Influence of Objective Measures on Self-Reports in a Retrospective Pretest-Posttest Design

Abstract

Two experiments were done to assess the influence on subjects’ self-ratings of (a) awareness of an objective measure and (b) taking a performance test. The design of both studies was a pretest-posttest design, including retrospective preratings. Subjects were psychology freshmen fulfilling a course requirement. In line with earlier research, data indicate that the retrospective pre-rating approach reflects actual improvement of performance more accurately than the conventional prepost comparisons. The response shift phenomenon— defined as a significant difference between mean pre-ratings and mean retrospective ratings—was demonstrated in both experiments. Awareness of an objective measure, however, tends to weaken the response shift phenomenon, whereas actually taking a performance test tends to strengthen it.