Ch03 Individual Differences
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Transcript of Ch03 Individual Differences
1
Work in the 21st Century
Chapter 3
Individual Differences
And Assessment
2
Module 3.1: Introduction to
Individual Differences
• Individual Differences: Dissimilarities
between or among 2 or more people
• Background
– 1890 – Cattell & concept of “mental test”
– Differential psychology
– Psychometrics
– World War I & intelligence tests
– “g” or general mental ability
3
Varieties of Individual Differences
• Cognitive ability & the g-ocentric model
• Physical ability
• Personality
• Interests
• Knowledge
• Emotion
Monica Lau/Getty Images
4
Link b/w Attributes
& Behavior in Organizations
Figure 3.1
The Link between Attributes
and Behavior in Organizations
Source: K. R. Murphy (1996).
5
Fundamental Assumptions in Applying
Individual Differences Model
• Adults have variety of attributes that are
relatively stable over a period of time
• People differ with respect to those attributes
• Relative differences among people on these
attributes remain even after training
• Different jobs require different attributes
• These attributes can be measured
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• Taxonomy of abilities
– Fleishman’s taxonomy of 52 abilities –
divided into broad categories of:
• Cognitive abilities
• Physical abilities
• Perceptual-motor abilities
Module 3.2: Human Attributes
Definitional Issues in Intelligence
• Many people consider the terms intelligence, IQ, cognitive ability, and
mental ability to be synonyms for one another. We will make some
distinctions:
– IQ is a historical term that stands for “intelligence quotient”; term
is popular with laypersons but is generally not used by scientists.
– Mental ability and cognitive ability are current terms that scientists
often use interchangeably.
– Cognitive ability and mental ability often refer to specific abilities
such as memory or reasoning; intelligence refers to general
intellectual capacity (often called “g” for GMA).
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• Intelligence as “g”
– Involves the ability to
reason, plan, solve
problems, comprehend
complex ideas, & learn
from experience
Cognitive Abilities
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ad B
aker
/Get
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• Is “g” important at work? Yes
– Intelligence (or “g”): broad general capability –
describes person’s ability to learn from experience
– ↑ job complexity = ↑ predictive value of
general intelligence tests
Cognitive Abilities
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Sensory Abilities
• Vision
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
• Hearing
• Kinesthetic feedback
Jeff
Mal
on
ey/G
etty
Im
ages
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A Model of Physical Abilities
Figure 3.3: A Model of
Physical Abilities
SOURCE: (Guion, 1998)
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• Also called sensorimotor or motor abilities
• Physical functions of movement, associated
with coordination, dexterity and reaction time
• Fleishman’s psychomotor abilities
Psychomotor Abilities
– Arm-hand steadiness
– Manual dexterity
– Finger dexterity
– Control precision
– Response orientation
– Rate control
– Reaction time
– Wrist-finger speed
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Practical Issues Associated with
Personality Measures
• Faking
– Self-presentation
– Social desirability
– Does faking really matter?
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Additional Proposed
Individual Differences
• Skills
– Practiced acts
– Technical & non-technical
• Knowledge
– Collection of discrete but related facts & information
about a particular domain
• Tacit knowledge → “street smarts”
• Procedural knowledge → knowing “how”
• Declarative knowledge → knowing “that”
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Additional Proposed Individual
Differences (cont'd)
• Competencies
– Sets of behaviors instrumental in accomplishing
various activities
– Combination of individual difference
characteristics
• Emotional intelligence
– Awareness of our own & others’ emotions
– Controversial construct
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What is a Test?
• Objective & standardized procedure for
measuring a psychological construct using a
sample of behavior
– Attributes to be assessed CONTENT
– Ways to assess attributes PROCESS
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Tests (cont'd)
• What is the meaning of a test score?
– Norming & norm groups used to interpret & give meaning
to a score
• Test users & test interpretation
– Importance of training test administrators to correctly
understand & interpret results
• Test battery
– Collection of tests assessing variety of different attributes
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Administrative Test Categories
• Speed vs. power tests
– Speed tests have rigid & demanding time limits
• Provide greater variability among candidates
• Issue of relevance to job
• May increase the risk of legal challenges
– Power tests have no rigid time limits
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Administrative Test Categories
(cont'd)
• Group vs. individual tests
– Individual tests useful in assessing a
candidate’s style of problem solving
– Group testing is valuable in reducing costs
• Paper & pencil vs. performance tests
– Performance tests assess skill in performing
tasks & knowledge of how to carry out actions
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Speed Test
• The game show
“Jeopardy” is an
example of a speed test
Picture 3.7
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Testing & Culture
• Bias
– Situation in which a given test results in
statistical errors of prediction for a subgroup
• Fairness
– Value judgment about actions or decisions
based on test scores
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Testing & Culture (cont'd)
• Culture
– System in which individuals share meanings &
common ways of viewing events & objects
– Influence of culture & subculture on test scores