Tendency of the subject to agree with items irrespective of their content is called:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Acquiescence
Option (1) Acquiescence — Correct. It is the tendency of the subject to agree with items irrespective of their contents, often seen as saying ‘yes’ to items. Like social desirability, it makes the assessment of personality less reliable.
Option (2) Halo effect — Incorrect. It is a bias of raters, not of the person answering: a rater greatly influenced by a single favourable or unfavourable trait bases the whole judgement of a person on it.
Option (3) Social desirability — Incorrect. It is the other main problem of self-report measures: the respondent endorses items in a socially desirable manner, giving the answer that looks good. The answer depends on the content of the item, the opposite of agreeing irrespective of content.
Option (4) Extreme response bias — Incorrect. It is another bias of raters: they place individuals in the extreme positions of a rating scale and avoid the middle. It concerns where on a scale people are placed, not agreeing with every item.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 31-05-2023 (Slot 3) and 23-06-2023 (Slot 3), and in CUET (UG) 2026 on 29-05-2026 (Slot 2).
NCERT (2025-26): “Self-report Measures … The self-report measures suffer from a number of problems. Social desirability is one of them. It is a tendency on the part of the respondent to endorse items in a socially desirable manner. Acquiescence is another one. It is a tendency of the subject to agree with items/questions irrespective of their contents. It often appears in the form of saying ‘yes’ to items. These tendencies render the assessment of personality less reliable.…” “Behavioural Ratings … (1) Raters often display certain biases that colour their judgments of different traits. For example, most of us are greatly influenced by a single favourable or unfavourable trait. This often forms the basis of a rater’s overall judgment of a person. This tendency is known as the halo effect. (2) Raters have a tendency to place individuals either in the middle of the scale (called middle category bias) by avoiding extreme positions, or in the extreme positions (called extreme response bias)…” |