Premium
A Critique and Possible Reinterpretation of the Observed Low Neuroticism Scores of Male Patients with Lung Cancer
Author(s) -
HUGGAN R. R.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1968.tb00547.x
Subject(s) - neuroticism , reinterpretation , psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , dimension (graph theory) , lung cancer , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , personality , medicine , oncology , physics , mathematics , computer science , acoustics , pure mathematics , programming language
The author questions Kissen's acceptance of low Neuroticism scores on the MPI as a finding confirming the hypothesis that lung cancer males have diminished outlets for emotional discharge. Not only is Kissen's interpretation of Neuroticism not the most logical but it involves the assumption, in the absence of any check on this, that the subject's self‐rating behaviour accurately reflects his position on the Neuroticism dimension. The other findings seem more simply interpreted—and without going so far beyond the data—as manifestations of a tendency to distort response in the direction of positive evaluation. The writer has applied the expression ‘faking good’ to this tendency. A restructuring of the conceptual model applied to the interpretation of these findings is suggested in the light of additional data. Testable predictions are made on the basis of the revised model and test devices which might be applied to their verification are also indicated.