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Response bias (also known as response style) refers to patterns of responding on questionnaires or inventories in a consistent manner independent of the content of the questions. Research across cultures can lead to differences in responses for three underlying reasons. Differences can reflect (a) true variability in the construct being measured, (b) error variability associated with different response styles associated with culture, or (c) error variability involving structural elements of the questionnaire or inventory associated with linguistic or semantic issues. The issue of response bias relates to the latter two conditions. Keywords: methodology; psychometric testing; research

Acquiescence response style (ARS) is a response bias that reflects the tendency by a person to answer Yes/No questions affirmatively or to agree with attitude statements, regardless of the content of the question. There is evidence that this bias is a consistent aspect of an individual's response style across items and scales. Keywords: research; psychometric testing

Social desirability bias (SDB) involves a person's responding to questions in a way that leads to a more positive depiction of the individual than is objectively warranted. Psychologists have defined it in several slightly different ways, but it is common to regard SDB as having two different manifestations. An individual might knowingly provide responses to questions in a way designed to portray the person in a positive light, which is called impression management. Or the person might attempt to provide accurate responses to a question but unknowingly give a more favorable report than is accurate, which is called self-deception positivity or self-deception enhancement. Keywords: methodology; research

Research in which an investigator studies the same individuals in multiple conditions involves a within-groups design, also known as a within-subjects design and a repeated measures design. The name derives from the fact that the researcher is assessing differences across conditions within a single group of people. Keywords: methodology; research

Extreme response style (ERS) is the tendency to respond to questions on a Likert-type scale by using response options on the ends of the continuum. ERS can involve either negative or positive responses, depending on the tendency to select either very low or very high values or points. Its obverse is middle (or middling) response style (MRS). Keywords: methodology; measurement in psychology; research

The belief perseverance effect refers to the tendency to retain a belief in the face of evidence that is inconsistent with or contradictory to that belief. The phenomenon is relevant to diverse areas of psychology, including social psychology and cognitive psychology. Keywords: cognition; social cognition; attribution theory

When psychologists compare groups with different people in each condition, they are making use of a between-groups design. Keywords: research; methodology