Variations in cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor abilities across the working life span: examining the effects of race, sex, experience, education, and occupational type.

Cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor abilities were examined across the working life span for different racial groups, taking into consideration sex, job experience, education, and occupational type. Data included scores on all subtests of the General Aptitude Test Battery for White, Black, and Hispanic employees. Age and sex generally accounted for a relatively small percentage of the variance in ability test scores when experience, education, and occupational type were controlled. Race accounted for a substantial amount of variance in test performance, even after controlling for education, experience, occupational type, and age. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential for specific experiences and continuing education to affect the maintenance of abilities at later points in the life span for all racial groups.

An examination of age and cognitive test performance across job complexity and occupational types.

In this study, job complexity and occupational type were examined as potential moderators of the relationship between age and cognitive ability. Data included general, verbal, and numerical ability scores for 21,646 individuals in the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) data base. These individuals comprised 102 unique samples and 10 major occupational groups. Differences in the relationship between age and cognitive ability test scores were observed across occupational types but not for different levels of job complexity. Findings were discussed in terms of a need for research that examines specific life and work experiences and how such experiences may influence an individual's cognitive abilities across the life span.

Ratings of managerial skill requirements: comparison of age- and job-related factors.

This article examines how individual characteristics (age, experience) and organizational characteristics (department, level) influence the skill requirements rated as being important for managerial jobs. One hundred ninety-seven managerial employees completed a survey composed of 20 skill dimensions pertinent to supervisory positions in the mining industry. Organizational level and departmental affiliation were correlated with job skill importance ratings. Ratings of skill importance were also correlated with the age of the person being rated, years of experience, and the age of the rater. As predicted, correlations with ratee age varied across different skill dimensions. This study has implications for fair employment practices to the degree that raters base evaluations of a job on the age of incumbents vs. job relevant characteristics.

Effects of age stereotyping in a simulated interview.

The effects of age stereotyping on subjects' ratings of interviewee potential were investigated using a simulated auditory interview. Male and female participants (N = 156) listened to a 12-min interview of a supervisory candidate applying for a temporary position in industry and then rated the interviewee's qualifications for the supervisory position. Participants gave higher overall interview ratings to a younger interviewee even though he had the same qualifications as an older interviewee. Ratings given to the older interviewee, however, were not significantly different from those given to an interviewee whose age was not designated. The findings are discussed in terms of the influence of both positive and negative age stereotypes on ratings of applicant potential.

Personnel aptitude test scores as a function of age, education and job type.

A battery of personnel aptitude tests were administered and correlated with age for individuals working in skilled and unskilled jobs at a surface coal mining operation. Relationships between age and several measures of cognitive ability were significantly different when computed for skilled versus unskilled employees. Specifically, decreases in cognitive test performance with increasing age were more pronounced for unskilled workers. The partialling out of education had relatively little impact on relationships found between age and cognitive test performance for both skilled and unskilled workers.

Alternatives to age for assessing occupational performance capacity.

For the past four decades, the assessment of performance of older workers has commanded considerable discussion but limited systematic investigation from industrial gerontologists. Progress has not been substantial; only recently have they concerned themselves with the legal implications of various personnel assessment strategies. This report is thus a critical examination of the concept of functional age in both psychological and legal arenas. Criticisms of this approach as well as litigation that has arisen from the difficulty of measuring older worker performance via functional age strategies receive special attention. It is suggested that intrinsic attributes serve as the basis for determination of the competence of both older and younger workers.

Differences in Hand Test responses of healthy females across the life-span.

The Hand Test was administered to 175 females ranging from 17 to 72 years. Subjects were all "community-living," within normal range of hearing and vision, in good health, and had a modal education level of high school graduate. Results were consistent with previous findings using projective techniques with the elderly, in that a depletion and constriction of personality appears to be concomitant with the normal aging process.