This study examined the effect of anxiety and dissi mulation motivation of job applicants on their perfor mance on an ability test. Two aspects of performance were considered: the total score and the appropriate ness score. Four IRT-based appropriateness indices for detecting aberrant response patterns were employed in this study. The results indicate a negative effect of dissimulation motivation on the performance of low anxiety scorers, with respect to both the total score and the appropriateness score, with a greater effect on the latter. This effect was evidenced by an erratic or aberrant response pattern on the ability test; that is, missing relatively easy items while answering more difficult ones correctly. The results are discussed in light of the diverse interpretations concerning the meaning of Lie scales.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allsopp, J., & Feldman, M.P. (1976). Personality and antisocial behavior in school boys. British Journal of Criminology, 16, 337-351.
2.
American Psychiatric Association (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.) Washington DC: Author.
3.
Baillie, R., & Tatsuoka, K.K. (1982). TCC3 [Computer program] . Urbana IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Computer-based Education Research Laboratory.
4.
Birenbaum, M. (1985). Comparing the effectiveness of several IRT based appropriateness measures in detecting unusual response patterns. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 45, 523-534.
5.
Branthwaite, A., Trueman, M., & Berrisford, T. (1981). Unreliability and marking: Further evidence and possible explanation. Educational Review , 33, 41-46.
6.
Cattell, R.B., Eber, H.W., & Tatsuoka, M.M. (1970). Handbook for the 16PF. Champaign IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.
7.
Cliff, N. (1982). Evaluating Guttman scales, 1941-81: Some old and new theories. Paper presented at the American Psychological Convention, San Francisco.
8.
Comrey, A.L. (1958). A factor analysis of items on the MMPI psychasthenia scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 18, 293-300.
9.
Donlon, T.F., & Fischer, F.F. (1968). An index of an individual's agreement with group-determined item difficulties. Educational and Psychological Measurement , 28, 105-113.
10.
Drasgow, F. (1982). Choice of test model for appropriateness measurement . Applied Psychological Measurement, 6, 297-308.
11.
Emler, N. (1984). Differential involvement in delinquency: Toward an interpretation in terms of reputation management. Progress in Experimental Personality Research, 13, 173-239.
12.
Eysenck, H.J., & Eysenck, S.B.G. (1975). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (junior and adult). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
13.
Eysenck, H.J., & Eysenck, S.B.G. (1976). Psychoticism as a dimension of personality. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
14.
Eysenck, M. (1979). Anxiety, learning and memory: A reconceptualization . Journal of Research in Personality, 13, 363-385.
15.
Eysenck, M.W. (1984). Trait anxiety and cognitive task performance. Paper presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Athens, Greece.
16.
Fleishman, J.J., & Fine, B.J. (1971). Note on cognitive factors related to factor B of the 16PF test. Psychological Reports, 29, 1075-1077.
17.
Geen, R.G. (1976). Test anxiety, observation and range of cue utilization . British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 253-259.
18.
Geen, R.G. (1980). Test anxiety and cue utilization. In I. G. Sarason (Ed.), Test anxiety: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 43-61). Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
19.
Gordon, P.K. (1985). Allocation of attention in obsessional disorder . British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 24, 101-107.
20.
Greene, R.L. (1980). The MMPI-an interpretive manual. New York: Grune & Stratton.
21.
Hamilton, V. (1985). A cognitive model of anxiety; implications for theories of personality and motivation. In C. D. Spielberger, I. G. Sarason, & P. B. Defares (Eds.), Stress and anxiety (vol. 9, pp. 17-35). Washington DC: Hemisphere.
22.
Harnisch, D.L., & Linn, R.L. (1981). Identification of aberrant response patterns (Final Report for Grant No. G-9-0003). Washington DC: National Institute of Education.
23.
Hamisch, D.L., & Tatsuoka, K.K. (1983). A comparison of appropriateness indices based on item response theory. In R. Hambleton (Ed.), Applications of item response theory . Vancouver: Educational Research Institute of British Columbia.
24.
Hathaway, S.R., & McKinley, J.C. (1967). MMPI manual (rev. ed.) . New York: The Psychological Corporation .
25.
Houston, K. (1982). Trait anxiety and cognitive coping behavior. In I. G. Sarason & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.), Achievement, stress, and anxiety . Washington DC: Hemisphere.
26.
Levine, M.V., & Rubin, D.B. (1979). Measuring the appropriateness of multiple choice test score. Journal of Educational Statistics, 4, 269-290.
27.
Lord, F.M., & Novick, M.R. (1968). Statistical theories of mental test scores. Reading MA: Addison-Wesley.
28.
McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T., Jr. (1983). Social desirability scales: More substance than style. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 51, 882-888.
29.
Michaelis, W., & Eysenck, H.J. (1971). The determination of personality inventory factor patterns and intercorrelations by changes in real life motivation. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 118, 223-234.
30.
Montag, I. (1978). Adequate response set and social desirability in personality questionnaires. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Tel-Aviv University.
31.
Montag, I., & Comrey, A.L. (1982). Comparison of certain MMPI, Eysenck and Comrey personality constructs. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 17, 93-97.
32.
O'Hagan, F.J., & Edmunds, G. (1982). Teachers' observations on pupils' untruthfulness in relation to the "Lie" scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 3, 335-338.
Sarason, I.G. (1975). Test anxiety and cognitive modeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 148-153.
35.
Sarason, I.G. (1978). The test anxiety scale: Concept and research. In C. D. Spielberger and I. G. Sarason (Eds.), Stress and anxiety (vol. 5, pp. 193-216). Washington DC: Hemisphere.
36.
Sarason, I. G. (Ed.). (1980). Test anxiety: Theory, research and applications. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
37.
Sarason, I.G. (1984). Stress, anxiety, and cognitive interference: Reactions to tests. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 929-938.
38.
Sarason, I.G., & Spielberger, C.D. (1982). Achievement, stress and anxiety. Washington DC: Hemisphere .
39.
Sato, T. (1975). The construction and interpretation of S-P tables . Tokyo: Meiji Tosho. (In Japanese.)
40.
Schmitt, A.P., & Crocker, L. (1984). The relationship between test anxiety and person fit measures. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans .
41.
Spielberger, C.D., Anton, W.D., & Bedell, J. (1976). The nature and treatment of test anxiety. In M. Zuckerman & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.), Emotions and anxiety: New concepts, methods and applications. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
42.
Spielberger, C.D., Gonzales, H.P., Taylor, C.J., Algaze, B., & Anton, W.D. (1978). Examination stress and test anxiety. In C. D. Spielberger & I. G. Sarason (Eds.), Stress and anxiety (vol. 5). New York: Hemisphere/Wiley .
43.
Tatsuoka, K.K. (1982). Standardization extended caution indices and comparison of their error detection rates (Research Report No. 82-4-ONR). Urbana IL: University of Illinois, Computer-based Education Research Laboratory.
44.
Tatsuoka, K.K. (1984). Caution indices based on item response theory . Psychometrika, 49, 95-110.
45.
Tatsuoka, K.K., & Linn, R.L. (1983). Indices for detecting unusual patterns: Links between two general approaches and potential applications. Applied Psychological Measurement, 7, 81-96.
46.
Tatsuoka, K.K., & Tatsuoka, M.M. (1982). Detection of aberrant response patterns and their effect on dimensionality. Journal of Educational Statistics, 7, 215-231.
47.
Tatsuoka, K.K., & Tatsuoka, M.M. (1983). Spotting erroneous rules of operation by individual consistency index. Journal of Educational Measurement, 20, 221-230.
48.
Tryon, G.S. (1980). The measurement and treatment of test anxiety . Review of Educational Research, 50, 343-372.
49.
van der Flier, H. (1977). Environmental factors and deviant response patterns . In Y. H. Poortinga (Ed.), Basic problems in cross cultural psychology. Amsterdam : Swets & Seitlinger.
50.
van der Flier, H. (1982). Deviant response patterns and comparability of test scores. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, 267-298.
51.
Wine, J.D. (1971). Test anxiety and direction of attention. Psychological Bulletin,76, 92-104.
52.
Wine, J.D. (1980). Cognitive-attentional theory of test anxiety. In I. G. Sarason (Ed.), Test anxiety: Theory, research and applications. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
