MMPI performance, response set, and the "self-concept hypothesis."

The MMPI can be viewed as communicating information about the self to a tester or institution. It is suggested that self-information is organized by self-concepts and that these more abstract self-concepts mediate specific responses to inventory items. This self-concept hypothesis provides an alternative to explanations emphasizing acquiescence response set, social desirability response set, or deviation set. In Study 1, replicated self-concept scales were constructed to index varied content dimensions of the MMPI. These scales, as well as the MMPI and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, were administered to 83 neuropsychiatric (NP) patients and the results factor analyzed. Inclusion of self-concept markers produced an unusually differentiated factor solution, with self-concept dimensions accounting for two-thirds of the explained MMPI variance. In Study 2 these procedures were replicated with a larger (201 Ss) and more heterogeneous group of respondents (NP patients, participants in alcoholism programs, and college students) and additional self-concept measures. Results support the conclusions that no evidence exists for additional and important self-concept dimensions within the MMPI item pool and that the MMPI acts mainly as a medium for the transmission of self-concept information and that self-concepts mediate and organize specific item responses. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)