Intentional response distortion on personality tests: using eye-tracking to understand response processes when faking

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Intentional response distortion, or faking, is a significant concern in personnel selection, particularly with personality and integrity tests.
• Understanding the cognitive processes underlying faking is crucial for developing effective detection methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of eye-tracking technology in understanding and detecting response distortion during personality and integrity assessments.
• To examine differences in cognitive load and response patterns between honest responding and faking good conditions.

Main Methods:

• An experimental within-participants design was employed with 129 university students.
• Participants completed a Big Five personality test and an integrity measure under both honest and faking good instructions.
• Eye movements, response latencies, and item responses were recorded.

Main Results:

• All measured personality dimensions were found to be susceptible to faking.
• Faking good was associated with reduced response times and fewer eye fixations compared to honest responding.
• Participants in the faking good condition exhibited increased fixation on extreme response options and more direct fixation after question presentation, suggesting semantic rather than self-referenced interpretation.

Conclusions:

• Eye-tracking offers a promising tool for detecting faking behavior, potentially enhancing detection rates beyond traditional response latency and extremity metrics.
• The findings support the theory that faking is less cognitively demanding and involves different information processing strategies than honest responding.