Word: tested
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...start and stop time by using a CEBus controller. That could be a telephone linked to the house's electrical system, a home computer plugged into a wall socket or a remote hand-held controller that beams infrared rays to an outlet. Last week Bell Atlantic announced plans to test a new system that uses standard phones to control a wide variety of household functions...
Each year U.S. businesses lose as much as $40 billion to employees who steal. To protect their profit margins, many hard-hit companies have resorted to routine polygraph screening of workers and job applicants. But the scientific validity of these devices has never been proved, and the tests have sometimes caused harm to people who are falsely implicated. Such is the case of Shama Holleman, a college student who took a job in 1987 as a part-time cashier for Alexander's department-store chain in New York City. After a month as a model employee, she was fired because...
...honesty exams, which were given to 3.5 million job applicants last year at a cost of $5 to $15 each, can be surprisingly straightforward. A questionnaire published by Reid Psychological Systems of Chicago asks test takers to mark whether or not they recently "overcharged a customer for personal gain" or "took something from a store without paying for it." Many job applicants freely reveal their transgressions. "People put things on written tests they wouldn't tell their mothers," says Larry Audler, vice president of personnel for the New Orleans-based D.H. Holmes department-store chain...
...written surveys usually include a few ringers (example: "Do you always tell the truth?") to determine whether a job seeker is being candid. No single answer brands a person as a liar or thief, but those who administer the test watch for ominous patterns. Observes Arthur Le Blanc, a California psychologist who helped screen new employees hired for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles: "If you score in a certain range, you're more likely to be dishonest...
...exams and handwriting tests have a wide margin for error, which means that some people are inaccurately labeled as dishonest. James Walls, co- founder and executive vice president of Stanton Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., which sells 1 million written honesty tests a year, admits that his questionnaires are only 88% reliable. Employers should use a written test only to supplement interviews and background checks, Walls points out. Critics of the tests contend that many managers are lazy when it comes to hiring. "They want quick answers to the question 'Will a person be honest?' " explains Jon Bauer, a law professor...