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It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. If a measure h

It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. I don't actually know whether bad credit is predictive for job performance, though the story for why it might be is easy to imagine.

Zak 13y ago
The story for why an IQ test would correlate with good job performance is also easy to imagine, but it doesn't appear to match reality. I never see studies finding a correlation between credit scores to job performance when I read about this issue, which makes it puzzling that employers continue to use them. Could it be that the people making the decisions here are making them based on the credit reporting agencies' marketing rather than concrete data?
- Estragon 13y ago
  I was commenting on a problem with the argument that they shouldn't be used because they may have a racial bias. I don't really have a position on whether credit reports are a useful tool in hiring decisions.
nazgulnarsil 13y ago
>because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. Care to back that up?
yummyfajitas 13y ago
It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. This is incorrect. http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes.aspx http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes... http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%... http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/preprint_j.1468_2389.2010.00485.x.pdf http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/prepri... If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. This is true. While certainly ethical, it is still illegal in the US.
- walshemj 13y ago
  If its illegal by definition it can not be ethical.
  - geoffschmidt 13y ago
    So Rosa Parks was the bad guy?
    - yummyfajitas 13y ago
      A charitable interpretation of walshem's comment would be that he believes her actions were moral but not ethical.
      - walshemj 13y ago
        mm I take your point but I would quote sewards "higher law" and the UNHCR as overriding Jim crow laws
  - EmmEnnEff 13y ago
    Criticizing the leader was illegal in Stalin's Russia. That does not make it unethical.
  - illuminate 13y ago
    Rule of law authoritarians can not be ethical.
- Estragon 13y ago
  Um, none of those links explicitly mention IQ tests. Can you tell me which specific parts of the links we should look at?
  - learc83 13y ago
    They're referred to as general cognitive ability tests, general intelligence tests, general mental ability, GMA. All of the OP's links mention them, just not by the lable IQ test.

Zak 13y ago

The story for why an IQ test would correlate with good job performance is also easy to imagine, but it doesn't appear to match reality. I never see studies finding a correlation between credit scores to job performance when I read about this issue, which makes it puzzling that employers continue to use them. Could it be that the people making the decisions here are making them based on the credit reporting agencies' marketing rather than concrete data?

Estragon 13y ago
I was commenting on a problem with the argument that they shouldn't be used because they may have a racial bias. I don't really have a position on whether credit reports are a useful tool in hiring decisions.

nazgulnarsil 13y ago

>because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. Care to back that up?

yummyfajitas 13y ago

It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. This is incorrect. http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes.aspx http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes... http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%... http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/preprint_j.1468_2389.2010.00485.x.pdf http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/prepri... If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. This is true. While certainly ethical, it is still illegal in the US.

walshemj 13y ago
If its illegal by definition it can not be ethical.
- geoffschmidt 13y ago
  So Rosa Parks was the bad guy?
  - yummyfajitas 13y ago
    A charitable interpretation of walshem's comment would be that he believes her actions were moral but not ethical.
    - walshemj 13y ago
      mm I take your point but I would quote sewards "higher law" and the UNHCR as overriding Jim crow laws
- EmmEnnEff 13y ago
  Criticizing the leader was illegal in Stalin's Russia. That does not make it unethical.
- illuminate 13y ago
  Rule of law authoritarians can not be ethical.
Estragon 13y ago
Um, none of those links explicitly mention IQ tests. Can you tell me which specific parts of the links we should look at?
- learc83 13y ago
  They're referred to as general cognitive ability tests, general intelligence tests, general mental ability, GMA. All of the OP's links mention them, just not by the lable IQ test.