Which statement correctly describes the effect of high specificity on false positives?

• A. Few false positives
• B. Many false positives
• C. No effect on false positives
• D. Increases false negatives

Answer: (A)

High specificity means the test is very good at correctly identifying people who do not have the condition. False positives are the people without the condition who test positive, so when specificity is high, this misclassification is rare. That’s why few false positives occur with high specificity. It’s not about false negatives—that’s governed by sensitivity, not specificity.