Stereotyping as a response strategy when faking personality questionnaires

This research explored how stereotypes are used when faking personality tests in a vocational selection context. Experiment 1 demonstrated that fake-job profiles are based primarily on stereotypes of members of the target occupation but with negative aspects removed. Experiment 2 extended this finding by looking at how several stereotypes (or schema) are used to produce fake-job profiles. It was found that job stereotypes and fake-good schema were strongly represented in fake-job profiles, with both fake-bad and honest schema being represented less strongly. This pattern was found in two target occupations which differed in terms of whether or not the respondents were undertaking training for that occupation. Thus stereotypes seem central to the process of faking, and subsequent research should attempt to integrate this line of research with current theories of personal and social identity and to extend it to other types of faking like malingering.