Objective detection of faking on role-play tests of assertion: gender differences

The validity of role-play tests of assertiveness can be reduced by the effects of faking. Kern demonstrated that faking could be detected using assessors' global judgements. The present analysis is based on Kern's 1994 videotapes, examining the effectiveness of more objective measures. Undergraduates who were low in assertiveness and instructed to fake high assertiveness on the Idiographic Role-play Test (n = 23) emitted more statements indicative of social-evaluative concerns than the veridically highly assertive testees (n = 27). Significant gender differences in the detectability of faking were also obtained. Whereas 24 female fakers and nonfakers were differentiated via verbalizations of likability, 26 male fakers and nonfakers were differentiated via empathic-assertive statements. The implications and limitations of this method to detect faking are discussed.