Unmasking Verbal Defensiveness
The Role of Psychological Threat in Sentence Completion Tests
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21352010 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William B Ridgway (0000-0002-6401-3113, University of Nevada, Reno, corresponding author), James J Picano (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Houston, Texas), Charles A Morgan (University of New Haven), Robert R Roland (Independent Operational Psychologist, Pebble Beach, California), Róbert Roland (California State University, Long Beach), Yaron G Rabinowitz (United States Navy, Great Lakes, Illinois) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 106 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 810-818 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality Assessment (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3891 • E-ISSN: 1532-7752 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00223891.2024.2326941 |
| PMID | 38489487 |
| OpenAlex | W4392856820 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 34 |
Shedding light on the validity of sentence completion test (SCT) verbal defensiveness as an index of defensive behavior, the current two-part study examined the relationship between psychological threat and verbal defensiveness among military security and mission-critical team candidates using SCTs. Our study showed that as the threatening nature of SCT stems increased, defensive responses also increased, substantiating the link between psychological threat and defensive behavior. In addition, expert ratings of stem content revealed moderately strong relationships with defensive responses across two different SCTs, irrespective of their structural characteristics. In contrast to previous studies using total verbal defensiveness scores, we examined specific defensive response types and their associations with stem threat ratings, finding that omissions, denial, and comments about the test were linked to stem threat levels. Lastly, our study extends the application of the SCT verbal defensiveness index beyond specialized personnel selection, finding no significant differences in verbal defensiveness based on gender or military status. Overall, these findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of defensive behavior and its contextual variations
Denial · Developmental psychology · Sentence · Sentence completion tests · Test (biology) · Clinical Psychology · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |