Dead Rats, Dopamine, and the Dangers of Measuring the Wrong Thing
The Question In 1902, French colonial officials in Hanoi offered a bounty for rat tails to combat a plague-driven infestation. Residents duly
Will AI Take Over Leadership?
AI is already handling routine management. A 2023 opinion piece argues the assumption that human leadership is safe from automation deserves serious challenge, and that business education has not yet reckoned with what that means.
Workplace Wellbeing Initiatives: Do They Actually Work?
Workplace wellbeing programmes are widely offered and widely trusted. A 2024 study of 46,000 workers finds that participants report mental health outcomes no better than those who received nothing at all.
Sex Differences in Brain Organisation: What AI Reveals
The Question The question of whether male and female brains are organised differently has been scientifically contentious and culturally charged in roughly
Game-Based Assessments: Do They Measure Cognitive Ability or Gaming Acceptance?
Game-based assessments promise to make hiring more engaging while measuring the same things as traditional tests. A 2024 study finds the validity case is reasonable, but the engagement promise is not: applicants actually reacted more negatively to the game format, especially those without much gaming experience.
Do Selection Tests Work Better Than We Think? A Numbers Debate
A 2024 debate in organisational psychology asks whether selection tests are being systematically undervalued due to how their effectiveness is calculated. One side says yes, and proposes a correction that makes the numbers look considerably more impressive. The other side agrees with the conclusion but argues the correction answers the wrong question.
Older Yet Sharp: No General Age-Related Decline in Focused Attention
Attention is widely assumed to decline with age. A 2024 study testing older and younger adults across 11 attention tasks finds the reality is far more complicated, and that the general decline narrative does not hold up under careful scrutiny.
SJTs vs Assessment Centres: Which Is Better at What?
Situational judgment tests and assessment centres are both widely used in selection. A 2024 head-to-head comparison finds they are not interchangeable: one predicts thinking performance well, the other is needed for interpersonal and leadership performance. The right question is not which is better, but better at predicting what.
The Bright Triad of Mindful Leadership: An Alternative to the Dark Triad
The dark triad of leadership, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, has attracted surprising admiration in some research quarters. A 2022 paper proposes an explicit alternative rooted in Buddhist psychology, and argues the admiration has been measuring success far too narrowly.
General Cognitive Ability and Job Performance: A Contemporary Reassessment
Studies You Should Know: General Cognitive Ability and Job Performance: A Contemporary Reassessment The Question Few findings in industrial and organisational psychology have