The accurate determination of malingering relies on the use of validated and clinically relevant assessment measures. Simulation design is the most often-used research design to accomplish this. However, its external validity is sometimes questioned. The goal of the thesis was to systematically evaluate these major elements: situation, incentives, and coaching. The situation in simulation studies can vary from relevant (academic failure in a college population) to irrelevant (capital murder) for the samples being studied. Incentives refer to the external motivation given to improve simulators' performance and can be positive (extra credit and monetary reward) or negative (extra time and effort). Finally, coaching refers to whether the participant receives any information on detection strategies that are designed to identify feigners. Using a large undergraduate sample in a factorial design, results indicate that a scenario familiar to the participants generally improved the believability of their responses. Coaching also improved the ability to feign convincingly, while incentive type was not associated with any change in scores. The implications of these findings for future research designs and the connection to practice are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc33153 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Gillard, Nathan D. |
| Contributors | Rogers, Richard, 1950-, Sewell, Kenneth W., Guarnaccia, Charles A. |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | vii, 168 p., Text |
| Rights | Public, Copyright, Gillard, Nathan D., Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds