Social desirability and individual conceptions of the desirable.

In a large proportion of the college students studied, there was a strong tendency for the person to believe that his own notions of desirable personal traits were "absolute," which should be recognized as desirable by others. Yet there were such wide, and predictable, differences among individuals' conceptions of the desirable that the term "social desirability" could have little common meaning; hence the attempt to control distortion of personality test responses by a forced-choice technique, which assumes common conceptions, would seem fruitless. A standard forced-choice measure of personality needs administered to college students did not correlate so well with self-reports of their own relevant behaviors as did a single stimulus form of the same instrument. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability and agreement response set.

In this paper, Edwards and Walker reanalyze the Couch and Keniston data (see 36: 3HF75C) by performing a different method of rotation on the matrix. This analysis eventuated in only 2 factors, a social desirability set and an "acquiescence factor," with OAS items heavily loaded on both factors. Edwards and Walker reconclude that OAS may be loaded with, confounded with, or misidentified with items of the social desirability set. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3HF80E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between agreeing response set and social desirability.

3 measures of response set and 5 content scales were administered to 125 schizophrenic patients and 135 college Ss. The data indicate that the Overall Agreement Score which ostensibly measures an agreeing response set also contains negative social desirability (SD). SD18 also appears to have a naysaying element in it. The results also show that truly balanced measures of acquiescence and Social Desirability might very well be orthogonal to each other and support both sets of authors' contentions that their scales are not necessarily associated with elements of the other response set. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability and responses to items from three MMPI scales: D, Sc, and K.

For random samples of 25 D and 32 Sc items, and for 29 of the 30 K items, ratings of social desirability were correlated with the probabilities that the items would be endorsed when the MMPI was used as a personality test (based on proportion of a college student sample actually endorsing each item). The correlations were .82 and .89 for the D and Sc items respectively. For the K-scale items, correlations of social desirability were computed with endorsement probabilities from a "typical college sample" (r = .50), and "Average-K" group (r = .38), and a "high-K" group (r = .66). "The results were interpreted as demonstrating the validity of K as a measure of the set to respond to items in terms of their social desirability." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability and the description of others.

Ss were asked to use Leary's Interpersonal Check List (ICL) to describe people they liked, disliked, and knew well but neither liked nor disliked. Social Desirability Scale (SD) values had been obtained on each of the 12 items of the ICL in a previous study by Edwards (see 32: 464). The present list selections were evaluated in terms of this dimension. Liked people are characterized by items high in SD; disliking people correlates less, but in the predicted direction. A positive relationship also exists between a Ss own SD score and that he attributes to others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The relationship between agreeing response set and social desirability": Erratum.

Reports an error on page 178 of the article "The Relationship between Agreeing Response Set and Social Desirability," by Leonard Solomon and Edward Klein (Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 1963, 66, 176-179; see record 1963-06735-001), the word "squared" was omitted in the first line of Column 2 and should read: sum of whose squared loadings was 1.00 or more were . . . . (The original abstract of this article originally appeared in record 196306735-001). 3 measures of response set and 5 content scales were administered to 125 schizophrenic patients and 135 college Ss. The data indicate that the Overall Agreement Score which ostensibly measures an agreeing response set also contains negative social desirability (SD). SD-sub(18) also appears to have a naysaying element in it. The results also show that truly balanced measures of acquiescence and Social Desirability might very well be orthogonal to each other and support both sets of authors' contentions that their scales are not necessarily associated with elements of the other response set. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability ratings of personality variables by Norwegian and American college students.

The statements in Edwards Personal Preference Schedule were used to determine the degree of relationship between social desirability judgments made by Norwegian and American college students. 86 Norwegian Ss averaging 17 years of age and 152 college students of somewhat higher age rate the statements on a 9-point scale ranging from extremely socially desirable to extremely socially undesirable. The correlation between the scale values of the 2 ethnic groups was .78 which indicates a high agreement with 61% of the variance being common. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocal onset latency in the study of question answering.

A study of the adequacy of the vocal response measure in studying question answering among 12 undergraduates showed that vocal answer latencies to yes–no questions closely resembled previously measured buttonpress latencies obtained by the author (1984). On a small number of read-only trials, Ss viewed the phrases "yes," "no," or "don't know" in place of a question. On these trials, the Ss simply recited the phrase on the screen. The resulting "yes" latencies were faster than the others, which did not differ. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that an internal response index is initialized "yes" in yes–no question answering. It is concluded that the vocal onset latency measure and the read-only trial procedure are useful in question answering research. (French abstract) (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social "facilitation" as challenge and threat.

The authors conducted an experiment to test a theoretical explanation of social facilitation based on the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. Participants mastered 1 of 2 tasks and subsequently performed either the mastered (i.e., well-learned) or the unlearned task either alone or with an audience while cardiovascular responses were recorded. Cardiovascular responses of participants performing a well-learned task in the presence of others fit the challenge pattern (i.e., increased cardiac response and decreased vascular resistance), whereas cardiovascular responses of participants performing an unlearned task in the presence of others fit the threat pattern (i.e., increased cardiac response and increased vascular resistance), confirming the authors' hypotheses and the applicability of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat to explain these results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the self-erasing nature of errors of prediction.

82 female undergraduates were assigned to 1 of 4 experimental groups—predict-request, information-request, predict only, and request only—in which requested tasks involved writing a counterattitudinal essay or singing over the telephone. In 3 experiments, Ss overpredicted the degree to which their behavior would be socially desirable and these errors of prediction proved to be self-erasing. Having mispredicted a given behavior, Ss were likely to have these predictions confirmed in later behavior, indicating that prediction of a behavioral sequence evokes a specific cognitive representation of that sequence which is subsequently accessed. Results demonstrate the strong effects on behavior of engaging in prebehavioral cognitive work. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing compliance by improving the deal: The that's-not-all technique.

Seven experiments with 426 adolescents, undergraduates, and adults were conducted to examine the effectiveness of a compliance procedure known as the that's-not-all technique. The procedure involves offering a product at a high price, not allowing the customer to respond for a few seconds, then offering a better deal by either adding another product or lowering the price. Exps I–II demonstrated the effectiveness of this procedure over a control group that was given the better deal initially. Exps III–IV suggested that this effectiveness may be partially explained through a norm of reciprocity that calls for the customer to respond to the seller's new offer. Exp V suggested that the effect also results from an altering of the anchor point Ss use to judge the new price. Exp VI indicated the effectiveness of the procedure cannot be explained by the S perceiving the lower price as a bargain. Exp VII, which examined the differences between the that's-not-all and the door-in-the-face procedures, implied that the former technique is more effective than the latter. Overall findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the that's-not-all technique. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct systems and the definition of social situations.

Studied the relationship between 2 construct subsystems, one for construing people and one for defining a concrete social situation. Using a variant of G. Kelly's grid methodology, 20 college students rated 12 personal acquaintances on 12 constructs of bipolar concepts. They were then presented with 1 of 2 problematic social situations and asked to rate the same acquaintances on 10 dimensions relevant to the situation. Principal-components analysis was used to derive 1 central and 2 secondary patterns of construing (centrality being defined by the amount of variance the component accounts for on a grid), as well as 1 central and 2 secondary dimensions defining the social situation. Cross-correlations between the orderings of people on these 2 sets of components were used to determine the extent to which "implicit personality theory" influenced the definition of a situation. Findings show that central construing related strongly to the central definition of a situation, whereas secondary construing related more weakly to secondary definitions. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Social categorization and the truly false consensus effect": Correction to Krueger and Zeiger.

Reports an error in "Social categorization and the truly false consensus effect" by Joachim Krueger and Joanna S. Zeiger (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993[Oct], Vol 65[4], 670-680). In this article, the second and third column headings of Table 2 were inadvertently transposed. The corrected table is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1994-33435-001.) The false consensus effect involves adequate inductive reasoning and egocentric biases. To detect truly false consensus effects (TFCEs), item endorsements were correlated with the differences between estimated and actual consensus within Ss. In Exp 1, Ss overgeneralized from themselves to gender in-groups and to the overall population, but not to gender out-groups. Exps 2 and 3 demonstrated intuitive understanding of consensus bias. Another person's choices were inferred from that person's population estimates or estimates about the gender in-group. In Exp 4, Ss inferred that consensus estimates for a behavior were higher among people who were willing to engage in that behavior than among those who were not. Implications of these findings for general induction, social categorization, and the psychological processes underlying TFCEs are discussed. [A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993, Vol 65(6), 1090. The second and third column headings of Table 2 were inadvertently transposed and the corrected table is included.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experimenter modeling, demands for honesty, and initial level of suggestibility on response to "hypnotic" suggestions.

Pretested 180 college students on behavioral (objective) and experiential (subjective) responses to the test suggestions of the Barber Suggestibility Scale. After being exposed to 1 of 3 treatments--E modeling, hypnotic induction, or control--each S was retested on the same scale. Strong demands to give honest experiential reports were administered to 1/2 of the Ss under each treatment. Ss who were exposed to E modeling manifested a greater enhancement in objective responsiveness to test suggestions than control Ss and as much enhancement as Ss who were exposed to hypnotic induction. E modeling was as effective as hypnotic induction in enhancing sujective responsiveness to test suggestions with and without demands for honest reports. Under both the E modeling and hypnotic induction treatments, Ss who had initially manifested a high level of suggestibility (pretest) showed as much enhancement in subjective responsiveness to test suggestions as medium- or low-suggestible Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of the fake "good" and "bad" response on the Sixteen Personality Factor Inventory in prisoners and college students.

Administered the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire to 30 inmates of a correctional center and to 30 college students, instructing some Ss to fake their answers to make themselves look better than they are and others to try to give a worse impression. In the fake-good condition, only 6 of the 18 factors examined were not altered significantly, and in the fake-bad condition only 2 factors. Prisoners and students produced similar faking results. The 3 dissimulation indices for detecting faking are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Collective induction: Social combination and sequential transition": Correction to Laughlin and Futoran.

Reports an error in "Collective induction: Social combination and sequential transition" by Patrick R. Laughlin and Gail C. Futoran (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985[Mar], Vol 48[3], 608-613). One sentence reads incorrectly on page 610. The correct sentence is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-20078-001.) 240 undergraduates, as individuals and 4-person cooperative groups, attempted to induce a rule that partitioned a deck of standard playing cards into exemplars and nonexemplars. A trial consisted of (a) individual member hypotheses, (b) group hypothesis (omitted in individual conditions), (c) choice of any of the cards, and (d) feedback on the exemplar or nonexemplar status of the card. Ss were instructed to select cards to confirm or disconfirm the current hypothesis, or received no such instructions. Groups had significantly more correct final hypotheses, plausible final hypotheses, and overall plausible hypotheses than individuals. Performance was better for both individuals and groups under control instructions than either instructions to select cards to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses. Social combination analyses and sequential transition analyses indicated that the groups were remarkably able to recognize and adopt the correct hypothesis if and only if it was proposed by at least 1 group member on some trial. Thus, the superiority of collective induction over individual induction was due to superior hypothesis evaluation by groups rather than to superior hypothesis formation by groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The point of no return in choice reaction time: Controlled and ballistic stages of response preparation.

Used a countermanding procedure and race model to assess separately the effects of experimental factors before and after the "point of no return" in response preparation (i.e., where the decision to move becomes irrevocable) in 3 experiments with 22 undergraduates. Results reveal details about processes that so closely precede the initiation of movement that they cannot be inhibited. These processes appear to be affected by the repetition of stimulus–response pairs but not by the physical or semantic properties of the stimuli. Findings support a model of response preparation in which (a) response inhibition depends on the outcome of a race between independent excitatory and inhibitory processes and (b) reaction time (RT) is the sum of the durations of at least 2 stages, separated by the point of no return. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Less pain and more to gain: Why high-status group members blame their failure on discrimination": Retraction.

Reports a retraction of the original article by Karen M. Ruggiero and David M. Marx (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999 [Oct], Vol 77(4), 774–784). The data reported in this article are invalid and should not be considered part of the scientific literature of psychology. The responsibility for this problem rests solely with the first author, Karen M. Ruggiero. The second author, David M. Marx, is in no way responsible for this problem. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1999-11645-009.) Members of high-status groups are more likely than members of low-status groups to blame their failure on discrimination and are less likely to blame it on themselves. This tendency was demonstrated in 3 experiments comparing men and women, White and Black students, and members of experimentally created high- and low-status groups. Results also showed that when making an attribution to discrimination, high-status group members were less likely to experience a threat to their social state self-esteem, performance perceived control, and social perceived control and were more likely to protect their performance state self-esteem. These findings help to explain why high-status group members are more willing to blame their failure… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness and judgments of control.

A central hypothesis of learned helplessness theory is that exposure to noncontingency produces a reduced ability to perceive response–outcome relations (the postulated "cognitive deficit"). To test this hypothesis, 30 undergraduates were exposed to a typical helplessness induction task and then asked to make judgments of the amount of control their responses exerted over a designated outcome (the onset of a light). An additional 30 undergraduates served as a no-treatment control group. Support for the postulated cognitive deficit would be found if Ss who experienced the induction underestimated the relation between their responses and outcomes. Results, however, demonstrate that induction Ss made higher and more accurate judgments of control than Ss in the control group. This finding clearly fails to support the postulated cognitive deficit and highlights the need for other direct tests of the basic hypotheses of helplessness theory. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Perceived social support among college students: Three studies of the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of the Social Support Inventory": Correction to Brown, Brady, Lent, Wolfert, and Hall.

Reports an error in "Perceived social support among college students: Three studies of the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of the Social Support Inventory" by Steven D. Brown, Theresa Brady, Robert W. Lent, Jenny Wolfert and Sheila Hall (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1987[Jul], Vol 34[3], 337-354). In Table 5, the reliable change (RC) values for Clients 1-7 on the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the College Student Satisfaction Scale were incorrect. The corrected values are presented in the erratum. In addition, a note should be added to Table 5 that reads: "Posttreatment scores used in the calculation of RC are means obtained from the sum of posttreatment and follow-up scores." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1987-32914-001.) Perceived social support has been shown to relate to psychological distress and well-being. However, measurement of the construct has been limited by a failure to embed perceived support in a body of psychological theory that would suggest how perceived support is produced and modified. In three studies we assessed the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of a theory-derived measure of perceived social support, the Social Support Inventory (SSI). Results of the first study indicated that the SSI possessed excellent internal consistency reliability and concurrent validity, and it performed in theoretically predicted ways in a series of construct validity analyses. Results of the second study suggested that the SSI may not be influenced by mood state or demand characteristics. The third study concerned a counseling intervention developed from the SSI's theoretical base. Reported outcomes are from the first 7 consecutive college student clients exposed to the intervention for difficulties in their social transition to college. We also describe the person-environment fit theory from which the SSI was derived and discuss future conceptual and research needs on the theory, instrument, and intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)