Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) was designed to measure the major dimensions of normal and abnormal personality (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975).
Eysenck isolated three major dimensions of personality: Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), and Neuroticism (N). The EPQ consists of scales to measure these dimensions and also incorporates a Lie (L) scale to assess the validity of an examinee’s responses. The EPQ contains 90 statements answered “yes” or “no” and is designed for persons aged 16 and older. A Junior EPQ containing 81 statements is suitable for children ages 7 to 15.
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Items on the P scale resemble the following:
Do you often break the rules? (T)
Would you worry if you were in debt? (F)
High scores on the P scale indicate aggressive and hostile traits, impulsivity, a preference for liking odd or unusual things, and empathy defects. Antisocial and schizoid patients often obtain high scores on this dimension. In contrast, low scores on P foretell more desirable characteristics such as empathy and interpersonal sensitivity.
Items on the E scale resemble the following:
Do you like to meet new people? (T)
Are you quiet when with others? (F)
High scores on the E scale indicate a loud, gregarious, outgoing, fun-loving person. Low scores on the E scale indicate introverted traits such as a preference for solitude and quiet activities.
Items on the N scale resemble the following:
Are you a moody person? (T)
Do you feel that life is dull? (T)
Are your feelings easily hurt? (T)
The N scale reflects a dimension of emotionality that ranges from nervous, maladjusted, and overemotional (high scores) to stable and confident (low scores).
The reliability of the EPQ is excellent. For example, the one-month test–retest correlations were .78 (P), .89 (E), .86 (N), and .84 (L). Internal consistencies were in the .70s for P and the .80s for the other three scales. The construct validity of the EPQ is also well established through dozens of studies using behavioral, emotional, learning, attentional, and therapeutic criteria (reviewed in Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985).
A major focus of research with the EPQ has been on the empirical correlates of extraversion and its polar opposite, introversion. Eysenck and Eysenck (1975) describe the typical extravert as follows:
The typical extravert is sociable, likes parties, has many friends, needs to have people to talk to, and does not like reading or studying by himself. He craves excitement, takes chances, often sticks his neck out, acts on the spur of the moment, and is generally an impulsive individual.
They describe the typical introvert as follows:
The typical introvert is a quiet, retiring sort of person, introspective, fond of books rather than people; he is reserved and distant except to intimate friends. He tends to plan ahead, “looks before he leaps,” and mistrusts the impulse of the moment.
Eysenck and his followers have linked a number of perceptual and physiological factors to the extraversion/introversion dimension.Because of space limitations, we can only list representative findings here:
•Introverts are more vigilant in watch keeping.
•Introverts do better at signal-detection tasks.
•Introverts are less tolerant of pain but more tolerant of sensory deprivation.
•Extraverts are more easily conditioned to stimuli associated with sexual arousal.
•Extraverts have a greater need for external stimulation.
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