The use of personality tests throughout Canadian society is based on the assumption that their results are valid. However, research has shown that individuals can, and do, fake their responses on personality inventories. Individuals may fake good, emphasizing their positive characteristics, or fake bad, emphasizing negative characteristics, in order to obtain a desired outcome. Recent research has provided support for a congruence model of faking, which states that schema-consistent responses are provided more quickly than schema-inconsistent responses. Faking successfully, without being detected by validity indices, requires balancing favourable and unfavourable responses, regardless of the faking schema a participant adopts. This demand results in cognitive fatigue over time, producing increasingly unbalanced response patterns. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the congruence and cognitive overload models of faking in detecting instructed faking, and to examine whether these models or the newly developed Faking Response Strategy Scales provide added value in detecting faking relative to currently established gold-standard measures. Results showed that all of the self-report scales examined—whether traditional or new—were valid detectors of faking, which supports their ongoing use. However, results highlighted the weakness of the Impression Management subscale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, the current gold-standard in the field, in providing added value relative to other scales. Response latency data supported the congruence model of faking, but results for the cognitive overload model were mixed: Study 1 data supported the cognitive overload model, but time constraints introduced in Study 2 seem to have caused random responding, rather than increasing cognitive overload as was intended. Results supported a multidimensional model of faking, and show that adding measures of response latency and response pattern can enhance the ability of traditional measures to detect faking. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for methods of detecting faking and for the understanding of cognitive processes underlying faking. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-28 11:00:11.347

To better understand the cognitive processes associated with faking behaviors, Ajzen?s Theory of Planned Behavior was adapted to the study of faking on overt integrity tests. This decision-based model is then expanded through the inclusion of a key outcome (counterproductive work behavior) and basic individual differences (conscientious personality and cognitive ability). Results from two student samples (n = 233 and n = 160) demonstrate that conscientiousness negatively predicts attitudes toward faking on employment tests, while cognitive ability predicts the ability to fake. In turn, faking ability moderates the effect of self-reported faking motive on actual test scores, while self-reported faking decreases the validity of integrity tests for predicting counterproductive work behaviors. Implications are discussed.

Researchers and practitioners continue to be concerned about the magnitude, extent, and effects of response distortion when self-report personality measures are used in high-stakes testing. One method for mitigating response distortion that has not received much empirical attention is profile matching. Profile matching assesses the fit between test-takers’ predictor profiles and a standard profile which represents an ideal or high performing employee’s profile. Since profile matching assesses fit, it can capture nonlinear effects. Furthermore, high predictor scores are not necessarily associated with higher criterion scores. Test–takers who distort their responses by choosing inaccurately extreme response options may improve their chances of being hired if a linear model is used, but this approach is unlikely to be effective if a profile matching strategy is used as long as the standard profile is unknown to the test-takers. As such, the primary objective of the present study was to examine the extent to which profile matching may alleviate concerns about response distortion. A secondary objective was to examine characteristics of the standard profile that are associated with the efficacy of this approach. The present study compared the effects of response distortion on personality test scores, and their criterion-related validity in predicting tenure, based on a linear composite and a profile fit score. The present study used data from 996 applicants who completed a personality test in a high-stakes testing context. Missing data were imputed for a subset of applicants who did not complete two response distortion scales. As such, the results provided an initial proof-of-concept of the effectiveness of profile matching as a personnel decision-making strategy using a blend of real and simulated data. The results suggest that profile fit scores are less related to response distortion and display higher criterion-related validity than linear composite scores. However, the difference in criterion-related validity could not be attributed to response distortion. The results further suggest that the amount of scatter in the standard profile is negatively associated with the profile fit score’s susceptibility to response distortion and positively related to criterion-related validity.

Personality measures were predicted to be susceptible to response distortion above and beyond volitional strategies of impression management. A 2 (Instruction Set) x 2 (Personality Feedback) x 2 (Mortality Salience) factorial design addressed social desirability biases in responding to personality measures. There were significant changes in all measures due to volitional (Fake Good) strategies. Thoughts of death lead to decreased distortion, but only on the measures sensitive to social desirability bias. Mortality Salience interacted with personality feedback, such that test responses were distorted in the opposite direction of the feedback, supporting Optimal Distinctiveness Theory. A significant interaction between Mortality Salience and Instruction Set suggests further attention be given to unconscious distortion in personality scores and that Terror Management Theory incorporate further research on individual differences. / Master of Science

<p>Följande studie har till syfte att undersöka aspekter kring personlighetstest som metod i rekryteringsprocesser. De problemformuleringar som ligger till grund för studien är dels i vilket syfte personlighetstest används och vilka argument som finns för användningen samt hur ser processen kring testen ut? Samt hur uppfattar och vilka upplevelser har rekryterare och arbetssökande om personlighetstest som metod i rekryteringssammanhang? Empirin är hämtad från åtta intervjuer utförda på fyra rekryterare från olika rekryteringsföretag i en mellanstor stad i Sydsverige samt fyra arbetssökande, en från varje rekryterares rekryteringsföretag. Resultatet av intervjuerna har sammanfattats, diskuterats och sedan analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning och teorier. Viktiga aspekter som diskuteras är information, objektivitets- och rättviseaspekten, ”faking” samt etik och testgranskning. Studiens analys och diskussion pekar på att personlighetstestprocessen inte är optimal, utan går att förbättra. Det som tydligast framkommit är vikten av och bristen på information, problematiken kring hur personlighetstest används i rekryteringsprocessen, påverkansgraden av miljön testet genomförs i samt bristen på insikt kring riskerna för fusk.</p>

Följande studie har till syfte att undersöka aspekter kring personlighetstest som metod i rekryteringsprocesser. De problemformuleringar som ligger till grund för studien är dels i vilket syfte personlighetstest används och vilka argument som finns för användningen samt hur ser processen kring testen ut? Samt hur uppfattar och vilka upplevelser har rekryterare och arbetssökande om personlighetstest som metod i rekryteringssammanhang? Empirin är hämtad från åtta intervjuer utförda på fyra rekryterare från olika rekryteringsföretag i en mellanstor stad i Sydsverige samt fyra arbetssökande, en från varje rekryterares rekryteringsföretag. Resultatet av intervjuerna har sammanfattats, diskuterats och sedan analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning och teorier. Viktiga aspekter som diskuteras är information, objektivitets- och rättviseaspekten, ”faking” samt etik och testgranskning. Studiens analys och diskussion pekar på att personlighetstestprocessen inte är optimal, utan går att förbättra. Det som tydligast framkommit är vikten av och bristen på information, problematiken kring hur personlighetstest används i rekryteringsprocessen, påverkansgraden av miljön testet genomförs i samt bristen på insikt kring riskerna för fusk.

More than 80 years ago, researchers and practitioners first recognized that applicants may be motivated to fake their responses to pre-employment personality tests to improve their chances of securing employment (Zickar & Gibby, 2006). Although we have learned much about faking over the ensuing decades, we still know very little about the situational or individual factors that influence applicants’ motivation to fake. In this dissertation, I evaluated several situational and individual variables to determine the degree to which they work independently and jointly to influence responses to a personality test. Study 1 examined the impact of 12 situational variables on faking intentions. The desirability of the job, warning applicants that their responses would be verified, warning applicants that faking will result in their removal from the applicant pool, and the number of other available job opportunities were found to have strong effects on faking intentions. In Studies 2 and 3, these variables were examined in experiments with a sample of undergraduate students and a sample of job seekers to determine if, and how, these variables interact to influence faking. In both studies, significant higher-order interactions were found among the variables in predicting intentions to fake. It appeared that test takers did take into account the desirability of the job, warnings against faking and the number of other job opportunities in deciding whether faking would be a prudent test-taking strategy, although the results were not entirely consistent across the two studies. Study 3 also utilized expectancy theory to attempt to explain the effects of the situational and individual difference variables on intentions to fake. Expectancy, instrumentality and valence perceptions were significant predictors of intentions to fake, however, job desirability, the perception of negative consequences for faking and the number of job opportunities were not strongly related to expectancy, instrumentality and valence. Studies 2 and 3 also demonstrated that the trait of honesty-humility was negatively related to test takers’ intentions to fake. These three studies provide some empirical support for existing models of faking and enhance the understanding of the antecedents of the motivation to fake on pre-employment personality assessments.

More than 80 years ago, researchers and practitioners first recognized that applicants may be motivated to fake their responses to pre-employment personality tests to improve their chances of securing employment (Zickar & Gibby, 2006). Although we have learned much about faking over the ensuing decades, we still know very little about the situational or individual factors that influence applicants’ motivation to fake. In this dissertation, I evaluated several situational and individual variables to determine the degree to which they work independently and jointly to influence responses to a personality test. Study 1 examined the impact of 12 situational variables on faking intentions. The desirability of the job, warning applicants that their responses would be verified, warning applicants that faking will result in their removal from the applicant pool, and the number of other available job opportunities were found to have strong effects on faking intentions. In Studies 2 and 3, these variables were examined in experiments with a sample of undergraduate students and a sample of job seekers to determine if, and how, these variables interact to influence faking. In both studies, significant higher-order interactions were found among the variables in predicting intentions to fake. It appeared that test takers did take into account the desirability of the job, warnings against faking and the number of other job opportunities in deciding whether faking would be a prudent test-taking strategy, although the results were not entirely consistent across the two studies. Study 3 also utilized expectancy theory to attempt to explain the effects of the situational and individual difference variables on intentions to fake. Expectancy, instrumentality and valence perceptions were significant predictors of intentions to fake, however, job desirability, the perception of negative consequences for faking and the number of job opportunities were not strongly related to expectancy, instrumentality and valence. Studies 2 and 3 also demonstrated that the trait of honesty-humility was negatively related to test takers’ intentions to fake. These three studies provide some empirical support for existing models of faking and enhance the understanding of the antecedents of the motivation to fake on pre-employment personality assessments.

The present study used a laboratory setting to explore the criterion-related validity of non-cognitive measures as related to personnel selection. The focal study investigated psychological processes resulting from situational causes of motivation to distort item responses. In particular, I investigated whether differences in the motivation to distort item responses interacted with self-consistency in the prediction of performance on a clerical task. Findings suggested that despite range restriction and the existence of faking behavior, a positive correlation between conscientiousness and performance exists. Variation of selection ratio (SR) and monetary incentives successfully produced faking behaviors, and the existence of faking behaviors was found in selection setting. Results partially supported the proposed hypothesis that there are positive and negative effects of faking behaviors. Implications of the present study were further discussed. / Master of Science

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