The Social Desirability of Trait Descriptive Terms: A Sample of Sexual Offenders

Abstract. Many investigators have noted “reverse-coding” method factors when exploring response pattern structure with psychological inventory data. The current article probes for the existence of a confound in these investigations, whereby an item’s level of saturation with socially desirable content tends to covary with the item’s substantive scale keying. We first investigate its existence, demonstrating that 15 of 16 measures that have been previously implicated as exhibiting a reverse-scoring method effect can also be reasonably characterized as exhibiting a scoring key/social desirability confound. A second set of analyses targets the extent to which the confounding variable may confuse interpretation of factor analytic results and documents strong social desirability associations. The results suggest that assessment developers perhaps consider the social desirability scale value of indicators when constructing scale aggregates (and possibly scales when investigating inter-construct associations). Future investigations would ideally disentangle the confound via experimental manipulation.

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The Impact of Endorsing the Belief in a Just World on Social Judgments

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000105 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (3) ◽

pp. 209-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Benoît Testé ◽

Samantha Perrin

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Social Value ◽

Social Utility ◽

Western Society ◽

Social Judgments ◽

Just World ◽

The Social ◽

Main Effect ◽

The Impact

The present research examines the social value attributed to endorsing the belief in a just world for self (BJW-S) and for others (BJW-O) in a Western society. We conducted four studies in which we asked participants to assess a target who endorsed BJW-S vs. BJW-O either strongly or weakly. Results showed that endorsement of BJW-S was socially valued and had a greater effect on social utility judgments than it did on social desirability judgments. In contrast, the main effect of endorsement of BJW-O was to reduce the target’s social desirability. The results also showed that the effect of BJW-S on social utility is mediated by the target’s perceived individualism, whereas the effect of BJW-S and BJW-O on social desirability is mediated by the target’s perceived collectivism.

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In the eye of the beholder: Considering culture in assessing the social desirability of personality.

Journal of Applied Psychology ◽

10.1037/apl0000514 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ann Marie Ryan ◽

Jacob Bradburn ◽

Sarena Bhatia ◽

Evan Beals ◽

Anthony S. Boyce ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

The Social

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Coping, Defense and Socially Desirable Responses

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1968.22.3.985 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 985-988 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Henry A. Alker

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Socially Desirable Responding ◽

Social Desirability Scale ◽

Strategic Capacity ◽

Defensive Behaviors ◽

The Social

Coping and defensive behaviors, assessed by intensive interviews, covary, respectively, with the presence of socially desirable and socially undesirable inventory responses. Minimizing the influence of the social desirability variable consequently interferes with the strategic capacity of inventory items to index coping and defense. Furthermore, using low social-desirability scale value items most effectively discriminates between genuine and defensively distorted inventory responses. Neutral items are less efficient in this connection even though they minimize socially desirable responding.

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Generazioni e valutazione sociale delle occupazioni

SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO ◽

10.3280/sl2008-112006 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 81-97

Author(s):

Amalia Caputo ◽

Daniela Napoletano

Keyword(s):

Labor Market ◽

Key Words ◽

Social Desirability ◽

Social Stratification ◽

Generational Differences ◽

Evaluation Criteria ◽

Social Evaluation ◽

Labor Flexibility ◽

The Social ◽

The Impact

- In this article the authors analyse the social evaluation of occupations, examining the impact of generation on the judgments about the social desirability of occupations. The authors show that some generational differences are noticeable when looking at the criteria that respondents use to order occupations.Key words: Generation, Labor flexibility, Evaluation criteria, Labor market, Social Stratification, Occupational Stratification Scale

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Children's Social Desirability Ratings of Ingratiation Tactics

Learning Disability Quarterly ◽

10.2307/1510950 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 287-293 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

James H. Bryan ◽

L. Joseph Sonnefeld

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

The Social

Fifty-eight children drawn from schools in Pennsylvania and Illinois were administered a questionnaire made up of scenarios depicting ingratiation tactics directed toward three types of targets (parents, teachers, or peers). The children, 22 of whom were diagnosed as learning disabled, were asked to rate the social desirability of each tactic. Learning disabled and nondisabled children judged the social desirability of the items similarly. The children's judgments were then compared with adult judgments of the social desirability of the same items obtained in a previous study. It was found that children and adults both judged tactics in the context of target or setting, and that they appeared to agree about the desirability of particular tactics directed toward particular targets.

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The social desirability effect in personality assessment of drink driving offenders

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckab120.103 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (Supplement_2) ◽

Author(s):

I S Ferreira ◽

A Maurício ◽

P Ferrajão

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Psychological Assessment ◽

Personality Assessment ◽

Competent Authority ◽

Driving Under The Influence ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire ◽

The Social ◽

Social Desirability Effect ◽

Age Range

Abstract Background Driving under the influence of alcohol represents one of the main driving crimes and a risk to road safety and public health. In Portugal, if there are well-founded doubts about the psychological fitness to drive, the competent authority may determine a psychological assessment. The present study analyses the results in the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Revised (EPQ-R) in a sample with driving crimes under the influence of alcohol. Methods A sample of 76 male drivers (mean age around 43 years; age range = 26–60) underwent to a psychological assessment in the Mobility and Transports Institute, due to an official record of driving with a blood alcohol level of 1.2 g/l or more. The assessment included the EPQ-R, which examines three dimensions of personality - Psychoticism (P), Extroversion (E) and Neuroticism (N) and a Lie/Social Desirability scale (L). Results Drivers have committed around 3 crimes (range: 1–7) for drink driving in the past 10 years. Mean N (P < 0.001) and P (P < 0.001) scores were significantly lower, and mean L score (P < 0.001) was significantly higher compared to the Portuguese normative data of EPQ-R (783 men, ages between 16 and 60 years). Mean E score (P = 0.16) was not statistically different from the normative E score. Conclusions The social desirability (proneness for lying or faking good) had a significant influence on EPQ-R results, favouring dimensions that assess psychopathological functioning (N, P). Although this questionnaire is an objective method to assess personality in different normative contexts, its suitability has proved to be limited in drink driving offenders.

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An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences

10.31235/osf.io/e5hfc ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

S. Michael Gaddis

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Field Experiment ◽

Social Desirability ◽

Social Desirability Bias ◽

Common Language ◽

Future Directions ◽

Discriminatory Behavior ◽

The Social ◽

History Of

An audit study is a specific type of field experiment primarily used to test for discriminatory behavior when survey and interview questions induce social desirability bias. In this chapter, I first review the language and definitions related to audit studies and encourage adoption of a common language. I then discuss why researchers use the audit method as well as when researchers can and should use this method. Next, I give an overview of the history of audit studies, focusing on major developments and changes in the overall body of work. Finally, I discuss the limitations of correspondence audits and provide some thoughts on future directions.

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