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The relationship between MCMI subtlety and severity

M Wierzbicki1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA.

Journal of Personality Assessment
|January 1, 1993
PubMed

Insights

The Subtle-Obvious distinction may help detect faking on psychological tests. However, this study found subtlety is correlated with symptom severity on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory.

Area of Science:

  • Psychological Assessment
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychometrics

Background:

  • The Subtle-Obvious distinction is proposed as a method for detecting response distortion in psychological assessments.
  • Previous research suggested this distinction could identify faking on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI).
  • A criticism posited that subtlety might be confounded with symptom severity, particularly on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

Discussion:

  • This study investigated the relationship between item subtlety and symptom severity for the MCMI.
  • Graduate students rated MCMI items on their severity.
  • The correlation between severity and subtlety was examined to address concerns about confounding variables.

Key Insights:

  • A significant negative correlation (r = -.48) was found between MCMI item severity and item subtlety.
  • This association indicates that more severe symptoms tend to be associated with less subtle (more obvious) items.
  • The observed correlation between subtlety and severity on the MCMI was lower than previously reported for the MMPI.

Outlook:

  • Further research is needed to clarify the utility of the Subtle-Obvious distinction in detecting faking across different assessment instruments.
  • Investigating the MMPI and MCMI subtlety-severity relationship in clinical populations could provide valuable insights.
  • Exploring alternative methods for detecting response distortion in psychological testing remains an important area for future study.

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