Cognitive ability and personality: Testing broad to nuanced associations with a smartphone app

Orientation: Growing research has shown that not only test validity considerations but also the test-taking attitudes of job applicants are important in the choice of selection instruments as these can contribute to test performance and the perceived fairness of the selection process.Research purpose: The main purpose of this study was to determine the test-taking attitudes of a diverse group of job applicants towards personality and cognitive ability tests administered conjointly online as part of employee selection in a financial services company in South Africa.Motivation for the study: If users understand how job applicants view specific test types, they will know which assessments are perceived more negatively and how this situation can potentially be rectified.Research design, approach and method: A non-experimental and cross-sectional survey design was used. An adapted version of the Test Attitude Survey was used to determine job applicants’ attitudes towards tests administered online as part of an employee selection process. The sample consisted of a group of job applicants (N = 160) who were diverse in terms of ethnicity and age and the educational level applicable for sales and supervisory positions.Main findings: On average, the job applicants responded equally positively to the cognitive ability and personality tests. The African job applicants had a statistically significantly more positive attitude towards the tests than the other groups, and candidates applying for the sales position viewed the cognitive ability tests significantly less positively than the personality test.Practical and managerial implications: The choice of selection tests used in combination as well as the testing conditions that are applicable should be considered carefully as they are the factors that can potentially influence the test-taking motivation and general test-taking attitudes of job applicants.Contribution: This study consolidated the research findings on the determinants of attitudinal responses to cognitive ability and personality testing and produced valuable empirical findings on job applicants’ attitudes towards both test types when administered conjointly

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A Latent State-Trait Analysis of Current Achievement Motivation Across Different Tasks of Cognitive Ability

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759/a000289 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 318-327

Author(s):

Philipp Alexander Freund ◽

Vanessa Katharina Jaensch ◽

Franzis Preckel

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Task Performance ◽

Achievement Motivation ◽

Fear Of Failure ◽

Specific Task ◽

Test Taker ◽

Specific Interest ◽

Probability Of Success ◽

Ability Tests ◽

Perceived Challenge

Abstract. The current study investigates the behavior of task-specific, current achievement motivation (CAM: interest in the task, probability of success, perceived challenge, and fear of failure) across a variety of reasoning tasks featuring verbal, numerical, and figural content. CAM is conceptualized as a state-like variable, and in order to assess the relative stability of the four CAM variables across different tasks, latent state trait analyses are conducted. The major findings indicate that the degree of challenge a test taker experiences and the fear of failing a given task appear to be relatively stable regardless of the specific task utilized, whereas interest and probability of success are more directly influenced by task-specific characteristics and demands. Furthermore, task performance is related to task-specific interest and probability of success. We discuss the implications and benefits of these results with regard to the use of cognitive ability tests in general. Importantly, taking motivational differences between test takers into account appears to offer valuable information which helps to explain differences in task performance.

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Sex Differences in Childhood Associations between DNA Markers and General Cognitive Ability

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.28.3.161 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 161-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rosalind Arden ◽

Nicole Harlaar ◽

Robert Plomin

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Dna Markers ◽

Community Sample ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

The Difference

Abstract. An association between intelligence at age 7 and a set of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been identified and replicated. We used this composite SNP set to investigate whether the associations differ between boys and girls for general cognitive ability at ages 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 years. In a longitudinal community sample of British twins aged 2-10 (n > 4,000 individuals), we found that the SNP set is more strongly associated with intelligence in males than in females at ages 7, 9, and 10 and the difference is significant at 10. If this finding replicates in other studies, these results will constitute the first evidence of the same autosomal genes acting differently on intelligence in the two sexes.

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A Meta-Analysis of Interviews and Cognitive Ability

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000091 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 157-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Philip L. Roth ◽

Allen I. Huffcutt

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Incremental Validity ◽

Employment Interviews ◽

Moderator Analysis ◽

The Future ◽

Research Questions ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

The Relationship

The topic of what interviews measure has received a great deal of attention over the years. One line of research has investigated the relationship between interviews and the construct of cognitive ability. A previous meta-analysis reported an overall corrected correlation of .40 ( Huffcutt, Roth, & McDaniel, 1996 ). A more recent meta-analysis reported a noticeably lower corrected correlation of .27 ( Berry, Sackett, & Landers, 2007 ). After reviewing both meta-analyses, it appears that the two studies posed different research questions. Further, there were a number of coding judgments in Berry et al. that merit review, and there was no moderator analysis for educational versus employment interviews. As a result, we reanalyzed the work by Berry et al. and found a corrected correlation of .42 for employment interviews (.15 higher than Berry et al., a 56% increase). Further, educational interviews were associated with a corrected correlation of .21, supporting their influence as a moderator. We suggest a better estimate of the correlation between employment interviews and cognitive ability is .42, and this takes us “back to the future” in that the better overall estimate of the employment interviews – cognitive ability relationship is roughly .40. This difference has implications for what is being measured by interviews and their incremental validity.

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A Multimedia Situational Test With a Constructed-Response Format

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000035 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 78-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Janneke K. Oostrom ◽

Marise Ph. Born ◽

Alec W. Serlie ◽

Henk T. van der Molen

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Computer Technology ◽

Psychology Students ◽

Learning Activities ◽

Ability Test ◽

Constructed Response ◽

Job Experience ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship ◽

Situational Test

Advances in computer technology have created opportunities for the development of a multimedia situational test in which responses are filmed with a webcam. This paper examined the relationship of a so-called webcam test with personality, cognitive ability, job experience, and academic performance. Data were collected among 153 psychology students. In line with our expectations, scores on the webcam test, intended to measure interpersonally oriented leadership, were related to extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and job experience. Furthermore, the webcam tests significantly predicted students’ learning activities during group meetings over and above a cognitive ability test and a personality questionnaire. Overall, this study demonstrates that webcam tests can be a valid complement to traditional predictors in selection contexts.

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Test-Taking Motivation and Personality Test Validity

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000012 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 117-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Thomas A. O’Neill ◽

Richard D. Goffin ◽

Ian R. Gellatly

Keyword(s):

Personality Assessment ◽

Personnel Selection ◽

Test Validity ◽

Personality Testing ◽

Personality Test ◽

Field Sample ◽

Moderation Effect ◽

Test Taking ◽

Low Levels ◽

Valid Criterion

In this study we assessed whether the predictive validity of personality scores is stronger when respondent test-taking motivation (TTM) is higher rather than lower. Results from a field sample comprising 269 employees provided evidence for this moderation effect for one trait, Steadfastness. However, for Conscientiousness, valid criterion prediction was only obtained at low levels of TTM. Thus, it appears that TTM relates to the criterion validity of personality testing differently depending on the personality trait assessed. Overall, these and additional findings regarding the nomological net of TTM suggest that it is a unique construct that may have significant implications when personality assessment is used in personnel selection.

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