The effect of specific selection sets on a forced-choice self-description inventory

Abstract

"1. Indirect evidence of validity is presented for three scales of the Ghiselli Self Description Inventory. Persons viewed by others as possessing a trait in marked degree receive high scores on the scale designed to measure that trait. 2. When a set is introduced which suggests that a company is 'looking for men with… ,' scores on the trait named increase significantly. 3. Bias introduced by a specific set generalizes to other scales in the inventory. This is a disturbing influence in use as a selection instrument, since it increases the number of potential sources of a high score. 4. It is suggested that preference index alone is an insufficient basis for constructing forced-choice pairs, if biasability is to be minimized." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)