With its original version dating back to 1925, the Watson Glaser is a well-known critical thinking exam. Critical thinking exams are designed to measure an individual’s ability to evaluate the evidence in support of an assertion, to engage in abstract thinking, and to come to logically accurate conclusions.

As might be expected, scores on the Watson Glaser are highly correlated with other assessments of verbal, non-verbal, and numerical reasoning. The Watson Glaser also predicts job performance and leadership ability since critical thinking is closely associated with success in higher level positions.

The Watson Glaser is often used as part of a pre-employment testing process because of its ability to predict work performance in positions which require decision making. However, with the advent of the Watson Glaser II (which will soon be available on pan), there is now a developmental report which will broaden the Watson Glaser’s  use beyond pre-employment testing to coaching, training, and other related domains.

An uproar has been brewing because the images used for the Rorschach inkblot test been posted on Wikipedia along some of the more common responses to each. . As might be expected, some psychologists are concerned that this may impact the validity of the test, especially in cases where the assessment is used within a legal context (for example, in a child custody evaluation or pre-trial assessment of a sex offender) as opposed to a counseling situation. In contrast, others have pointed out that the Rorschach is almost never used in isolation but in combination with a number of other clinical assessment tools to make decisions and that this same information about the Rorschach is available in training texts on the test as well as from other sources.

However, this event does highlight an important issue about test security and the Internet. While these images have been available to the public previously, their posting on Wikipedia does make  them easily and broadly accessible. And even if we accept the argument that posting this information will have little impact upon the Rorschach’s validity, it should be noted that real harm can be done when test security is compromised. Not only is copyright law often being violated and the validity of a test compromised that may have taken years to develop, but the public may be placed at harm. For example, how many of us would be concerned we found out that our child’s pediatrician only passed a licensing exam because he or she had knowledge of the test content before taking the licensing exam?

As it turns out, the individual who posted the images actually is an emergency room doctor from Saskatchewan. When questioned, he sees little harm in what he has done and goes on to state that his elderly father passed a driver’s license eye exam by looking it up on the Internet. I guess our only hope is that his dad can actually see well enough to drive to keep both himself and the rest of us safe.

Reid Klion

The need to identify individuals who will be successful in a sales role is one of the most frequent problems that employers face. One assessment in the pan catalog that is designed specifically for this purpose is the Sales Achievement Predictor. Published by WPS, the Sales Achievement Predictor was specifically developed to measure traits that are associated with success in a sales-related position. This assessment helps a potential employer to understand a candidate’s relative strengths and weaknesses. The Sales Achievement Predictor also looks at factors such as self-confidence, willingness to make “cold calls,” motivation, and assertiveness.

pan also offers a number of other sales personality tests in addition to the Sales Achievement Predictor to include the Hogrefe PASAT 2000 and the Troutwine Career Automotive Retailing Scale. While also looking at personality factors related to a role in sales, the gNeil Sales Potential Inventory  is a bit closer to being a sales skills test because it also looks at behaviors related to the sales role.

This week, I had the opportunity to work with a coworker on two different projects. The first was within her area of expertise, and I needed her help to complete my responsibilities. The second was in my area of expertise, and she came to me for assistance.  It occurred to me that in my job, I rarely accomplish goals by myself. I nearly always rely on others to help me get the job done, even if it is just bouncing ideas off of my boss before implementing a solution for a client.

In a previous posting, I wrote about the importance of developing employees to help make them productive team members. However, it is also important to look at an individual’s propensity for teamwork during the selection process. Assuming the job for which you are hiring does, in fact, require teamwork, you may benefit from using selection assessments and behavioral interview questions to identify job candidates’ tendencies towards collaboration and cooperation. Job candidates whose assessment results or interview performance indicate high levels of traits, such as extroversion and agreeableness may be more effective on the job-- simply because they are more likely to work with others to accomplish organizational goals.

Jocelyn Courtney-Hays

While personality and cognitive tests are often used for hiring and selection, another set of tests focus on an individual’s aptitude, or ability, to learn a set of tasks. Rather than assessing an individual’s knowledge, mechanical aptitude tests predict an individual’s ability to learn a job. Mechanical aptitude tests are most typically used in the hiring selection process to identity the most suitable candidates for training programs or entry level positions.

Probably the best known mechanical aptitude test is Pearson’s Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test. Here, the applicant is presented with pictures that represent mechanical principles in everyday situations. For example, one question may show a lever and ask where it should be placed to make moving a heavy object easiest. The intent of the items is to assess mechanical reasoning, not specific knowledge. Other similar tests are the Hogrefe PPM for Mechanical Understanding,Pearson DAT for PCA Mechanical Reasoning, and the Ramsay Mechanical Aptitude Test. 

Mechanical aptitude tests are powerful tools when used for applicant screening into positions that require these skills. They have been used successfully for decades and are well-suited for hiring selection decisions for jobs that require mechanical ability or will involve training in these skills.

The American Psychological Association will be holding its annual convention next week in Toronto on August 5-9. Both Nate Studebaker and I were fortunate enough to be invited to speak. Nate will be chairing a symposium on the implementation of 360º feedback programs in decentralized organizations while I will be chairing a panel discussion on the ethical issues surrounding the management of assessment data. Two panelists in my session work for long-time pan content partners: Ryan Ross of Hogan and Julie Carswell of Sigma Assessments.

If you will be at APA, Nate and I would certainly be pleased to get together to either discuss business, socialize, or both. Please drop a note to either Nate or me so that we can sort out the logistics. We hope to see you in Toronto!

Reid Klion

I was on the SIOP website the other day and came across the “SIOP FYI on Workplace Topics” section which has some rather extensive information on both employment testing  and coaching. While I haven’t had a chance to review the coaching section in any detail, there is a wealth of descriptive information about assessment. Overall, the presentation seems quite balanced with a section on reasons to use  (as well as not to use) assessments, types of tests, and item formats. 

These pages provide an excellent, even-handed orientation which focuses on the pros and cons of various approaches to assessment. These resources would be quite useful to individuals who want to learn more about using assessments in the workplace. Interestingly, there is a “hit counter” on the bottom of each page. While I don’t know when the pages or counters were created, it appears that some have been viewed fewer than 1000 times. Let’s hope they find the audience that they deserve.

Reid Klion

While perusing Amazon.com for good books recently, I came across the Penn and Teller tome, How to Play in Traffic.  Generally, I wouldn’t mention such mundane details of my life, but I wanted to make note of it here.  You see, it has come to my attention that there are some people who make playing in traffic their full-time job.

You may remember from my previous post that I am an Indy 500 fan. However, the excitement here in town is that NASCAR will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the Brickyard 400. In almost any form of racing, a key part of any race are the pit stops where tires are changed, and…well, I actually don’t know what happens aside from the tires, but I’m sure it’s all very important and mechanical.  While I was at the 500, it occurred to me that the people who work in pit row are dealing with cars moving in and out of the pits at high speeds.  I have read stories of injuries, from the minor to the severe, occurring due to pit crew members coming too close to the racecars, and seeing the pit stops in person made me realize just how easily injuries could happen.

There are probably a number of important attributes that make for a good pit crew member.  I’m willing to bet that in addition to having a high level of mechanical skill and knowledge, you also need to be diligent, conscientious, and focused on safety – not only for your own well-being but also for that of your driver, fellow pit crew members, and competitors.  How many other jobs require this same commitment to safety?  I can think of a few-- assembly line employees, truck drivers, healthcare workers.  Given the inherent risk in these jobs, it is important to hire people who will be safe at work. While training is an important part of workplace safety, there are also a number of assessments that can help identify job candidates who are (and are not) well-suited for work in dangerous environments.

Jocelyn Courtney-Hays

When I was in high school Biology during the early 90s, my teacher spoke of a new emerging technology called the Internet. It had been around for a while but had not really caught on outside of scientific and academic circles as computers were for geeks, and most people didn’t see their benefit over using a typewriter. He spoke of the ability to access information about breakthroughs in science as if you you were down the hall from the actual experiment and having immediate access to information from all over the world. Most people thought this type of technology was for large companies like AT&T and IBM, and the idea a personal computer could retrieve information from some nebulous place on the other side of the world was completely foreign and pretty much inconceivable.

In my naiveté, I did not realize he was really referring to the emergence of the global community. The Internet is something which joins everyone together and enables interaction with someone across the world without ever leaving the comforts of the living room. Transactions can be conducted by anyone with access to a computer, and what was once an exotic item from a foreign country is now a few clicks away on sites like Amazon and EBay. All that is required is the belief that the person on the other side of the connection is legitimate.

In the past, the beginning of trust was largely based on who people commonly knew. If a friend endorsed someone, that person was probably trustworthy.

Benjamin Lahey has a recent American Psychologist article on the public health implications of neuroticism. While often viewed as a clinical construct, neuroticism is reliably found as a stable personality factor and often labeled as “adjustment,” “negativity”, or “emotionality stability.” In the personnel selection realm, high scores on this factor are often negatively correlated with occupational success. Similarly, Lahey outlines how neuroticism predicts both mental and physical health as well as response to treatment for both types of conditions. While it is certainly plausible that illness will increase an individual’s level of negative emotionality, there are also data to suggest that it predicts many health problems even when depression is controlled.

The article goes on to explore both the genetic and environmental components that may contribute to neuroticism as well as the interplay between them. Indeed, it is easy to understand how one’s propensity to respond negatively to environmental stressors can act in a self-perpetuating cycle. For example, if an individual reacts to a negative stressor (say the end of a relationship leads to increased social isolation as opposed to a healthier response of seeking social support), it is easy to see how the cycle can continue. While we often only consider personality traits in the context of personnel selection, it is also interesting to consider how they fit into the larger context.

Reid Klion