Open AccessTHE TESTING SITUATION AS A POSITIVE SOURCE OF INFLUENCE 1
Author(s) -
Mulry Ray C.,
Roberts Michael
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1967.tb00547.x
Subject(s) - test (biology) , psychology , process (computing) , social psychology , cognitive psychology , control (management) , computer science , applied psychology , artificial intelligence , paleontology , biology , operating system
The present study was concerned with the control of reflective effort during testing and with the effects of different testing situations in the determination of an increase in this behavior. Greatest reflective effort was predicted on difficult items in situations which emphasize to respondents that their test responses are of significance and do lead to personally relevant consequences. As predicted, reflective effort, as measured by the time taken to answer individual items, increased on difficult items as consequences of testing increased. Moreover, longest latencies were obtained on difficult items in the testing situation of greatest consequence and shortest latencies were obtained on easy items in the testing situation of least consequence. It is our contention that the unobtrusive measure of reflective effort is a useful incidental test‐taking behavior which can provide important information about the nature of the test‐taking process.