Personality and Uninformed Response Error

Abstract

In a survey of buyers of new food brands, grocery shoppers were given an opportunity to indicate their awareness and purchase of eight genuine and two bogus brand names. Of the sample, 40% indicated awareness of at least one of the bogus items. Comparisons of mean scores on 15 personality instruments were made between this suspect group (n = 103) and the regular (n = 157) respondents. Four significant differences in mean scores were detected: risk taking, dogmatism, cognitive complexity, and creativity. These differences, however, may be accounted for by demographic or other explanations, suggesting that the causes of false claiming do not appear to be located in systematic personality variation but may instead be attributed to both inattention and an agreeing response style.