RELIABILITY ESTIMATE FOR FAVORABILITY (SOCIAL DESIRABILITY) RATINGS OF MMPI ITEMS.

Abstract

items. A product-moment correlation coefficient was computed between the two different sets of favorability ratings for these 16 items. The resulting coefficient was ,987. While these 16 items may not be regarded as representing a random sample of MMPI items, they are quite heterogeneous regarding content when compared with the MMPI item content categories described by Wiggins and Vollman (1959). Messick and Jackson (1961), using the method of successive intervals, developed SD scale values for MMPI items and found a similar correlation coefficient (.984) between the two sers of SD scale values for these duplicate items. There has been a surprising degree of similarity among the various sers of SD scale values developed for MMPI items. Messick and Jackson found that their SD values for MMPI items correlated ,964 with the Heineman values. Mees, Gocka, and Holloway (1964) reported a correlation of .35 between their SD scale values for those 178 California Personality Inventory items identical with MMPI items and the Messick-Jackson SD scale values for these 178 items. As Messick and Jackson have suggested, regarding MMPI items, [here appears to be extremely high stability of average desirability judgments and their comparability across samples (p. 413). It appears, if we generalized €tom the high similarity of reported MMPI item SD values and from the studied 16 items, thar the Heineman favorability (desirability) ratings for MMPI items possess high reliability.