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Weekend


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May 7, 2004

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q.  On a job interview, would you fare better if it were conducted by a human or by a robot (computer)?

    A.  That depends.  If you're highly qualified, the robot is a better bet to appropriately or at least systematically weigh all your qualifications -- education, past experience, recommendations, aptitude tests, etc. -- says Carnegie Mellon University psychologist Robyn Dawes. If you're unqualified or underqualified, go with the human interviewer, hoping to play on such human follies as overgeneralization -- you remind the interviewer of someone he or she likes -- or raw subjectivity -- you have some common interest even if irrelevant to performance on the job -- or you play "dummy reversal" by getting your interrogator talking about himself or herself.  Everyone loves self-talk, so here's a cinch to create that interpersonal "warm glow."


     
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