Mental test performance as a function of payoff conditions, item difficulty, and degree of speeding

Abstract

Using analysis of variance and factor analysis, the performance of 41 psychology students on the Michill General Ability Test was analyzed. "… the experimental manipulation of payoff conditions, difficulty, and speeding can introduce substantially important new factors of which the test constructor may or may not be fully aware… . The commonly held belief that, for all practical purposes, test directions provide an adequate control of the Ss motivation and/or mental set is clearly untenable." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)