Generality and Stability of Extreme Response Style.

In a review paper, Rorer (1965) dismisses the importance of response style factors in test interpretation. He states that stylistic elements are test-specific, unstable, and not ro be considered a general component of an individual's mode of response. Rorer notes that statistically significant correlations between stylisric factors have occurred primarily in content-loaded situations and that such relationships are based on response set (i.e., a conscious or unconscious desire on the part of S to create a certain impression of himself) rather than response style (i.e., a personal mode of responding independent of test content), Thus, in order to establish the importance of response style, one would have to demonstrate its generality and stability in a situation where the influence of response set could not operate. A convenient way to eliminate the operation of response set or content factors from influencing S's response is to minimize the content available for S to use in forming his response. When this is done responses based on content or response set become less probable and personal stylistic factors begin to become major in S's response. The aim of this study was to investigate the generality and stability of two minimalcontent measures of response style. Evidence of such generality and stability would contradict Rorer's (1965) conclusion that response style is a "myth." The response style used in this investigation was extreme response style (i.e., the tendency disproportionately to endorse extreme response alternatives). Method.-Ninety female Ss' were exposed to two minimal-content measures, one visual, employing flashing patterns of light; and the other auditory, employing tonal patrerns resembling dots and dashes. Ss were asked to rate each of the 10 visual and 10 auditory patterns on two semantic differential factors, pleasant : unpleasant, relaxed : tense (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957). An extreme response was designated as a rating in the 1 or 7 position on the semantic differential. Since two sense modalities were rated on two scales, the maximum total extreme response style score was 40. A repetition of the above procedure was required for the initial 33 Ss for the purpose of measuring test-retest reliability of the minimal-content measures. Results.-The product-moment correlation between auditory and visual measures was .68 (p < .01, two-tailed), indicating a substantial degree of generality berween the two diffe~ent minimal content measures. To explore the stability of the measures, productmoment correlations were computed between scores obtained in the initial testing and those obtained in retest after 1 wk. The correlations for visual, auditory, and combined measures were .GO, .75, and .74 respectively. All correlations were significantly different from zero (p < .01) and indicate that minimal-content measures are reliable over time. The mean rating on the seven-point scale was 3.78 for the visual, 3.89 for the auditory, and 3.84 for the combined measure. Since the means are close to their scale midpoints the stimuli seem of minimal content with respect to the semantic differential scales. Extreme response style is not test-specific, is not unstable, and should be viewed as important in understanding S's mode of response.