No Evidence that Social Desirability Response Set Explains the General Factor of Personality and Its Affective Correlates

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Philippe Rushton ◽  
Stephen Erdle

AbstractIn two studies, the General Factor of Personality (GFP) remained intact after controlling for the Lie scale from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, despite the Lie Scale showing significant correlations with the GFP defining traits. In Study 1, a re-analysis of 29 self-ratings from 322 pairs of twins (644 individuals) yielded a GFP both before and after controlling for social desirability. In Study 2, four measures of affect in 133 university students loaded on a GFP both before and after controlling for social desirability such that those high on the GFP were high in self-esteem and positive affect and low in depression and negative affect. These results join those from other studies failing to find evidence that the GFP is merely an artifact of evaluative bias.

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Amigó ◽  
Antonio Caselles ◽  
Joan C. Micó

This study proposes a psychometric approach to assess the General Factor of Personality (GFP) to explain the whole personality. This approach defends the existence of one basic factor that represents the overall personality. The General Factor of Personality Questionnaire (GFPQ) is presented to measure the basic, combined trait of the complete personality. The questionnaire includes 20 items and is constituted by two scales with 10 items each one: the Extraversion Scale (ES) and the Introversion Scale (IS). The GFPQ shows adequate internal consistency and construct validity, while the relationships with the personality factors of other models and with psychopathology are as expected. It correlates positively and significantly with Extraversion (E) and Psychoticism (P), and negatively with Neuroticism (N) of Eysenck's EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire); it correlates positively and significantly with the Sensation Seeking Scaled (SSS) of Zuckerman, and is inside the expected direction with Sensitivity to Reward (SR) and Sensitivity to Punishment (SP) of the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ), which represent the approach and avoidance trends of behavior, respectively. It not only relates negatively with the personality disorders of the anxiety spectrum, but also with the emotional disorders in relation to anxiety and depression, and it relates positively with the antisocial personality disorder.


1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1091-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sanderman ◽  
S. B. G. Eysenck ◽  
W. A. Arrindell

401 men and 475 women completed the Dutch version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Factor comparisons all exceeded 0.97 so that the factors of Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Social Desirability are deemed to be identical in the two countries, England and The Netherlands. Sex differences conform with those in most other cross-cultural studies, namely, men score higher than women on Psychoticism and Extraversion, but lower on Neuroticism and Social Desirability. Reliabilities (alpha coefficients) are satisfactorily high for all factors, although the lowest value (0.62) for the Psychoticism dimension for Dutch men appears somewhat weak. National differences on personality variables were only significant for the Neuroticism scale and Social Desirability; Dutch men and women scored lower on the Neuroticism scale than their English counterparts but higher on Social Desirability.


2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
Marcie Zinn ◽  
Claudia McCain ◽  
Mark Zinn

Fourteen music majors were tested using the high-risk model of threat perception (HRMTP), a biopsychosocial model designed to diagnose and guide treatment of stress-related somatic disorders. Regression analysis revealed that negative affect, social desirability, peripheral vasoconstriction, and “catastrophizing” predicted state anxiety scores after jury performance (p ≤ 0.041). A significant difference in hand temperature before and after jury performance was also found (p ≤ 0.01). Social desirability scores were inversely correlated with negative affect and catastrophizing scores (p ≤ 0.01). These results are consistent with predictions from the HRMTP, which predicts that people high in either overt or covert negative affect and catastrophizing are at greater risk for psychophysiological disorders than normals. The model also predicts that people who are high in social desirability (repressors) are likewise at risk because of inhibited pain perception. Since performance anxiety has been discussed by several authors as a psychophysiological event, implicating the role of the autonomic nervous system in the initiation and maintenance of stage fright, this model may provide a new pathway into the understanding of stage fright.


Author(s):  
Wenceslao Peñate ◽  
Melissa González-Loyola ◽  
Cristian Oyanadel

Background: This study analyzes the relationship between depression and anxiety levels and positive and negative affect, self-esteem, and perceived social support from family and friends in an early and middle adolescent sample. These are psychological variables that are often associated with the prediction of emotional disorders, especially depression. Methods: Participants (N = 467) were a representative sample of this group of adolescents and were recruited from schools in the city of Concepción, Chile. Part of the sample (N = 177) was assessed three additional times—at one-, two-, and four-month intervals. Results: Results showed a practical stability of all measures across the four intervals, with no significant differences between sexes. Anxiety and depression displayed a similar pattern of significant relationships with affectivity, self-esteem, and social support. Depression had a higher correlation coefficient (−0.47) with positive affect, and so did anxiety with negative affect (0.58). Conclusions: Taking into account 23 initial scores on affectivity, self-esteem, and social support in predicting both depression and anxiety scores at one-month, two-month, and four-month intervals, positive affect was present in three regression analyses, predicting depression scores; negative affect was present in anxiety scores. Results are discussed according to previous findings, as well as the tripartite model.


2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 668-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livia Veselka ◽  
Julie Aitken Schermer ◽  
Caroline Just ◽  
Yoon-Mi Hur ◽  
J. Philippe Rushton ◽  
...  

The mothers of 603 pairs of 3- to 13-year-old twins in Korea completed the Emotionality, Activity, Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in reference to their twins. Principal factor analysis of the seven scales comprising these measures yielded a general factor on which all the scales had moderate to large loadings. Univariate behavioral genetic analyses showed that individual differences on this general factor could best be accounted for by additive genetic and non-shared environmental effects, with a heritability of 53%. The results strengthen the construct validity of the general factor of personality (GFP) by extracting this higher-order dimension from disparate measures, and have implications regarding social desirability criticisms applied to the GFP theory.


1995 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 444-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Edwards

A self-report inventory was created on which respondents indicated the frequency of occurrence of 40 basic emotions using a 5-point rating scale. The inventory was administered to two matched, independent college-age samples ( ns = 562 and 414) and the factorial validity was tested. Factor 1 was a general factor reflecting over-all Positive Affect. Factor 2 was a more specific factor reflecting Profound Negative Affect. Factor 3 was also a specific factor reflecting Moderate Negative Affect. Subsequent analyses gave significantly greater scores for athletes over nonathletes and men over women on the Profound Negative Affect subscale. Women had significantly higher Positive Affect scores. It was concluded that the questionnaire had sufficient technical merit for use in research.


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