Lecture 23- Personnel Selection (guest lecture) Flashcards
Why should we care about the methods which we select safety officer personnel?
Because of cases of police brutality
These are the people we are trusting to care for us, to protect us. But this is not always what they are doing (sometimes in fact they do the opposite).
What is a public safety officer + examples? Who are not public safety officers despite many people thinking they are?
An individual serving the public in an official capacity, paid or unpaid, to protect, serve, or otherwise maintain public order • Police officers • Firefighters • Emergency personnel • Correctional officers
Military= not public safety officer cause usually acting externally not domestically
What do we mean by screening?
Individuals undertaking a pre-employment test (psychological evaluation) to determine their suitability for a position
What’s a problem with screening according to mental health issues and what technicality does this result in?
- You can’t discrimination by law based on a mental health issue
- The problem is sometimes mental health issues interfere with someone being able to be a public safety officer (make them unfit)
-This results in the term ‘screening out’ as opposed to ‘screening in’. Individuals are given a conditional offer and then psychological assessed so that they are simply being ruled out as an option as opposed to their chances of selection being hurt due to mental illness which would be classed as discrimination
What are the 10 California POST-dimensions? i.e. What is important to access in potential public safety officers? Are all these dimensions equal?
- Emotional Regulation & Stress Tolerance
- Avoiding Damaging & Excessive Risk-Taking Behavior
- Impulse Control/Attention to Safety
- Assertiveness/Persuasiveness
- Social Competence
- Teamwork
- Decision-Making & Judgment
- Adaptability & Flexibility
- Conscientiousness/Dependability
- Integrity/Ethics
Some of these are more important than others depending on the specific role
What are two things that need to be considered when testing the suitability of public safety officers?
- Job analysis/ competency assessment= evaluating someone based on the particular skill set they would require based on the job description
- Psychological tests
What are the two types of psychological tests you could have in accessing public safety officers?
- One designed to identify abnormal patterns in behaviours (i.e mental illness)
- One designed to access normative behaviour (just individual personality differences)
In order to be used as instruments for public safety officer selection tests must…
Have documented evidence of their relevance for evaluating public officer suitability
What information/ sources does a psychologists take into account when making their accessments?
- Personal History Information
- Situation Judgement Tests (how does the individual respond in a given situation?)
- Mental health records
- Clinical interview (takes place after review + evaluation of test results: these guide what questions you should ask)
On what basis is suitability determined?
-Integrate data from risk-based assessment and decide whether risk-related findings are important/ would impact how the individual could perform in the role
What is a huge issue in the validity of evaluations?
- The individual knows they are being accessed and this assessment decides whether they get the job or not
- They are therefore likely to adjust their answers/ not be truthful in order to keep up appearances
- This causes under-reporting
How might we go about detecting underreporting?
- Testing: include specific questions where you would expect the answer to be yes she if the participant is dishonest and is painting a picture too good to be true
- Inconsistency
When making psychological judgements is it typical to get all your information from one source?
No, using multiple sources of information is key
Which tests are relevant to evaluations?
- Psychometrics
- Cognitive/Aptitude tests
- Personality tests
Tests must be both…
Reliable and Valid
