Constructive Thinking and Firm Disagreement Versus Neuroticism and Mild Agreement: Asymmetric Correlations of Content and Response Measures

Abstract

All correlations among the principal content and response option measures of Costa and McCrae's (1985) NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) and Epstein and Meier's (1989) Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI) were surveyed in data from 303 university students. A bipolar cluster of adjustment-related scales, anchored by CTI Constructive Thinking versus NEO-PI Neuroticism (r = -.74), undergirded the 12 content scales' intercorrelations. Assenting and dissenting responses correlated positively across inventories and within firm, moderate, and neutral categories but correlated negatively across those categories. The content scales had notably asymmetric but consistently coherent associations with response options, strongest but opposite with firm dissent and mild assent and clearly weaker with firm assent, mild dissent, and noncommittal options. Findings indicate that response styles have psychological meanings that merit increased attention.