Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Joshua D. Foster, Ph.D.

Abstract

Intentionality Bias Task (IBT) provides quick and easy assessment of the tendency to overattribute intentionality to the behaviors of others. The IBT has been used repeatedly in research that has attempted to connect intentionality bias to a wide range of disorders and socio-emotional abilities, including schizophrenia spectrum disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and cognitive empathy. To date, however, there has been no systematic examination of the IBT’s psychometric properties. The present study attempts to fill this gap by testing whether the IBT possesses a reliable factor structure. Specifically, the 34 items of the IBT were written to reflect two types of behaviors: prototypically intentional behaviors and prototypically accidental behaviors. This two-factor structure was first tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which examined factor loadings, modification indices, and item-total correlations. Despite revisions, model fit was found to be less than acceptable. Following this, an exploratory factor analysis was used to identify items that were cross-loading, failing to load on either factor, other otherwise impairing model fit. Again despite revisions, model fit was found to be less than acceptable. The two-factor model was abandoned in favor of a one-factor model containing solely the prototypically accidental (PA) items. While this one-factor model achieved acceptable model fit, the model failed to replicate in a separate sample.

Keywords: Intentionality bias, Intentionality Bias Task, Evelyn Rosset, ICED model, NICED model

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