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Response distortion on personality tests in applicants: comparing high-stakes to low-stakes medical settings
journal contribution
posted on 2018-05-01, 00:00 authored by Jeromy AnglimJeromy Anglim, Stefan Bozic, J Little, F LievensThe current study examined the degree to which applicants applying for medical internships distort their responses to personality tests and assessed whether this response distortion led to reduced predictive validity. The applicant sample (n = 530) completed the NEO Personality Inventory whilst applying for one of 60 positions as first-year post- graduate medical interns. Predictive validity was assessed using university grades, aver- aged over the entire medical degree. Applicant responses for the Big Five (i.e., neuroti- cism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) and 30 facets of personality were compared to a range of normative samples where personality was mea- sured in standard research settings including medical students, role model physicians, current interns, and standard young-adult test norms. Applicants had substantially higher scores on conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and extraversion and lower scores on neuroticism with an average absolute standardized difference of 1.03, when averaged over the normative samples. While current interns, medical students, and especially role model physicians do show a more socially desirable personality profile than standard test norms, applicants provided responses that were substantially more socially desirable. Of the Big Five, conscientiousness was the strongest predictor of academic performance in both applicants (r = .11) and medical students (r = .21). Findings suggest that applicants engage in substantial response distortion, and that the predictive validity of personality is modest and may be reduced in an applicant setting.
History
Journal
Advances in health sciences educationVolume
23Issue
2Pagination
311 - 321Publisher
SpringerLocation
Dordrecht, The NetherlandsPublisher DOI
ISSN
1382-4996eISSN
1573-1677Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal articleCopyright notice
2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.Usage metrics
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No categories selectedKeywords
Personality traitsAcademic performanceMedical studentsFive Factor ModelMedical student selectionSocial SciencesScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEducation & Educational ResearchEducation, Scientific DisciplinesHealth Care Sciences & ServicesMULTIPLE MINI-INTERVIEW5-FACTOR MODELFAKING GOODSELECTIONPERFORMANCEADMISSIONTRAITSLEVELATTRIBUTESVALIDITY
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