EYSENCK PERSONALITY INVENTORY: IMPULSMTY/ NEUROTICISM AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY RESPONSE SET '

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1 Psychological Reports, 1996, 78, O Psychological Reports 1996 EYSENCK PERSONALITY INVENTORY: IMPULSMTY/ NEUROTICISM AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY RESPONSE SET ' VEENA KUMARI Barzaras Hindu University Summary.-The Hindi version of the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Trait scale of the Hindi version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to 945 female Indian students (M age=20.4 yr., SD=1.4) to study the personalities of those scoring low and high on the Lie scale, and the association of Lie scale scores in the intercorrelation between Impulsivity and Neuroticism under no motivation to fake good. The group with low scores on the Lie scale had lower scores on Irnpulsivicy and higher scores on Neuroticism and Trait Anxiety than a group scoring high on the Lie scale. No associauon of Lie scale scores was observed with scores on Extraversion. Lie scale scores were differentially associated with scores on Impulsivity and Neuroucism. The need to consider the Lie scale in addtion to other scales in studies of personality is emphasised. The Lie scale has, from the very beginning, been an important feature of the Eysenckian scales, e.g., the Maudsley Personality Inventory (Eysenck, 19591, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1964), the Eysenck Personahty Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975), and the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barrett, 1985). Several studies have used these self-report scales to measure personality traits thought to reflect indvidual differences in either arousabhty, i.e., Extraversion, or activation, i.e., Neuroticism (Eysenck, 19671, and have related these traits to behaviour and performance across a wide range of tasks (Strelau & Eysenck, 1987). It has been suggested (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1964) that personality scores become doubtful if Lie scores are extreme. While few researchers choose to eluninate high Lie scorers from their studies (e.g., Gupta, 1991; Gupta & Gupta, 1990; Kumari, Corr, & Gupta, in press), most researchers have not considered Lie scale scores to be an important variable. If scores on the Lie scale indcate the accuracy (Gormon, 19681, then these scores might have been influential in accounting for the inconsistent findings for the roles of Extraversion/Impulsivity (a subcomponent of Extraversion) in scores on ArousaVArousab~lit~ and cognitive ~erformance (see, for a review, Corr, Pickering, & Gray, 1995; Revelle, Humphreys, Simon, & GLUlland, 1980). 'The author thanks Dr. Philip J. Corr for helpful comments on an earlier version of chis manuscript. Correspondence should be sent to Dr. Veena Kumari, Department of Psycholo, Institute of Psychiat University of London, De Crespigny Park, London, SES BAF, &. E-mad-v.kumari@iopfd~d.ac.uk

There could be several deliberate, subconscious or unconscious reasons for individuals to score high on the Lie scale such as dehberate faking, answering items in a way which suits an ideal self

2 There could be several deliberate, subconscious or unconscious reasons for individuals to score high on the Lie scale such as dehberate faking, answering items in a way which suits an ideal self rather than the real self, inaccurate and uninsightful self-assessment (Dicken, 1959), or genuine social conformity (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1976). Studes have shown that deviant populations, e.g., drug addicts, dffer from normal ones not only on scores on the Extraversion, Psychoticism, and Neuroticism scales but also on scores on the Lie scales (Gossop & Eysenck, 1983; Lodhi & Thakur, 1993; Shashi, Chawla, Bhushan, & Kacker, 1990). Several studies (see, for a review, Lodhi & Thomas, 1991) have concerned the relationship of scores on the Extraversion and Neuroticism scales of the Maudsley Personality Inventory or the Eysenck Personality Inventory with scores on the Lie scale, providing consistent reports of a negative correlation between the Neuroticism and Lie scale scores under instructions to fake good. Increased motivation to dissimulate produces higher negative correlations between scores on the Lie scale and Neuroticism (Michaelis & Eysenck, 1971), between scores on the Lie scale and on Psychoticism (Lodhi & Thomas, 1991; Michaelis & Eysenck, 1971), and between scores on the Psychoticism scale and on Neuroticism (Lodhi & Thomas, 1991), but this does not provide insight into ways low and high scorers on the Lie scale might differ under conditions of low or no motivation to dissimulate. Moreover, researchers have not addressed whether scores on the Lie scale are related to scores on the Impulsivity component of Extraversion. So far, scores on Extraversion have not been affected by either instructions to fake good (Eysenck, Eysenck, & Shaw, 1974; Farley, 1970) or to not fake good (Eysenck, et al., 1974). The present study was conducted to study scores on the Lie scale in a large homogeneous normal population where there was no apparent reason for the subjects to be motivated to fake good or bad. The first aim of the study was to explore the scores of women on the Eysenck Personality Lnventory and the Trait scale of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory with respect to their scores on the Lie scale. The second aim was to study the interrelationship of scores on various personalty measures, particulariy of Impulsivity with Neuroticism and Trait Anxiety for those who score low and high on the Lie scale as measured on the Hind version (Gupta & Poddar, 1979) of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Form A) and the Trait Scale of the HindI version (Spielberger, Sharma, & Singh, 1973) of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970). A high positive relationship has been observed between the measures of Neuroticism and Trait Anxiety (Shields, 1973). The present study was done to explore whether Impulsivity has a relationship with Trait Anxiety similar to that with Neuroticism. Although the Eysencks have replaced the Eysenck Personality Inventory with the Eysenck Personahty Questionnaire and the Revised Eysenck

3 IMPULSIVITY/NEUROTICISM AND SOCIAL DESIRABLLITY 37 Personahty Questionnaire in which Impulsivity now loads on Psychoticism (particularly for males) and have also developed Impulsivity scales (Eysenck & Eysenck, 19911, the Eysenck Personahty Inventory was used in the present study because no appropriate Hindi translations for the others were available at the time this study was conducted. METHOD Subjects Nine hundred and forty-five graduate and postgraduate women students (M age = 20.4 yr., SD = 1.4) from various universities of Varanasi served as (unpaid) volunteers. Subjects were classified into groups of low and high scorers on the Lie scale by selecting those with scores one standard deviation below (Low Lie group) or above (H~gh Lie group) the group mean (M =3.60, SD= 1.56). To make the Low- and High-scoring Lie groups fairly distinctive, those with scores within one standard deviation of the group mean were not included in either group. There were 226 subjects classified as scoring low on the Lie scale (M = 1.50, SD=0.64) and 296 subjects classified as scoring high (M= 5.36, SD= 0.78). Procedure The Hindi version of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Form A) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Trait Scale only) were administered to students either in&vidually or in groups consisting of not more than four students. The crlrerlon of four or less students enabled the author to ensure that subjects paid accention to the questions and did not answer randomly. Items 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 22, 39, and 41 (9 items) of the Eysenck Person&ty Inventory were used to form the Impulsivity scale as used by Revelle, et al. (1980). RESULTS Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics for the personality measures and Table 2 presents the intercorrelations among personahy measures both for the over-all sample and for the Low- and Htgh-scoring Lie groups. High- and low-scoring groups did not Mer in scores on Extraversion, but differences in ~ersonality scores of low- and high-scoring groups were observed for Neuroticism, Trait Anxiety, and Impulsivity measures. The Low-scoring Lie group had higher scores on Neuroticism (p=.001) and Trait Anxiety (p =.001), and lower scores on Impulsivity (p =.03) than the High-scoring Lie group, as indicated by two-tded paired t tests. As shown in Table 2, for the group scoring low on the Lie scale, scores on Impulsivity were correlated positively (p<.01, corrected for multiple comparisons) with scores on Neuroticism and Extraversion. In the group

4 Group V. KUMARI TABLE 1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR FOUR PERSONALITY MWURES Measure Extraversion Impulsivity Neurodcism Trait Anxiety Low Lie Scorers M SD High Lie Scorers M SD Total Group M SD scoring high on the Lie scale, scores on Impulsivity were correlated positively with scores on Extraversion but were uncorrelated with scores on Neuroticism (p >.05). In both groups, scores on Trait Anxiety were not correlated with scores on Impulsivity but were positively correlated (corrected p<.oi) with scores on Neuroticism. Therefore, the difference in the intercorrelation as a function of scores on the Lie scale was observed (p<.02) only between Impulsivity and Neuroticism measures (the significance of the ddference between rs for the groups scoring low and high on the Lie scale was determined using Fisher's r function). - TABLE 2 PEARSON INTERCORRELATIONS AMONG PERSONALITY MEASURES FOR OVER-ALL SAMPLE AND GROUPSCORING LOW AND HIGH ON THE LLE SCALE Measure Extraversion Imoulsiviw Neuroticism Trait Anxietv Extraversion Low Lie High Lie Total Impulsivity Low Lie.55$ High Lie.67$ Total.61$ Neuroticism Low Lie.04.24$ Ngh Lie Total.01.07* Trair Anxiety Low Lie -.I $ High Lie $ Total -.I $ Lie Total t -.13t Note.--Two-tailed *p<.05. tp<.01. Sp<,001.

5 IMPULSMTYiNEUROTICISM AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY DISCUSSION Individuals in the Low-scoring Lie group appeared to score lower on Lrnpulsivity and hlgher on Neuroticism and Trait Anxiety than those in the mgh-scoring Lie group. Possibly, these indviduals take more time in answering items (Molto, Segarra, & Avila, 1993) than their peers, which results in a more accurate self-assessment, and hence, low Lie scores. Scores on Extraversion and Neuroticism were not correlated for either group as would be expected (Eysenck, 1967). Consistent with previous reports, scores on Extraversion were not affected by scores on the Lie scale. The findmgs suggest that researchers who investigate sensitivity to reward and punishment, based on Gray's (1970) persondty model, would possibly increase control by choosing only subjects whose scores on the Lie scale are low, since the positive correlation between Lmpulsivity and Neuroticism would increase their sensitivity to reward and punishment. Results suggest that researchers, using the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, should routinely examine Lie scores. However, gender differences have also been reported for scores on the Eysenckian scales (Diaz & Pickering, 1993) and the exclusive use of women as subjects limits the robustness of the present findings. It would be appropriate to assess whether this influence of Lie scores on other personality measures is found for men also. REFERENCES CORR, P. J., PICKEFUNG, A. D., &GRAY, J. A. (1995) Impulsivi~/sociabiliry and caffeine induced arousal: critical flicker/fusion frequency and procedural learning. Personality and Individual Dzfferences, 18, DM, A., & PICKERING, A. D. (1993) The relationship between Gray's and Eysenck's personality spaces. Personality and Individual Dzfferences, 15, DICKEN, C. F. (1959) Sirnulared patterns on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4 3, EYSENCK, H. J. (1959) The ~Maudsley Personality Inventory. London: Univer. of London. EYSENCK. H. J. (1967) The biological basis of personality. Springfield, IL: Thomas. EYSENCK. H. J., &EYSENCK, S. B. G. (1964) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inuentoy. London: Univer. of London. EYSENCK, H. J., & EYSENCK, S. B. G. (1975) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. London: Univer. of London. EYSENCK, H. J., & EYSENCK, S. B. G. (1976) Psychoticism as a dimension of personality. London: Hodder & Stoughton. EYSENCK, H. J., &EYSENCK, S. B. G. (1991) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Scales. London: Hodder & Stoughton. EYSENCK. H. J., EYSENCK, S. 8. G., BARR RE^, I? (1985) A revised version of psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Dzfferences, 6, EYSENCK, H. I., EYSENCK, S. B. G., &SHAW, L. (1974) The modification of personalit and Lie scale scores by special 'honesry' instrucdons. Briii~h ]ourrral of Social and ~li,rica/~rjchology, 13, FARLEY, F. H. (1970) Generality of falang effects in the dimensional measurement of personaliry. Australian Jounlal of Personality, 22, GORMON, B. S. (1968) Social desirability factors and the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Journal of Psychology, 69,

Gosso~, M. R., & EYSENCK, H. 1. (1983) A comparison of che personality of drug addicts in treatment with chat of a prison population. Personality and Individual D~fferences, 4, 207-209. GRAY, J. A. (1970) The psychophysiological basis of introversion-extraversion.

6 Gosso~, M. R., & EYSENCK, H. 1. (1983) A comparison of che personality of drug addicts in treatment with chat of a prison population. Personality and Individual D~fferences, 4, GRAY, J. A. (1970) The psychophysiological basis of introversion-extraversion. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 8, GUPTA, B. S., & PODDAR, M. (1979) Personality traits among Hindi-knowing Indian students. Journal of Social Psychology, 107, GUPTA, U. (1991) Differential effects of caffeine on free recall after semantic and rhyming tasks in high and low impulsives. Psychopharmacology, 108, GUPTA, U., & GUPTA, B. S. (1990) Caffeine dlfferentially affects lunesthetic aftereffect in high and low impulsives. Psychopharmacology, 102, KUMARI, V., CORR, P., &GUPTA, B. S. (in press) Interactive effects of trait anxiety, menstrual c cle, time of d ay and time pressure instructions on cognitive performance. PharmacopsycXoecologia. LODHI, l? H.. &TUKUR. S. (1993) Personality of drug addicts: Eysencluan analysis. Personality and Individual D~fferences, 15, LODHI, l? H., &THOMAS, G. (1991) Effects of experimentally induced res onse sets in assessing Eysenckian dimensions of personality. Personality and Individual ~Ijerences, 12, MICHAELIS, W., &EYSENCK, H. 1. (1971) The determination of personality inventory factor patterns and intercorrela tions by changes in real life situations. lournu1 of Generics and Psychology, 118, Mo~ro. 1.. SEGARRA, l?, &AVIIA, C. (1993) Impulsivi and total response speed to a personality questionnaire. Personalily and lrzdividual ~tzrences, 15, REVELLE, W., HUMPHREYS, M. S., SIMON, L., & GILLIIAND, K. (1980) The interactive effects of personality, time of day, and caffeine: a test of the arousal model. ]ourno[ of Experimental Psychology: General, 109, SUSHI, G., C u m, H. M., BHUSHAN, B., &KACKER, C. (1990) Eysenck Personality Questionnaire scores of heroin addicts in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 32, SHIELDS. J. (1973) Heredity and psychological abnormality. In H. J. Eysenck (Ed.), Handbook ofabrtormal psychology. London: Pitman. Pp SPIELBERGER, C. D., GORSUCH, R., & LUSHENE. R. (1970) The Sta!e-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. SPIELBERGER, C. D.. SHARMA, S., &SINGH, M. (1973) Hindi version of State-Trait Anxiery Inventory. Indian Iournal of Psychology, 48, 11-20, STRELAU, J., &EYSENCK, H. J. (1987) Personality dimensions and aroural. New York: Plenum. Accepted December 6, 1995.

Personality Type and Cued Vigil Performance

107 Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, January 2009, Vol. 35, No.1, 107-111. Personality Type and Cued Vigil Performance Upagya Rai and Indramani L. Singh Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi