AUTOMATIC ITEM GENERATION 1 Let the Algorithm Speak: How to Use Neural Networks for Automatic Item Generation in Psychological Scale Development Friedrich M. Götz1,2,3*, Rakoen Maertens3*, and Sander van der Linden3 1 University of British Columbia, Canada 2 University of California, Berkeley, USA 3 University of Cambridge, UK * These authors contributed equally Draft version 1.2, 14/06/2021. Please note that this is a preprint. The manuscript is currently under peer review and is likely to change as it goes through the peer review process. AUTOMATIC ITEM GENERATION 2 Author Note Friedrich M. Götz, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada; Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Rakoen Maertens, Sander van der Linden, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. This work was financially supported by the United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Cambridge Trust and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Parts of the current article are based on a conference talk presented by the second-named author at the 2021 annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). The authors would like to thank Dr Mark Schaller (University of British Columbia) for inspiring walks and thoughtful comments on the PIG. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Friedrich M. Götz, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada. Email:
[email protected]. AUTOMATIC ITEM GENERATION 3 Abstract Measurement is at the heart of scientific research.