How People Take Psychological Tests: Understanding Item Response Processes on Self-Report Personality Inventories

Authors

Marvin W. Acklin, University of Hawaii at ManoaFollow

Abstract

Self-report personality inventories are the backbone of clinical and personnel assessment psychology. This paper considers how people take psychological tests by focusing on self-report item response process. Task decomposition of test item responding illuminates the processes which underlie task performance and result in a score. Attention to test item response processes has been advocated as a basis for construct validity. Developments in cognitive psychology permit detailed analysis of task components. Following a historical overview, a cognitive architecture is described which illustrates sequential and parallel processing of item content activating working, declarative, and episodic memory in a self-presentational process. Activation of working and episodic memory processes involves explicit and implicit mental simulations. Task decomposition provides insight into personality inventory test-taking behaviors, illuminates self-report personality test data, and generates hypotheses for empirical investigation. Implications for an integrative functional taxonomy of personality tests considering response process are discussed.

Recommended Citation

Acklin, Marvin W. (2020) "How People Take Psychological Tests: Understanding Item Response Processes on Self-Report Personality Inventories," Archives of Assessment Psychology: Vol. 10, Article 1.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/psyassessment/vol10/iss1/1