Roger Winfred Birkman (February 1, 1919 – March 26, 2014) was an American organizational psychologist. He was the creator of The Birkman Method, a workplace psychological assessment. Birkman received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1961 from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. He was the founder and chairman of the board of Birkman International, Inc.

Career

Roger Birkman began his studies in psychology at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

before enlisting in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Air Corps and becoming a

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bomber pilot. He became interested in the exploration of individual psychological differences while serving during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His experiences with the impact that perceptions, and misperceptions, among his crew and fellow pilots had on performance led him to the study of social psychology. He began developing The Birkman Method in the late 1940s while working with a group of scientists at the University of Houston surveying psychological instruments for pilot selection by the Air Force. Birkman sought to create a single instrument that would measure self-concepts, social expectations, stress behaviors, and occupational interests valuable to both work and life. By 1951, he had completed his first iteration called the "Test of Social Comprehension." A self-report questionnaire eliciting responses about perception of self, social context, and occupational opportunities. Scales were empirically developed by comparing self-report item results with descriptions of likes, dislikes and behaviors provided by third parties. The Birkman Method took its final form in his 1961

doctoral dissertation A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

. His work aligns with the social psychology theories of the organizational psychologist

Kurt Lewin Kurt Lewin ( ; 9 September 1890 – 12 February 1947) was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. During his professional career Lewin applied hi ...

. Birkman authored two books: ''True Colors'' (1995) and ''A Man of Understanding'' (2002). He was certified as a Licensed Psychologist in the State of Texas and was a member of the American Psychological Association, the Southwestern Psychological Association, Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and the Texas Psychological Association. He died in his sleep on March 26, 2014, at the age of 95.

The Birkman Method

The Birkman Method is an online personality, social perception, and occupational interest assessment consisting of ten scales describing occupational preferences (Interests), 11 scales describing “effective behaviors” (Usual behaviors) and 11 scales describing interpersonal and environmental expectations (Needs or Expectations). A corresponding set of 11 scale values was derived to describe "less than effective" behaviors (Stress behaviors). Occupational profiling consists of 22 job families with more than 200 corresponding job titles all connected to O*Net. The construction and comparative analysis of the Birkman Method is designed to provide insight into what specifically drives a person's behavior, with the goal of creating greater choice and more self-responsibility. It attempts to measure social behaviors, underlying expectations of interpersonal and task actions, potential stress reactions to unmet expectations, occupational preferences and organizational strengths. It is empirically supported by reliability and validity studies, including studies using

classical test theory Classical test theory (CTT) is a body of related psychometric theory that predicts outcomes of psychological testing such as the difficulty of items or the ability of test-takers. It is a theory of testing based on the idea that a person's observe ...

(CTT) and

item response theory In psychometrics, item response theory (IRT) (also known as latent trait theory, strong true score theory, or modern mental test theory) is a paradigm for the design, analysis, and scoring of tests, questionnaires, and similar instruments measuring ...

(IRT). The Birkman Method has 3 different types of assessments available.

Notes

* Arlene Nisson Lassin
"Personality test pioneer set standard for companies"
''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'', Nov. 19, 2009 * Gloria Alvarez, "Motivation Man; World War II pilot lands method to help employer-employee relations", ''

'', 20 Nov. 2003. Gale Document Number: GALE, A110759407 *Robert Kendall
"True Colors"
(book review), ''Hispanic Times''. May/Jun1995, Vol. 16 Issue 3, p35. Quote: "Dr. Roger Birkman, who developed the highly acclaimed Birkman Method of personality assessment more than 40 years ago" * Louise A. Ferrebee, "When a red loves a yellow" (book review), ''Marriage Partnership''. Summer95, Vol. 12 Issue 2, p59.

References

External links

Roger Birkman Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birkman, Roger 1919 births 2014 deaths People from Mercedes, Texas 20th-century American psychologists Psychology writers University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II University of Houston alumni Military personnel from Texas

Career

The Birkman Method

See also

Further reading and viewing

Notes

References

External links