1JV00 Individual differences and assessment.

1. Human Characteristics
Study of individual differences;
- Differential Psychology.
Measurements of human capabilities;
- Psychometrics.

Individual differences like;

- Cognitive abilities/knowledge.
- Physical abilities.
- Personality.
- Interests/values.
- Emotion.
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- Grownups, stable attributes.
- People differ on attributes.
- Difference continues to exist even after training/education.
- Different Jobs/functions demand different attributes.
- Attributes can be measured.

2. Human attributes!!!
IQ = intelligence Quotient;
- General mental ability/cognitive ability.
- Performance in relation to population.

Intelligence "g"; (Intelligence model of Carroll).

- General mental ability (GMA).
- General cognitive capability of people;
- Reasoning, planning, problem solving etc.

Fluid intelligence ; capability to reason without past experience.

Crystallized intelligence ; capability of learning from experiences.

Is "g" important for work?

- Yes, contributes to work performance.
- More complex functions, predictive validity of "g" is higher.
- No perfect relation.
- Other attributes, such as personality traits, emotional reactions and
interest play a role in success.

Physical abilities:
- Muscular strength.
- Cardiovascular Endurance.
- Movement Quality.
- Physical demanding jobs require all three of these abilities.

Sensory capabilities:
- Vision.
- Hearing.
- Taste.
- Touch.
- Smell.

Psychomotor abilities:
- Reaction time.
- Coordination.
- Dexterity.
- Arm-hand steadiness.
 - Wrist-finger speed.

Personality:
- Predisposition (typical patterns of behavior, thinking and emotion).
- Taxonomy: Five Factor Model / Big Five.

Conclusions regarding personality:

Personality predicts behavior, independend of "g".
Ability --> Knowledge and skills "can do".
Personality --> Motivation "will do".
Conscientiousness: important trait in work situations.
Conscientiousness: bigger impact on behavior as the autonomy of the employee
increases.
Personality factors have influence with certain jobs;
- Extraversion --> sales performance, management.
- Openness to experience --> expats, success in training.
- Agreeableness --> Customer service, teamwork.
- Emotional stability --> security jobs, teamwork.
Functional personality at work (p103/104).

3. Foundations of Assessment
Psychological test: 'an objective and standardized procedure to measure a
psychological construct, using samples of human behavior'.
Objective implies quantification, numerical results.
Standardized: test results get meaning by norming, comparing test scores to other
relevant test scores.
Norm group; group whose test scores are used to compare and understand an
individual's test score.

Combining multiple tests;

- Test battery;
- Covers multiple tests.
- Typically, different characteristics are measured.
- 'battery': within one test period, or over a short period of time.
Important decisions:
- Which combination of tests.
- How should the results of the different tests be combined.

Types of psychological tests:

Difference between tests;
- Speed versus difficulty.
- Speed test.
- Power test.
- Group versus individual.
- Pencil & paper vs performance.
Ethical aspects;
- Test bias ; are there errors in the prediction for certain subgroups.
- Test fairness ; are the decisions based on the test scores fair.
- Culture ; oppurtunity to become familiar with the subject matter or
processes required by a test item.

Cognitive tests; "g", knowledge.

Physical tests; strength, stamina.
Psychomotor tests; coordination, reaction time.

Unstructured versus structured interviews.

- Predictive validity and inter-rater reliability are higher for structured
interviews.
- Problems with objectivity.
Design of structured interviews.
- Based on analysis of the job.
- Similar kinds of questions and precies answering categories.
- Scoring procedure is standardized.
Situational interview ; candidate is asked to describe in detail how he or she
would respond to a situation.