Am I nutty enough for the job?

Psychological testing and personnel selection has ethical implications that may come in the form of the data collection techniques, the issues of dual roles, or the examiner’s proficiency. Personnel selection has taken a different turn in the workplace as there is a decreased focus on test scores; this often may be because of the controversies associated with test validity and assessment ethics (Bersoff, 2003). For example there are challenges that result from test materials, evaluation criteria, and the interpretation of the results that should not be the quantifiable decision that discloses identifiable variables that could identify a person to hire. Additionally legal situations often put considerable pressure upon corporations to manage their psychological testing protocols and how that is incorporated into the standard hiring practice. However, in situations that are not corporate the person who receives the assessment should be informed of the standards that are associated with Standard 9.01 which protect the patient (Fisher, (2003).

Organizations need to fully understand the selection process of how they identify potential employees so that they have fair methods in place, they need to work with others that understand how to appropriately place those that have specific skill levels into situations that they can be interviewed and select from the best (Cates, 1999). Psychological testing may lack the ability to identify skills such as potential and, further, the testing mechanisms are not regulated in a manner that could show statistical significance in the correlation between the person’s results and their potential performance (Cates, 1999). It should be an obvious point that tests or traits are not going to be consistent and, when there are not any controls in place, the results will vary and an employer could screen out a possibly great new hires or employ someone who does not fit the corporate culture.

Bersoff, D. N. (2003). Ethical conflicts in psychology (3rd ed.). Washington, DC. American Psychological Association.

Cates, J. A. (1999). The art of assessment in psychology: Ethics, expertise, and validity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55(5), 631-641

Fisher, C. B. (2003). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications, Inc.