The relationship between social desirability and internal consistency of personality scales.

3 hypotheses concerning the relationships between psychometric characteristics of 61 personality scales were tested. A measure of internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson Formula 21) was found to be positively correlated (.62) with the degree of imbalance in the social desirability keying of the scales. Internal consistency was also negatively correlated (-.46) with the proportion of neutral items in the scales. The mean probability of a keyed response to the items in a scale was positively correlated (.83) with the proportion of items keyed for socially desirable responses. These results are consistent with predictions based upon social desirability considerations. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Skew and internal consistency.

The effects of skew on the standardized item alpha were examined with Monte Carlo techniques. Alphas computed from normal variables were compared with alphas from lognormal variables, ranks, and skewed versus normal Likert-type variables. The extent and direction of skew were varied, as was the size of the population interitem correlation (rho), the number of items, and the number of categories for Likert-type variables. Because the average interitem correlation affects alpha and skew affects the average interitem correlation, the effect of skew on the average interitem correlation also was examined. Results indicated that skew decreased the average interitem correlation and produced small decreases in alpha that were largest when skew was large, rho was small, items were skewed in opposite directions, and there were fewer items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Car-driving consistency and measures of personality.

Three groups of Ss—10 skilled police driving instructors, 10 skilled car club drivers, and 6 drivers of lesser skill—were studied to determine the relationship of driving consistency to neuroticism and to introversion-extroversion. The driving consistency measures (based on vehicle acceleration and deceleration) were found to be negatively related to the two personality measures for the skilled police drivers and the lesser-skilled drivers, but not for the skilled car club drivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the consistency of individual classification using short scales.

Short tests containing at most 15 items are used in clinical and health psychology, medicine, and psychiatry for making decisions about patients. Because short tests have large measurement error, the authors ask whether they are reliable enough for classifying patients into a treatment and a nontreatment group. For a given certainty level, proportions of correct classifications were computed for varying test length, cut-scores, item scoring, and choices of item parameters. Short tests were found to classify at most 50% of a group consistently. Results were much better for tests containing 20 or 40 items. Small differences were found between dichotomous and polytomous (5 ordered scores) items. It is recommended that short tests for high-stakes decision making be used in combination with other information so as to increase reliability and classification consistency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Item subtlety in personality inventory scales.

The study investigated the relationship between the discriminating power and subtlety of items in inventory scales validated against external criteria. The Hy, Pd, and Sc scales of the MMPI were used. Item discrimination was based on differentiation between a normal group (N = 541) and 3 hospitalized clinical groups (N from 40-100). Item subtlety was in terms of the judgments of 2 samples of 33 and 25 advanced doctoral students in clinical and counseling psychology. A significant relationship was found between subtlety and discrimination for the items of each scale, at the .01 level for the Hy and Pd scales and the .05 level for the Sc scale. Only about 40% of the most subtle Hy and Pd scale items discriminated (the Sc scale contained few extremely subtle items) as contrasted to over 90% of the most obvious items in each of the 3 scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The internal consistency of the Humm-Wadsworth Temperament Scale.

For 508 male industrial applicants, a revised Likert analysis failed to substantiate unidimensionality. Reasons ascribed these results are ambiguous definitions and item formulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychodynamics, behavior therapy, and the implacable experimenter: An inquiry into the consistency of personality.

Considers that possible integrations of dynamic and behavioral approaches to theory and therapy have been obscured by polemics. One area of confusion concerns the degree of generality or specificity in personality. Variability in behavior from situation to situation has been misleadingly construed by some behavioral critics as casting doubt upon psychodynamic theories. This view is refuted, and a number of factors that account for the differing viewpoints of psychodynamic and behaviorally oriented approaches are considered. Among these are differences in Ss from which original ideas were generated, differences in phenomena of central interest (with special focus on the implications of psychodynamic concern with ambiguous affective phenomena), and the consequences of an experimental strategy (the "implacable experimenter") which limits the ways in which S may structure the environment in which he behaves. (58 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coefficient alpha and related internal consistency reliability coefficients.

The author studied the conditions under which coefficient alpha and 10 related internal consistency reliability coefficients underestimate the reliability of a measure. Simulated data showed that alpha, though reasonably robust when computed on n components in moderately heterogeneous data, can under certain conditions seriously underestimate the reliability of a measure. Consequently, alpha, when used in corrections for attenuation, can result in nontrivial overestimation of the corrected correlation. Most of the coefficients studied, including lambda2, did not improve the estimate to any great extent when the data were heterogeneous. The exceptions were stratified alpha and maximal reliability, which performed well when the components were grouped into two subsets, each measuring a different factor, and maximized lambda4, which provided the most consistently accurate estimate of the reliability in all simulations studied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prototype strategy for construction of personality scales.

Examined the predictive validity of different strategies for constructing personality scales. The Adjective Check List (ACL) was used as a common item pool to construct sets of 8 scales by each of 6 strategies. A prototype strategy was introduced as a proposed improvement on rational scale construction methodology. Its validity was compared with 4 traditional strategies (empirical, factor analytic, rational, and internal consistency) and 1 random strategy in predicting 8 criterion measures. Ss were 234 paid fraternity males (aged 18–26 yrs) who supplied ACL responses and 8 criterion measures in the form of peer ratings. Included in the 8 criteria were peer ratings on the traits of achievement, dominance, nurturance, affiliation, exhibition, autonomy, aggression, and deference. Zero-order correlational analyses were followed by multiple-regression procedures used in a double cross-validation design. The prototype strategy was statistically superior to all of the other strategies, and further research on this methodology is urged. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response sets and factor loadings on sixty-one personality scales.

Intercorrelations between 58 MMPI and 3 other personality scales, based upon the scores of 151 students, were factor analyzed and the factors rotated orthogonally. Loadings of the scales on the 1st factor correlated .90 with the proportion of items keyed for socially desirable responses and .98 with the zero-order correlations of the scales with the Social Desirability (SD) scale. The proportion of keyed True items correlated .82 with the loadings of the scales on the 2nd factor. The Lie and 3 other scales similar to the Lie scale had substantial loadings on the 3rd factor. The 1st factor is interpreted as reflecting the tendency to acquiesce, and the 3rd as reflecting the tendency to falsify answers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple correlations between personality factors and SVIB Occupational scales.

Investigated the construct validity of the Occupational scales of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) with 359 male college students as Ss. 5 personality factors derived from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) were correlated with each of the SVIB Occupational scales. Multiple correlation coefficients ranged from .24 to .64. The median coefficient of determination (corrected for shrinkage) was .18. The CPI Extraversion, Emotional Sensitivity, and Independent Thought factors yielded the highest individual correlations with the scales. The CPI Adjustment and Conventionality factors correlated negligibly with the SVIB Occupational scales. The significant relationships are consistent with J. L. Holland's personality theory of careers. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuity and change: Assortative marriage and the consistency of personality in adulthood.

How is personality stability possible amid the myriad of social changes and transformations that characterize a human life? We argue that by choosing situations that are compatible with their dispositions and by affiliating with similar others, individuals may set in motion processes of social interchange that sustain their dispositions across time and circumstance. To test this proposition we examined mate selection, using data on married couples from two ongoing longitudinal studies at the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. Consistent with other research, the results point to homogamy as a basic norm in marriage. More important, the results show that marriage to a similar other promotes consistency in the intraindividual organization of personality attributes across middle adulthood. We offer some speculations for a more relational approach to the problem of individual continuity and change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The internal consistency of measures of cognitive structure.

The distribution of judgments between alternative poles of a construct, derived from the grid form of the Role Construct Repertory Test, influences the interpretation of measures of cognitive structure. Investigations of the reliability of these measures have excluded the possibility that differentiation on the basis of similarity is distinct from differentiation on the basis of contrast. In the present study with 107 business school students, judgments of similarity were assumed to be different from those of contrast. The present evaluation of internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity for 10 measures of cognitive structure indicates that only 1 measure satisfies criteria on these 3 attributes. (French abstract) (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the internal consistency of the Manifest Needs Questionnaire.

Reviews certain psychometric properties of the Manifest Needs Questionnaire as reported in 8 published studies. In addition, data from 2 new samples are summarized. It is concluded that estimates of internal consistency associated with the needs for achievement, affiliation, and autonomy are not generally satisfactory for use in organizational research. Only the Need for Dominance scale demonstrates a minimally useful degree of internal consistency across all reported studies. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Act prediction and the conceptual analysis of personality scales: Indices of act density, bipolarity, and extensity.

Presents a framework for conceptual analysis that attempts to specify the different kinds of act-predictive statements that can be made about personality scales. Three formal indices were defined and operationalized: act density, act bipolarity, and act extensity. An empirical exploration of the framework was applied to the analysis of 22 personality scales ostensibly subsumed by 6 dispositional constructs. Data were obtained in act-nomination and conceptual-indicator studies from 285 undergraduates. Results reveal several patterns that may elude more traditional validational and conceptual-analytic strategies. The assumption of bipolarity is questioned. Discussion focuses on the implications of this scheme for scale development, taxonomy construction, and theory building in personality psychology. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of stimulus-seeking: Age, education, intelligence, and aptitudes.

Reports 3 studies relating individual differences in the Sensation-Seeking scale (SSS) score to various measures. Using hospitalized alcoholics, hospital employees, and college students as Ss, the following relationships were found: (1) sensation-seeking was positively related to educational attainment, intelligence level, and perceptual, spatial, and numerical aptitudes, and was negatively related to age; and (2) no relationship was found between the SSS score and rural-urban factors. Results support the validity of the SSS and have implications concerning the nature of stimulus-seeking motivation and its role in human behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An item response theory integration of normal and abnormal personality scales.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 1(3) of Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment (see record 2010-17135-005). In the acknowledgments, Douglas Samuel was incorrectly listed as the author of the DAPP-BQ instrument. John Livesley is the correct author of the DAPP-BQ instrument.] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–IV–TR) currently conceptualizes personality disorders (PDs) as categorical syndromes that are distinct from normal personality. However, an alternative dimensional viewpoint is that PDs are maladaptive expressions of general personality traits. The dimensional perspective postulates that personality pathology exists at a more extreme level of the latent trait than does general personality. This hypothesis was examined using item response theory analyses comparing scales from two personality pathology instruments—the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ; Livesley & Jackson, in press) and the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP; Clark, 1993; Clark, Simms, Wu, & Casillas, in press)—with scales from an instrument designed to assess normal range personality, the NEO Personality Inventory–Revised (NEO PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992). The results indicate that respective scales from these instruments assess shared latent constructs, with the NEO PI-R providing more information at the lower (normal) range and the DAPP-BQ and SNAP providing more information at the higher (abnormal) range. Nevertheless, the results also demonstrated substantial overlap in coverage. Implications of the findings are discussed with respect to the study and development of items that would provide specific discriminations along underlying trait continua. (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)     

Correcting personality scales for response sets or suppression effects.

There is a need to treat statistically the several sources of error (response set, lying, or suppression) present in paper-and-pencil personality tests. This paper outlines one such approach to the general problem area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)