Multiple Choice Exam for Psychology

Multiple Choice 1. In psychology, it is commonly believed that the best predictor of future performance is: a. results from a psychological test b. present performance c. past performance d. asking the person if they can do the job ANSWER: c 2. The process of confirming the accuracy of information provided by the applicant is called a: a. reference b. reference check c. letter of recommendation d. trait evaluation ANSWER: b 3. Because it is not uncommon for applicants to engage in resume fraud, references and letters of recommendation are used to: a. confirm details on a resume b. check for outside interests and habits c. check for discipline problems d. discover new applicant information ANSWER: a 4. Which of the following is good advice in asking for a letter of recommendation? a. Provide your reference with a copy of your resume b. Give your reference plenty of advance notice before the letter is due c. Choose references who can provide information from multiple perspectives d. All three are good advice ANSWER: d 5. If an employer does not check an applicant's references and the applicant molests a child after being hired, the employer could be charged with: a. negligent reference b. defamation c. tort reform d. negligent hiring ANSWER: d 6. Even though references are commonly used to screen and select employees, they have not been successful in predicting future employee success. The average uncorrected validity coefficient for references and performance is: a. .00 b. .18 c. .32 d. .57 ANSWER: b 7. Which of the following is NOT a factor contributing to reference leniency? a. Applicants choose their own references b. Employers fear legal ramifications c. Most applicants are highly skilled d. All three contribute to leniency ANSWER: c 8. In a reference check over the telephone, Bob says that his former employee Ted was a real jerk and couldn't be trusted. Ted might sue Bob for: a. negligent hiring b. libel c. negligent reference d. slander ANSWER: d 9. A problem associated with letters of recommendation is the lack of agreement between two people who provide references for the same person. This lack of agreement is related to the issue of: a. reliability b. knowledge of the applicant c. leniency d. extraneous factors ANSWER: a 10. Increasing the ______ of references seems to increase validity. a. length b. scoring complexity c. structure d. psychometric depth ANSWER: c 11. Which of the following is NOT an ethical practice in providing references or writing letter of recommendation? a. State the nature of your relationship with the applicant b. Provide an honest appraisal of the applicant c. Always write a positive letter of recommendation d. Let the applicant see a copy of your reference before you send it ANSWER: c 12. Which of the following is NOT true regarding the use of grade point average for employee selection? a. GPA predicts job performance b. GPA predicts best in the first years after graduation c. GPA has low adverse impact d. All three are true ANSWER: c 13. Tests that are designed to measure how much someone already knows rather than how much someone is capable of knowing are referred to as: a. knowledge tests b. interest inventories c. personality tests d. aptitude tests ANSWER: a 14. The major disadvantage to job knowledge tests is that even though they do a good job of predicting performance, they often result in _______. a. high costs b. misdiagnosis c. invasion of privacy issues d. adverse impact ANSWER: d 15. Most general ability tests place the many specific aptitudes into one of three main dimensions. The _______ dimension includes verbal, numerical, logic, and general learning aptitudes. a. cognitive b. developmental c. perceptual d. psychomotor ANSWER: a 16. The _________ is a potential breakthrough in cognitive ability tests as it has high validity and lower levels of adverse impact. a. Miller Revised Intelligence Scale b. Siena Reasoning Test c. Cognitive Styles Assessment Test d. Employee Knowledge Scale ANSWER: b 17. Color discrimination, glare sensitivity, and speech recognition are examples of ______ abilities. a. cognitive b. developmental c. perceptual d. psychomotor ANSWER: c 18. Tests of ______ ability might contain measures of finger dexterity and manual dexterity aptitudes. a. cognitive b. developmental c. perceptual d. psychomotor ANSWER: d 19. Jobs such as police officer, fire fighter, and lifeguard, which require physical strength and stamina, often use _______tests. a. physical ability b. mental ability c. general aptitude d. job knowledge ANSWER: a 20. Which of the following is NOT a concern about using physical ability tests? a. Job relatedness b. Reliability c. Passing scores d. When the ability must be present ANSWER: b 21. A job in which an employee continually lifts 25 pound boxes from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. requires: a. trunk strength b. gross body equilibrium c. dynamic strength d. static strength ANSWER: c 22. Though work samples are excellent selection tools for several reasons, the main reason for not using them is that they can be: a. expensive to construct b. expensive to administer c. neither are important reasons d. both are important reasons ANSWER: d 23. Which of the following selection methods uses multiple techniques and multiple observers to evaluate applicants as they perform different job-related tasks? a. Work samples b. Assessment centers c. Psychological testing d. job-knowledge testing ANSWER: b 24. Which of the following is NOT a requirement for an assessment center? a. Multiple assessors b. Multiple assessment exercices c. Use of an interview d. At least one simulation exercise ANSWER: c 25. The first step in creating an assessment center is to: a. conduct a job analysis b. find a location to hold the center c. develop the necessary exercises d. restructure the company budget ANSWER: a 26. Which assessment center technique is designed to simulate the types of daily information that appear on a manager's or employee's desk? a. simulation b. work sample c. leaderless group discussion d. in-basket technique ANSWER: d 27. Which of the following assessment center techniques allows the applicant to demonstrate such attributes as creativity, decision making, and ability to work with others? a. Business games b. Out-basket technique c. Simulations d. In-basket technique ANSWER: a 28. The first step in the development of a biodata instrument is to: a. obtain information about employees b. analyze group differences c. choose an appropriate criterion d. split employees into two criterion groups ANSWER: a 29. The traditionally used method to compare each piece of employee information with criterion group membership in the biodata process is the: a. questionnaire approach b. rare response scoring c. vertical percentage method d. composite scoring ANSWER: c 30. In constructing a biodata instrument, John asks his employees to answer a series of questions about their background. John then compares these answers to the employees’ job performance. John is using which of the following methods? a. rare response scoring b. questionnaire approach c. vertical percentage method d. composite scoring ANSWER: b 31. Which of the following are criticisms of biodata? a. The validity of biodata may not be stable b. Some biodata items may not be legal c. Both are criticisms d. Neither are criticisms of biodata ANSWER: c 32. Gandy and Dye (1989) believe that proper biodata items must: a. be job related b. deal with events under a person's control c. have answers that are verifiable d. all three of these are item standards ANSWER: d 33. The 16PF is a personality inventory whose 16 dimensions were determined by a factor analysis. The 16PF is an example of a(n) ______ test. a. theory-based b. empirically-keyed based c. parapsychology-based d. statistically-based ANSWER: d 34. Though there is some disagreement, psychologists today agree there are _______ main personality dimensions. a. two b. three c. five d. seven ANSWER: c 35. Which of the following is NOT one of the "Big 5" personality dimensions? a. openness to experience b. agreeableness c. conscientiousness d. vigor ANSWER: d 36. Tests of _______ determine if individuals have serious psychological problems such as depression and bipolar disorder. a. psychopathology b. psychometrics c. character d. integrity ANSWER: a 37. Because they are expensive, time-consuming to score and administer, and lack reliability and validity, _______ tests such as the Rorschach Ink Blot Test are seldom used by I/O psychologists. a. objective b. subjective c. projective d. multi-modal ANSWER: c 38. A job applicant is given a set of questions in which she is asked to rate the extent to which she is outgoing, anxious, optimistic, careful, and loyal. She is probably taking: a. a personality inventory b. an interest inventory c. a cognitive ability test d. an assessment center ANSWER: a 39. Of the four choices below, which is the worst predictor of employee performance? a. Biodata b. Cognitive ability c. Vocational interest d. Assessment centers ANSWER: c 40. _______ are designed to tell an employer the probability that an applicant would steal money or merchandise. a. Creativity tests b. Social desirability tests c. Integrity tests d. Theft analysis inventory ANSWER: c 41. ____ are legal and scores on these tests are often compared to self-admissions of theft and the amount of goods lost by an organization. a. Polygraph tests b. Pencil-paper integrity tests c. Voice stress analyzers d. Electronic honesty tests ANSWER: b 42. _______ are based on the premise that peoples' attitudes about theft as well as their previous theft behavior will accurately predict their future honesty. a. Personality based integrity tests b. Overt integrity tests c. Voice stress analyzer d. Interest inventories ANSWER: b 43. The manager of a retail store notices that 7% of the inventory is missing. She doesn’t know if the merchandise was stolen, lost, or broken. This missing inventory is called ______ and is one of the criteria used to validate integrity tests. a. a loss leader b. inventory obsolescence c. product pilferage d. shrinkage ANSWER: d 44. Though handwriting analysts are consistent in their judgment about script features, they are not consistent in: a. their analysis of what these features mean b. their selection success rate c. their use of handwriting analysis d. any of these ANSWER: a 45. _______ testing certainly is one of the most controversial testing methods used by personnel professionals. a. Personalit y b. Ability c. Drug d. Agility ANSWER: c 46. Which of the following is NOT true about drug testing? a. Many organizations use drug testing b. Illegal drug users are absent more often c. Drug testing is not accurate d. Applicants consider drug testing to be fair ANSWER: c 47. In recent years, the percentage of applicants failing drug tests has: a. remained the same b. increased slightly c. greatly increased d. decreased ANSWER: d 48. Most drugs can be detected for ______ after use. a. 8 hours b. 2-3 days c. 2-3 weeks d. 2-3 months ANSWER: b 49. When personnel professionals are concerned with adverse impact or invasion of privacy associated with a test, they are assessing the: a. cost b. scoring methods c. reliability d. potential for legal problems ANSWER: d 50. Which of the following is the least useful predictor of future performance? a. Biodata b. Interest inventories c. Assessment centers d. Cognitive ability tests ANSWER: b 51. Which of the following is the best predictor of training proficiency? a. Cognitive ability b. Experience c. Education d. Vocational interest ANSWER: a 52. Which of the following has both high validity and low adverse impact? a. Cognitive ability tests b. Integrity tests c. Education d. Personality inventories ANSWER: b 53. Which of the Big 5 personality dimensions is the best predictor of employee performance? a. Openness b. Agreeableness c. Conscientiousness d. Emotional stability ANSWER: c 54. Which of the following have the highest level of adverse impact? a. Cognitive ability and GPA b. Cognitive ability and integrity tests c. Integrity tests and personality inventories d. Integrity tests and GPA ANSWER: a Objective Short Answer 55. What are the reasons for using references and recommendations? ANSWER: confirm details on a resume check for discipline problems discover new information about the applicant predict future performance 56. What are the problems associated with using references to predict performance? ANSWER: leniency lack of knowledge about the applicant low reliability 57. What are the three main reasons for leniency in references? ANSWER: applicants choose their own references references are not always confidential fear of legal ramifications 58. What are the common types of psychological tests used in employee selection? ANSWER: personality inventories interest inventories ability tests job knowledge tests integrity tests 59. What are the Big 5 personality dimensions? ANSWER: Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extroversion Agreeableness Neuroticism (emotional stability) 60. What are the three major aptitude categories? ANSWER: cognitive psychomotor perceptual 61. What are five common assessment center exercises? ANSWER: in-basket simulations work samples leaderless group discussions business games 62. What are the four standards to use when considering biodata items? ANSWER: item must deal with events under the applicant's control item must be job related the answer to the item must be verifiable the item must not invade the applicant's privacy