ACCEPTANCE OF PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE FEEDBACK - THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE VARIABLES AND SOURCE OF INTERPRETATION

This study investigated a variety of factors which were hypothesized, on the basis of past research, to influence subjects' acceptance of fe edback of test results-report content, the source of interpretation, a nd individual differences. The Cattell 16PF was administered to 83 sub jects, each of whom subsequently attempted to identify their own repor t from a group of four. Half the subjects were led to believe that the personality data had been interpreted and the report generated by com puter, while half were told a human expert was responsible for this. S ubjects later rated their reports in terms of perceived accuracy and h ow satisfied they felt with them. The results showed that subjects wer e able to identify their test-derived personality al a level greater t han chance, but that they did not place more confidence in computer an alysis. However, the data suggest that an individual's level of formal education may influence confidence in human analysts. Gender and othe r individual differences were found to yield significant results in te rms of correct identification of own report, females and those higher in self-perceptive traits being more accurate. The findings are discus sed in terms of self-perception of trails and social desirability, and their implications for feedback of test results are discussed.