A note on socially desirable responding

Socially desirable responding is a construct that has been included in many studies in counseling psychology, however many of these applications are dated and out of agreement with more current research. This article includes a brief review of the extensive research in socially desirable responding. The questions addressed are (a) what is socially desirable responding and (b) how is it manifest in social desirability scales with respect to bias and substantive variance? Prominent examples of how social desirability is used in counseling research are included along with comments regarding how these applications can be improved. Finally there are recommendations made regarding the incorporation of socially desirable responding in counseling psychology research.