EYSENCK’S PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE-REVISED (EPQ-R)

INTRODUCTION

An individual’s personality is a combination of traits and patterns that influence their

behavior, thought, motivation, and emotion. It drives individuals to consistently think, feel,
and behave in specific ways; in essence, it is what makes each individual unique. Over time,
these patterns strongly influence personal expectations, perceptions, values, and attitudes. It
is a unique entity resulting from the interaction between a person and his environment. It can
be understood in terms of a person’s behavior, actions, postures, words, attitudes, and
opinions. Personality can also be described as an individual's hidden feelings about the
external world. Personality testing is often used for this purpose-to screen applicants for
employment and job training. Personality tests are also used in criminal cases and custody
battles, and to assess psychological disorders. To assess personality mostly psychologists
used self-report questionnaires and projective tests.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TEST

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) 1985 is a self‐report instrument that is based
on Eysenck's theory of personality. The EPQ was developed by Hans J. Eysenck, one of the
most influential personality theorists, and Sybil B. G. Eysenck, and is part of a group of
scales developed by Eysenck and his colleagues. It was measured three personality
tendencies, Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E) and Psychoticism (p), and lie/social
desirability score. It has 90 Yes/ No self-administered questionnaires. It mainly assesses the
personality trait of a person.

HISTORY OF THE TEST

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) is a self‐report instrument that is based on

Eysenck's theory of personality. The EPQ was developed by Hans J. Eysenck, one of the
most influential personality theorists, and Sybil B. G. Eysenck, and is part of a group of
scales developed by Eysenck and his colleagues. The first published scale in this line of work
was the Maudsley Personality Inventory, which measured two personality tendencies,
Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E). Following the publication of the MPI, a lie scale was
added and two alternate forms were devised, forming the Eysenck Personality Inventory.
Subsequently, a third personality dimension, Psychoticism (P) was added, creating the
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The psychoticism sub-scale had undesirable
psychometric properties and was criticized for having low reliability, a low range of scoring,
and skewed distribution. In response, in 1985 the scale was revised by removing some items
from the Psychoticism scale and adding some items to Psychoticism, Neuroticism, and
Extraversion and lie scales. The revised measure, the EPQ‐R is the currently used form of the
questionnaire and is a prime measure of Eysenck's personality dimensions.

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

The Test/Retest reliability is between .08 to .09. The reliability of EPQ on different variables
for males and females is as follows: Eysenck's Personality Theory and his personality tests
have had wide acceptance and application in the work of Mohan and associates (Mohan, J.
Eysenck and Eysenck 1987; Mohan 1981). Eysenck (1986) has recently opined that it is
justifiable to use the scales of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire for comparisons within
and between different countries.

Factorial, Criterion, and Convergent and Discriminant validities of EPQ-R have been
investigated. Replication of four factors in several studies is the best indicator of factorial
validity. For Criterion Validity, these scales were used to compare the abnormal (psychotics,
neurotics, endogenous, depressives, prisoners, drug addicts, personality disorders, sex
problems, and alcoholics) and normal behaviors on a large sample. For ascertaining
Convergent and Discriminant Validities, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire has been studied
in relation to the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (Zuckerman & Kuhlman,
1993) within a multi-trait-multi-method matrix (Campbell & Fiske, 1959).

LIMITATION

This test takes some time for respondents to complete. If respondents are not highly
motivated and determined they may have problems completing the full questionnaire.

APPLICATION

This test measure has proven useful for numerous applications in human resources, career
counseling, clinical settings, and research.

PROCEDURE

The questionnaire on mental toughness prepared by Eysenck has 90 items, which has four
categories namely: Extroversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism, and social desirability. The
subjects were instructed to respond to each item according to how they generally felt in
situations. Every statement has two possible responses i.e. True or False. There was no time
limit for the completion of the questionnaire but the subjects were instructed not to ponder
too long over any statement and respond to all the statements in the questionnaire
independently. A total score of 90 was possible on this questionnaire. After collecting the
responses do scoring process according to the dimensions.

INSTRUCTIONS

Please answer each question by selecting a suitable option according to you. There are no
right or wrong answers or no trick questions. Work quickly and do not think too long about
the exact meaning of the questions. Please remember to answer each and every question.

PRECAUTIONS

⮚ Do not skip any of the questions

⮚ Do not ask others for correct answers

⮚ Don’t take the test carelessly

SCORING

Check that each question has only one answer. Place the key on the booklet so that the (*)
marks on the booklet are visible through the circles on this key. The questionnaire consists of
90 statements with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers. There are four scores (psychoticism-26,
Extroversion-20, Neuroticism-23, and Lie Score-21) to be maximum obtained. Each answer
scores one point. For example, to obtain the score for ‘psychoticism’ add 1 score for each
answer visible through squares, and record the sum in the table on page 1. So, the same for
pages 2, 3, and 4. Transfer these scores on the table at the back page. Repeat this procedure to
obtain extroversion, neuroticism, and lie-score also. The questionnaire was scored with the
help of a scoring key. It has direct scoring as well as reverse scoring. If the response given by
subjects corresponds to the key for a particular statement a weight of one was given,
otherwise, the statement received the weight zero. The summation of all obtained scores was
an indication of the personality traits of the subjects.
The below table indicates the Eysenck’s personality questionnaire- revised scoring procedure
for direct scoring and reverse scoring for each dimension.

DIMENSIONS SCORING NUMBER OF ITEMS TOTAL ITEMS

EXTRAVERSIO Direct scoring 1,5,10,14,17,25,32,36,40,45, 21

N
49,52,56,60,64,70,82,86

Reverse scoring 21,29,42

PSYCHOTICISM Direct scoring 22,26,30,33,43,46,50,65,67,74, 25

76,79,83,87

Reverse scoring 2,6,9,11,18,37,53,57,61,71,90

NEOUROTICISM Direct scoring 3,7,12,15,19,23,27,31,34,38, 23

41,47,54,58,62

Reverse scoring 66,68,72,75,77,80,84,88

LIE SCALE Direct scoring 13,20,35,55,78,89 21

Reverse scoring 4,8,16,24,28,39,44,48,51,59,

63,69,73,81,85

TABLE AND RESULTS

Table 1: shows the client’s score and interpretation of the EPQ-R.

NAME: S.K AGE: 21 years GENDER: Male

S.NO Dimensions Raw score Sten score Interpretation

1. Psychoticism (P) 5 6 Average

2. Neuroticism (N) 10 6 High

3. Extraversion (E) 19 8 Average

4. Lie score (L) 7 6 Average

DISCUSSION

The Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire-Revised tool was administered on subject S.K, a 21

years old male. The subject obtained a lie score of 6, which indicates good reliability of the
obtained responses and that the subject may be trying to portray a good image while
answering some of the questions. So, the subject responses are socially valid.

Psychoticism: In the area of psychoticism the subject obtained a score of 6, which indicates
that the score is average and that the subject is not psychotic. But the subject might be odd
and unfamiliar things, aggressive to others sensation, lacking in sensation and responsiveness,
cruel, troublesome, solitary, risk-taking, anti-social, hostile, manipulative, and non-
empathetic.

Neuroticism: In the area of neuroticism the subject obtained a score of 6, which indicates that
the score is average and that the subject is not neurotic. Might be he tends to worry a lot, is
overactive, highly-strung, and displays huge fluctuation in emotions. He may also suffer from
sleeplessness, is rather lonely, and can susceptible to his feelings especially worries and
anxieties.

Extraversion: In the area of extraversion the subject obtained a score of 8, which indicates
that the score is high and that the subject is outgoing, impulsive, uninhibited, and is a highly
sociable person. He seems to be a talkative person, with many hobbies and a large social
circle. He dislikes solitary pursuits such as reading, studying, and contemplation. He prefers
excitement, likes to take chances, tends to acts on the spur of the moment, and generally is
quite active.

CONCLUSION

The subject obtained scores indicate that the subject high in Extraversion and average in
Psychoticism and Neuroticism. So, he is active, optimistic, impulsive, changeable, excitable,
restless, touchy, and may become aggressive. when under a great deal of stressful situations
he may be prone to engage psychotic and neurotic activities.

REFERENCE
Ahuja, A., Garcia, O., & Garcia, L. (2003). A psychometric analysis of the revised
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire short scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 449-
460.
Eysenck, H., & Eysenck, S. (1975). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
(Junior
and Adult). Kent, UK: Hodder & Stoughton.
Eysenck, H., & Eysenck, S. B. (n.d.). Eysenck Personality Inventory and Eysenck
Personality
Questionnaire. San Diego, California: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
Rocklin, T., & Revelle, W. (1981). The Measurement of Extraversion: A comparison of
the EPQ and EPI. British Journal of Social Psychology, 279-284.
Sato, T. (2005). The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Brief Version: factor structure and
reliability. The Journal of Psychology, 139(6), 545-552.