A Gamified Assessment Tool for Antisocial Personality Traits (Antisocial Personality Traits Evidence-Centered Design Gamified): Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND

The traditional self-report instruments (eg, scales) used to measure antisocial personality traits are characterized by social desirability bias and fail to capture multidimensional behaviors (eg, manipulation and deception).

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to develop and validate an evidence-based design for a gamified assessment tool (Antisocial Personality Traits Evidence-Centered Design Gamified assessment tool; ASP-ECD-G) to measure 7 antisocial personality traits (manipulative, callous, deceptive, hostile, risk taking, impulsive, and irresponsible) as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).

METHODS

This research featured a 3-phase evidence-centered design framework. Ontology development (study 1): semistructured interviews were conducted with 9 workplace professionals to translate the DSM-5 criteria into 24 observable workplace behaviors, which were integrated into a text-based game featuring 10 subscenarios, 34 interactive questions, and logic rooted in logical jumps to simulate real-world decision-making. Model construction (study 2): 6 machine learning models were trained by reference to a set of Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Short Form scores (n=286). The gated recurrent unit model, which uses 1-hot encoding to address nominal response data, was evaluated in terms of the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error, criterion correlation (r), and test-retest reliability. Retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients based on 10 participants (1-month interval). Empirical validation (study 3): a 2×2 mixed design (n=148) was used to compare the gamified assessment with questionnaires under conditions involving incentives (ie, situations in which "rational results" led to increased payments).

RESULTS

For model performance, the gated recurrent unit outperformed the alternatives, as indicated by the highest criterion correlation (r=0.850) and the lowest test RMSE (0.273); in particular, it excelled in moderate score ranges (1.5-3, RMSE≤0.377) and in resisting extreme value distortions (3.5-4, RMSE 0.854). Retest reliability was moderate to strong (intraclass correlation coefficients=0.776, P=.02). For validation findings, the gamified assessment was associated with higher levels of immersion (mean 7.628 vs 7.216; F147=14.259, P<.001) and interest (mean 7.095 vs 6.155; F147=47.940, P<.001), although it also elicited stronger negative emotions (mean 4.365 vs 2.473; F147=151.109, P<.001). Incentives reduced questionnaire scores (incentivized: 2.066 vs control: 2.201; F1=5.740, P=.02) but had no effect on gamified scores (P=.71), confirming resistance to manipulation.

CONCLUSIONS

By integrating evidence-centered design with gamified workplace simulations, ASP-ECD-G can provide more objective and ecologically valid measurements of antisocial personality traits, thereby supporting both research and organizational practice.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework (OSF) Registries tvg6x; https://osf.io/tvg6x.