For pre employment screening, I’ve come across a test a few times that seems to be trying to judge your honesty or integrity. It asks questions like “If one of your family members stole money from their employer, would you call their employer to tell them?” “Within the past three years, have you given away a service or product that you shouldn’t have for free?” “How would you rate your honesty?” … and so on.
I know there’s a way that they use to “detect” lies if you’re trying to make yourself look too lily-white, and there’s some sort of pass/fail element to it.
I know people have seen these before, I just want to know the name of the test, and ideally what sort of responses an employer might be looking for. Thanks.
Not sure that there is a specific name for these types of tests. They are simply personality/ethics tests, administered on behalf of employers by companies like eTest or Infinet Assessment.
Thanks for the effort, but that really didn’t help me at all. This test is common enough that I’ve asked others about it, and they recited the questions practically verbatim to me, and they were the same. This has to be a specific test.
First of all, you seem to be asking for two slightly different pieces of information. Your thread title asks for the name for a type of test. But you have also referred to, “the name of the test” and “This has to be a specific test”, as if you want details about one, specific test rather than a type or genre.
Secondly, I would seriously doubt this assertion:
If you are suggesting that the people who devised or administer this test, whatever it is, believe they can detect lies, this maybe so. People can believe the moon is green cheese if they want to.
However, as far as I know, there is no test yet devised that can ascertain whether someone is lying or telling the truth any more successfully than chance or guesswork. What’s more, I doubt if any such test is even possible. If such a test existed, I would be very likely to have heard about it by now, because of my own work and the work of people I know in this field.
I think the key in the “lie detection” is that they ask some questions about “bad behaviors” that almost everyone has done at some point. If they ask “Have you ever in your life driven at greater than the speed limit”, and you answer “no”, the interviewer isn’t going to conclude that you’re very conscientious about speed limit laws; he’s going to conclude that you’re lying to him.
I’m quite certain this is a specific test. The types given here have been helpful, but I’ve yet to find the exact one. Almost a decade ago I applied at a Home Depot and had the exact same test.
I actually did my Master’s thesis on these type tests. They are commonly referred to as “integrity tests.” There are two types of tests, either “overt” or “covert.”
It sounds like you are not taking a covert test, meaning that the test taker cannot deduce that the answers to the questions are likely to show whether or not a person is honest. The actual questions have been validated through multiple administrations of the test to various groups.
My guess is that Home Depot probably uses an overt test like the Reid Report from the vendor NCS Pearson.
Some psychological tests also evaluate whether you are being defensive towards the test. Either by checking for contradictions or by asking questions that normal people would answer one way but someone wanting to paint a false picture of himself you answer in another (as in Chronos’ example).