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Relationship between the “Barnum Effect” and personality inventory responses
Author(s) -
Layne Christopher
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197801)34:1<94::aid-jclp2270340122>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , personality assessment inventory , reliability (semiconductor) , personality test , psychometrics , test (biology) , social psychology , clinical psychology , test validity , power (physics) , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics , biology
Hypothesized that rating bogus “personality feedback” and answering personality inventory items are both instances of the same general behavior. After undergraduates were administered personality inventories, they were asked to evaluate the accuracies of personality descriptors under differing instructional sets. In support of the hypothesis, a Barnum Group's ( N = 24) personality inventory responses and “personality feedback” ratings correlated significantly and as highly as Reliability Controls' ( N = 24) alternate forms reliability coefficient. Inventory responses and “feedback” ratings were affected equally by the descriptors' favorability and by the S s' defensiveness. Contrary to the hypothesis, descriptors were rated as more personally accurate when presented as “feedback” than when presented as test items. Theoretical and applied implications of the findings are discussed.