Less social desirability is more desirable: Neutralizing personality inventories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5380/psi.v21i3.53054Keywords:
social desirability, humility, big five factors, test constructionAbstract
Socially desirable responding (SDR) occurs when someone does an overly positive assessment about him or herself using a self-report inventory. The existence of evaluative content (desirable or undesirable) in self-report items is regarded as one of the causes of SDR, as an individual might rate items motivated more by content popularity and less by the descriptive trait. The aim of this study was to elaborate a less socially desirable version of two self-report inventories of personality traits, the Big Five Inventory and the IPIP Modesty Scale-A5. Participants were 379 university students, from 18 to 47 years (M = 22.53 years; SD = 6.2), who responded to the original and to a neutralized version of each instrument, as well as to the IPIP —Impression Management and Self Deception Scales. As expected, results revealed that our neutralized instruments were positively and strongly correlated to their original versions, besides less correlated to social desirability. Factor structure of both original instruments was replicated in their neutralized versions. Findings attest to the feasibility and efficiency of the neutralization procedure in the controlling of social desirability.
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