I/O Psychology Flashcards
(220 cards)
Title VII of the CIvil RIghts Act of 1964
Title VII is the original Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Act
States that one cannot discriminate on the basis of sex, ethnicity, and a variety of other factors
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) created Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection in 1978
Use of any test that adversely affects hiring, promotion, or selection procedures constitutes discrimination
Use of such a test may still be acceptable IF test is validated, has utility, and no alternatives are available
Americans with Disabilities Act
1990
Bans discrimination in employment, transportation, access to public buildings, other settings
Requires that companies make reasonable accommodations for disabled individuals
Discrimination according to ADA
Using standards, employment tests, or other selection criteria that screen out an individual with a disability or class of individuals with disabilities, unless the test or criteria is shown to be job related and consistent with business necessity
ADA and substance anbuse
Prohibits discrimination against someone who has successfully completed or is currently participating in a drug rehab program and is no longer using drugs
NO stance for or against drug testing
Griggs vs. Duke Power Company (1971)
Court ruled that tests that measured broad abilities, in which minority group members passed at much lower rates than Whites, were unfair to use to make decisions of hiring and promotion
THUS, broad general testing was faulted and requirement was established that tests measure skills necessary for a particular job
Adverse Impact
80% or 4/5ths rule
Percentage of minorities selected must be at least 4/5ths of the percentage of non-minorities
Multiple selection rate for non-minorities by .80 to determine minimal acceptable rate for selection of minorities
Adverse impact example
Selection ratio for non-minority applications = 20/100=.20
Multiple .20*/80 = .16
Minimum acceptable rate for the selection of minority applicants would be 16%
Unfairness
When minorities and non-minorities score differently on the predictor test yet perform similarly on the criterion
Some theorists argue that unfairness rarely occurs
A cause of adverse impact
e.g. MCAT. Minorities routinely score lower but once in med school, perform just as well as non-minority counterparts
Differential Validity
When there are significantly different criterion-related validity coefficients for different groups on the same test
i.e. test is more valid for producing the performance of one group than it is for performance of another
Research suggests differential validity rarely occurs
Job analysis
Procedure for collection and analysis of data that provides information about the job tasks (job description) and job requirements (job specifications)
Involves identifying the skills, knowledge, etc required for successful job performance
How can data for a job analysis be obtained
Open-ended or structured interviews
Critical incident technique
Critical incident technique
involves ascertaining the specific actions that lead to desirable (successful) or undesirable (unsuccessful) consequences on the job
employee selection - biodata
standard application blank
weighted application blank- assigns weights to certain variables (e.g. college vs non-college grads)
biographical inventory aka biographical information blank (BIB) covers applicants life in greater detail
interviews
have worst criterion-related validity
better if structured, there are multiple interviewers, if interviewers are trained
interviewer biases
first impression, negative information, the contrast effect, interviewer prejudices, and the halo effect
first impression bias
tendency of the interviewer to be swayed by an initial impression of the candidate and to overlook the candidate’s presentation throughout the remainder of the interview
negative information bias
tendency for one or two negative items to cause the interviewer to overlook strengths or accomplishments
contrast effect
occurs when an interviewer’s ratings of a candidate are affected by the performance of a previous candidate (e.g. mediocre candidate gets rated more highly because the previous candidate was extremely pour)
interviewer prejudices
personal likes, dislikes, and beliefs of the interviewer that biases his or her view of the candidate
halo effect
generalizing from one characteristic to the entire candidate in either a positive or negative direction
commonly occurring halo effect - attractive individuals frequently seen as more competent, effective, and trustworthy
cognitive ability tests as a predictor of job performance
cognitive ability (e.g. Wonderlic Personality Test) and aptitude (e.g. typing tests) are very commonly used and tend to be quite good predictors of job success
personality tests
poor predictors of job performance
interest tests as predictor of job performance and job satisfaction
e.g. Holland’s Self-Directed Search
poor predictors of job success by DO correlate with job satisfaction