The current research challenges the received view that misresponses to reversed items are the result of participants’ irrational behavior. On the contrary, for participants at a midpoint level of a trait, it is perfectly logical to agree and disagree with seemingly equivalent statements (e.g., I’m not tall, but neither am I short). For this reason, regular and reversed items for a unidimensional construct were predicted to load on separate factors. Two types of reversed items—polar opposites and negated regular items—were also predicted to load on separate factors, as they are qualitatively different. An empirical study supported this explanation. Differential responding was found to be highest for participants at the mid-level of a trait and diminished toward the ends, revealing a quadratic relationship and a trait × method interaction. Thus, our findings demonstrate that the logical response pattern of individuals at the mid-level of a trait is another previously unrecognized explanation for why the inclusion of regular and reverse-keyed items can contribute to the apparent bi-dimensionality of unidimensional constructs (for data analysis results, see https://osf.io/krh2w/).

当前的研究挑战了已收到的观点，即对逆向项目的错误反应是参与者不合理行为的结果。相反，对于处于特质中点水平的参与者，同意和不同意看似等效的陈述是完全合乎逻辑的（例如，我不高，但我也不矮）。因此，一维结构的常规和反向项目预计会加载到单独的因素上。还预测了两种类型的颠倒项目（极地对立项和否定的常规项）会加载到单独的因素上，因为它们在质量上是不同的。一项实证研究支持了这一解释。研究发现，在特质的中级，参与者的差异反应最高，并且在末端逐渐减弱，显示出二次关系和特质×方法的相互作用。因此，