Criteria for assessing inconsistent patterns of item endorsement on the MMPI: rationale, development, and empirical...

The concepts nonresponsivity (stimulus avoidance) and content responsive faking (dissimulation) are reviewed and sharply distinguished for their implications for MMPI validity. Although conventional validity scales and indices may be sensitive to content responsive faking, these measures are poorly suited for assessing content nonresponsivity, which is better evaluated with reference to the consistency of item endorsements. A set of rationally derived decisions rules for evaluating content nonresponsivity is presented and investigated empirically. In three studies, each of which compares psychiatric patients with a different set of computer-generated data, the performance of the decision rules and the consistency measures that comprise them was generally superior to traditional measures. The use of consistency-based invalidity criteria is recommended for both clinical and research purposes.