Interesting Article on APA's Position on Torture

In September 2008, the American Psychological Association banned its members from participating in interrogations that use torture. (This contrasts with other organizations like American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association which have had such bans in place since 2006.) In an interesting article, Stanley Fish outlines some of the factors that he believes account for this differential response. One factor that he sees as being primary is the fact that in contrast to organizations that are comprised exclusively of health care providers, psychologists may work in roles that extend beyond the concept of "healer."
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Some "Must Read" Articles

The September 2008 edition of Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice (table of contents) has two series of articles that are likely of great relevance to anyone interested in personnel selection. The first set of articles focuses what the authors see as some of the key questions facing personality researchers working on practice-related issues. The second looks at some of the factors which contribute to the resistance of hiring mangers to use empirically supported selection methods in favor of other methods, primarily unstructured interviews, which tend to have very limited predictive validity.
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ATP Conference Registration Now Open

Registration for 2009 ATP Conference is now open. Innovations in Testing 2009 will be held February 22-25 2009 in Palm Springs, CA. See the Conference website for full information.
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Call for Papers: 11th European Congress of Psychology

The European Congress of Psychology (ECP2009) to be held in Oslo 7-10 July 2009 will have a special track on developments in testing and test use. Chaired by Dave Bartram, this track will be organized in close cooperation with the ITC and with the EFPA Standing Committee on Tests and Testing. The track will consist of keynote addresses, state of the art lectures, symposia and a number of parallel paper and poster sessions which will run throughout the Congress. If interested, please send an e-mail here.
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Group differences in personality – Meta-analyses comparing five U.S. racial groups

Foldes, Duehr, and Ones conducted a large-scale meta-analysis to examine the magnitude of racial group differences on measures of personality and whether these differences are likely to result in adverse impact.
Due to the paucity of analyses and research in this area, this study provides an important contribution to the literature. The current research extends beyond existing research in many ways. First, researchers included understudied racial groups such as Asian Americans and American Indians and used a reliable estimate of the magnitude of racial group differences (d-values). The authors also examined differences at both the broad factor and narrow facet levels. Data from 44 different personality assessments was used and more than 700 effect sizes contributed to the database. Results suggested that in general, racial group differences were negligible and unlikely to result in adverse impact. However, there is some concern for adverse impact for certain groups and traits but this is dependent on characteristics of the selection scenario such as the trait being measured, the effect size, the composition of the applicant pool, and the selection ratio. The authors present a summary of potential trait-group combinations that may result in adverse impact. Specifically, adverse impact could be a concern for Blacks when Emotional Stability, Anxiety, Extraversion and Sociability are measured. There is some concern for Asians when Emotional Stability, Even Tempered, Extraversion, Dominance, Sociability, and Conscientiousness are measured, and for Hispanics when Sociability is measured. For American Indians, there is some concern when Emotional Stability and Extraversion are measured and for Whites there is some concern for Conscientiousness and its facets (Achievement, Cautiousness, Order), Extraversion, and Self-Esteem. This research has implications for the use of personality assessments for selection, such that practitioners should carefully consider the job-related traits being measured, the composition of their applicant pools, and their selection ratios.

View full abstract/get the article at:
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?title=group+differences+in+personality&title_type=tka&year_from=1998&year_to=2008&database=1&pageSize=20&index=4

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Submission Deadline for EAWOP Conference Approaches

October 3, 2008 is the proposal submission deadline for the 14th European Congress of Work and Organizational Psychology to be held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain on May 13-16, 2009. Organized under the auspices of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), the conference has the theme "Developing People in 21st Century Organizations: Global and Local Perspectives."
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Article on Emotional Intelligence

The lead article (abstract) of the September 2008 edition of the American Psychologist is a paper by John Mayer, Peter Salovey, and David Caruso reviewing the concept and subsequent controversy and confusion that have emerged in regard to the construct of emotional intelligence. The first to propose the idea of emotional intelligence, the authors explore some of the complexities which have emerged in relation to this concept since their original work in 1990 and make suggestions for future work in the area.
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