Social Desirability Response Sets and a Measure of Self-Actualization

The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), found to be resistant to simulate-good-impression instructions in previous investigations, was correlated with measures of the social desirability response set. Data were in agreement with a prediction of significant positive Edwards Social Desirability scale-POI correlations. Also, as predicted, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale-POI correlations were nonsignificant or significant in the negative direction. These data were discussed in terms of the difference between the self-actualization model, on the basis of which the POI was constructed, and cultural definitions of the socially desirable.

The Personal Orientation Inventory (Shostrom, 1966), constructed as a measure of one conception of the ideal personality, self-actualization (Maslow, 1962), has been found to be resistant to good-impression instructions (Fisher, in press; Foulds & Warehime, 1971; Shostrom, 1966). In comparison with the normal instruction set, the "fake good" instruction set lowered scores significantly on most POI scales.

A possible explanation for these findings may be found in the way the POI scales are keyed. There is high agreement among persons in our culture as to the social desirability value of personality scale items, and most personality scales are implicitly keyed in the direction of generally accepted cultural standards (Edwards, 1970). The POI, however, is not keyed in the direction of cultural norms but in the direction of the self-actualization model of personality. Behaviors defining self-actualization are somewhat different from behaviors defining currently accepted cultural standards, and subjects may simply lack information about what constitutes a self-actualized response on the POI. Grater (1968) found that both good impression instructions and knowledge of the characteristics of self-actualized persons were necessary for subjects to distort their POI responses appreciably in the self-actualization direction. The present study was an investigation of the relationship between POI performance and the tendency to create a favorable impression, this tendency being considered as an individual difference variable (the social desirability response set).

The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale (MC SD; Crowne & Marlowe, 1960, 1964) was constructed as a measure of the tendency to create a favorable impression, independent of the report or denial of psychopathology. The MC SD scale should have nonsignificant or negative correlations with the POI scales, since both high and low MC SD scorers should be equally lacking in information about the self-actualization model. In addition, where the self-actualization model is at wide variance with cultural definitions of ideal behavior, persons attuned to cultural norms (and dissimulating in terms of these) should have lower scores on the POI scales representing these behaviors than persons who do not dissimulate in such a fashion.

The Edwards Social Desirability scale (ED SD; Edwards, 1957) was constructed as a measure of the tendency to endorse personality statements in the socially desirable direction. ED SD responses can be interpreted, however, either in terms of denial of psychopathology (a social desirability interpretation) or in terms of report of actual adjustment or absence of psychopathology (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960; Heilbrun, 1964). Edwards (1970) presented evidence that indicates that judgments of social desirability are highly correlated with judgments of sickness-health, normality-abnormality, and adjustment-maladjustment. Consequently, a significant positive correlation should be found between the ED SD scale and the POI scales, since the constructs of self-actualization and adjustment-maladjustment are not completely independent and their corresponding measures should be somewhat related.