SETTING CUTOFF SCORES: LEGAL, PSYCHOMETRIC, AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES AND GUIDELINES

Cutoff scores are used in a variety of settings to help managers make personnel decisions. Although cutoff scores are used widely, information about their derivation and appropriate use is scattered in the legal, psychometric, and professional literatures. The purpose of this paper is to analyze critically and to integrate these diverse literatures, to summarize what is known and what is unknown about the use and misuse of cutoff scores. Alternative methods are examined in relation to legal precedents set by the courts, to psychometric principles, and to the various sets of professional guidelines. Directions for future research are suggested, and we conclude with a set of recommendations regarding acceptable professional practice in this area.     

The New Sacred Math

The individual soul is an ageless idea, attested in prehistoric times by the oral traditions of all cultures. But as far as we know, it enters history in ancient Egypt. I will begin with the individual soul in ancient Egypt, then recount the birth of the world soul in the Pythagorean community of ancient Greece, and trace it through the Western Esoteric Tradition until its demise in Kepler's writings, along with the rise of modern science, around 1600 CE. Then I tell of the rebirth of the world soul recently, in new branches of mathematics.     

Effects of Public Speaking Trait Anxiety and Intensity of Speaking Task on Heart Rate During Performance

The extant research examining the relationship between public speaking trait anxiety and heart rate has produced mixed findings. Some studies observe only weak relationships, whereas others report significant relationships between these variables. H. J. Eysetick has maintained that the degree of relationship between traits and heart rate depends on the stress levels under which the respondents perform when heart rate data are collected. An inspection of the existing studies shows that, consistent with Eysenck's observation, the studies reporting relationships between public speaking trait anxiety and heart rate were conducted under relatively low-intensity conditions in comparison to those reporting no such relationships. In the present study, heart rates of both anxious and nonanxious speakers were measured under both high- and low-intensity conditions. Results indicated that (a) heart rates of anxious speakers were significantly higher than those of nonanxious speakers when both performed under low-intensity conditions, but (b) heart rates were not different for anxious and nonanxious speakers when performing in high-intensity environments. These results provide a reconciliation of the inconsistent research findings and partially support the extension of Eysenck's conceptualization to communication apprehension theory and research.     

American Psychology of Religion and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

It is doubtful whether there ever has been a rise‐fall‐rebirth of the psychology of religion. While the claim has marginal merit for American academic psychology, it has little application in other cultures or even within American psychology of religion outside mainstream psychology. The psychology of religion has always been and remains tied to key individuals who sustain the field. This historical fact is important in understanding the role of the JSSR in the field. Early psychologists of religion such as Hall and James set the pattern for two distinctively different approaches to the psychology of religion. Hall's approach was methodologically restrictive, inherently reductive, and came to dominate the academic psychology of religion. James ‘approach was methodological plural, receptive to the evidential force of religious experience, and quickly marginalized within American psychology. These opposing orientation continue to influence the psychology of religion in societies such as the SSR and its journal. A review of the psychologist editors of JSSR illustrates that the psychology of religion remains a marginal interest of mainstream psychology. It survives because of the interdisciplinary nature of the SSSR and its journal.     

The Relationship Between Religiosity and Narcissism

Intrinsic religiosity correlated negatively and specifically with the maladaptive exploitiveness dimension of narcissism. Data are discussed in terms of the contemporary controversy regarding humanistic-theistic values.     

METHODS OF IMPROVING EMPLOYMENT TEST CRITICAL SCORES DERIVED BY JUDGING TEST CONTENT: A REVIEW AND CRITIQUE

Setting critical scores on content valid tests may involve making judgments about test content. A conclusion which has been reached in the testing literature is that the Angoff method is preferred as this type of judgmental method of setting standards or critical scores. The current paper reflects this conclusion, but also discusses several limitations of the Angoff method, and outlines why less than optimal data may be obtained using this preferred method or similar methods. Several techniques are reviewed and critiqued that may be used in conjunction with the Angoff method or similar methods to attempt improvement of the psychometric quality of the critical score data. Components from two psychometric frameworks (generalizability theory and Cronbach's, 1955, accuracy scores) are integrated and applied in assessing the impact that each of the techniques may have on Angoff critical score data. The techniques reviewed can be roughly divided into: (a) procedural methods (involved in the judgment process), and (b) psychometric methods (involved in data analysis following judgment). The present review is intended as a resource to personnel testing specialists who may be interested in methods of bolstering the process of judgmentally deriving critical scores.     

Risk Assessment of the Suicidal Religious Person: Some Suggestions

For appropriate intervention, the counselor should gain an understanding of the individual's perspective of religious values and attitudes, which at the moment of suicidal crisis may or may not be consonant with his or her previously held religious tenets.