Personality and Group Differences in Extreme Response Sets

responses does not follow the laws of statistical probability. If a coin is flipped, for example, the probability of heads is .50; but as Goodfellow (6) noted, the probability is .80 that persons will call the first toss heads. This tendency to respond in a given direction is a source of contamination which often affects test reliability and validity. Indeed, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Kuder Preference Record, and other tests include built-in correction devices to guard against this human response tendency. In two excellent review articles Cronbach (3, 4) has observed that when situations are