CONTROVERSIES OVER INTEGRITY TESTING - 2 VIEWPOINTS

In the August 1993 issue of Journal of Applied Psychology, Deniz Ones, Vish Viswesvaran, and Frank Schmidt published a monograph on the vali dity of integrity tests as revealed by meta-analysis. They concluded t hat integrity tests have substantial and generalizable predictive vali dity for criteria of both overall job performance and counterproductiv e behaviors on the job (e.g., disciplinary problems, absenteeism, rule breaking, violence on the job, theft, etc.). During the Fall of 1992, the authors sent a preprint of this study to David Lykken of the Univ ersity of Minnesota, stimulating the exchange of letters that is repro duced here. The doubts, concerns, and feelings about integrity tests e xpressed by Professor Lykken are likely to be shared by others. The re sponses by Professors Schmidt, Ones, and Viswesvaran attempt to show t hat these worries are unfounded.