Ruth Kanfer

Ruth Kanfer is the oldest child of Frederick and Ruby Kanfer ^[1].  As the child of an academic, she lived in a number of places throughout her childhood. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Miami University of Ohio in 1976. Under the direction of Antonette Zeiss, Ruth completed her thesis in 1981 on the topic of self-efficacy and depression ^[2].  After graduating, Ruth decided to pursue an academic career in Work Psychology, and took a NIH post-doc in Quantitative Psychology and retooled with Chuck Hulin at the University of Illinois from 1981-1984 ^[3].  She took her first position at the University of Minnesota. During her 14 years at Minnesota, she collaborated with Phillip Ackerman on a resource allocation theory of motivation and abilities and co-developed a air traffic controller simulation to test basic tenets of the theory.^[4] She was promoted to Professor in 1991. In 1997, she moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology.^[5]

Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology ^[6]

William R. Owens Scholarly Achievement Award (with Phillip Ackerman), Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology ^[7]

Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology (in Applied Research), American Psychological Association ^[8]

Elected Fellow: Academy of Management,^[9] American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Sciences,^[10] Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Ruth Kanfer is a psychologist known for her research in the role of motivation in a work setting. One of her research studies focused on age and reemployment success after a job loss. She focused on people who were aged 40 and over but were unemployed. Kanfer proposed that chronological age affects job search and reemployment outcomes after job loss. She used a meta-analysis and two supplemental datasets to examine the strength of the relationship between age and speed of reemployment, and whether the relationship between age and reemployment was mediated by job search activities. Her research documented difficulties that people over the age of 50 have in finding jobs, which affects their lives and how they will live after that age.^[11]

Another study conducted by Kanfer and colleagues focused on college achievement after completion of Advanced Placement (AP) exams. AP is a program administered by the College Board offering college level material in high schools and administering annual examinations to assess students' understanding of the material. Kanfer used a sample of 26,693 students who entered the Georgia Institute of Technology as first-year undergraduates over a ten-year period (1999-2009) to explore the numbers of AP exams taken and performance on the exams in relation to college academic performance, interest in STEM versus non STEM majors, and graduation rates. They obtained admissions records and college transcripts, and examined whether performance on AP exams correlated with success in college. Students with more AP course credits tended to complete fewer lower-level college courses and more higher-level courses than students without AP credit. These students completed college coursework in fewer semesters and had a higher graduation rate. They found students to have more interest in choosing a STEM major if they had received credit for AP Calculus and completed of three or more AP exams in STEM areas. Kanfer and colleagues recommended that admissions committees should consider the actual AP exam performance data instead of just the AP enrollment data as predictors of college academic performance.^[12]

• Kanfer, R. (1992). Work motivation: New directions in theory and research. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7, 1-53.
• Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (1989). Motivation and cognitive abilities: An integrative/aptitude-treatment interaction approach to skill acquisition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(4), 657-690.
• Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (2004). Aging, adult development, and work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 440-458.
• Kanfer, R., Ackerman, P. L., Murtha, T. C., Dugdale, B., & Nelson, L. (1994). Goal setting, conditions of practice, and task performance: A resource allocation perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(6), 826-835.
• Kanfer, R., Wanberg, C. R., & Kantrowitz, T. M. (2001). Job search and employment: A personality–motivational analysis and meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 837-855.

• http://www.psychology.gatech.edu/people/faculty/363
• http://kanfer-ackerman.gatech.edu/