The relation of ninth grade test scores to twelfth grade test scores and high school rank.

From a population of high school students who had been tested in state-wide programs at the ninth and twelfth grade levels, a sample of 2185 was used to compute correlations between performance at these scholastic levels. At the ninth grade the tests were the ACE (Highschool Edition) and the Cooperative English Test (Form Y); at the twelfth grade level the tests were the ACE (College Edition) and the Cooperative English Test (Form S). HS percentile ranks were also computed for the Ss. The correlation between different forms of the same test was .8, for each test. The correlations between ACE forms and the Coop forms were .7 or higher. HSR correlated .63 with ninth grade ACE score, .71 with ninth grade English. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reporting employment test scores to supervisors.

A simplified percentile profile chart, designed for presenting test results to supervisors, is described and illustrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frame-of-reference effects on personality scale scores and criterion-related validity.

Increased use of personality inventories in employee selection has led to concerns regarding factors that influence the validity of such measures. A series of studies was conducted to examine the influence of frame of reference on responses to a personality inventory. Study 1 involved both within-subject and between-groups designs to assess the effects of testing situation (general instructions vs. applicant instructions) and item type (work specific vs. noncontextual) on responses to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1989). Results indicated that a work-related testing context and work-related items led to more positive responses. A second study found differences in the validity of a measure of conscientiousness, depending on the frame of reference of respondents. Specifically, context-specific items were found to have greater validity. Implications for personnel selection are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality test scores in the management hierarchy.

Scores on a brief personality test for 457 Ss classified in 5 hierarchical management categories (from I-President, V.P., etc., to V-Clerks and Factory Workers) revealed valid hierarchy trends for the traits (poor) adjustment, emotionality, detail and social dominance, and no valid trends for the traits extraversion, drive and objectivity. The criterion of validity of trend was a single classification analysis of variance of the trait scores for the five hierarchical levels giving an F-ratio significant at the .05 level or better. The independence of these trends of age, education and objectivity was also studied. For all the traits there was a substantial and normally distributed dispersion around the mean at every level of the hierarchy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of scientist-practitioner behavior using personality scores obtained during graduate school.

Investigated the usefulness of personality measures obtained during graduate training in predicting the scientist–practitioner behavior of counseling psychologists. Personality scale scores on the Self-Directed Search, Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (General Occupational Theme scores), Minnesota Importance Questionnaire, Omnibus Personality Inventory, Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and MMPI obtained during students' 1st semester of graduate study were used as predictors. Scientist–practitioner orientation scores calculated for participants reflected their scientist–practitioner interests, preferred job, and publication record. Only scores on the Independence scale of the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire and on the Social Extraversion scale of the Omnibus Personality Inventory were statistically significant predictors of actual scientist–practitioner orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delinquency and objective personality test factors.

The Objective-Analytic Personality Test Battery was administered to an offender and a nonoffender Navy enlisted sample to determine the validity of these objective test dimensions in differing delinquent from nondelinquent groups. 8 of the 18 objective test factors differentiated the samples at the .05 confidence level or higher. However, when correlations were computed against number of offenses within the offender sample none of the factors was significantly related to the criterion. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intellectual and personality correlates of test anxiety.

Ss were administered: Sarason's True-False Test Anxiety Scale, Bendig's 20-item version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Sarason's Lack of Protection Scale, and Edwards' Social Desirability Scale. These data were intercorrelated with 13 measures of intellectual performance. "Although all correlations between anxiety and intellectual measures were small, there was a consistent, significant tendency for… [Sarason's True-False Test Anxiety Scale] to correlate negatively with the intellectual measures. No similar tendency was observed for the… [other scales]." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity studies of a proverbs personality test.

Data from twenty samples including 282 salesmen, 78 factory supervisors, 49 public school teachers, 147 penitentiary inmates, 34 Marine Corps enlistees, 361 college students, 36 student nurses, and 234 high school students were used in a correlation analysis of a three-factor list of proverbs from the Famous Sayings Test. "Low positive correlations with corresponding measures and educational and occupational group differences tend to sustain the supposition that three content factors—Conventional Mores, Hostility, and Fear of Failure—are assessed by the three scales. The factors, as measured, do not appear related to academic overachievement, psychopathy, or success as a salesman. However, the Fear of Failure Scale may have some utility for the forecasting of success as a factory supervisor." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a structured disguised personality test.

"To develop a disguised but objective personality inventory, a factor analysis was performed on scores based on 400 examinees' tendencies to accept or reject 13 lists of proverbs constructed to cover 13 areas. The three test factors which emerged… were: Conventional Mores, Hostility, and Fear of Failure. Using 200 new examinees, scales were constructed by item analysis to measure each. In subsequent samples, the three scales were found to have corrected split-half reliabilities ranging from .45 to .83 and intercorrelations ranging from - .12 to .54. The reliabilities and intercorrelations among the scales were higher when the groups were more heterogeneous in background. The reliabilities and intercorrelations among the scales suggest that three separate behavioral tendencies are being assessed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using just noticeable differences to interpret test scores.

This study explored the value of obtaining a just noticeable difference (JND) for a test—the difference in scores needed before observers detect a difference in examinees' behavior—as a means of interpreting the practical meaning of scores. Classical psychophysical methods were adapted and applied to the scores of foreign teaching assistants (TAs) on an achievement test, the Test of Spoken English (TSE), and the ratings for English proficiency that the TAs received from their students. The JND for the TSE scores was substantial, as large as the standard deviation of the scores and much larger than the standard error of measurement and guidelines for the d index of effect size for mean differences, suggesting that both sets of standards may highlight score differences that are not practically significant. This study demonstrates the applicability of JNDs for evaluating scores on educational and psychologists' tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of unilateral brain dysfunction using Wechsler test scores.

This study investigated whether oblique factor scores for Wechsler tests discriminate right- and left-hemisphere brain dysfunction more effectively than subtest or scale scores. A criterion sample of 60 psychomotor-seizure epileptics was divided into 2 equal cross- validation groups with comparable proportions of right and left Ss. 3 measures of lateralization were used, with a criterion cut-off of at least 2 measures lateralizing each S. A computer-programmed, "stepwise" regression analysis was performed utilizing a double cross-validation design. Regular scale scores proved more effective than factor scores, although the latter were nearly comparable using a different factor-extraction matrix. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of models of personality disorder configuration.

In this study, the authors examined the degrees to which various models of personality disorder (PD) configuration are consistent with the primary data sets from clinical and community samples reported in the recent literature. Factor analyses were conducted on PD intercorrelation matrices, and the loading matrices were rotated to maximum possible fit with target matrices representing the PD configuration models. There was little support for the interpersonal circle or other circular orderings of PDs, or for T. Millon's (1990, 1996) biosocial learning theory. There was moderate support for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) dimensions, for C. R. Cloninger's (1987) tridimensional theory, and for S. Torgersen and R. Alnaes's (1989) decision tree. There was consistent, stronger support for the 5-factor model (T. A. Widiger, T. J. Trull, J. F. Clarkin, C. Sanderson, & P. T. Costa, 1994) and for an empirically derived 7-factor model by C. R. Cloninger and D. M. Svrakic (1994). However, a focus on just 4 factors seems preferable and sufficient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model of personality test item response dissimulation.

Proposes and empirically evaluates a general model of faking on self-report personality test items. The model predicts that differential test item response latencies should be faster for schema-congruent test answers than for noncongruent responses. Thus, individuals faking good should take relatively longer to endorse socially undesirable test item content than desirable test item content. Conversely, individuals faking bad should endorse socially desirable test item content relatively slower than undesirable test item content. Support for the model was found to generalize across personality inventories and across populations of university students and maximum security prisoners. Conflicting results from previous research are viewed in terms of the model. Further testing of the model's generality and practical relevance is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of personality measures in cross-cultural research: A test of three personality scales across two countries.

This study explored the measurement equivalence of 3 commonly used psychological measures across samples of U.S. and Indian male and female respondents. Multiple groups structural equations modeling indicated that locus of control was measured equivalently across U.S. and Indian male and female groups, whereas measurement equivalence of a self-esteem scale and a higher order need strength scale was observed across U.S. men, U.S. women, and Indian men. Baseline models for self-esteem and for higher order need strength failed to fit in the Indian female sample, suggesting basic differences in how respondents from this group conceptualized scale items. The results underscore the potential importance of culture as a factor that may moderate the types of inferences that can be made from test scores in cross-cultural research applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality test scores in the management hierarchy: Revisited.

A678-case, 1955-1957 sample of management appraisal candidates had the same observed trends in personality test scores with hierarchy as did a 459-case, 1949-1952 sample (see 29: 3139). "Two conflicting general hypotheses regarding personality test scores in the management hierarchy are suggested. The first is that there are no strong trends except for independent achievement… . The second general hypothesis is that position in the management hierarchy is the result of a selective process whereby more intelligent people with better personalities, as defined by society, and stronger independent achievement motivation generally tend to rise higher in the hierarchy with age and experience than their colleagues less talented in these respects." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The meaning of money.

Conducted an exploratory study to determine whether groups of persons who are clearly distinguishable on the basis of biography show measurable differences in what money means to them. Values about money were measured via a modified semantic differential in 11 different groups (N = 533) including hard-core trainees, employed persons, and college students. Results indicate that there are a variety of such differences and that these differences may be modified by work experience, sex, and socioeconomic level. Results are related to theories about money and motivation. The possibility of developing a variety of modifications in personnel practices in business is noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual analysis of psychological test scores and other diagnostic variables.

For the clinician, the validity of a test or assessment technique resides in the range and structural clarity of the information it provides him about the individual client with whom he works. 2 devices, for example, might be equal in forecasting a particular criterion, yet differ widely in their personological implications. Analysis of this problem permits specification of 3 levels of evaluation: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The conceptual model defined by these levels would appear to incorporate the kind of information which the diagnostician desires, and which indeed he must have if he is to function in an insightful and fully professional manner. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Set and content scores for personality scales and response styles in the MMPI.

Set and content scores from 3 MMPI scales, Edwards SD scale, the Manifest Anxiety scale (MA), and the Masculinity-Femininity (Mf) scale, were derived by an adaptation of the Helmstadter technique for obtaining separate (acquiescence) set and content scores from personality scales. In a factor analysis of scores for 150 male college Ss on 54 variables, the MA-Set and SD-Set variables defined a common factor, but only the Mf-Set variable loaded the 2nd, or acquiescence, factor. The inconsistency of these results indicated that the set formula was not consistently measuring, or reflecting, acquiescence, or any other construct, and furthermore suggested the need for caution in making acquiescence interpretations based on the Helmstadter procedure. Some speculations were advanced to account for the disparate results of the set variables, such as the degree of true-false and SD-SUD keying in the "parent" scales. A systematic variation of such scale keying in future research may indicate what the set procedure is measuring and have potential implications for the clarification of the nature of acquiescence in personality scales. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A closer look at the frame-of-reference effect in personality scale scores and validity.

This article contributes to the understanding of why the use of a frame-of-reference leads to increased criterion-related validity of personality inventories. Two competing explanations are described and tested. A between-subjects (N = 337) and a within-subject (N = 105) study are conducted to test the hypothesized effects of use of a frame of reference on reliability and validity. Regarding the effects on reliability, use of a frame of reference reduces within-person inconsistency (instead of between-person variability) in responding to generic items. Use of a frame of reference further leads to higher validity as a result of the reduction of between-person variability and within-person inconsistency. Yet, reducing these inconsistencies is not enough. It is also important to use a frame of reference that is conceptually relevant to the criterion. Besides implications for contextualized personality inventories, these results provide an explanation for the moderate validities of generic personality inventories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)