Crocketts Role Questionnaire (CRQ)

PREPARATION:
First, think of people about your same age whom you know well
Now, select ONE person that you like or enjoy
Then, select ANOTHER person that you dislike or do not enjoy
Finally, take a minute to mentally compare and contrast these 2 specific people
Think about their personalities
Think about their habits, beliefs and the way they treat others
Dont limit yourself to similarities and differences between them; let your mind
play over the full range of characteristics that make these 2 people who they are.
FIRST ACTIVITY:
Take out a piece of paper and pen or pencil
For about 5 minutes, describe the person you like or enjoy so that a stranger would
understand what she or he is like
Skip the physical characteristics
List all the attributes, mannerisms, and reactions to others that identify who he or she
is
Take about 5 minutes to write this description.
SECOND ACTIVITY:
Take another piece of paper (or use the back of the one you already used)
Describe the person you dislike or do not enjoy (like you did before) so that a
stranger would understand what this person is like
Dont worry about the physical description, just try to write down any and all
characteristics and actions that you associate with that person
Like before, spend about 5 minutes on this description.

ONLY after you have COMPLETED the 2nd activityturn the paper over and score your
Role Category Questionnaire.

SCORING PROCEDURE
The core assumption is that persons make sense of other persons (perception and
understanding) through systems of personal constructs. Constructs are the cognitive
templates or stencils we fit over reality to bring order and familiarity to chaos and
novelty. In this case, constructs are the categories we apply to other people to
perceive and understand them.
Personal constructs are generally thought to exist as sets of opposing terms (smartdumb, attractive-unattractive, etc.). Researchers use the CRQ to estimate the level of
differentiation people use in perceiving others. The more personal constructs a person
uses, the greater their differentiation of other people is likely to beand hence, the
higher the persons level of cognitive complexity is thought to be.
To score your own level of differentiation (or cognitive complexity in personal
perception):
Add up the number of different descriptions you used to describe the 2 people you
wrote about.
As a rule of thumb, treat each new term as an additional personal construct
If you describe someone as both sharp and intelligent count that as 2
points. If you describe someone as hurried and never on time count
that as 2 points
Adjectives and adverbs that merely modify the extent of a characteristic do
not count as an additional construct
If you describe someone as totally and completely sincere count that as
1 point. If you describe someone as a good ole boy count that as 1 point
Skip over any physical description (like tall or pretty) or any demographic
labels (like Irish or Hispanic)
If you describe someone as a hunk or Mormon or white or black do
not count that. Ignore physical or demographic descriptions
The combined score of both of your descriptions is an index of your personal construct
differentiation level.
Scores generally fall between 3 and 45. Typical adult populations generally
average between 20 and 25
Research has shown that CRQ scores are independent of IQ, writing ability,
and most personality traits like empathy or extroversion/introversion