The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Eysenckian personality variables and ratings of job performance and promotion potential of a group of police officers.In order to identify differences in levels of extraversion, neuroticism and intelligence, subjects were evaluated with the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and the Primary Mental Abilities Test (PMA). The EPI was used to measure differences in extraversion and neuroticism. Two PRA sub-tests, Verbal Meaning and Number Facility, were administered to each subject under both "unstressed" and "stressed" conditions. This test-retest procedure was devised to assess problem-solving abilities under varying conditions of stress and motivation.The subjects for this study were drawn from an East-Central Indiana city police department. Thirty-three patrolmen volunteered to Participate in the study. These men were members of a 50 man group which had been designated as (1) having two or more years experience with their department and (2) were currently working in positions requiring the wearing of a standard police uniform. The subjects ranged in age from 2L to 64 with a mean age of 32.9 years.Data for each subject submitted for statistical treatment included extraversion and neuroticism as measured by the EPI. Four experimental cognitive variables derived from comparisons between "unstressed" and stressed" test performance on two PMA sub-tests were also submitted. These "Stress Gain" scores represented the increase in level of difficulty attained, and the increase in speed of solution, resulting from increased stress and motivation. Two other experimental variables, "Stressed Raw Scores", were used to represent the level of difficulty attained on both PMA sub-tests under stressful test conditions. Composite standardized ratings of job performance and promotion potential obtained from three senior supervisors' ratings were also submitted for statistical analysis.Statistical treatment to ascertain the relationship between the Eysenckian variables and ratings of job performance and promotion potential included the calculation of: (1) correlation coefficients by the product-moment method for ungrouped data and (2) Fisher Z transformations for testing the significance of the computed product-moment correlations. An adjusted reliability index was derived for the job performance and promotion potential ratings through a one-way analysis of variance.Sixteen research hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. The degree of significance necessary to reject the null hypotheses that Eysenckian personality variables were uncorrelated with ratings of job performance and promotion potential was set at the .05 level. In order to attain a practical significance a correlation of +.40 was required.The group means obtained on the EPI were 11.8 for extraversion (SD=3.5) and 7.9 for neuroticism (SD=4.5). This mean neuroticism score represents a lower mean level of neuroticism for a group than any other group reported in the EPI manual. These scores placed the sample group in the "stable introvert" quadrant of Eysenck's categorical framework.Product-moment correlations between the Eysenckian variables and job performance ratings ranged from -0.222 to 0.0575, and correlations between the Eysenckian variables and ratings of promotion potential ranged from -0.273 to 0.217. These coefficients were all found to be statistically insignificant.The adjusted reliability indices of .72 for job performance ratings and .56 for promotion potential ratings indicated that the ratings used for the study lacked adequate reliability. Analysis of the means and standard deviations of the ratings suggested that errors of leniency and central tendency had occurred.Further analysis of data revealed a coefficient of 0.29 (p<.05) existed between extraversion and Stress-Gain Time (Verbal), and a coefficient of -0.33 (p<.05) between neuroticism and Stressed Raw Verbal Scores.While it was found that there is no support for a relationship between Eysenckian personality variables and rated performance and promotion potential within the group studied, it was suggested that the dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism can interact with intelligence to effect problem-solving behavior. Recommendations for further research were made.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175801 |
| Date | January 1974 |
| Creators | Dean, David |
| Contributors | Hayes, Robert E. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 106 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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