ABSTRACT

The purpose of this investigation was to provide a direct assessment of typical versus maximal responding in a Behavior Description Interview. A total of 109 participants were recruited from three universities and tested as applicants for a general retail position. When asked to describe a time when they had to deal with a difficult person, a core aspect of retail positions, responses reflected typical tendencies roughly half of the time and more maximal tendencies the other half. Convenience factors (e.g., recent, frequent) appeared to exert a strong influence on responding. Such mixing is problematic from a psychometric perspective given the relatively low correlation between these two aspects of performance. Typical versus maximal recall was not correlated with mental ability. Directions for future research are discussed.

摘要

这项研究的目的是提供对行为描述访谈中典型响应与最大响应的直接评估。从三所大学招募了总共109名参与者，并对他们进行了一般零售职位的申请者测试。当被要求描述他们必须与一个困难的人打交道的时间时（零售职位的一个核心方面），答复反映了大约一半时间的典型趋势，而另一半则反映了最大趋势。便利因素（例如，近期，频繁）似乎对响应产生了很大的影响。考虑到性能的这两个方面之间的相对较低的关系，从心理学角度来看，这种混合是有问题的。典型回忆与最大回忆与心理能力无关。讨论了未来研究的方向。