Examining the measurement of epistemic style: The development and validation of the Epistemic Preference Indicator-Revised

•The EPI comprises 36 paired-stem items with questionable validity.•Removing items with questionable validity results in a valid 8-item measure.•The paired-stem format may inflate correlations and increase missing data.•Results showed that the scale performs similarly when presented as separate items.•Overall, an 8-item scale (separate item format) is a viable alternative to the EPI.

The Epistemic Preference Indicator (EPI; Eigenberger, Critchley, & Sealander, 2007) measures a dual-process cognitive model comprising Intellective (IP) and Default (DP) processing. These two habitual thinking styles are defined by complex, effortful thinking (IP) and effortless, expedient thinking (DP). The current study examined the response format and content validity of the EPI. An eight-item alternative (EPI-R) was found to perform similarly to the original measure, displaying adequate explanatory power, reliability and content validity.