The effects of role playing and coaching on the ability to simulate a traumatic brain injury profile on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - 2nd edition (MMPI-2)
This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of recently proposed malingering cutoff scores on the MMPI-2 validity scales (F, F-K and Ds2) in detecting coached malingering of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study also explored the effects of coached malingering of brain injury on the aforementioned validity scales. The participants were sixty, male undergraduate students randomly assigned to either the coached simulation condition (CS) or the "normal" standard administration of the MMPI-2. The participants assigned to the CS condition were asked to role-play a TBI litigant who was trying to feign TBI on the MMPI-2 for monetary damages. They were provided with: (a) a vignette describing their TBI scenario, (b) a \$25 incentive given to the participant who most successfully faked a TBI MMPI-2 profile, and (c) information about TBI symptoms and the MMPI-2 validity system as obtained from readily accessible internet sources. The results indicated that the proposed malingering criteria were not efficient in detection of coached TBI malingering with only 16\% correctly classified as malingering. The results also indicated that coached simulators score significantly higher on the validity scales than those who had normal administrations. The MMPI-2 is one of the more advanced measures of detecting the response style of an individual, but proposed cutoff criteria for TBI malingering may not have the sensitivity and specificity to reliably differentiate TBI patients from malingerers. This appears to be especially true if the individual has been educated in TBI symptoms and MMPI-2 validity scale dynamics. The findings of this study illustrate the need for more effective MMPI-2 cutoff scores for detection of TBI malingering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
https://www.upress.umn.edu/test-division/bibliography/2000-2009/2005/bubp_effects_2005
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Corby A Bubp
(2005)
The effects of role playing and coaching on the ability to simulate a traumatic brain injury profile on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - 2nd edition (MMPI-2)
PhD thesis.