[The influences of self-evaluation level and items evaluation on test-retest effect: application of temporal...

To examine the influences of items evaluation and self-evaluation on test-retest effect, which was first pointed out by Windle (1954) as the influence of prior test experience, a self-evaluative consciousness scale was repeatedly administered to 174 female college students. They were divided into an-hour, a-month, and a-year conditions by intervals of tests. Thirty items of the scale were classified into five levels according to the size of evaluation factor loading. Findings were as follows: 1) Test-retest effect appeared in the group of a-month interval condition, 2) only for the items belonging to the lowest level of evaluation, 3) and this effect was mainly caused by the subjects whose self-evaluative consciousness was not high. Results were discussed in terms of temporal comparison theory proposed by Albert (1977), which states that making an assessment of present self character, a person compares it with his or her past assessment mainly on inferior traits (items), unconsciously trying to raise self-evaluation through responding to these items more positively. This mechanism is supposed to be driven by the motivation of evaluation maintenance.