The Measurement of Individual Differences in Perceived Personality Trait Relationships and Their Relation to Certain Determinants

Implicit Personality Theory: Myth or fact? An illustration of how empirical research can miss

“…Many variables have been reported as having differential effects on intertrait inferences, e.g., semantic features and similarities (Ebbesen & Allen, 1979), ambiguity of meanings (McKillip, Barrett, & DiMiceli, 1978), the desirability of traits (Lay & Jackson, 1969), various response formats and/or scaling models (e.g., free vs. fixed responses by Rosenberg & Jones, 1972; additive vs. averaging models by Anderson, 1968), item-categorization (Glixman & Wolfe, 1967), and differences among responding subjects in personality type (Pedersen, 1965), likableness (Lott, Lott, Reed, & Grow, 1970), sex (Morse, Gruzen, & Reis, 1976), and so on. Therefore, in the process of gathering intertrait inferences in IPT, all of the variables (objective and subjective) pose valid measurement issues requiring detailed consideration before we employ the subjects' responses for testing theoretical issues.…”

“…Three frequently used methods for such judgments are similarity or dissimilarity ratings of personality scales (Bush, 1973;Ebbesen & Allen, 1979;Lay & Jackson, 1969;Pedersen, 1965;and Snodgrass, 1977), sortings of scales into piles (Lott et al, 1970;Strieker et al, 1974), and estimates of coendorsements between traits (Jackson et al, 1979;Lay, Burron, & Jackson, 1973;and Mirels, 1976). Psychometrically, a comparative judgment between any two scales can be considered as an estimate of the "projection" of one scale vector onto another with respect to all reference persons in the psychosemantic space of personality.…”

Individual Differences in Diagnostic Judgments of Psychosis and Neurosis from the MMPI

“…Although a variety of studies using Tucker's model have attested to the importance of individual differences in judgmental viewpoints (Messick and Kogan, 1966;Pederson, 1962;Skager, Schultz, and Klein, 1966;Walters and Jackson, 1966;Wiggins, 1966;Wiggins, Hoffman, and Taber, 1969;Wiggins and Fishbein, 1969;Snyder and Wiggins, 1970), this model has not been widely applied to the area of clinical judgment. Using Tucker's idealized type approach, the present study involved an analysis of clinical judgment data originally collected by Meehl (1959).…”