Deck 17: Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Question 1

Ben is especially good at one of his job duties called "case closing." He actually enjoys it too, so he and his supervisor have rewritten his job description to include closing cases for everyone in the department. Ben and his supervisor are engaged in ________.

A) job crafting
B) job analysis
C) reallocation
D) transformation

Answer 1

A

Question 2

During job analysis, psychologists will identify the essential KSAOs. Which one of the following qualities is not a KSAO?

A) Knowledge
B) Skills
C) Abilities
D) Organizations

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Must of the first scientific research on employee behavior was published in the major academic journal for

A) business.
B) agriculture.
C) engineering.
D) psychology.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The "Conditional Reasoning Test" could theoretically be used by employers to detect _____ in employees.

A) mental illness
B) success potential
C) aggressive tendencies
D) high intelligence levels

Question 5

Steve's supervisor is always impressed at his ability to come up with creative solutions to problems at work. Because of this talent, the supervisor has a very good opinion of Steve as an overall employee, despite the fact that he is frequently late to work and sometimes has poor productivity. The supervisor's overall good opinion of Steve is likely the result of _____.

A) the contrast effect
B) the halo effect
C) the 360-degree bias
D) the mixed-performance bias

Question 6

"The scientific study of behavior and thought in work settings" describes _______________ psychology.

A) employee/employer
B) industrial and organizational
C) job analysis
D) personnel

Question 7

"Locus of control" refers to:

A) whether an individual feels more in control at home or at work.
B) a set of beliefs about the person's ability to control his or her work environment and success.
C) a person's beliefs about his or her value and worth as a human being.
D) the skills that a person can use to affect his or her work environment.

Question 8

If a psychologist completes a performance appraisal for a superstar employee, then the next employee may seem weak in comparison. This can lead to ________.

A) the contrast effect
B) the halo effect
C) the downsizing effect
D) stereotype threat

Question 9

An employee who always goes above and beyond what his or her employer asks is demonstrating good _____.

A) task performance
B) organizational citizenship behavior
C) situational judgment
D) counterproductive behavior

Question 10

Industrial psychology was so named because most of the focus was on

A) the workplace and home.
B) engineering and psychology because the U.S. economy was based on manufacturing.
C) selection of personnel for white collar jobs.
D) corporation and office work because the global economy was heavily reliant on this work.

Question 11

Which of the following would be an example of a virtual team?

A) A group of workers around the globe who coordinate their efforts through teleconferencing and email
B) A computer simulation of how employees might interact
C) A group of employees who have similar jobs, but who do not actually interact with one another
D) A group of employees in which one member does the majority of the work that is claimed by the team

Question 12

Dr. Gonzalez is a psychologist who studies how employers can incentivize their employees to be more productive, while at the same time maintaining or improving the employees' job satisfaction. Dr. Gonzalez would most likely describe herself as

A) a human resources manager.
B) an I/O psychologist.
C) an efficiency psychologist
D) a KSAO psychologist.

Question 13

Which of the following best describes the laissez-faire approach to leadership?

A) A team leader anticipates errors that people might potentially make and works to avoid them.
B) A team leader controls work behavior through rewards and punishments.
C) A team leader strives to make rewards for good work equitable across all team members.
D) A team leader spends little time offering direction or feedback on performance.

Question 14

In general, the _____ style of leadership is considered the most desirable.

A) transactional
B) laissez-faire
C) passive
D) transformational

Question 15

The three main goals of _________________ are: to help employers deal with employees fairly, to help make jobs more interesting and satisfying, and to help workers be more productive.

A) job crafting
B) 360-degree feedback
C) job analysis
D) I/O psychology

Question 16

An employee who often shows up late, gossips frequently about colleagues, and occasionally exaggerates his performance on weekly reports is engaged in __________.

A) anti-organizational citizenship
B) counterproductive behavior
C) negative affectivity
D) transactionality

Question 17

The concept of burnout down not include __________

A) exhaustion
B) a cynical, pessimistic attitude about the organization
C) the believe that nothing of significance is ever accomplished
D) awareness that supervisors give undeserved special treatment to other employees

Question 18

Which of the following statements is true regarding male versus female leadership?

A) On average, women show more desirable leadership styles and traits than men.
B) On average, men show more desirable leadership styles and traits than women.
C) In the United States, employees prefer to work for female bosses.
D) Men are more effective leaders than women.

Question 19

An assessment center is:

A) an office or meeting room that is used for structured interviews.
B) a process of screening potential employees using a variety of tests and simulations.
C) a method of evaluating how well a current employee is performing.
D) a personality test.

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true regarding the use of personality-based selection tests for hiring?

A) Some personality traits can be useful predictors of performance at various jobs.
B) Personality traits can be useful predictors of which candidates will do poorly at a job, but do not predict which candidates are likely to succeed.
C) Conscientiousness is the only personality trait that correlates with performance across a wide range of jobs.
D) Personality-based selection tests are not a useful tool for predicting job performance.

Question 21

What is the Occupational Information Network (O*NET)?

A) a collection of databases that describe jobs and the requirements for workers that may fill them
B) a website for employers to find qualified workers from lists of qualified candidates
C) a website for unemployed workers to find companies which are actively hiring
D) a database of qualified I/O psychologists that companies can hire to perform job analyses

Question 22

Employers frequently use ______________ tests to help them select employees who are likely to succeed at their jobs.

A) reaction time
B) personality
C) mental health
D) stress

Question 23

KSAOs stands for

A) knowledge, skills, abilities, and other traits.
B) knowledge-based situational aptitude objective.
C) knowing, speaking, auditing, and other skills.
D) the Kentucky Survey of Assessment Organizations.

Question 24

When an employer discusses a variety of job- and personality-related topics with a candidate with relatively few prepared questions to guide the conversation, it is called a(n) ______________ interview.

A) structured
B) unstructured
C) simulated
D) freeform

Question 25

A key part of the hiring process is ______________, which is the process of writing a detailed description of a position in terms of the required KSAOs.

A) job analysis.
B) job crafting.
C) employee targeting.
D) validation study.

Question 26

Which of the following is an advantage of structured interviews over unstructured interviews?

A) Unstructured interviews typically involve too many situational interview questions.
B) Unstructured interviews do not allow employers to get a sense of the applicant's personality.
C) Structured interviews require less preparation.
D) Structured interviews make it easier to compare candidates.

Question 27

Manuel works as the IT technician for a small company. Because he is good with electronics, other employees often ask Manuel for help when the photocopiers stop working. Although this was not part of Manuel's original job description, he now considers fixing the photocopiers as part of his job. This is an example of

A) 360-degree feedback.
B) transformational leadership.
C) job crafting.
D) KSAOs.

Question 28

Suppose your university is planning on hiring a new president. As part of this process, they hire an expert to determine the knowledge, abilities, skills, and other characteristics that the search committee should look for in potential candidates for the position. This process is known as

A) employee targeting.
B) job crafting.
C) job analysis.
D) validation study.

Question 29

KSAOs refer to

A) the process of taking on or creating additional roles and tasks for a position over time.
B) the attributes that are required for a specific job.
C) a collection of databases that describe jobs from six domains.
D) a type of structured interview.

Question 30

According to a job posting in the newspaper, candidates for the position must know how to design webpages, be skilled at working on their own, and creative. This is a description of the ___________ for the job.

A) ONET
B) KSAOs
C) SIOP
D) NEO-PI

Question 31

The Big Five personality trait measured by the NEO-PI that evaluates whether a job applicant is likely to show anger, hostility, or nervousness is

A) neuroticism.
B) extroversion.
C) openness.
D) conscientiousness.

Question 32

In a structured interview, which of the following is typically true?

A) The interview is specifically tailored to each applicant.
B) Questions are drawn directly from the job analysis to ensure that each is relevant to the position.
C) Structured interviews require less preparation than unstructured interviews.
D) There are no follow-up questions.

Question 33

Which of the following is an example of a situational interview question?

A) Have you ever had disagreements with an employer in the past?
B) If you are hired, would you be able to start right away?
C) What would you do if one of our clients asked you to make an illegal stock trade?
D) Do you have any children? If not, are you planning on having any?

Question 34

Prior to the 1960s, the field that would become known as I/O psychology primarily focused on the hiring, training, and managing of

A) office workers.
B) government employees.
C) industrial workers.
D) educators.

Question 35

______________ allow researchers to determine which personality traits or cognitive abilities correlate with job performance.

A) Validation studies
B) Job analyses
C) Job simulations
D) Performance appraisals

Question 36

Which of the Big Five personality traits is most likely to predict employee performance for a job that requires a great deal of organization and an attention to detail?

A) neuroticism
B) extroversion
C) openness
D) conscientiousness

Question 37

The Scranton Life Insurance Company gives the NEO-PI to its current sales people. An analysis of the data shows that sales people who score high in extraversion tend to have the greatest number of sales each year. Based on this data, the company can now use the NEO-PI to hire the applicants who are most likely to succeed. This process is an example of

A) job analysis.
B) a validation study.
C) cognition-based selection testing.
D) performance appraisal.

Question 38

The human resources manager for a large company likes to let interviews with job applicants go wherever the conversation naturally leads. He feels that this technique gives him a fairly accurate sense of the applicant's personality. Which technique is the manager using?

A) structured interview
B) job simulation
C) 360 assessment
D) unstructured interview

Question 39

In the second half of the 20^th century, the U.S. economy shifted away from industrial jobs and towards service industry and office jobs. How did this impact the development of I/O psychology?

A) Factories began hiring psychologists to lure employees back to industrial jobs.
B) Workplace psychologists began to focus on the hiring and training of employees.
C) Workplace psychology began to include more focus on the culture and organizational qualities of work.
D) Psychologists realized that factory and office work environments were very similar.

Question 40

In _______________, researchers administer tests to a large sample of incumbents and evaluate their performance to find correlations between job performance and personality traits or cognitive abilities.

A) validation studies
B) performance appraisals
C) job simulations
D) job analyses

Question 41

Which of the following are three aspects of an employee's performance that supervisors often evaluate?

A) task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive behavior
B) job analysis, job crafting, and job feedback
C) knowledge, skills, and attributes
D) positive affect, negative affect, and absenteeism

Question 42

The evaluation of current employees is called

A) job crafting.
B) job analysis.
C) performance appraisal.
D) validation rating.

Question 43

The phenomenon of ______________ may cause women, African Americans, and members of other groups to underperform on cognitive-based selection tests.

A) burnout
B) negative affect
C) stereotype threat
D) group-based neuroticism

Question 44

As part of her interview for the job of office manager at a bank, Rita is given a list of made-up tasks that she might encounter in the position. Rita is then assessed on her ability to respond to each task. This is referred to as the _____________ technique.

A) job simulation
B) sink-or-swim
C) virtual job
D) job assessment

Question 45

Organizational citizenship behavior refers to

A) how well an employee performs the assigned duties for his or her position in the organization.
B) the degree to which a corporation contributes the nation's economic health.
C) the degree to which an employee contributes beyond what is expected.
D) actions that interfere with one's own (and sometimes others') productivity.

Question 46

Assessment centers often have applicants role-play activities that are similar to those they would encounter in the actual job. This is referred to as

A) unstructured interviews.
B) performance appraisals.
C) job simulations.
D) 360-degree feedback.

Question 47

In I/O psychology, assessment center refers to

A) a type of human resources department.
B) a location where job applicants are evaluated.
C) a job applicant's core set of skills and aptitudes.
D) a process for evaluating job applicants.

Question 48

Which of the following is a reason NOT to use assessment centers when hiring?

A) Cognitive instruments are more effective.
B) Applicants generally dislike the process.
C) Assessment centers are generally biased against certain groups.
D) Assessment centers can be very expensive.

Question 49

According to your textbook, which of the following is a critique of using personality tests to select new employees?

A) Personality traits do not significantly correlate with job performance.
B) With the right work environment and proper training, even low scoring applicants may perform well.
C) There is no way to determine which personality traits will predict job performance for specific jobs.
D) Personality tests were designed for identifying abnormal personality traits, and are therefore not useful for distinguishing "normal" personalities.

Question 50

Multisource assessment or __________________ provides evaluation information from many different perspectives within and beyond an organization.

A) a validation study
B) an assessment center
C) job simulation
D) 360-degree feedback

Question 51

When evaluating a subordinate, Tyrell tries to determine if he or she goes beyond what is strictly expected of them. For example, he was pleased to learn that one of his subordinates stayed late last week to help train a new employee. What aspect is Tyrell evaluating the subordinates on?

A) task performance
B) altruism
C) organizational citizenship behavior
D) positive affect

Question 52

Which of the following is true regarding the use of personality-based tests in employee selection?

A) Personality traits can be used to rule out applicants, but do not predict which applicants will likely succeed.
B) Personality traits can be used to predict which applicants will likely succeed at a job, but cannot be used to rule out applicants.
C) Personality traits can be used to both identify applicants who are likely to succeed, and rule out those who are likely to be problematic.
D) Personality-based tests are not useful in selecting employees.

Question 53

According to your textbook, which of the following is a drawback to the traditional approach to evaluations, where employees are evaluated by their immediate supervisors?

A) Supervisors have no incentive to perform accurate evaluations.
B) Supervisors only have one perspective on an employee.
C) Evaluating subordinates typically takes up too much of a supervisor's time.
D) Most supervisors are not qualified to accurately evaluate their subordinates.

Question 54

When Sanjay first started working for his employer, he was surprised to learn that not only would he be responsible for evaluating his subordinates, but he would also be asked to evaluate his colleagues and even his supervisor. Sanjay's employer appears to be using which evaluation technique?

A) 360-degree feedback
B) situational judgment tests
C) job simulation
D) assessment centers

Question 55

Which of the following is generally true about the effectiveness of self-report personality tests versus cognition-based selection testing?

A) Cognitive testing is a better predictor of job performance than personality testing.
B) Personality testing is a better predictor of job performance than cognitive testing.
C) Both cognitive and personality testing are equally effective.
D) Neither cognitive nor personality testing are valid predictors of job performance.

Question 56

Stereotype threat is most likely to be an issue with which method of personnel selection?

A) cognitive-based testing
B) personality-based testing
C) structured interview
D) unstructured interview

Question 57

When an employee is really good at one aspect of their job, a supervisor may fail to notice that he or she performs another aspect of the job poorly. This is most likely due to

A) the contrast effect.
B) stereotype threat.
C) trait affectivity.
D) the halo effect.

Question 58

The __________ effect occurs when a rater thinks highly about one aspect of an employee's job or personality and this leads him or her to provide similar ratings for other aspects of the employee's work.

A) contrast
B) generalization
C) halo
D) 360-degree

Question 59

Which evaluation technique ensures that an employee is evaluated from a variety of different perspectives?

A) structured interviews
B) 360-degree feedback
C) job simulation
D) assessment centers

Question 60

According to your textbook, which of the following is problem associated with the use of the 360-feedback technique?

A) Managers may not take feedback from subordinates seriously.
B) The feedback only reflects one perspective.
C) Evaluations occur too frequently.
D) 360-feedback does not include the perspective of customers or clients.

Question 61

The tendency to experience positive emotions such as happiness, satisfaction, and enthusiasm, regarding work is called

A) positive affect.
B) locus of control.
C) the halo effect.
D) self-efficacy.

Question 62

The tendency to experience negative emotions, including frustration, anger, and distress regarding work is called

A) negative affect.
B) an external locus of control.
C) workplace aggression.
D) harassment.

Question 63

Michael is a friendly good looking person who is liked by almost everyone who meets him. Michael's supervisor considers him a good employee, although his job performance is actually poor in many ways. The supervisor's inaccurate evaluation of Michael is likely due to

A) the halo effect.
B) trait affectivity.
C) the contrast effect.
D) stereotype threat.

Question 64

Who shows the most organizational commitment?

A) Women are more committed to their organizations because it is harder for women to find work..
B) Negative affect people are often least likely to quit.
C) Positive affect employees are less likely to quit.
D) Affect is not associated with organizational commitment.

Question 65

According to your textbook, I/O psychologists are primarily interested in trait affectivity because of its potential to affect

A) hiring and assessment.
B) performance and job satisfaction.
C) salary and self-efficacy.
D) absenteeism and leadership style.

Question 66

I/O Psychologists study affect because it is often as stable as

A) personality traits
B) mood
C) performance
D) employment

Question 67

According to the happier is smarter hypothesis,

A) employees will have higher job satisfaction if their supervisors appear to be happy.
B) employers retain more workers if they actively promote worker happiness.
C) employees who have positive affect traits perform better than those with negative affect traits.
D) individuals who choose jobs based on how happy they expect to be will experience less burnout.

Question 68

Which of the following most accurately describes the halo effect?

A) Employees who are good at one aspect of their job tend to be good at other aspects of their job.
B) Employees who perform one aspect of their job well tend to be rated highly for other aspects.
C) An average worker is rated as substandard because they are compared to an above average employee.
D) Employees who associate with above average coworkers are rated higher than those who do not.

Question 69

The __________ effect occurs when a rater evaluates one employee who is very strong in a number of dimensions such that, by comparison, the next employee is likely to appear weak, even if he is an average worker by other measures.

A) contrast
B) halo
C) comparison
D) relativity

Question 70

An I/O psychologist would most likely describe an employee who is content with his or her work as having high

A) job satisfaction.
B) trait affectivity.
C) job accomplishment.
D) job assessment.

Question 71

Job____________ can be thought of as a combination of affect and thoughts an employee holds about his or her job.

A) affectivity
B) assessment
C) attitudes
D) efficacy

Question 72

Calvin dislikes his job. While at work, he often feels frustrated and upset. Calvin's tendency to experience these and similar emotions is an example of

A) cynicism.
B) an external locus of control.
C) negative affect.
D) interpersonal violence.

Question 73

Positive affect individuals tend to exhibit

A) improved negotiating techniques.
B) fewer organizational citizenship behaviors.
C) poor performance evaluations.
D) preference to work alone rather than in teams.

Question 74

Negative affect is related to the Big Five trait of __________ while positive affect is related to ____________.

A) neuroticism; openness
B) pessimism; openness
C) neuroticism; extraversion
D) pessimism; extraversion

Question 75

Most employees experience both positive and negative emotions about work. However, the tendency to experience one type of emotions more than the other is referred to as

A) bias.
B) locus of control.
C) the halo effect.
D) trait affectivity.

Question 76

Which of the following most accurately describes the contrast effect?

A) Employees who are good at one aspect of their job tend to be viewed as poor at other aspects of their job.
B) Employees who perform one aspect of their job well tend to be rated highly for other aspects.
C) An average worker is rated as substandard because he or she is compared to an above average employee.
D) An average worker is rated as above average because he or she is compared to another above average employee.

Question 77

According to your textbook, almost half of new teachers leave the profession within _______of starting.

A) 1 semester
B) 1 year
C) 2 years
D) 5 years

Question 78

Peggy is a stock trader for a small company. Her performance evaluations have always been positive. However, 3 months ago the company hired a new trader whose performance is much better than all of the other traders, including Peggy. At her next evaluation, Peggy's boss tells her that she is underperforming and must do better. This is likely an example of

A) the halo effect.
B) trait affectivity.
C) the contrast effect.
D) stereotype threat.

Question 79

Angie is the manager of an advertising company. She has always felt that the company's employees work better with each other and come up with more creative ideas when they are generally happy at work. Angie's belief is consistent with the ________________ hypothesis.

A) satisfaction yields production
B) happier is smarter
C) trait affectivity
D) halo

Question 80

The term affect in psychology refers to a person's

A) motivation.
B) cognitive ability.
C) experiences.
D) emotional responses.