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Journal Article

Fact and Fiction in Cognitive Ability Testing for Admissions and Hiring Decisions

Nathan R. Kuncel and Sarah A. Hezlett
Current Directions in Psychological Science
Vol. 19, No. 6 (DECEMBER 2010), pp. 339-345
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41038598
Page Count: 7
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Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
Fact and Fiction in Cognitive Ability Testing for Admissions and Hiring Decisions
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Abstract

Standardized measures of intelligence, ability, or achievement are all measures of acquired knowledge and skill and have consistent relationships with multiple facets of success in life, including academic and job performance. Five persistent beliefs about ability tests have developed, including: (a) that there is no relationship with important outcomes like creativity or leadership, (b) that there is predictive bias, (c) that there is a lack of predictive independence from socioeconomic status, (d) that there are thresholds beyond which scores cease to matter, and (e) that other characteristics, like personality, matter as well. We present the evidence and conclude that of these five beliefs, only the importance of personality is a fact; the other four are fiction.