Military Psychology

Gerhard Ohrband – ULIM University, Moldova

7th lecture

Selection and classification

Course structure

1. Introduction: Historical Overview, main applications2. Environmental Stressors3. Leadership4. Team Effectiveness5. Individual and Group Behaviour6. Clinical Psychology7. Selection and Classification8. Training 9. Human Factor Engineering10. Psychotherapy and Counseling11. Terrorism12. Trauma Therapy13. Psychological Warfare14. Ethical Issues for a Psychologist in the Armed Forces15. Review: Preparation for the exams

Outline:

1. Perspectives on Selection

2. The Recruitment and Selection Process

3. Selection Methods and Techniques

4. The Candidate’s Perspective in Selection

1. Perspectives on Selection

The predictivist perspective:

Person-job fit: finding the most suitable candidate

Steps:1 Job analysis2 Person specification3 Selection criteria4 Recruitment5 Selection

The constructivist perspective Candidates make decisions as well! Not only person-job fit but also 1 person-organization fit: the fit between the

applicant’s values and organizational culture 2 person-team fit: the fit between the applicant’s

skills and attitudes and the climate of the immediate working group

Several encounters between the individual and the organization

Socialization impact of selection (Anderson and Ostroff)

Key elements of the predictivist and constructivist perspectives

Predictivist perspective Constructivist perspective

Primary focus Organizational decision-making between numerous candidates

Person-job fit

Organizational and candidate decision-making

Construction of a viable psychological contract

Person-team and person-organization fit

Selection methods As “predictors” of future job performance

As information elicitation techniques applied to applicants

As representative samples of behaviour

As social episodes

As opportunities for information exchange

As “socialization impact” upon applicants

Selection decision Unilateral, made by the organization upon candidates

Primarily as (numeric) predictors of subsequent job performance

Socially negotiated, each party deciding whether to continue the relationship further

The “tip of the iceberg” concealing complex social and psychological processes “under the surface”

2. The Recruitment and Selection Process Contingency tables:

Valid positivesValid negativesFalse positivesFalse negatives

Correlation coefficients Criterion-related validity Meta-analysis and validity generalizations The criterion problem, criterion contamination

Types of validity and reliability Predictive validity Concurrent validity Construct validity Content validity Face validity Parallel reliability Test-retest reliability Split-half reliability

3. Selection Methods and Techniques Application forms Curriculae vitae Biodata Realistic job previews (RJP) Interviews Cognitive ability tests Personality tests Integrity and honesty tests Work samples Assessment centres (AC s) References Self-assessment (SA) Alternative methods: graphology and astrology

Predictive accuracy

Assessment centres promotion (0.68) Work samples (0.54) Ability tests (0.54) Structured interviews (0.44) Integrity tests (0.41) Assessment centres performance (0.41) Personality tests (0.38) Biodata (0.37) Unstructured interviews (0.33) Self-assessment (0.15) Reference (0.13) Astrology (0.0) Graphology (0.0)

Popularity

Interviews (97%) References (96%) Application forms (93%) Ability tests (91%) Personality tests (80%) Assessment centres (59%) Biodata (19%) Graphology (2.6%) Astrology (0.0%)

4. The Candidate’s Perspective in Selection Two-sided decision-making process Social issues

Organizational justice theory (Gilliland): 1 procedural justice: fairness in the selection process 2 distributive justice: fairness of the hiring decision

Important issues to increase perceived justice: - job-relatedness and consistency of selection methods - opportunity to perform - honesty in communication with the candidate - interpersonal effectiveness of the recruiter - two-way communication - propriety of questions

Selection justice

Candidate’s reactions to selection justice can have an impact on (Gilliland, 1993):

1 applicant’s reactions and decisions during hiring. E.g.: the extent to which the candidate will recommend the organization to others; the decision on whether to pursue discrimination cases2 attitude’s attitudes and behaviours after hiring. E.g.: organizational commitment, intention to leave and work performance3 applicant’s self-perceptions. E.g.: self-esteem and self-efficacy

Literature

Personnel Psychology (1990) 43 (2), Special issue. Project A, The US Army Selection and Classification Project.

Borman, W., Hanson, M. and Hedge, J. (1997). Personnel selection. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 299-337.

Gilliland, S.W. (1993). The perceived fairness of selection systems: an organizational justice perspective. Academy of Management Review, 18, 696-734.

Gilliland, S.W. (1994). Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to a selection system. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 691-701.

5. Intelligence Testing in the Armed Forces The "Intelligence Testing Movement" began with the publication of

the Binet-Simon Scale, which was revised by Lewis M. Terman in 1916 and renamed the Stanford-Binet Revision. This test was administered to over 1,700,000 soldiers in the United States Army during World War I. The results were published in 1921 by Robert M. Yerkes and became known as the Army Report.

Army Alpha and Army Beta tests were developed by Army psychologists who were working under considerable time pressures to evaluated vast numbers of military recruits.

Army Alpha test was for literates and Army Beta test was for illiterates, designed to "measure native intellectual capacity."

First Company of Commissioned Psychologists - School for Military Psychology, Camp Greenleaf

Mental deficiency

There is no group in the Army that has the exclusive privilege of recognizing mentally dull individuals. The classification officer, the unit commander, and the surgeon all may encounter an individual who is so stupid as to make himself more of a burden than an asset to the Army. Whenever such an individual is found, it is the duty of the officer to make arrangements to have him tested by a psychologist to determine whether his mental ability is truly as poor as it appears. Again, caution must be exercised to make certain that illiterate individuals are not given verbal tests but are given performance tests. A certificate from the psychologist stating that the man's mental age is below ten or that his I.Q. is below 70, together with a letter requesting the unit commander to initiate action, can usually get these men discharged by Section VIII with little delay." (Manual of Military Neuropsychiatry, 1944)

Navy Recruit Screening Cards - 1919 These Screening Cards were developed largely in response to a

cable from General Pershing sent on July 15, 1918, several months after the American Expiditionary Force arrived in France. The cable read as follows:

"Prevalence of mental disorders in replacement troops recently received suggest urgent importance of intensive efforts in eliminating mentally unfit from organisation's new draft prior to departure from the United States. Psychiatric forces and accommodations here inadequate to handle a grater proportion of mental cases than heretofore arriving, and if less time is taken to organise and train new division, elimination work should be speeded."

Literature

Personnel Psychology (1990) 43 (2), Special issue. Project A, The US Army Selection and Classification Project.

Borman, W., Hanson, M. and Hedge, J. (1997). Personnel selection. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 299-337.

Gilliland, S.W. (1993). The perceived fairness of selection systems: an organizational justice perspective. Academy of Management Review, 18, 696-734.

Gilliland, S.W. (1994). Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to a selection system. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 691-701.

Internet resources

http://www.historyofmilitarypsychology.com/intelligence.htm