Wording effect leads to a controversy over the construct of the social dominance orientation scale.
Most investigations of individuals' social dominance orientation (SDO) have used the 16-item SDO scale developed by F. Pratto, J. Sidanius, L. M. Stallworth, and B. F. Malle (1994). The scale's authors believed it to be a unidimensional scale, but other researchers have found the scale has 2 or more factors. The present authors proposed a new hypothesis: The controversy of the scale structure was related to the wording effect of the scale. Based on a sample of Americans, Canadians, and Chinese, the present study indicated that what the scale measured was not only 1 trait of SDO, but also a negative-wording effect factor and that the scale structure was invariant across the 3 cultural groups. The existence of a wording effect reminds us to be cautious of the construct validity of the scale and interpretations of results.
Xin
Ziqiang
Z
Central University of Finance and Economics, School of Social Development, Beijing 100081, China. xinziqiang@sohu.com
Chi
Liping
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012660:Semantics; D012930:Social Dominance; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D035502:Trust; D014481:United States; D014894:Weights and Measures; D055815:Young Adult