Employment interviewers' errors in processing positive and negative information

Abstract

Suggests that previous findings that employment interviewers give too much weight to negative information when evaluating an applicant are an artifact of the research methods used. 39 employment interviewers rated information units and applicants. The research design included 2 refinements: (a) comparable scales were used for obtaining measures of both information valence and information use, and (b) redundant information was partialled out. Results show that interviewers processed negative information accurately but did not place sufficient weight on positive information. Some probable causes and practical implications of this finding are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)