdated is reversed: psychoanalytic criticism can only be regarded as outdated if either basic tenets of Freudian psychoanalysis, or attachment theory or both are misunderstood.     

SIMULATION-BASED ASSESSMENT OF MANAGERIAL COMPETENCE: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

Prior work based on complexity theory has attempted, with some success, to predict general and managerial performance in complex, uncertain, and fluid task settings. The present paper evaluates a quasi-experimental simulation technique that was specifically designed to measure the impact of individual differences in a number of managerial styles (including a style reflecting cognitive complexity) on executive performance. Twenty simulation-based measures were tested for reliability and validity. On the basis of the data obtained from two separate samples, it was concluded that this quasi-experimental simulation technology may be useful for assessing a number of managerial styles that are not currently tapped by other measurement methods. Research results reported in this paper, as well as results obtained in other concurrent efforts, are summarized.