Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine whether job interview candidates perform poorly in a cold (non-verbal) emotional interview settings. Also, to determine if personality variables might moderate the influence of the cold setting. We examined the differences in applicant ratings between interviewers and videotape raters.

It was hypothesized that applicants would perform less well in the cold emotional setting for the job interview. This was hypothesized to be moderated by personality, as those that score high in Self-Esteem and more internal in Locus of Control should have scored higher than their opposites in the cold condition. This would support theories that ‘interviewer conduct’ influences applicant behavior and does not just passively measure it. Also, it was hypothesized that interviewer ratings of applicants will be significantly different from videotape ratings of those applicants. This would indicate that interviewers are not only causing the warm/cold condition but are being influenced by it as well. It would support the idea that the job interview as a tool is not only measuring applicant behavior but also interviewer behavior as well. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)