Students' Perception of Actual, Trivial, and Inaccurate Personality Feedback

Abstract

Examined the ability of college students at two levels of defensiveness to discriminate among three types of personality feedback: actual personality feedback based on the student's test scores, trivial feedback which is generally true of all students, and inaccurate feedback which was the exact opposite of the student's actual test scores. The students could reliably discriminate the three types of feedback on the dimensions of uniqueness, usefulness, accuracy, and as a source of new information about themselves. The results are discussed in the context of the Barnum literature to the effect that students can offer valid perceptions of personality descriptions of themselves.