Personality Predictors of Extreme Response Style

• Published in: Journal of personality Vol. 77; no. 1; pp. 261 - 286
• Main Authors: Naemi, Bobby D., Beal, Daniel J., Payne, Stephanie C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.02.2009; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Ambiguity; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; College students; Culture; Demographic research; Extremes; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Intolerance; Likert scale; Male; Peer Group; Personality; Personality - classification; Personality development; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Personality measurement; Personality tests; Personality traits; Personality. Affectivity; Polls & surveys; Psychological tests; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Response style; Self Concept; Social Behavior; Students - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult; Human; Response style; Personality; Measurement method; Predictive factor; Interindividual comparison
• ISSN: 0022-3506; 1467-6494
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00545.x

ABSTRACT Extreme response style (ERS) refers to the tendency to overuse the endpoints of Likert‐type scales. This study examined the extent to which ERS is accounted for by measures of personality, specifically, intolerance of ambiguity, simplistic thinking, and decisiveness. One hundred and sixteen pairs of undergraduate students and one of their respective peers completed a battery of questionnaires assessing these personality measures, alongside three measures of extreme responding. Results indicate that peer ratings of intolerance of ambiguity and simplistic thinking interact with the primary participant's time spent on the survey to predict the primary participant's extreme responding. Thus, those who quickly complete surveys and are intolerant of ambiguity or are simplistic thinkers are most likely to exhibit ERS. These results have implications not only for surveys using rating scales, but also illustrate how epistemic personality factors more generally influence the processing of new information.