Abstract
The aim of the present study was to explore whether kinematic indicators could improve the detection of subjects demonstrating faking-good behaviour when responding to personality questionnaires. One hundred and twenty volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups (honest unspeeded, faking-good unspeeded, honest speeded, and faking-good speeded). Participants were asked to respond to the MMPI-2 underreporting scales (L, K, S) and the PPI-R Virtuous Responding (VR) scale using a computer mouse. The collected data included T-point scores on the L, K, S, and VR scales; response times on these scales; and several temporal and spatial mouse parameters. These data were used to investigate the presence of significant differences between the two manipulated variables (honest vs. faking-good; speeded vs. unspeeded). The results demonstrated that T-scores were significantly higher in the faking-good condition relative to the honest condition; however, faking-good and honest respondents showed no statistically significant differences between the speeded and unspeeded conditions. Concerning temporal and spatial kinematic parameters, we observed mixed results for different scales and further investigations are required. The most consistent finding, albeit with small observed effects, regards the L scale, in which faking-good respondents took longer to respond to stimuli and outlined wider mouse trajectories to arrive at the given response.
Highlights
The aim of the present study was to explore whether kinematic indicators could improve the detection of subjects demonstrating faking-good behaviour when responding to personality questionnaires
Many studies have focused on faking-bad behaviour and developed tools to facilitate its detection; such tools include the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms-2 (SIRS-2)[6], the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS)[7], and the Inventory of Problems-298
Shalvi et al.[20] suggested that subjects with limited time to reflect lie more frequently, whereas those with more time available choose their answers more cautiously in an attempt to moderate their faking behaviour. This idea was confirmed in a recent study[17,22], in which time pressure led fakers to significantly improve their self-presentation on the L-r and K-r scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)-RF (η2p = 0.243)
Summary
The aim of the present study was to explore whether kinematic indicators could improve the detection of subjects demonstrating faking-good behaviour when responding to personality questionnaires. The self-schema model[13] suggests that fakers, while answering a self-report questionnaire, will take longer to respond to items than honest subjects This result was empirically confirmed by a meta-analysis conducted in 2016 by Maricuțoiu and Sârbescu[14], who concluded that lying takes more time because it is either more cognitively demanding than telling the truth[15,16,17,18] or because it causes higher levels of arousal due to fear of detection [d = 0.23; 95%C.I. 0.07, 0.39]19. Shalvi et al.[20] suggested that subjects with limited time to reflect lie more frequently, whereas those with more time available choose their answers more cautiously in an attempt to moderate their faking behaviour This idea was confirmed in a recent study[17,22], in which time pressure led fakers to significantly improve their self-presentation on the L-r and K-r scales of the MMPI-2-RF (η2p = 0.243).
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