Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment when interviewing?

Re:Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment w... by disgruntledphd2 on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:41AM (#11453180)

To be fair, I think that Raven's matrices probably get around this. If someone explains the process to you, you don't actually need to be able to read to do well on the test. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matrices

I do find it surprising that Raven's appears to be more susceptable to the Flynn effect (people keep getting better at IQ tests, for an unknown reason).

Completely agreed on the MBTI, but its surprisingly difficult to convince people that's its useful.

FWIW, I agree with most of what you said above, I was just pointing out a counter-example. (Psychologist/psychometrician here).

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Re:Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment w... by pfooti on Friday April 08, 2016 @02:15PM (#11456697)

Yes, I agree that Raven's matrices are pretty good at measuring something in a way that's not super-reliant on language. I'm not inherently opposed to the notion of generalized intelligence as a construct either, I just think measuring it is pretty tricky. The Flynn effect is another great example - these instruments are nuanced, and it's important to really understand them in order to interpret their results.

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Re:Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment w... by disgruntledphd2 on Saturday April 09, 2016 @10:31AM (#11461366)

Totally agree, I'm somewhat in sympathy with Shalizi's argument that g is just the result of iterated factor analysis. That being said, done well, these kinds of tests can provide useful data, especially if you're willing to randomly hire to calibrate performance (which no one ever is, sadly).

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