Psychology

Given their failure to predict management performance, why are organizations still using personality tests? Credit: h.koppdelaney/Flickr, CC BY By Robert Spillane, Macquarie Graduate School of Management In 1931 the Australian Institute of Industrial Psychology published lectures by A. H. Martin who, after dismissing astrology, palmistry and phrenology as pseudo-sciences, bravely put psychology forward as a legitimate science and confidently listed the desirable qualities for successful salesmen: extroversion, humor, resilience, diplomacy and self-confidence. By the 1950s the use of…

Different kind of chocolate factory. Credit: Cklaighe/Conversation composite By Jordan Gaines Lewis, Penn State College of Medicine I live in the city of Hershey, otherwise known as “the sweetest place on Earth”  (registered trademark).  I’m surrounded by references to chocolate everyday – from the smell of it in the air to Kiss-shaped street lamps to chocolate-brown paved roads. And yes – it’s a pretty sweet life. The big stink So when The Hershey Company recently unveiled their new logo, I didn’t find anything unusual about it. That is, of course, until the Internet began…

Millions of Americans are thought to experience mental illness in a given year, and the impacts of mental illness are undoubtedly felt by millions more in the form of family members, friends, and coworkers. Though there are concerns about a lack of evidence-based treatment in mental health, it is better than doing nothing - yet nothing is what up to 40% of individuals with serious mental illness get, according to a new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest. They cite stigma as a significant barrier to care for many individuals with mental illness. "The prejudice and…

Unless you are part of the 1 percent with your stock portfolio climbing, you are probably not an American who factors your experience into which price you pay these days.  A common belief is that the economy affects what one purchases and that is independent of income; all people feel nervous when the economy is doing poorly. Yet the authors find that the influence of the economy even impacts the degree to which consumers incorporate past service experiences into their future purchases - especially when the economy is doing better. Counter to popular wisdom that firms should double…

Personality tests will not judge you on how you look, the clothes you wear or where you went to school, so why are people so wary of them? Credit: Shutterstock By Nick Haslam, University of Melbourne Many job seekers are wary of personality testing. They will accept prying interviews and secretive reference checks, but baulk at having their personalities assessed. A review of studies conducted in 17 countries found personality tests were judged less favourably than most selection tools, disliked almost as much as handwriting analysis. Personality testing and graphology have their unpopularity…

By Barbara Sahakian, University of Cambridge and Muzaffer Kaser, University of Cambridge Depression is a major, if not the major, cause of suicide. Every year, almost one million people die from suicide around the world. Depression is often seen as a disorder of the developed world; mental disorders – in particular depression but also disorders from alcohol misuse – have been clearly linked to suicide in high-income countries. But depression in low and middle-income countries is also a big problem and the prevalence is not dramatically different from high income countries. However, reliable…

Though to Western women, Muslim women in the Mid-East and Asia seem oppressed because they have no choice in wearing a hijab, the Islamic head- and body-cover common in Muslim culture, studies have shown that Muslim women have a more positive body image. Psychologists using a wider range of body image measures have found that British Muslim women who wear a hijab generally have more positive body image, are less reliant on media messages about beauty ideals, and place less importance on appearance than those who do not wear a hijab. These effects appear to be driven by use of a hijab…

Given the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and the highly charged claims of racism, it is no surprise that a Washington State University study of deadly force found that there is bias when it comes to skin color and being willing to pull a gun trigger on someone. What is a surprise is that whites and Hispanic were more likely to be shot than black people. It is often noted that black suspects are more likely to be shot by police, but the last comprehensive look at the racial makeup of justifiable and non-justifiable shootings was a 2001 study using prior decades of U.S. Bureau of…

Image: If only neuroscience was that easy. Credit: quixotecr, CC BY-NC-ND By Matt Wall, Imperial College London During World War II, residents on the islands in the southern Pacific Ocean saw heavy activity by US planes, bringing in goods and supplies for the soldiers. In many cases, this was the islanders' first exposure to 20th century goods and technology. After the war, when the cargo shipments stopped, some of the islanders built imitation air-strips. These incorporated wooden control towers, bamboo radio antennae, and fire torches instead of landing-lights. They apparently believed that…

Supersize me: buffet edition. Joanna Servaes, CC BY-NC By Aaron Blaisdell, University of California, Los Angeles Rats are very useful for studying human eating behaviour. Both rats and humans are omnivores, and both use flavour conditioning – learning through taste and experience which foods are good to eat and which to avoid. So if a particular flavour is associated with a desirable outcome like feeling full, this makes it more palatable, whereas a stomach illness would make it unpalatable. Rats also share with humans many of the neurobiological and hormonal mechanisms of flavour learning…