A note on questionnaire faking with 16 pfq and mpi

Abstract

Relatively naive psychology sophomores effectively can fake the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Maudsley Personality Inventory to simulate both an "extravert", and an "aggressive" sales executive personality pattern, and to create a "good impression." Differences among the three conditions are consistent with different intcntions by the testees. Students conccivc creating a "good impression" as portraying themselves as being extraverted and non-anxious-neurotic. The fact that both questionnaires are equally fakeahle points to the need for care in their use in employee selection.

The generation of descriptive‐evaluative responses in scale answering behaviour: A model

“…nor to responding in terms of non self-referent objects (mode 2 d.e.r.). These results integrate well with the 'paradox' that 'good' scales also have the characteristic of containing items which are easily detectable by subjects as belonging to the trait category concerned (Power and MacRae, 1971) and with the general observation that scales are, in practice, very susceptible to bias through 'response sets' (Cronbach, 1946;Radcliffe, 1966;Power, 1968;Brown and LaFaro, 1968, etc.). "…”

Simulation of Stable and Neurotic Personalities by Subjects Warned of the Presence of Lie Scales in Inventories

“…It has been shown that when given appropriate instructions relatively naive subjects can answer personality inventories so as to appear neurotic (Keehn, 1962;Stanley & Salas, 1965), extraverted, aggressive or extremely normal (Braun & Gomez, 1966;Gomez & Braun, 1967;Handler & Shrader, 1966;Radcliffe, 1966;Stanley & Salas, 1965). Lie scales are often included in personality inventories in order to detect subjects attempting to give a favourable impression of themselves, the most notable exception being the 16 PF and its derivatives, although it is clear that such a scale is required (Handler & Shrader, 1966;Radcliffe, 1966). None of these inventories, however, includes a scale designed to detect malingerers.…”

Factors Affecting the Declaration and Communication of Symptoms by Psychiatric Patients

“…Since early work by Schott (1937) and Fischer (1946) there has been a steadily accumulating body of literature demonstrating that 'normal' respondents (as distinguished from psychiatric patients, who will be considered later) can influence their self-report scores, whether those scores be on interest blanks, personality questionnaires or symptom measures. The vast majority of these studies utilize simulation methods in which subjects are instructed to fake 'good' or fake 'bad' (Radcliffe, 1966;Skinner et al, 1970; Sorenson, 1956) and the results generally show that subjects can easily manipulate their responses. A pessimistic view of this research would be that such self-report measures are relatively useless in a large number of situations.…”