hypochondriasis scale

n. The first clinical scale on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which was constructed by selecting items answered differently by patients diagnosed as hypochondriac and visitors in the waiting room of a state hospital. Persons with actual physical illness tend to receive moderately high scores on the scale (55-65) while persons receiving higher scores tend to be hypochondriacal, pessimistic, sour on life, and manipulative and to have longstanding inadequacies in their adjustment to life. Low scorers (below 45) tend to be alert, spontaneous, and intelligent.