Discussion: Psychological tests

Psychological tests are used in career counseling as well as in hiring and promotion decisions. The purpose of tests for occupational selection can vary from fitness for duty in law enforcement settings, assessing leadership styles and capability, and aspects of personality of employees for certain types or levels of employment. The use of assessment in career counseling can include an evaluation of the client’s occupational interests as well as an evaluation of their aptitude for the skills required in various occupations. There is a lot of debate about whether using these types of psychological tests is fair in these types of decisions. It also begs the question of whether using group-based norms in testing or the overall assessment process is accurate and fair. Part of the reasons for these debates is because these types of tests can potentially have significant and long-lasting consequences for the individual related to his or her career when a test is used to select or place the employee.

For this Discussion, you consider the fairness of using group-based norms in the use of aptitude tests used for hiring practice in organizations. Review the information provided in this week’s Learning Resources regarding aptitude and career-interest assessment and the results used in hiring decisions.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 3 your argument for or against the use of group-based norms in the utilization of the results of aptitude tests in hiring decisions. Justify your argument using examples and the current literature.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

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The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.. Get homework help here