HOMOGENEOUS DIMENSIONS OF PERSONALITY SCALE CONTENT

Area of Science:

• Psychometrics
• Personality Psychology
• Psychological Measurement

Background:

• Personality Research Form (PRF) items were used to explore wording effects.
• Previous research yielded inconsistent findings regarding content dimensions and wording direction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if personality content dimensions are clearly defined regardless of item wording direction (positive/negative, true/false).
• To examine the orthogonality of content dimensions with response style factors (acquiescence, desirability).

Main Methods:

• Prepared four versions of items from five PRF content dimensions (Play, Social Recognition, Exhibition, Cognitive Structure, Autonomy).
• Utilized correlational and factor analytic techniques.
• Employed response style marker scales and an adjective checklist.

Main Results:

• Content dimensions were clearly and uniquely defined, independent of wording direction.
• Personality content dimensions were orthogonal to acquiescence and desirability factors.
• Stylistic consistencies related to desirability and acquiescence factors.

Conclusions:

• Item content dimensions in personality assessment are robust to wording variations.
• Response styles do not interfere with the clear definition of personality content dimensions.
• Findings contradict some prior research on wording effects in personality measures.