Jack Peter Leeds

Jack Peter Leeds

Jack Peter Leeds

Adjunct Faculty

General and cognitive acuity theory development and validation, personnel selection, personality measurement, survey research.

J. Peter Leeds is a research psychologist with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board where he manages nation-wide survey research efforts including the Merit Principles Survey. In this role he analyzes data in support of many reports to the President and to Congress. He was formerly a psychologist with the US Army where he analyzed results of the Army-wide Civilian Personnel Survey, Pulse and Exit Surveys, in addition to developing and validating assessment tools. Previous to that he served as a psychologist for the US Postal Service where he developed and validated training and experience self-assessments and an automated tool for screening and assessing motor vehicle and tractor-trailer operators. He also served as the primary data analyst for Postal's Voice of the Employee Survey. Peter has authored and coauthored 50 papers in professional journals and symposia and completed his Ph.D. in Industrial Organizational Psychology at the Florida Institute of Technology with B.A. and B.S. degrees in psychology and exceptional child education from the University of Central Florida. With an associate’s degree in criminal justice, Peter is former police officer, private investigator, and security guard agency owner having once served as bodyguard to Miss America. His research interests include developing and testing his Theory of Cognitive and General Acuity Theory as a new method for measuring personal characteristics. Peter is an avid snowboarder, racquetball and tennis player.

Current Research

In addition to developing and validating cognitive acuity theory I am using acuity theory to model quitting and quit intentions as well as appraisal rating fairness perceptions in the context of merit principles protection as part of my work with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

We  define merit acuity as sensitivity to distinctions in merit adherence within the organization and propose that the more employees are sensitive to distinctions in merit adherence (i.e., have high acuity) the clearer their view of merit. We are showing that the clearer their view of merit, the less likely employees are to see unhealthy connection between 1) Performance Rating magnitude and 2) Perception of Fairness. We are also showing that the clearer their view of merit, the more likely employees are see stronger healthy connections between their job effort and their performance opportunity to their actual job performance. 

Selected Publications

Leeds, J. P. (2020). The theory of general acuity: A psychophysical application to noncognitive measurement free from introspective self-report. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 13(2), 49–83. 

Leeds, J.P., Roach,K.N., Burtnick, S.K., & Moody,H.M. (2018) Development and validation of an executive training and development-type taxonomy, Journal of Workplace Learning, 30,6, p442-468. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-01-2018-0025 .

Leeds, J.,P. (2017). Applying cognitive acuity to the development and scoring of situational judgement tests. Behavior Research Methods, 50, 2215–2225. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0988-1, Retrieved from the Internet at http://rdcu.be/yiba

Leeds, J. P. (2017). Engagement: Now it’s personal, Paper presented at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Research Summit. Washington DC., American University, School of Public Affairs.

Nierle, D. & Leeds, J.P. (2017). Managing the bad apples, Public Manager. Retrieved from the Internet at https://www.td.org/Publications/Magazines/The-Public-Manager/Archives/2017/03/Managing-the-Bad-Apples.

Leeds, J.P., Feltrer, V., Hash,P. & Kassam, S. (2015). Acuity Theory: A Study of Two Faking Resistant Noncognitive Measures, Paper presented at the 30th annual conference of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, Philadelphia, USA.

Leeds, J.P. & Feltere, V (2014).Applying acuity theory to estimate and validate measures of extroversion and customer service orientation in a Spanish retail environment. Paper presented at the European Network of Selection Researchers Small Group Meeting in Ghent Belgium.

Mitchell, T., Leeds, J. P., & Grimes, K (May, 2014). JCM, VIE and Engagement in Predicting Federal Workers’ Performance. Paper presented at the 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Leeds, J.P. (2012). The theory of cognitive acuity: Extending psychophysics to the measurement of situational judgment, Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 5, 3, 106-181.

Leeds, J. P. & Mack, M. J. (2012). The development and validation of the Civilian Leader Improvement Battery (CLIMB): A web-based leader assessment tool. Training and Management Development Methods, 26, 2, 3-25. Note: The editorial-advisory board of Training and Management Development Methods voted this paper as one of three highly commended papers for the 2012 volume.

Courses Taught

IO519 Statistics (graduate statistics course) and Lab (4 credits hours)

APPL-639 Applied Multivariate Statistics (3-credit hours) (every Summer from 2011 to present)

APPL 642  Motivation, Satisfaction, and Leadership (3-credit hours) (Fall semester, 2011)

APPL 645  Personnel Assessment (3-credit hours) (Fall Semester, 2013)

APPL 644  Personnel Psychology (3-credit hours) (Spring Semester, 2016 and 2018)

APPL 779  Directed Study in Applied Psychology

PSYC 320 -Psychological Tests and Measurements (Undergraduate)

PSYC 601 - Applied Data Analysis in Psychology I (Graduate)

    

Education

Ph.D., Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd. Melbourne, FL 32901. May 2007. 

M.S., Personnel Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd. Melbourne, FL 32901. 

B.A., Psychology, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, Florida, 32816, 1990.

B.S., Exceptional Student Education, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, Florida, 32816, 1989.

A.A., Criminal Justice, Daytona Beach Community College, 1200 West International Speedway Blvd. Daytona Beach, Florida 32114, 1986. Courses in criminology, criminal investigation, police procedures and law.