Twenty Statements Test

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The Twenty Statements Test (TST) is a test to measure self-concept in social psychology and intercultural psychology.

Objective and approach

The TST is useful in establishing a scientific standard in researching self-concept in social psychology and intercultural psychology.

The aim of the TST introduced in 1954 is to find a standardized way to standardize and measure a person's own attitudes. The test takes the form of a questionnaire with the single question “Who am I?” The respondent receives a page with 20 numbered blank lines in which answers can be given in the form “I am ...” The test takes twelve minutes, for example . Not all questions need to be answered.

The test is to be evaluated in a content analysis. To this end, Kuhn suggested dividing the answers into the two dichotomous categories consensual (consensual) and subconsensual (less consensual). An answer is of the consensual type when it relates to groups or classes that are generally agreed by mutual agreement. The subconsensual type contains answers that require an interpretation of the question in order to specify the answer or to be able to classify the respondent in relation to other people. Examples of answers of the consensual type are for example: “I am a student”, “a girl”, “from Munich”. Examples of the subconsensual type are, for example, “I'm happy”, “bored”, “too fat”, “a good wife”.

When the TST was first used among 288 US students in 1952, it was found that respondents who began to answer questions in the consensual category continued to do so consistently. Was z. If, for example, the seventh question in the category was answered consensually , this was always the case with all of the previous ones. The variable consensual-non consensual showed a cumulative character in such a way that there is a reproducible number of respondents who answered x of 20 questions in the category consensual (in the extreme cases 20 of 20, or 0 of 20). The evaluations showed not only how many consensual answers each respondent made, but also which of his answers fell into the consensual category. The consensual component of the self-concept in the sense of "more directly socially anchored" was the most striking feature of the TST in this survey.

If one follows a later work by Kuhn, the answers can also be categorized into five groups in the evaluation:

  • Social groups and classifications,
  • Ideological views,
  • Interests,
  • Objectives,
  • Self-assessments.

Kuhn analyzed that the frequency of the responses in the five groups varied according to the age, gender and occupation of the respondents.

When members of different cultures were surveyed with the TST, clear differences between the cultures were found on average. In 1997, with the help of the TST, spontaneous self-descriptions were carried out by American, more individualistic and Kenyan, more collectivistic people. While the proportion of personal (independent) characteristics among Americans was 48%, this percentage was only 2% among Kenyans. Bonding with other people (interdependence) is more pronounced in the latter. For example, 60% of Kenyans' self-descriptions fell into independent, interdependent categories, compared with only 7% of Americans.

Scientific review (selection)

A more recent work with interviewed persons from later generations finds no gender difference. Kuhn's classification into five social groups was rated as subjective.

A 1989 study used a modified TST when comparing American and Japanese college and university students. Instead of the general question “Who am I?”, The question was asked in special environments, such as: “Who am I at home?”, “Who am I among friends?” Or “Who am I at school?”. Surprising results emerged, which deviate from the original TST: In the modified questions, the Japanese expressed themselves more in independent, Americans more in interdependent categories.

Recent literature and studies (selection)

  • Edwin D. Driver (1969) Self-Conceptions in India and the United States: A Cross-Cultural Validation of the Twenty Statement Test, The Sociological Quarterly, 10: 3, 341-354, doi: 10.1111 / j.1533-8525.1969. tb01297.x
  • Linda M. Isbell, Joseph McCabe, Kathleen C. Burns & Elicia C. Lair (2013): Who am I ?: The influence of affect on the working self-concept, Cognition & Emotion, doi: 10.1080 / 02699931.2013.765388 . ( online )
  • Lam, M., Chan, G., Marcet, M., Wong, W., Wong, J., & Wong, D. (2014). Spontaneous self-concept among Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, 42, 1353-1364. doi: 10.2224 / sbp.2014.42.8.1353 . Publication date: September 2014
  • Ying-yi Hong, Grace Ip, Chi-yue Chiu, Michael W. Morris, Tanya Menon (2001). Cultural Identity and Dynamic Construction of the Self: Collective Duties and Individual Rights in Chinese and American Cultures. Social Cognition: Volume 19, Toward a Paradigm Shift, pp.251-268. doi : 10.1521 / soco.19.3.251.21473

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Manford H. Kuhn, Thomas S. McPartland: An Empirical Investigation of Self-Attitudes. American Sociological Review. Vol. 19, No. 1 (Feb. 1954), pp. 68-76 ( online )
  2. ↑ a b Manford H. Kuhn (1960): Self ‐ Attitudes by Age, Sex, and Professional Training. The Sociological Queterly. doi : 10.1111 / j.1533-8525.1960.tb01459.x
  3. ↑ Vaunne Ma & Thomas J. Schoeneman: Individualism Versus Collectivism: A Comparison of Kenyan and American Self-Concepts. June 1997. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 19 (2): 261-273. DOI: 10.1207 / s15324834basp1902_7
  4. ↑ On dependent versus interdependent self-concept see: Hazel R Markus and Shinobu Kitayama: Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation. April 1991. Psychological Review 98 (2): 224-253. doi: 10.1037 / 0033-295X.98.2.224
  5. ↑ Ulrich Kühnen: Cultivated animals - human behavior between culture and evolution. Springer Spectrum, 2015. pp. 69f.
  6. ↑ Grace, S., & Cramer, K. (2002). Sense of self in the new millennium: Male and female student responses to the TST. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, 30, 271-280. doi : 10.2224 / sbp.2002.30.3.271
  7. ↑ Billy J. Franklin, Frank J. Kohout (1971): Subject-Coded Versus Researcher-Coded TST Protocols: Some Methodological Implications. The Social Quarterly
  8. ^ Cousins, S. (1989). Culture and selfhood in Japan and the US Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 124-131.