The effects of self and adopted schemas on response latency to personality items
Abstract
On the basis of research that suggested that response latencies to personality items were a function of the prevalent operating schema, be it the self-schema or an adopted "fake" schema, a study was designed to investigate the effect on response latencies of the interaction between the self-schema and a coexisting adopted "fake" schema. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant interaction between the self and an adopted schema such that response latencies would be shortest when there was consistency among the self-schema, the adopted schema, the type of item, and the endorsement choice, and longer latencies would result when there were inconsistencies between these factors. In a computer administered task, 100 male psychiatric patients responded to the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 in two ways, under standard conditions $(N=100)$ and under dissimulation conditions, with 50 participants "faking bad" and 50 participants "faking good." The response latencies to all questions were recorded. Three methods of controlling for reading speed and item length were employed. The first involved the use of an idiosyncratic reading speed estimate as a covariate in a MANCOVA analysis. The second employed double standardizations, and the third employed an item length correction factor with the reading speed estimate covariate in a MANCOVA analysis. Results indicate that the pattern of response latency effects varied considerably with control method. When reading speed and item length were adequately controlled, which was accomplished using the reading speed estimate and the item length correction factor in a MANCOVA analysis, the hypothesized relationship between the self and an adopted schema was supported. The implications of this finding, along with the finding that the two other methods of control are inadequate, were discussed with regard to the doubt cast on prior research which employed these methods.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
Tavella, Christopher, "The effects of self and adopted schemas on response latency to personality items" (1997). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9730111.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9730111
