36 Applications of personality and intelligence

Question 1

Name four common applications of intelligence and personality tests

Answer 1

1. Selection (education; employment)
2. Diagnosis (disabilities; mental health)
3. Counselling (educational decisions; career counselling)
4. Policy (education; workplace; mental illness)

Question 2

How are learning disabilities often flagged in test batteries?

Answer 2

Woodcock also has aptitude/achievement aspect. If high intelligence but underachiever there may be learning disability.

Look at profile of scores. Eg. if performance much higher than verbal, might be dyslexia

Question 3

What is the usual IQ cutoff for classification as mentally disabled?

Answer 3

75

Question 4

Are diagnoses made on test scores alone?

Answer 4

Generally not. Other factors must be considered.

Question 5

What factors might be considered in career planning?

Answer 5

Background factors (e.g. upbringing)
Educational history
Interests
Ability tests

Question 6

Why do coaching colleges confound testing for selective schools?

Answer 6

Because they give kids practise - kids are already familiar with tests such as Raven’s.

Question 7

What is the correlation between intelligence tests and job performance?

Answer 7

.35-.45. Although Schmidt (1998) found r of .51 in a metaanalysis.

Question 8

What kind of tests have been shown to have least adverse impact on minorities for hiring decisions?

Answer 8

Intelligence tests. Other tests such as peer-evaluations and biodata are less fair –and do not reduce adverse impact.

Question 9

What factors other than intelligence have the highest correlations with job performance?

Answer 9

1. Peer-evaluations (.41)
2. Biodata (.35)
3. Interviews (.19)
4. Reference checks (.18)
5. Projective tests (.18) e.g. Rorschach

Question 10

What is biodata?

Answer 10

Demographic info, life history and work history. E.g. Hobbies, how many computer languages you know?

Question 11

what did Schmidt’s 1998 metaanalysis show to be the highest correlates with job performance?

Answer 11

Work samples .54 (see people doing job)
Structured interviews .51
General mental ability .51
Unstructured interviews .38

Question 12

How does the predictive power of intelligence tests vary across levels of education?

Answer 12

Primary school .58
High school .24
University .22

Question 13

What of the Big Five predict better for primary school than later in life?

Answer 13

All of them.

Question 14

Which of the Big Five is important for academic success across the levels of education?

Answer 14

Conscientiousness
Primary School .28
High School .21
University .23