Abstract
The Personal Profile System is an extensively used self-inter-preting personality measure that is supported by the publicly undocumented statement that its profile interpretations are accepted by users as being 90 percent accurate, although such declarations are ambiguous and possibly misleading from the standpoint of validity. The present study found some support for the validity of the measure after the Barnum Effect had been controlled. Subjects receiving their own profile interpretations rated them as being more accurate than did subjects who received a profile interpretation for another person. These results were discussed in terms of the use of controlled face validity as a frequently used method of psychometric support for an instrument.
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