Now, a personality test that you just can't fool
Washington, October 8 : A team of Canadian psychologists has created a personality
inventory that can help detect people who can excel in academic and creative domains, even
when respondents are trying hard to fake their answers.
The researchers say that their inventory can offer a better tool than the traditional
personality questionnaires that have been plagued by the problem of biased responding.
"It's very common for people to try and make themselves look better than they actually
are on these questionnaires, especially if they know they are being evaluated," said
Jordan B. Peterson, psychology professor at the University of Toronto.
"This sort of faking can distort the predictive validity of these tests, with
significant negative economic consequences. We wanted to develop a measure that could
predict real-world performance even in the absence of completely honest responding," added
the study's co-author.
The researchers say that traditional personality inventories fail to predict
performance outcomes when respondents have strong incentive to fake their scores.
They say that the new measure retains its ability to predict success, even when
respondents are consciously trying to make themselves look good.
"Personality remains an important factor in predicting performance. Trait
conscientiousness has consistently emerged as a major predictor of academic success and
workplace performance, while trait openness is a good predictor of creative achievement,"
said Jacob Hirsh, lead author of the paper and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of
Toronto.
The studies' authors have revealed that using formulas derived by Frank Schmidt of Iowa
University and John Hunter of Michigan State enabled them to estimate the potential
productivity gain associated with using the new measure in a workplace setting.
"Because people differ widely in their individual abilities," notes Hirsh, "even a
small degree of accuracy in testing can produce significant economic gains."
The researchers say that the tests conducted as part of the present study were accurate
beyond that small degree.
In fact, Schmidt and Hunter's formulas indicate that the use of the bias-resistant test
over currently available personality assessment methods could result in a productivity
gain of 23 per cent per hired employee, when response faking is an issue.
"Potential gains of this magnitude should not be ignored. It is very important that the
right people be chosen for any competitive position. This questionnaire is a step in the
right direction," said Hirsh.
--ANI
