Chapter 10: Response Biases

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1 As students in Introductory Psychology class, Marie and Martin participate in a research study. They complete a survey about “attitude towards alcohol use.” Let’s say that they actually have the same level of that attitude on a scale of 1 (totally antialcohol) to 10 (totally enthusiastic about alcohol), they are both “truly” 1. However, when completing the survey, they provide slightly different answers. Marie is willing to use the scale minimum (of 1), whereas Martin shies away from making such an intense response (e.g., he considers the fact that he does go to parties with alcohol, so he doesn’t feel “justified” in making the lowest possible response). So, although they do have the same attitude, they end up with different scores on the survey. This situation is an example of which response bias?

a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. social desirability bias (impression management) d. social desirability bias (self-deception)

Ans: B

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Marie applies for graduate school in Clinical Psychology, and she is asked to take a personality test as part of the admissions process. One of the test’s items states “I am persistent and a hard worker”, and she has to respond “true” or “false” about herself. Marie knows that, while she’s very smart, she’s not usually a very hard worker and doesn’t persist when things get tough However, she also suspects that her chances of admission will increase if she responds “true” to the item, which she does. Her response reflects which type of response bias?: a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. social desirability bias (impression management) d. social desirability bias (self-deception)

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. ________________ is defined as consistently endorsing (or consistently rejecting) items without much regard for their content a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. social desirability bias (impression management) d. social desirability bias (self-deception)

Ans: A

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Easy a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. social desirability bias (impression management) d. guessing

4. Which of the following could potentially affect response to tests of knowledge, ability, achievement, or aptitude (i.e., tests in which there are presumably right or wrong answers)?

Ans: D

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Consider a very brief three-item measure of loneliness: I spend more time by myself than I’d like: Disagree____ Agree _____

I often feel lonely

I wish that I had more connection to people

Disagree____ Agree _____

Disagree____ Agree _____

For this measure, a respondent gets 1 “point” for each item with which she/he agrees. The respondent’s loneliness score is then computed simply by summing these points. From the perspective of acquiescence bias, a concern about this measure is: a. A respondent could get a relatively high score on loneliness by selecting the more intense or extreme options (regardless of whether she/he truly feels lonely). b. A respondent’s score might be a poor reflection of her/his true loneliness because the test blends easy and hard, potentially confusing the respondent’s “agreement” choices c. An “obvious” scale like this would be easy to manipulate, in terms of appearing lonely (or not) if one wanted to. d. A respondent could get a relatively high score on loneliness just by wanting to agree with items of all types (regardless of whether she/he truly feels lonely).

Ans: D

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Hard a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. malingering d. guessing

6. Consider a legal context in which an individual sues an insurance company for compensation. The individual claims that, due to an accident, he is suffering from memory impairments. As part of the lawsuit, the insurance company hires a clinical psychologist to administer a standardized memory test. Which of the following biases is most likely to be a concern (for the insurance company) in this context?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium a. Acquiescence bias is most likely to occur when test-takers do not easily understand a test’s items b. Research shows that, although it’s a theoretical possibility, extremity bias does *not* seem to be a problem in practice (and thus there’s little reason to be concerned about it) c. Psychologists are debating whether the so-called social desirability response “bias” at least partly reflects meaningful personality characteristics (and is thus not “bias”). d. There is evidence that some lawyers may encourage their clients to “fake bad” on psychological assessments in some circumstances

7. Which of the following is not a valid statement about the actual occurrence and effects of various response biases?

Ans: B

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. malingering d. guessing

8. The use of “balanced” scales is intended to minimize the effect of which type of response bias?

Ans: A

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium a. acquiescence bias b. extremity bias c. malingering d. guessing

9. If an individual has a high score on the MMPI F scale, the test administrator might suspect (thought would not know for sure) that the individuals were responding with a .

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium a. malingering, acquiescence b. acquiescence, malingering c. social desirability, malingering d. malingering, social desirability

10 The BIDR is intended to reveal ___________ bias, while the Dot Counting Task is intended to reveal ______________________ bias.

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium a. A respondent could get a relatively high score on loneliness by selecting the more intense or extreme options (regardless of whether she/he truly feels lonely). b. A respondent’s score might be a poor reflection of her/his true loneliness because the test blends easy and hard, potentially confusing the respondent’s “agreement” choices. c. An “obvious” scale like this would be easy to manipulate, in terms of appearing lonely (or not) if one wanted to. d. A respondent could get a relatively high score on loneliness just by wanting to agree with items of all types (regardless of whether she/he truly feels lonely).

11. Which of the following is an example of extremity?

Ans: A

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Extreme and Moderate Responding

Difficulty Level: Medium a. Responding to items randomly or with very little attention to the content of the items b. Consistently overusing or under-using “extreme” response options, regardless of the respondent’s standing on the relevant psychological construct c. Responding in a way that exaggerates one’s positive qualities d. Guessing at the correct answer to an item (relevant only for tests of ability, knowledge, skill, etc.)

12. Which of the following is the definition of social desirability?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Desirability (“Faking Good”)

Difficulty Level: Easy

13 A term related to the definition of malingering is: a. intentional b. unconscious c. not related to gain d. psychosomatic symptoms

Ans: A

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Malingering (“Faking Bad”)

Difficulty Level: Easy a. Responding to items randomly or with very little attention to the content of the items b. Consistently overusing or under-using “extreme” response options, regardless of the respondent’s standing on the relevant psychological construct c. Responding in a way that exaggerates one’s positive qualities d. Guessing at the correct answer to an item (relevant only for tests of ability, knowledge, skill, etc.)

14. Which of the following is the definition of random/careless responding?

Ans: A

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Careless or Random Responding

Difficulty Level: Easy a. Responding to items randomly or with very little attention to the content of the items b. Consistently overusing or under-using “extreme” response options, regardless of the respondent’s standing on the relevant psychological construct c. Responding in a way that exaggerates one’s positive qualities d. Guessing at the correct answer to an item (relevant only for tests of ability, knowledge, skill, etc.)

15. Which of the following is the definition of guessing?

Ans: D

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Guessing

Difficulty Level: Easy a. prevent or minimize the existence of bias b. minimize the effects of bias c. detect bias and intervene d. eliminate the source of bias

16. Psychologists have developed many strategies to help deal with response biases in general. These strategies are intended to accomplish several specific goals. Which of the following is NOT one of those goals?

Ans: D

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Methods for Coping With Response Biases

Difficulty Level: Medium a. makes respondents less likely to answer with an extremity bias b. makes respondents more likely to answer with an extremity bias c. makes respondents more willing to admit to socially undesirable qualities or behaviors d. makes respondents feel that they can respond certainly and/or strategically

17 In some situations (e.g., research), the purpose of measurement is not to shape decisions or knowledge about specific individuals. In such situations, test-takers might remain anonymous. What is the potential effect of such anonymity?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing the Testing Context

Difficulty Level: Medium

18 Imagine that you were asked to complete a personality inventory, and one of the items is:

Which of the following is more characteristic of you?

_ Creative

_ Well-adjusted a. balanced; acquiescence bias b. balanced; social desirability bias c. forced-choice; social desirability bias d. forced-choice; extremity bias

What type of item is that and which response bias is it intended to deal with?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing the Testing Context

Difficulty Level: Medium a. such items could prevent us from detecting response biases b. such items could prevent us from intervening (e.g., through statistical control) to deal with response biases that might have occurred c. such items could increase respondent frustration and lead to careless or unmotivated responding d. such items would not allow for test developers to employ multiple strategies to identify items that will probably suffer from bias

19. When writing good items for a psychological measure, test developers often avoid items that might be confusing for respondents (e.g., items with double negatives). In terms of response biases, why would we avoid such items?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing the Testing Context

Difficulty Level: Medium a. complex items b. forced-choice format c. randomized response d. neutral items

20. Which of the following is not a way test developers might be able to nullify or reduce some biases?

Ans: A

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing Test Content

Difficulty Level: Medium a. a questionnaire or test that has both easy and hard items b. a questionnaire or test that splits its items among more than one psychological characteristic c. a questionnaire or test that has both extreme and moderate items d. a questionnaire or test that has both “positively keyed” and “negatively keyed” items

21. What is a balanced scale?

Ans: D

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Minimizing the Effects of Bias by Managing Test Content or Scoring

Difficulty Level: Easy a. Sets of items that are embedded within a large inventory and are intended to be particularly good items that were written to reflect a measured construct with as much validity as possible. b. Sets of items that are embedded within a large inventory and are intended to “trick” respondents into responding without any response biases. c. Sets of items that are embedded within a large inventory and are intended to quantify the degree to which a respondent is manifesting specific response biases d. Sets of items that are embedded within a small inventory and are intended to qualify the degree to which a respondent is responding without any response biases.

22 What is a “validity scale”?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Managing Test Content to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. The F scale on the MMPI is composed of items that: a. most honest people endorse as true b. consisted of items that are endorsed by very few respondents c. showed a significant response shift under instructions to fake good d. differentiated normal from psychiatric samples

Ans: B

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Managing Test Content to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Medium a. MMPI b. MMPI-2 c. NEO-PI d. CPI

24 Which validity scale includes seven scales intended to provide information about the likelihood that a respondent manifested a variety of biases?

Ans: B

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Managing Test Content to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Medium a. Despite the theoretical logic of such scales, most evidence indicates that they do not work well. b. The evidence overwhelmingly indicates that they work very well. c. Evidence regarding their effectiveness is mixed, though much research does indicate that they work fairly well. d. Despite the theoretical logic of such scales, most evidence indicates that they cannot be declared to work well or not.

25 What is the status of empirical evidence regarding the “validity of validity scales”?

Ans: C

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Managing Test Content to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. All bias occurs when an individual consistently agrees with statements without regard for the meaning of those statements.

Ans: F

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

2 Each scale has its own random measurement error, which is not connected to the other.

Ans: T

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Acquiescence bias is only “yea-saying” and never “nay-saying.”

Ans: F

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. There is a debate about the existence of acquiescence bias.

Ans: T

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The use of extreme response options is itself a bias and problem.

Ans: F

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Extreme and Moderate Responding

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. The effects of social desirability bias parallel those for acquiescence bias and extremity bias.

Ans: T

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Social Desirability (“Faking Good”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Research results can be compromised by social desirability bias.

Ans: T

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Desirability (“Faking Good”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Social desirability bias can artificially inflate the correlations among measures and cause researchers to draw inaccurate psychological conclusions.

Ans: T

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Desirability (“Faking Good”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Anonymity decreases honest responding and random responding.

Ans: F

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing the Testing Context

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Forced-choice formats prevent respondents from simply picking the more desirable choice.

Ans: T

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing Test Content

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. What is a potential threat to the psychometric quality of the psychological measurement that acquiescent responders may present?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Acquiescence Bias (“Yea-Saying and Nay-Saying”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Social desirability bias can be affected by at least three sources. What is one of them?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Desirability (“Faking Good”)

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which response bias involves responding in a way that exaggerates one’s problems, shortcomings, or disabilities?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Malingering (“Faking Bad”)

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. What bias is effectively opposite of social desirability?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Malingering (“Faking Bad”)

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What is a condition, according to the text, that might reduce respondents’ motivation to be careful and thoughtful when creating responses? Said another way, what could cause careless or random responding?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-1: Summarize the six different response biases and how they can potentially compromise the quality of psychological measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Careless or Random Responding

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. What is the best way to cope with response bias, according to the text?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Minimizing the Existence of Bias by Managing the Testing Context

Difficulty Level: Medium a. I am by myself more often than I like b. I often spend time with other people

7. Consider two items (below) that you might find on a measure of loneliness, where higher scores represent greater loneliness. Which is a negatively keyed item below, A or B?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-2: Discuss the ways psychologists attempt to minimize the existence and effects of bias.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minimizing the Effects of Bias by Managing Test Content or Scoring

Difficulty Level: Medium a. Ignore or pay little attention to the client’s other scores on the MMPI. b. Give extra weight to the meaning of the client’s other scores on the MMPI.

8. Let’s say you are a clinical psychologist and you administer the MMPI to a client. When you get the client’s scores, you see that he has a high score on the F scale. Which of the following would be a reasonable option to consider, A or B?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Managing Test Content to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Medium a. The correlation between tests might not truly reflect a link between charisma and intelligence. Both measures are likely to be affected by impression management or self-deception. This could create a correlation between the measures even if the constructs (charisma and intelligence) are NOT related to each other. b. The correlation between tests is probably not simply a product of social desirability Although self-reports of Charisma might be affected by motivations toward impression management or self-deception, one’s answers on a standard intelligence test aren’t likely to be affected by such motivations (i.e., one can’t easily exaggerate one’s score on the IQ test to impress others). Since social desirability doesn’t affect both tests, it can’t produce a correlation between the tests.

9. A researcher is interested in studying the link between charisma and intelligence hypothesizing that relatively charismatic people are also relatively intelligent. He recruits a sample of people, and he administers two tests. One is a self-report questionnaire measuring charisma (e.g., “People tend to find me charming”). The other is a standard test of intelligence, in which participants are presented with challenging right/wrong questions. Let’s say that he gathers the data and finds a positive correlation between the measures Which of the following, A or B, might be a legitimate statement about this finding, as related to social desirability?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Using Specialized Tests to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. What is one way to identify participants who seem to be manifesting some form of response bias?

Ans: Answer may vary.

Learning Objective: 10-3: Describe how psychologists manage test content and use specialized tests to detect bias and intervene.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Managing Test Content to Detect Bias and Intervene

Difficulty Level: Medium