{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/95318"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/95318","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Deciphering the general factor in interest measures: response style or attitude","abstract":"Unrotated factor analyses of interest data have consistently yielded a general factor of interests, an overarching factor with uniformly high loadings across interest subscales and individual items. The theoretical significance of this general factor of interest is still debated. In this paper, we aim to discriminate between two dominant interpretations of the general factor of interest—as either a substantive factor with meaning in the field of personality and interest, or as a measurement artifact which should be disregarded. Across four independent samples, we evaluate these competing interpretations of the general factor. We compare the general factor with broad personality measures that represent a general propensity for ‘liking’ stimuli, as well as an index of acquiescent response styles. More specifically, we test the general factor against measures of dispositional attitudes, neutral objects satisfaction, and acquiescent responding. Our results support the idea that the general factor of interests can be explained more from the standpoint of a general dispositional attitude to respond favorably towards objects and activities, rather than an acquiescence response style or neutral objects satisfaction. The general factor of interests can thus be used to offer insight into an individuals’ personality and is worth reporting in interest assessment results.","abstract_html":"Unrotated factor analyses of interest data have consistently yielded a general factor of interests, an overarching factor with uniformly high loadings across interest subscales and individual items. The theoretical significance of this general factor of interest is still debated. In this paper, we aim to discriminate between two dominant interpretations of the general factor of interest—as either a substantive factor with meaning in the field of personality and interest, or as a measurement artifact which should be disregarded. Across four independent samples, we evaluate these competing interpretations of the general factor. We compare the general factor with broad personality measures that represent a general propensity for ‘liking’ stimuli, as well as an index of acquiescent response styles. More specifically, we test the general factor against measures of dispositional attitudes, neutral objects satisfaction, and acquiescent responding. Our results support the idea that the general factor of interests can be explained more from the standpoint of a general dispositional attitude to respond favorably towards objects and activities, rather than an acquiescence response style or neutral objects satisfaction. The general factor of interests can thus be used to offer insight into an individuals’ personality and is worth reporting in interest assessment results.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wee, Jian Ming Colin"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Rounds, James","Drasgow, Fritz"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-03-01T15:48:43Z","date_published":"2017-03-01T15:48:43Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:37Z","subjects":["General Factor","Vocational Interest","Response Style","Acquiescence","Dispositional Attitude","Neutral Objects Satisfaction"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2016 Jian Ming Colin Wee"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95318","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Rounds, James","Drasgow, Fritz"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wee, Jian Ming Colin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-03-01T15:48:43Z","2016-11-21","2016-12"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["General Factor","Vocational Interest","Response Style","Acquiescence","Dispositional Attitude","Neutral Objects Satisfaction"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2016 Jian Ming Colin Wee"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95318"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Unrotated factor analyses of interest data have consistently yielded a general factor of interests, an overarching factor with uniformly high loadings across interest subscales and individual items. The theoretical significance of this general factor of interest is still debated. In this paper, we aim to discriminate between two dominant interpretations of the general factor of interest—as either a substantive factor with meaning in the field of personality and interest, or as a measurement artifact which should be disregarded. Across four independent samples, we evaluate these competing interpretations of the general factor. We compare the general factor with broad personality measures that represent a general propensity for ‘liking’ stimuli, as well as an index of acquiescent response styles. More specifically, we test the general factor against measures of dispositional attitudes, neutral objects satisfaction, and acquiescent responding. Our results support the idea that the general factor of interests can be explained more from the standpoint of a general dispositional attitude to respond favorably towards objects and activities, rather than an acquiescence response style or neutral objects satisfaction. The general factor of interests can thus be used to offer insight into an individuals’ personality and is worth reporting in interest assessment results.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-02-28 without embargo terms","The student, Jian Ming Colin Wee, accepted the attached license on 2016-11-21 at 12:38.","The student, Jian Ming Colin Wee, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-11-21 at 12:38.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-11-21 at 17:00.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10247 on 2017-02-28 at 14:47:40","Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-01T15:48:43Z (GMT). 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In this paper, we aim to discriminate between two dominant interpretations of the general factor of interest—as either a substantive factor with meaning in the field of personality and interest, or as a measurement artifact which should be disregarded. Across four independent samples, we evaluate these competing interpretations of the general factor. We compare the general factor with broad personality measures that represent a general propensity for ‘liking’ stimuli, as well as an index of acquiescent response styles. More specifically, we test the general factor against measures of dispositional attitudes, neutral objects satisfaction, and acquiescent responding. Our results support the idea that the general factor of interests can be explained more from the standpoint of a general dispositional attitude to respond favorably towards objects and activities, rather than an acquiescence response style or neutral objects satisfaction. 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