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Work in the 21st Century

Chapter 3

Individual Differences

And Assessment

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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

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Varieties of Individual Differences

• Cognitive ability & the g-ocentric model

• Physical ability

• Personality

• Interests

• Knowledge

• Emotion

Monica Lau/Getty Images

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Link b/w Attributes

& Behavior in Organizations

Figure 3.1

The Link between Attributes

and Behavior in Organizations

Source: K. R. Murphy (1996).

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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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• 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

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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