Changes in the need for social approval, 1958–2001

Abstract

American college students’ and children’s scores on two measures of the need for social approval closely follow changes in the state of the larger society, decreasing significantly from 1958 to 1980 and leveling off between 1980 and 2001 (total n = 36,004 across 203 samples of college students responding to the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability scale; total n = 4741 across 38 samples of children responding to the Children’s Social Desirability Questionnaire). Need for social approval correlates with positive social trends such as a low divorce rate, low crime rate, and low unemployment rate. However, need for social approval does not correlate over time with changes in anxiety and self-esteem, suggesting that these birth cohort trends are not due to shifts in response styles.