Question

Industrial-organizational psychologists are interested in all of the following except
1. how to best diagnose clinical disorders and offer therapy to employees.

2. how personality characteristics influence work behavior.

3. how culture influences people's perceptions of their working environments.

4. how people's work affects their home life.

An organizational psychologist would be most likely concerned with
1. studying the interaction between humans and technology.

2. All of the these

3. interviewing potential employees.

4. helping people organize their schedules and daily planners.

5. understanding the emotional and motivational side of work.

The SIOP website is a good place for aspiring I-O psychologists to examine. All of the following are offered by the website except
1. a list of SIOP publications.

2. online I-O psychology courses.

3. none of these

4. TIP — the SIOP quarterly newsletter.

5. JobNet — matching employers with applicants.

James McKeen Cattell had a major influence on the emergence of I-O psychology. He was among the first to realize the importance of studying:
1. American organizations as representative of Japanese organizations.

2. individual beliefs in understanding the work-family relationship.

3. differences among individuals as a way of predicting their behavior.

4. how organizations treat their employees as related to employee performance.

Skyler works 12 hour shifts on an assembly line at an automotive plant. He finds his job boring, monotonous, and physically difficult. He is extremely unhappy andresists any attempts his bosses make to increase the productivity of the assembly line. Skyler's mental state could be best characterized as
1. the Cattell effect.

2. the Hawthorne effect.

3. systematic desensitization.

4. revery obsession.

The Hawthorne Studies led to the dramatic discovery that
1. boring work is directly related to a worker's level of interest.

2. all of the these

3. higher productivity can only be achieved by varying worker conditions.

4. a worker's family situation impacts their level of production.

5. workers' attitudes play a role in productivity.

Denise is a Fine Arts major who will be graduating in a year. He recently became interested in pursuing a graduate degree in I-O psychology. Denise should do all ofthe following to improve his credentials for admittance to a graduate program except
1. enroll in as many I-O psychology classes as he can.

2. obtain an internship with a local business in the HR department.

3. become a research assistant to a professor.

4. assume that his credentials are fine since his GRE scores are excellent.

A system of beliefs in which individuals share meaning and common ways of viewing objects is known as
1. individualism.

2. culture.

3. nationality.

4. multiculturalism.

Andrew works for a major investment firm located in the United States. He has recently been reassigned to the firm's office in Eastern Asia. Andrew will most likely besuccessful in his new environment if he
1. tries to adapt to East Asian culture.

2. maintains his American identity in all situations.

3. has a low tolerance for novel experiences.

4. all of these

5. maintains a “West vs. the Rest” mentality.

Bill prefers to work alone and to make his own decisions at work, while Sarah prefers to consult her work group prior to making any decisions. Sarah would likely fitbest in which type of culture?
1. individualist

2. collectivist

3. egocentric

4. socialist

One reason that placing cultures on a collectivist–individualist continuum would be useful for managers is that it would
1. provide a method for testing large groups of people at one time.

2. enable them to provide effective rewards to people of various cultures.

3. provide a method for testing individuals one at a time.

4. All of these

5. fix the problems that are associated with revery obsession.

“Disinterestedness” refers to the notion that



1. lay persons find scientific research hard to understand, and therefore are not interested in it.

2. employee motivation tends to decrease the longer people work for a particular company.

3. scientists should be objective and not influenced by biases or prejudices.

4. people who belong to an organized religion find that science often contradicts many of the religion's core beliefs.

research designs in I-O psychology can be broken down into three basic types:
1. post hoc, a priori, experimental.

2. experimental, quasi-experimental, non experimental.

3. t-tests, f-tests, chi square.

4. block design, clinical interviews, archival research.

Dr. Joseph is a psychologist conducting research on pay rates and employee satisfaction. He randomly assigns new employees to one of two different salaries, and healso keeps all other factors constant. The design that best describes his research is



1. quasi-experimental.

2. non-experiment.

3. experimental.

When workers are given questionnaires to assess their satisfaction with the current level of job satisfaction, the research design used is a(n)



1. quasi-experiment.

2. none of these

3. non-experiment.

4. survey design.

5. observational design.

When a researcher is trying to develop an understanding of a phenomenon, it is best to:



1. make use of research conducted only in the last 5 years.

2. make use of only quantitative data.

3. make use of only qualitative data.

4. make use of all the information available, regardless of form.

To maximize the extent to which results of an experiment can be generalized to a larger population, the researcher should do all the following except



1. sample only one small group of people.

2. sample people from many different organizations.

3. sample people with many different job titles.

4. sample people who work in different departments of an organization.

5. both b and c

If the correlation between two variables is .90, this means that there is a
1. weak association between the two variables.

2. strong causal relationship between the two variables.

3. strong causal relationship between the two variables.

4. strong association between the two variables.

A recent study found that as people's commitment to their job increased, their absences from work decreased. Which correlation coefficient best represents thisfinding?
1. –0.35

2. 0.26

3. 0.05

4. –1.02

A corporation administers a personality survey to employees. The exact same survey is given to the same employees the following week to assess:
1. test-retest reliability.

2. equivalent forms reliability.

3. inferential reliability.

4. inter-rater reliability.


If a measure is ___________, we would get the same values each time we sampled the behavior. If a measure is ___________, we are gathering either incomplete orinaccurate information.



1. reliable; not valid

2. concurrent validity.

3. not valid; reliable

4. reliable; valid

Examining the correlation between new employee test scores and their job performance six months after they are hired provides a way to assess:



1. construct validity.

2. content validity.

3. predictive validity.

4. concurrent validity.


An HR manager is developing a test for hiring new employees. She plans to give current employees the new test and then correlate their scores with the performancerecords that are currently in their personnel files. Her method for collecting data can be best characterized as a(n)



1. predictive design.

2. concurrent design.

3. experimental design.

4. none of these

5. criterion design.

A psychological concept or characteristic (e.g., intelligence, personality, leadership) that a predictor is intended to measure is a



1. criterion.

2. correlation coefficient.

3. validity coefficient.

4. construct.

Dr. Davidson was asked to develop a selection system for hiring firefighters. He will most likely use a cognitive ability test to assess



1. to what extent each applicant can learn new procedures.

2. applicants' ability to maintain a particular level of physical activity.

3. the overall character of the applicant.

4. to what extent each applicant possesses any given personality trait.

Understanding and predicting worker behavior by simply measuring “g” describes the



1. g-ocentric model.

2. intelligence quotient.

3. triarchic approach to intelligence.

4. general mechanical ability.

5. both a and d

According to the text, the ___________ is person-centered and looks for qualities or characteristics within a person that will help us understand that persons'behavior. The __________ sets about measuring such characteristics.



1. psychometrician; human factors

2. differential psychologist; psychometrician

3. psychometrician; differential psychologist

4. differential psychologist; human factors


_______________ often refers to specific abilities such as memory and reasoning, whereas _______________refers to a more general ability to adapt to anenvironment.



1. Cognitive ability; intelligence

2. Intelligence; personality

3. Intelligence; cognitive ability

4. Cognitive ability; determination

Measures of general mental ability do not always guarantee success on the job because



1. many general mental ability tests are not reliable.

2. some jobs may ask people to take on too much work, resulting in burnout.

3. some jobs also require physical strength and interpersonal skills.

4. some general mental ability tests are biased against certain protected groups.


An I-O psychologist is screening firefighter recruits to examine strength, flexibility, and stamina. These traits would best be tested by



1. general mental ability tests.

2. IQ tests.

3. physical ability tests.

4. differential psychology.

5. all of these

The Five Factor Model of personality includes the following personality dimensions:



1. conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability (or neuroticism), extraversion, intelligence.

2. conscientiousness, integrity, emotional stability (or neuroticism), extraversion, openness to experience.

3. conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability (or neuroticism), extraversion, openness to experience.

4. conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability (or neuroticism), extraversion, introversion.

If you buy into the belief that individual differences are important, you probably believe that ________.



1. Attributes can be measured reliably and validly

2. None of these

3. all of the above

4. different jobs require different attributes

5. adults have a lot of stable attributes


Which of the following statements regarding personality and work is NOT true:



1. Researchers suggest that anyone’s personality can be described using Big 5Theory of Personality

2. personality can be referred to the unique and relatively stable patterns of behaviors, thoughts, and emotions shown by individuals.

3. Personality is important in predicting both productive and counterproductive work behaviors.

4. Personality is important in predicting ONLY productive work behaviors.

Researchers tend to think that “g” is related to what a person ________ do while personality is related to what a person _______ do.



1. will; can

2. won’t; will

3. can; will

4. will; won’t


Researchers Barrick and Mount would say that _______ is THE most important personality characteristic in personnel selection.



1. openness to experience

2. extraversion

3. none of these

4. agreeableness

5. conscientiousness

Achievement and dependability are facets of which Big Five personality dimension?



1. conscientiousness

2. agreeableness

3. extraversion

4. openness to experience

Personality factors are most predictive when the employee has



1. no control on the job.

2. a moderate amount of control on the job.

3. a great amount of control on the job.

4. a little amount of control on the job.

The term used to describe an objective and standardized procedure for measuring a psychological construct using a sample of behavior is



1. task.

2. criterion.

3. norm.

4. test.

5. both b and d

The acronym “KSAO” stands for



1. knowledge, skills, agreeableness, and organization.

2. knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics.

3. knowledge, skills, abilities, and organization.

4. knowledge, skills, agreeableness, and openness.

Jaden received a 75% on his statistics quiz. Jaden's score reflects that
1. without reference to a norm group, little is known about what the score means.

2. he is an average test taker.

3. he is intelligent but lacks motivation to work hard in this class.

4. he is a C student in statistics.

A notable difference between speed tests and power tests is that



1. speed tests often provide greater variability between candidates than do power tests.

2. speed tests are quantifiable, whereas power tests are not quantifiable.

3. speed tests require logical thinking, whereas power tests rely upon instinct.

4. speed tests measure reaction time, whereas power tests measure muscular strength.

If a test underpredicts criterion scores for one group as compared to another, then the test is likely



1. biased.

2. biased.

3. fair.

4. incorrectly developed.

____________ is a value judgment about actions or decisions based on test scores.



1. Fairness

2. Bias

3. Culture

4. Graphology


Dot is asked during an interview to explain how she would handle a particular situation while on the job. Dot is most likely taking part in a(n)



1. unstructured interview.

2. situational interview.

3. categorical interview.

4. situational judgment test.

5. both b and d


In seeking to hire several new employees, an interviewer asks the same questions to each applicant, and each applicant is assigned a score based on his or her answers.This is an example of a(n) __________ interview.



1. situational

2. group

3. unstructured

4. structured

Biodata refers to a selection technique that collects information



1. about applicants' previous jobs, education, training, and personal history.

2. obtained by measuring the applicant's physiological responses to particular questions.

3. about applicants' medical ailments.

4. about a candidate's emotional intelligence.

Which of the following best describes the existing data on interviews?



1. Structured interviews and unstructured interviews are equally reliable.

2. Structured interviews are more reliable and valid than unstructured interviews.

3. Structured and unstructured interviews are both less valid than personality tests.

4. Structured interviews are less reliable than unstructured.


Rainy is applying for a job as an airline pilot. As one of her requirements, she is asked to complete several maneuvers in a flight simulator. This type of test can bebest characterized as a(n)



1. work sample test.

2. situational judgment test.

3. achievement test.

4. cluster test.

A paper and pencil test that presents the candidate with a written scenario and then asks the candidate to choose a response from a series of alternatives isa(n)



1. situational judgment test.

2. situational interview.

3. contingencies test.

4. work sample test.

A collection of procedures that is used for evaluation and that is administered to groups of individuals is called a(n)



1. cluster test.

2. assessment center.

3. en masse center.

4. group test.

Answer 1

differences among individuals as a way of predicting their behavior.

Answer 2

how to best diagnose clinical disorders and offer therapy to employees.

Answer 3

all of these

Answer 4

online I-O Psychology courses