Effects of Culture and Response Format on Extreme Response Style

Do cultural and ethnic groups differ in their extreme response style? To answer this question, Hispanic and non-Hispanic subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire on 5-point or 10-point scales. As predicted, Hispanics were found to exhibit a stronger tendency for extreme checking (about half the time, on the average) than non-Hispanic, but only when the 5-point scales were used. Use of 10-point scales reduced the extreme responses of the Hispanics to the level of non-Hispanics. Extreme responses of non-Hispanics were not affected by the scales. Implications of the findings for social research are discussed.

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