Abstract

This study developed the Defensive Verbal Scale (DVS) to measures one's self-deceptive speech that protects self-concept from threatening information and examined its psychometric properties. First, operational definition of Defensive Verbal was defined. Following the literature review, 4 situations where one's self-concept might be threatened were derived: (1) situation where anger or painful experience arise, (2) situation where working outside one's belief or conscience is required, (3) situation where results are different from one's expectation, (4) situation where repeated mistakes or faults are negatively evaluated and items were constructed for each situations. On a preliminary survey, responses of 106 people aged 14-24 (male 53 and female 53) were reviewed to examine psychometric properties. As a result, a single-dimensional structure was explored and a high internal consistency(Cronbach’s α) was found. Situations and items that are not significant were eliminated based on convergent and discriminative validity analysis. As a result, a situation in which the threat of self-concept is common and anger or painful experiences related to physiological changes caused by stress arise, and a situation where repeated mistakes or faults are negatively evaluated, and 5 items for respective situations were selected. To evaluate psychometric properties of the confirmed DVS, two main surveys were done and principal component analysis, item analysis, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent and discriminative validity were analyzed on each surveys. The result showed a single-dimensional structure and stable reliability. Whereas interpersonal sensitivity, low self-regulation, negative emotions and rationalization showed significant positive correlation, positive emotions and mindfulness showed significant negative correlation. This result verified convergent and discriminative validity. Finally, the significance and implications of the research and suggestions for future studies were discussed.