Eunike Wetzel

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg | OvGU · Department of Psychology

Previous research has followed a binary perspective in analyzing the effects of modernization and globalization, often assumed to produce the societal camps of both “winners” and “losers” in economic, cultural, and political terms. However, our understanding of these individual differences and the social groups that perceive themselves as disadvant...

The development of the personality traits Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism is hardly understood. We theorize that the well-documented maturity principle applies to these traits. Decreasing levels of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and the antagonistic dimension “narcissistic rivalry” could be interpreted as reflecting maturation. The se...

Age and gender differences in narcissism have been studied often. However, considering the rich history of narcissism research accompanied by its diverging conceptualizations, little is known about age and gender differences across various narcissism measures. The present study investigated age and gender differences and their interactions across e...

Age and gender differences in narcissism have been studied often. However, considering the rich history of narcissism research accompanied by its diverging conceptualizations, little is known about age and gender differences across various narcissism measures. The present study investigated age and gender differences and their interactions across e...

The Thurstonian item response model (Thurstonian IRT model) allows deriving normative trait estimates from multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) data. In the MFC format, persons must rank-order items that measure different attributes according to how well the items describe them. This study evaluated the normativity of Thurstonian IRT trait estimate...

Machiavellianism (Mach) and subclinical psychopathy are two widely studied antagonistic personality traits with distinct theoretical conceptualizations. Mach is conceptualized by strategic deviousness, cynicism, and pragmatic morality, whereas subclinical psychopathy is conceptualized by impulsive antisocial tendencies, callousness, and rule-breaki...

A common concern with self-reports of personality traits in selection contexts is faking. The multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format has been proposed as an alternative to rating scales (RS) that could prevent faking. The goal of this study was to compare the susceptibility of the MFC format and the RS format to faking in a simulated high-stak...

Hussey and Hughes (2020) analyzed four aspects (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure, and measurement invariance) relevant to the structural validity of psychological scales in 15 self-report questionnaires and concluded that social and personality psychology has a “hidden invalidity” problem. We argue that their argument...

A common concern with self-reports of personality traits in selection contexts is faking. The multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format has been proposed as an alternative to rating scales (RS) that could prevent faking. The goal of this study was to compare the susceptibility of the MFC and RS format to faking in a simulated high-stakes setting....

With a recent surge of research on narcissism, narcissism questionnaires are increasingly being translated and applied in various countries. The measurement invariance of an instrument across countries is a precondition for being able to compare scores across countries. We investigated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of three narcissism q...

With a recent surge of research on narcissism, narcissism questionnaires are increasingly beingtranslated and applied in various countries. The measurement invariance of an instrument across countries is a precondition for being able to compare scores across countries. We investigated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of three narcissism qu...

The multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format has been proposed as an alternative to rating scales (RS) that may be less susceptible to response biases. The goal of this study was to compare the validity of trait estimates from the MFC and the RS format when using normative scoring for both formats. We focused on construct validity and criterion-...

To date, there have been no long-term longitudinal studies of continuity and change in narcissism. This study investigated rank-order consistency and mean-level changes in overall narcissism and 3 of its facets (leadership, vanity, and entitlement) over a 23-year period spanning young adulthood (Mage = 18, N = 486) to midlife (Mage = 41, N = 237)....

The multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format has been proposed as an alternative to rating scales (RS) that may be less susceptible to response biases. The goal of this study was to compare the validity of trait estimates from the MFC and the RS format when using normative scoring for both formats. We focused on construct validity and criterion-...

To date, there have been no long-term longitudinal studies of continuity and change in narcissism. This study investigated rank-order consistency and mean-level changes in overall narcissism and three of its facets (leadership, vanity, entitlement) over a 23-year period spanning young adulthood (Mage=18; N = 486) to midlife (Mage=41; N = 237). We a...

Most studies have treated grandiose narcissism as a unidimensional construct and investigated its associations in cross-sectional convenience samples. The present research systematically addresses these limitations by investigating the associations of agentic and antagonistic aspects of narcissism in the interpersonal, intrapersonal, and institutio...

Previous research has shown that narcissistic traits such as exploitativeness, exhibitionism, and entitlement are associated with delinquency and aggression in childhood and adolescence. However, there is a paucity of longitudinal research examining these associations, and virtually no research examining other problem behaviors such as drug use and...

This chapter reviews research on generational changes in self-esteem and narcissism. First, we clarify terms and distinguish different types of changes associated with generation and age. Second, we describe study designs and methods for the investigation of generational changes. Third, we summarize research on generational changes in self-esteem a...

The multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format has been proposed as an alternative to the rating scale (RS) response format. However, it is unclear how changing the response format may affect the response process and test motivation of participants. In Study 1, we investigated the MFC response process using the think-aloud technique. In Study 2, w...

In this article, our aim is to introduce the formal validation criterion of specific objectivity to environmental psychologists. Using a convenience sample of 787 respondents, we constructed a set of attitude measures. We found that all five scales represented one attribute. As expected from the Campbell Paradigm, individual attitude can be inferre...

The present study aims to validate an Italian version of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ), which operationalizes the two-dimensional model of grandiose narcissism recently proposed by Back et al. (2013). The model differentiates between Admiration and Rivalry, two dimensions that entail the agentic and antagonistic aspec...

Response styles can influence item responses in addition to a respondent’s latent trait level. A common concern is that comparisons between individuals based on sum scores may be rendered invalid by response style effects. This paper investigates a multidimensional approach to modeling traits and response styles simultaneously. Models incorporating...

We investigated the development of narcissistic admiration (i.e., the assertive or extraverted dimension of narcissism; Back et al., 2013) and Machiavellianism (Mach) in early adulthood. Specifically, we examined (a) mean-level changes in narcissistic admiration and Mach during early adulthood and (b) how studying economics and experiencing any of...

Are recent cohorts of college students more narcissistic than their predecessors? To address debates about the so-called “narcissism epidemic,” we used data from three cohorts of students (N1990s = 1,166; N2000s = 33,647; N2010s = 25,412) to test whether narcissism levels (overall and specific facets) have increased across generations. We also test...

The current study compares the closeness to unidimensionality (CU) and measurement precision (MP) of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979)—with either a pairwise forced-choice or 5-point Likert scale response format—to the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ; Back et al., 2013). Minimum rank factor an...

Due to increased empirical interest in narcissism across social sciences, there is a need for inventories that can be administered quickly while also reliably measuring both the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. In this study, we sought to validate the factor structure, provide representative descriptive data and reliability...

Background: Stress symptoms are widespread in the general population and often occur in the early course of mental disorders. However, no validated instrument was available for the study of subclinical stress symptoms and their relevance in the study of psychopathological trajectories. In order to advance and systematize the study of the etiology...

This study investigated grandiose narcissism from a categorical perspective. We tested whether subgroups of narcissists can be distinguished that differ in their expressions of more agentic (narcissistic admiration, ADM) and more antagonistic (narcissistic rivalry, RIV) pathways of narcissism. We analyzed three German samples (total N = 2,211; Mage...

Response biases comprise a variety of systematic tendencies of responding to questionnaire items. Response biases exert an influence on item responses in addition to any constructs that the questionnaire is designed to measure and can therefore potentially bias the corresponding trait level estimates. This chapter addresses general response biases...

Narcissism is an important and consequential aspect of personality, yet we know little about its developmental origins. Using data from a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin families, we examined cross-lagged relations between parenting behaviors (warmth, hostility, monitoring) and narcissism (superiority, exploitativeness). Parental hostility...

In psychological research, there is a growing interest in using latent class analysis (LCA) for the investigation of quantitative constructs. The aim of this study is to illustrate how LCA can be applied to gain insights on a construct and to select items during test development. We show the added benefits of LCA beyond factor-analytic methods, nam...

The prevalent scoring practice for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) ignores the forced-choice nature of the items. The aim of this study was to investigate whether findings based on NPI scores reported in previous research can be confirmed when the forced-choice nature of the NPI’s original response format is appropriately modeled, and...

In large-scale educational surveys, a latent regression model is used to compensate for the shortage of cognitive information. Conventionally, the covariates in the latent regression model are principal components extracted from background data. This operational method has several important disadvantages, such as the handling of missing data and th...

The impact of response styles such as extreme response style (ERS) on trait estimation has long been a matter of concern to researchers and practitioners. This simulation study investigated three methods that have been proposed for the correction of trait estimates for ERS effects: (a) mixed Rasch models, (b) multidimensional item response models,...

With theoretical and empirical interest in narcissism growing, there is a need for brief measures of pathological narcissism that can be used more practically while assessing the construct comprehensively. Data from four samples (total N = 3,851) collected across two separate research groups and representing undergraduate, community, and clinical p...

This study investigated the stability of extreme response style (ERS) and acquiescence response style (ARS) over a period of 8 years. ERS and ARS were measured with item sets drawn randomly from a large pool of items used in an ongoing German panel study. Latent-trait-state-occasion and latent-state models were applied to test the relationship betw...

Vocational interest inventories are commonly analyzed using a unidimensional approach, that is, each subscale is analyzed separately. However, the theories on which these inventories are based often postulate specific relationships between the interest traits. This article presents a multidimensional approach to the analysis of vocational interest...

When questionnaire data with an ordered polytomous response format are analyzed in the framework of item response theory using the partial credit model or the generalized partial credit model, reversed thresholds may occur. This led to the discussion of whether reversed thresholds violate model assumptions and indicate disordering of the response c...

Large mean differences are consistently found in the vocational interests of men and women. These differences may be attributable to real differences in the underlying traits. However, they may also depend on the properties of the instrument being used. It is conceivable that, in addition to the intended dimension, items assess a second dimension t...

An important pre-requisite of trend analyses in large scale educational assessments is the measure-ment invariance of the testing instruments across cycles. This paper investigates the measurement invariance of the PISA 2000 and PISA 2009 reading instruments using Item Response Theory models. Links between the PISA 2000 and PISA 2009 instruments we...

The occurrence of differential item functioning (DIF) for gender indicates that an instrument may not be functioning equivalently for men and women. Aside from DIF effects, item responses in personality questionnaires can also be influenced by response styles. This study analyzes the German NEO-PI-R regarding its differential item functioning for m...

The consistency of extreme response style (ERS) and non-extreme response style (NERS) across the latent variables assessed in an instrument is investigated. Analyses were conducted on several PISA 2006 attitude scales and the German NEO-PI-R. First, a mixed partial credit model (PCM) and a constrained mixed PCM were compared regarding model fit. If...

Zusammenfassung. Mithilfe der Richtlinien des National Institute of Education (NIE) wurden 15 deutschsprachige Interessentests hinsichtlich ihrer Gender Fairness bewertet. Dazu wurde untersucht, ob im Testmaterial, Manual und Begleitmaterial die Forderungen der NIE-Richtlinien umgesetzt wurden. Bezüglich des Testmaterials werden die meisten Verfahr...

Three test construction strategies are described and illustrated in the development of the Verb Interest Test (VIT), an inventory that assesses vocational interests using verbs. Verbs might be a promising alternative to the descriptions of occupational activities used in most vocational interest inventories because they are context-independent, tim...