Cognitive Ability and Self-Reported Efficacy of Self-Presentation Predict Faking on Personality Measures

Abstract

Abstract. The main aim of the present study was to investigate whether faking on personality measures is predicted by cognitive ability and self-reported efficacy of positive self-presentation (ESP) assessed under honest conditions. 123 participants completed the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and the self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) and impression management (IM) scales of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Version 7 (BIDR) under four instructional sets: honest, fake bad, fake good, and two specifically formulated applicant instructions. In line with the assumption that personality measures lose their original meaning under the instruction to fake, it could be shown that the relationship between honest and faked NEO-FFI scales decreased with increasing situational pressure. In line with the hypothesis that faking reflects an ability, it could be demonstrated that general intelligence was related to the amount of faking, to the ability to perceive the situational requirements, and to the ability to fake in line with the situational requirements. In addition, self-reported ESP, but not SDE and IM, was positively related to positive self-presentation. Our findings imply that faking on personality measures should not only be seen as a threat to validity, but rather as a positive, adaptive, and probably predictive variable, which should be investigated in its own right.