Discuss two types of integrity tests and describe the criticism these tests have received.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• The polygraph, or lie detector test, is the best known physiological measure associated with evaluating how truthfully an individual responds to questioning.

• A trained polygraph administrator interprets physiological data recorded by a polygraph machine. The machine generates a number of graphs of physiological responses such as skin resistance, pulse or heart rate, and respiration.

• The theory behind the use of the polygraph suggests that when an individual gives an untruthful response, he or she exhibits increases in skin resistance, pulse or heart rate, and respiration. To evaluate honesty, the administrator asks a set of predetermined questions that establishes a physiological baseline for truthful responses. Then the administrator asks other questions regarding topics such as employee theft. When an individual’s physiological response increases above the baseline, the administrator may judge that the test taker did not answer the questions truthfully.

• There are two problems with this theory. First, an individual’s physiological responses may increase for a number of reasons, such as general discomfort and nervousness. Second, some individuals can control their physiological responses better than other individuals can.

• The major drawback to using polygraphs for selection is that they generate a high rate of false positives—mistakenly classifying innocent test takers as guilty. In addition, polygraphs may also misclassify a large number of guilty individuals as innocent.

• Two myths regarding polygraph testing:
o The first is that the polygraph process is a scientific and objective way to learn whether a person is lying or telling the truth.
o The second is that polygraph testing is infallible and contains no error.

• As an alternative to physiological tests for screening applicants, a number of publishers now offer paper-and-pencil tests.

• Integrity tests fall into two categories: overt tests and personality-oriented tests.
o Overt tests ask test takers to provide information about their past behavior (e.g., “How many times have you borrowed cash from an employer without permission?”) or to respond to hypothetical situations (e.g., “Is it okay to make personal phone calls from work?”).
o Personality-oriented tests purport to measure characteristics that are predictive of honest behavior and positive organizational citizenship using items that relate to the Big Five personality factors.

• Paper-and-pencil integrity tests have been the subject of much research and debate among psychologists. A meta-analysis of validation studies of integrity tests yielded encouraging results.
o First, although prediction of documented thefts was low (.13), integrity tests predicted counterproductive behaviors much better (.29 vs. .39).
o Second, there was evidence that these validities generalized across situations.
o Finally, in addition to predicting counterproductive behaviors, the meta-analysis showed that integrity tests correlated with supervisory ratings of job performance at .41.

• Critics point out, however, that studies available for meta-analysis were conducted by the test publishers themselves, not by independent researchers, and that such studies often contained serious methodological flaws.

• Other researchers have expressed concerns that integrity tests may systematically misclassify some honest individuals as dishonest and that most paper-and-pencil integrity tests are highly susceptible to faking.