TRAINING INTERVIEWERS TO ELIMINATE CONTRAST EFFECTS IN EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEWS.

Contrast effects have been found to be a potentially serious source of error in interviewers' ratings of job applicants. A series of experiments was conducted in an attempt to eliminate these errors. Use of a warning in the first experiment was not successful. Use of an anchoring treatment in the second experiment was equally unsuccessful. Combining and strengthening the warning and anchor treatments in the third experiment also failed, revealing that contrast effects are a surprisingly tenacious source of rating error. Finally, in the fourth experiment, an intensive workshop incorporating basic learning principles was successful in eliminating contrast effects as well as some other sources of interviewer error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Applied Psychology is the property of American Psychological Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)