Effect of dissimulation on self-report and objective measures of personality

The effect of subject dissimulation on self-report personality inventories (EPQ-RS and IVE Questionnaires) and two objective tests (time taken to complete the questionnaires and time taken to trace a circle) was investigated. A total of 150 subjects were placed in one of three conditions: (1) faking towards the personality of a successful stockbroker; (2) faking towards the personality of a successful librarian; or (3) control. When motivated to fake, it was hypothesized that objective tests would be more resistant to faking and thus more accurate than self-report personality questionnaires. Results supported this hypothesis and also demonstrated the validity of both objective measures.