The relationship between response style and personality variables: I. The measurements of response acquiescence.

"This study is the first in a series of investigations designed to evaluate the currently popular hypothesis that response styles are based on personality traits, and thereby have utility in personality assessment. Responses of 218 subjects in six different scales of acquiescence, varying in degree of meaningful verbal content, were intercorrelated. The results revealed that only those scales containing similar verbal content in the items were related. Apparently verbal content is quite important, whereas the amount of structure of the items is less important in determining agreement responses, than has been previously supposed. The data are interpreted as suggesting that there is no general trait of response acquiescence independent of specific instruments used to measure it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test difficulty, reliability, and discrimination as functions of item difficulty order.

In an attempt to evaluate the often stated rule that test items should be arranged in an increasing order of difficulty, the effect of item difficulty order on total test reliability, difficulty, and discrimination was investigated in a series of 4 experiments. Each experiment involved a comparison of 2 or more tests, containing the same 40 items and differing only with respect to the order of those items. The differently ordered forms did not, in any of the experiments, differ significantly in test difficulty or test reliability. The results with respect to discrimination were not as clear-cut. However, the results tend to lead to the conclusion that item difficulty order on a power test of facts and principles given in the normal college classroom will not significantly affect these 3 test statistics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability and acquiescence in response to personality items.

Acquiescence has been defined in 2 ways. Either this response set operates only when items are ambiguous, or acquiescent tendencies operate independently of item content. These 2 definitions were related to the social desirability variable. 10 independent 40-item scales were constructed from MMPI items, systematically varying the social desirability content and the True-False keying. Responses were obtained from 227 Ss. Of the 35 intercorrelations which were predicted to be different by the 2 hypotheses, 21 supported the social desirability hypothesis and 14 supported the acquiescence hypothesis. A tendency to say False rather than True was noted. This response set to deny appeared relatively weak compared to the tendency to respond in a socially desirable manner. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquiescent response set as a measure of acquiescence: Further evidence.

This study reconfirms evidence that acquiescent response set (ARS) does not reflect an underlying personality tendency to conform or acquiesce as assumed in the literature. ARS scores derived from 3 additional types of instruments failed to correlate with acquiescence to simulated judgments of others in an Aschlike conformity situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability, item-response time, and item significance.

Pathological personality item responses have been shown to relate to the social desirability scale values of test items. It was hypothesized that both social desirability and pathological item-response frequency might vary as a function of the time permitted to answer test items. Two groups of Ss were administered the items of the Maslow, Birch, Honigman, McGrath, Plason, and Stein Security-Insecurity Inventory. Social desirability scale values for the items were established. Maximal reading time required for each item was also determined, and both groups were permitted to view each item for the same established length of time. 1 group was allowed 2 sec., the other group 10 sec. for each response. It was observed that time pressure reduced the number of pathological item responses, and that items scaled either high or low in social desirability tended to be answered in the socially desirable direction under time pressure. Females generally provided more critical or pathological item responses than did males. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anality, aggression, and acquiescence.

Results of this experiment "clearly suggest that a response set to acquiesce, not the reported anality-aggression relationship, adequately accounts for Farber's findings." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological considerations in the assessment of acquiescence in the MA and SD scale.

This paper cites certain limitations in making assessment of acquiescence in personality scales by the use of reversed items and the Helmstadter technique. Inadequate item reversals may have contributed to the interpretation by Adams and Kirby (1936) that the SD scale was confounded with acquiescence, a finding not supported here when original items only are used. A criterion of adequate reversal, derived from SD research, may aid in developing "balanced" scales. Precautions in making acquiescence interpretations from the Helmstadter model include the confounding of content and set scores in the formulas, the confounding of response style and trait responses, lack of evidence on what the set score measures, and the uncertainty over the nature of acquiescence and how to measure it. (27 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental test performance as a function of payoff conditions, item difficulty, and degree of speeding.

Using analysis of variance and factor analysis, the performance of 41 psychology students on the Michill General Ability Test was analyzed. "… the experimental manipulation of payoff conditions, difficulty, and speeding can introduce substantially important new factors of which the test constructor may or may not be fully aware… . The commonly held belief that, for all practical purposes, test directions provide an adequate control of the Ss motivation and/or mental set is clearly untenable." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquiescent response set as a measure of acquiescence.

The degree to which acquiescent response set (ARS), as measured psychometrically, is related to behavioral acquiescence, was investigated. Performance on paper-and-pencil tests of acquiescence was found to be related to conformity and compliance in a social situation. The 2 assumed measures of "acquiescence" were not related statistically. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HF55F. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

International gender × item difficulty interactions in mathematics and science achievement tests.

The author used data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Survey to examine whether Gender × Item Difficulty interactions like those in American mathematics exist in mathematics and science in 10 countries. For both mathematics and science, the author detected male advantages that were minimal on easy questions and increased as questions grew more difficult. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism or acquiescence in Bass's data.

Bass (see 31: 2534) "obtained a correlation of - .20 between the California F scale and an F scale rewritten so that the content of each item reflected a viewpoint opposed to the original (called the G scale). Bass used this correlation in a factor analysis of the F and G scales, placing reliabilities in the diagonals… . However, the notation for the factor matrix… was in terms of F and G, not F and - G. Since the factor loadings… reproduce a correlation of rFG = + .20, the factor matrix labels should read F and - G… . necessitating a reversal in interpretation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reply to Messick and Jackson's comments on authoritarianism or acquiescence.

The author replies to comments made by Messick and Jackson (see record 1959-05766-001) on his original article "Authoritarianism or Acquiescence" (see record 1957-02534-001). The author states that in light of Messick and Jackson's corrections, for which the author is grateful, and subsequent independent studies on the same subject, it appears that the hypothesis advanced in in "Authoritarianism or Acquiescence" was more satisfactory than the analysis used to test the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of levels of confidence in item analysis.

Using the RBH Supervisory Judgment Test to predict an intelligence test criterion (AFQT), an experimental population was divided into 3 samples (N of 80, 150, 300), and 4 keys were constructed for the SJT for each sample. The keys included those items that differentiated between the upper and lower 27% of the AFQT distributions at the 1%, 5%, 20%, and 50% levels of confidence respectively. The number of items included increased with both increasing size of sample and level of confidence. Cross-validation of the 12 keys on the original Ss (redistributed) showed that there were no significant differences in total score validity attributable to sample size or level of confidence. "The results… indicate that there is no one optimal level of confidence which should be employed when analyzing test data." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of ignoring item interactions on the estimated discrimination parameters in item response theory.

Most item response theory models assume conditional independence, and it is known that interactions between items affect the estimated item discrimination. In this article, this effect is further investigated from a theoretical perspective and by means of simulation studies. To this end, a parametric model for item interactions is introduced. Next, it is shown that ignoring a positive interaction results in an overestimation of the discrimination parameter in the two-parameter logistic model (2PLM), whereas ignoring a negative interaction leads to an underestimation of the parameter. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in some cases the item characteristic curves of the 2PLM and of an item involved in an interaction are quite similar, indicating that the 2PLM can provide a good fit to data with interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anality, political aggression, acquiescence, and questionnaire construction.

A criticism of methodological deficiencies in Rabinowitz's attempt to demonstrate that Farber's "reported correlation between anality and political aggression can be explained away as a result of an acquiescence response set." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1HE78F. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological meaning of acquiescence set: Further evidence.

"This paper provides further evidence on the hypothesis that 'negative' items—those stating authoritarian beliefs or attitudes—are more valid than 'positive' items for measuring authoritarianism." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and evaluation of a scale for measuring social acquiescence.

"A 56-item scale of social acquiescence has been developed by internal consistency item analysis. It has a reliability above .90 and correlates .95 with the tendency to accept or reject 300 proverbs, aphorisms, and similar statements. According to population differences and correlations between scales and various personality and intelligence measures, one who earns a high Social Acquiescence score resembles Sinclair Lewis' 'Babbitt'—an unquestioning conformer to social demands." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender bias in diagnostic criteria for personality disorders: An item response theory analysis.

The authors examined gender bias in the diagnostic criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) personality disorders. Participants (N=599) were selected from 2 large, nonclinical samples on the basis of information from self-report questionnaires and peer nominations that suggested the presence of personality pathology. All were interviewed with the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (B. Pfohl, N. Blum, & M. Zimmerman, 1997). Using item response theory methods, the authors compared data from 315 men and 284 women, searching for evidence of differential item functioning in the diagnostic features of 10 personality disorder categories. Results indicated significant but moderate measurement bias pertaining to gender for 6 specific criteria. In other words, men and women with equivalent levels of pathology endorsed the items at different rates. For 1 paranoid personality disorder criterion and 3 antisocial criteria, men were more likely to endorse the biased items. For 2 schizoid personality disorder criteria, women were more likely to endorse the biased items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response set in the F scale.

"An attempt was made to evaluate acquiescence response-set variance in the F scale measure of authoritarian personality trends by employing reversed wordings of items. Response set is found to be an important factor in the F scale which cannot easily be corrected by the practice usual in attitude test construction of employing both positively and negatively worded items. Evidence seems to indicate in addition that the content component of the F scale is correlated with the acquiescence response set." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trance-susceptibility, induction-susceptibility, and acquiescence as factors in hypnotic performance.

Scores from 103 Ss on a 60-item inventory of attitudes and experiences outside of hypnosis, called the Hypnotic Characteristics Inventory along with sum-true scores on an abbreviated form of the MMPI, and interviewer predictions, were entered into a correlational matrix together with later-obtained hypnotic susceptibility scores derived from Stanford Hypnotic Suggestibility Scale Forms A and C. The matrix was factor-analyzed and rotated to a hypothetical structure. Hypnotic susceptibility was characterized by 2 oblique factors, 1 termed trance-susceptibility, the other induction-susceptibility. Questionnaire measures, which were found compounded with an acquiescence tendency, were correlated with trance-susceptibility but not induction-susceptibility, indicating a limitation in hypnotic prediction from questionnaires. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)