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Cognitive and behavioral predictors of MMPI scores in pretrial psychological evaluations of murderers
Author(s) -
Holcomb William R.,
Adams Nicholas A.,
Ponder Howard M.,
Anderson Wayne P.
Publication year - 1984
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(198403)40:2<592::aid-jclp2270400236>3.0.co;2-m
Subject(s) - minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , psychology , psychopathology , clinical psychology , population , psychometrics , psychological testing , cognition , personality test , test (biology) , test validity , poison control , psychiatry , personality , social psychology , medical emergency , medicine , paleontology , environmental health , biology
Tested by multivariate regression the validity of the MMPI with accused murderers ( N = 96) who were undergoing pre‐trial evaluations. Four significant behavioral and cognitive predictors of MMPI elevated scores were identified. These include low intelligence, history of drug abuse, suspiciousness observed on the ward, and the fact that the accused was a stranger to the victim. These results support the validity of the MMPI with this population and also suggest that high F scale scores on the MMPI are more a measure of psychopathology than invalidity due to test‐taking response bias.