Why do judgments on different person-descriptive attributes correlate with one another? A conceptual analysis with relevance for most psychometric research

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/7c895_v3
• Publication Date: 2025-03-26T14:14:20Z
• Authors: Daniel Leising; Matthias Borgstede; Julian Burger; Johannes Zimmermann; Martin Bäckström; Joshua R. Oltmanns; Nele Freyer; Anne Wiedenroth; Paula Knischewski; Brian S. Connelly
• Keywords: Relevance; Descriptive research

Patterns of correlations among judgments targets on different items are the basis for common psychometric procedures such as factor analysis and network modeling. The outcomes analyses may shape images (i.e., theories) that we scientists have phenomena study. However, key conceptual issues tend to be overlooked in these analyses, which is especially problematic when person descriptions espressed natural language. A correlation between two reflect influences (a) a substantive cause, (b) target characteristics another, (c) semantic redundancy, (d) perceivers’ attitudes toward targets, (e) formal response styles, or (f) any mixture these. We present framework integrating all mechanisms use it connect formerly unrelated strands theorizing with one another. lack awareness regarding complexity involved compromise validity interpretations analyses. also review effectiveness broad range solutions been proposed dealing various influences, provide recommendations future research.