NCJ Number
72103
Date Published
1976
Length
129 pages
Annotation
Young prison inmates were tested on job interview skills acquired through role-play covert modeling techniques, in which the model is generated in imagination by the subject with the aid of oral, written, or taped instructions.
Abstract
The job interview skills under examination were the ability to explain one's work skills to a prospective employer persuading the employer that one's prison record would not interfere with job performance, and demonstrating verbal enthusiasm about a job by asking questions unrelated to salary and benefits. The subjects also took a pretest and posttest written examination as proof of their mastery of job interview skills. Their written assessments were submitted to a repeated measures analysis of variance and analysis of covariance. Reliability of the role-play test was established by using the Pearson product-moment correlation and subjects were also administered an Attitude Toward Treatment scale. The young inmates took the test using the covert modeling approach with which they were already familiar from their vocational training. The technique appears to be the most effective of all behavior modification procedures, but the figure or personage imagined by the subjects cannot be clearly determined in terms of effectiveness, except for the fact that a male model is more effective for both males and females. Although the treatment appeared to be moderately successful in teaching the students job interviewing skills, students obviously found it difficult to display the initiative needed in the verbal-enthusiasm-for-the-prospective-job part of the test, possibly because institutional life cannot be expected to nurture the self-assertiveness required in such a situation. The young inmates also showed a need for improved verbal skills through the written pre and posttest examination. Twelve appendixes give the test instruments and results. Ninety-six references are appended.