The properties and utility of evaluatively neutral personality scales

Evaluative neutralization implies rephrasing items such that it is less clear to the respondent what would be a desirable response in the given population. The current research introduces evaluatively neutralized scales measuring the FFM model and compares them with standard counterparts. Study 1 reveals that evaluatively neutralized scales are less influenced by social desirability. Study 2 estimates higher-order factor models for neutralized vs. standard five-factor scales. In contrast to standard inventories, there was little support for higher-order factors for neutralized scales. Study 3 demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity for the neutralized scales, e.g. by less inflated correlations to external measures. It is argued that evaluatively neutralized inventories help researchers come to grips with social desirability in personality measurement, and are particularly useful when the factor structure is central to the research question and there is a focus on discriminant validity.

评价中性化（Evaluative neutralization）指通过改写量表条目，使受访者难以明确在目标人群中何种应答才是符合期望的。本研究开发了用于测量大五人格（Five-Factor Model, FFM）模型的评价中性化量表，并将其与经典对应量表进行对比。研究1结果显示，评价中性化量表受社会称许性偏差的影响更小。研究2针对中性化量表与经典五因素量表分别估计了高阶因子模型，结果与经典量表不同的是，中性化量表几乎未获得高阶因子结构的验证支持。研究3证实了中性化量表的聚合效度与区分效度，例如其与外部测量指标的相关程度未出现过度夸大的情况。本研究表明，评价中性化量表能够帮助研究者应对人格测量中的社会称许性偏差，尤其适用于以因子结构为核心研究问题、且聚焦于区分效度的研究场景。