The social desirability of the type A behaviour pattern

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• The Type A behavior pattern is linked to cardiovascular disease.
• Understanding response bias in self-report questionnaires is crucial for accurate psychological assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of faking good and faking bad on Type A behavior questionnaire responses.
• To determine if overall scores or individual items are more susceptible to response bias.

Main Methods:

• Nearly 100 subjects completed two Type A behavior questionnaires.
• Subjects were instructed to respond honestly, then either fake good or fake bad.
• Response patterns were analyzed for overall and item-level differences.

Main Results:

• A marginal difference was observed in one questionnaire's total score between faking conditions.
• Nearly all individual questionnaire items showed large, significant differences when faking.
• Subject's baseline Type A/B classification did not influence their faking strategy.

Conclusions:

• While overall Type A/B scores may show limited susceptibility to faking, individual items are highly vulnerable.
• The multidimensional nature of the Type A concept may explain differential item response to faking.
• Findings have implications for interpreting self-report data in psychological research and clinical settings.