Effects of faking on self-deception and impression management scales

To investigate the effects of self-presentation on the construct validity of the impression management (IM) and self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) scales of the Balanced Inventory of Social Desirable Responding Version 7 (BIDR-7), 155 participants completed the IM and SDE scales combined with standard instructions. IM and SDE were also presented with three self-presentation instructions: fake good, Agency, and Communion instructions. In addition, self- and social desirability ratings were assessed for a list of 190 personality-trait words. It could be shown that not only IM, but also SDE can be faked if participants are appropriately instructed to do so. In addition, personality-trait words related to IM were rated as socially more desirable than those related to SDE. BIDR scales were more highly related in the faking conditions than in the standard instruction condition. In addition, faked BIDR scores were not related to undistorted BIDR scores. These results implicate that both SDE and IM are susceptible to faking like any other personality questionnaire, and that both SDE and IM loose their original meaning under faking. Therefore, at least under faking social desirability scales do not seem to provide additional diagnostic information beyond that derived from personality scales.