Substance and style in socially desirable responding

Area of Science:

• Psychological Measurement
• Personality Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Socially desirable responding (SDR) is a complex phenomenon in self-report measures.
• Distinguishing between response sets, styles, and substantive personality traits is crucial for accurate assessment.
• Paulhus's Self-Deceptive Enhancement (SDE) and Communion Management (CM) scales are prominent SDR measures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if SDE and CM scales primarily reflect response sets, response styles, or genuine personality differences.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties and interpretability of SDE and CM scales.
• To investigate the nature of socially desirable responding in personality assessment.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study design with army officer trainees assessed as applicants and incumbents.
• Cross-validation using spouse reports to corroborate self-reported SDR.
• Correlational analyses to examine relationships between SDR scales and personality traits (e.g., Neuroticism, Extraversion).

Main Results:

• Participants exhibited higher SDR scores in applicant roles compared to incumbent roles, indicating situational influence.
• Significant rank-order stability in SDR scores over a 3-year period was observed.
• SDE scores correlated with spouse-reported low Neuroticism and high Extraversion, suggesting substantive validity.

Conclusions:

• SDE and CM scales appear to measure a combination of response set, response style, and substantive individual differences in personality.
• The findings have implications for the interpretation of SDR measures in personality assessment and personnel selection.
• Future research should continue to explore the multifaceted nature of socially desirable responding.