Assignmnet 4
30 MCQ ANSWERS WITH FEEDBACK
Scenario
You own a consultation business, PsyConsult, which specialises in psychological consultation.
You employ a number of professional psychologists, as well as student psychologists, who do
their practical placements at your company. One of your clients is ProICT, a company that
specialises in the security of information computer technology (ICT). They provide specialist
ICT security personnel on contract to various organisations. The individuals who are
contracted out are highly qualified and experienced information technologists who test the
security of ICT systems in organisations. An important focus of their work is to trace and catch
people who try to hack organisations’ information systems.
At PsyConsult, every day begins with a morning meeting to discuss the business of the day.
This morning’s meeting is attended by two senior psychologists, Julie and Ben, and four
student psychologists, Sam, Thumi, Liz and Bongi. You chair the meeting.
You inform everybody that you were contacted by the head of recruitment at ProICT, Patrick
Mubiana and that you met with him the previous afternoon. According to Patrick, they are in
the process of hiring new personnel for a range of positions in the ICT security business. Due
to the high-risk nature of the work, potential candidates need to be thoroughly screened for
psychological stability. This makes the selection process very difficult, especially because
hard evidence has to be produced to justify the selection of some candidates and the rejection
of others. This requires scientific and objective procedures. Patrick needs PsyConsult to assist
with the selection process.
The selection procedures at ProICT are as follows: All candidates have to be suitably qualified,
academically and professionally. Apart from these qualifications, successful candidates
should also have the psychological profile to manage a high-risk and psychologically
demanding job. This means the applicants have to be profiled, which requires psychological
questionnaires and interview protocols specifically developed for this purpose. The
questionnaires are used to screen applicants. Those who pass the initial screening are
shortlisted to be interviewed for the final selection.
Patrick has already obtained the questionnaires which are to be used in the screening round
of selection, but he is concerned about some of the interview questions. His team identified
several interview questions that may be problematic. Patrick wants PsyConsult to review these
questions.
Discussing the problem …
Julie: So, there are 10 interview questions that may be problematic?
You: Yes, and we have to determine what may be wrong with them.
,Ben: I presume the interview questions are based on proper psychological theory?
You: Yes, the interview protocols are based on psychological theory. The appropriateness of
these theories is part of what we have to look at in our review of the questions.
Julie: And I assume we have to consider this in relation to the purpose the interviews are
intended for?
You: Exactly! Patrick gave me a list of the questions that his team thinks may be problematic.
I suggest we focus on the interview questions that look really bad in terms of their psychometric
indicators.
Assess new questions to be included in the two interview protocols required by ProICT.
ProICT acquired two interview protocols for screening applicants to work in specialised
security. They tested the interview questions in a pilot study and identified 10 questions (five
in each of the two interviews) that need to be replaced with new questions.
Martha obtained the relevant materials from ProICT and compiled the interview specification
outline. She gives the specification outline to the psychologists at PsyConsult and tasks them
with formulating new interview questions.
Interview specification outline
ProICT’s interview protocols outline both the purposes of the interviews as well as the theories
the interview questions are based on. The applicants who complete the questionnaires
successfully are interviewed individually. It is important to ensure that those who get appointed
are psychologically healthy and interpersonally well-adjusted individuals who will be able to
function optimally in their work environments.
Interviewing for extraversion and sensation-thinking behaviour: The relevance of Jung’s
analytical theory
According to Jung’s theory, each individual can be characterised as oriented primarily inwardly
(introverted) or outwardly (extraverted). Introversion is an inner directedness of psychic
energy, whereas extraverts source energy from the outside world. Even though both these
attitudes are present in all people, one is usually dominant and the other subordinate. Apart
from its two attitudes, the psyche also has four functions, namely sensation, intuition, thinking
and feeling. As is the case with the attitudes of the psyche, even though all four functions are
present in every person, one function is usually conscious and dominant and the other
unconscious and secondary.
Jung differentiates eight personality types based on the attitudes and functions of the psyche.
When the job requirements of an ICT security specialist are viewed in terms of these attitudes
and functions of the psyche, it is clear that successful applicants should be extraverted as they
have to work closely with other people and be able to function well as part of a team.
, Furthermore, when seen in terms of Jung’s typology, the kind of person who would function
effectively as an ICT security specialist is someone who perceives their world as structured
and lives according to fixed, objective rules. Such individuals are likely to display ‘sensation’
as the dominant irrational function, rather than having to rely on intuition in order to make
decisions about their world. As such, they demonstrate objectivity in their approach to solving
problems and understanding and explaining the world. Such a person is also likely to be
strongly oriented towards thinking rather than feeling with regards to their rational psychic
functioning.
Interviewing for Ubuntu values and a community orientation: The relevance of the African
perspective
The African perspective assumes a unity of consciousness and expresses a worldview
founded on a holistic and anthropocentric ontology. This suggests that humans form an
indivisible whole with the cosmos and thus implies a unity with God, all people and with nature.
The individual is rooted within a collective existence that is typified by the philosophy of
Ubuntu, a code of ethics that governs interaction with others and refers to the human and
humane qualities, such as compassion, care, empathy, humility and honesty, that differentiate
us from animals. From this perspective, personhood and identity are entirely embedded in a
collective existence of interdependence between the individual and the community. Due to the
nature of the job, successful applicants need to display a community approach to their work
and the ability to work closely with other team members in a tight-knit unit, and thus, need to
demonstrate an understanding of the values associated with Ubuntu.
Assess new questions to be included in the two interview protocols required by ProICT.
The student psychologists submit the new questions they formulated for the interviews.
proposed interview questions
Interview question 1
Would you characterise yourself as having a lively interest in the world around you, or are you
the kind of person who pays more attention to your own emotions and experiences?
Justification
The question is based on Jung’s analytic theory and seeks to differentiate between Jung’s
concepts of rational and irrational functions of the psyche. According to Jung, rational people
are outwardly focused, whereas irrational people tend to be more focused on their inner
experiences. Thus, respondents who characterise themselves as having a lively interest in the
world around them tend to be more rational, whereas those who tend to pay more attention to
their own emotions and experiences are more irrational.
