Positive Impression Management Research Articles

‘Not that We’re not Hard-Working Ourselves, but Germans are the Model’: mediatising Germans as the national other in the video project Easy Languages

ABSTRACT The present paper focuses on the analysis of four videos which portray the ways British, Italian, French and Greek people talk about Germans as the national other, within the context of a video series project aiming to promote multilingualism and foreign language learning (Easy Languages). Contrary to traditional views on national stereotypes from social psychology, and on cultural categorisations of countries from intercultural communication as universally fixed entities, a Critical Discourse Studies perspective is adopted, which views them instead as hegemonic discourses, which sustain particular power relations with the excuse of ‘cultural’ difference. The analysis discloses that the mediatisation of Germans as the national other aligns with the well-known national stereotypes of competence and warmth, as well as with the widely held cultural categorisations distinguishing monochronic from polychronic countries. Yet, viewed as dynamic discursive resources, it is shown that discussing national matters is a delicate topic, requiring a positive impression management, especially within a context with ‘clear’ intercultural objectives. Moreover, these discourses lead to the neutralisation of politics through culturalisation.

Social desirability, dietary intakes, and variables related to attitudes and behaviours towards eating among French-speaking adults from Quebec, Canada: The PREDISE study.

The primary objective of this study was to examine how social desirability is associated with self-reported measures of dietary intakes and variables related to attitudes and behaviours towards eating. This analysis was conducted in 1083 adults (50.0% women) from the PREDISE study. Social desirability was assessed using the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) questionnaire, which includes two subscales: (1) self-deceptive enhancement (SDE), i.e., having an overly positive self-image and (2) impression management (IM), i.e., intentional response distortion to please. BIDR total score and IM subscore were positively associated with the Canadian Healthy Eating Index (C-HEI) (ß = 0.24 and ß = 0.50; p≤0.0003), calculated using data from three self-administered 24 h food recalls. All BIDR scores were positively associated with self-determined motivation for eating regulation (0.03 ≤ ß ≤ 0.06; p<0.0001), measured by the Regulation of Eating Behavior Scale, and with the intuitive eating score (0.02 ≤ ß ≤ 0.05; p<0.0001). Also, all BIDR scores were negatively associated with hunger and disinhibition scores measured by the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (-0.17 ≤ ß ≤ -0.09; p<0.0001). All these associations were adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and the education level. Furthermore, controlling for both dimensions of social desirability did not impact the magnitude of the association between self-determined motivation (the strongest predictor of healthy eating in the PREDISE study) and C-HEI. According to our results, associations are observed with diet quality, as well as with attitudes and behaviours towards eating; therefore, a measurement of social desirability responding would be pertinent in studies using those or related variables.

29 Examining the Relationship between Symptom and Performance Validity Measures Across Referral Subtypes

Objective:Performance validity (PVT) and symptom validity tests (SVT) have become standard practice in assessing credibility of neuropsychological profiles and symptom report. While PVTs assess cognitive task engagement, SVTs assess credibility of patient symptom report. Although prior research aimed to conceptualize the relationship between the two validity measure types, it generally focused on SVTs from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 &amp;RF) and the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptoms (SIMS; Ord et al., 2021, MMPI-2; Van Dyke et al., 2013). Further studies have demonstrated mixed results, with many studies concluding that symptom and performance validity are separate but related constructs. The current study aimed to assess the relationship between PVTs and SVTs utilizing symptom validity measures from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) across three samples, including neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and traumatic brain injury groups.Participants and Methods:Participants included 634 individuals consecutively referred for neuropsychological assessment who completed the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and the PAI (mean Age = 41.7, SD = 15.7; mean Education = 13.7, SD = 2.7; 53% female; 89% Caucasian). Participants were divided into three groups based on referral, including neurodevelopmental (mean Age = SD = 10.7; mean Education = 13.4, SD = 2.5; 39% female; 79% Caucasian), psychiatric (mean Age = 44.7, SD = 15.0; mean Education = 13.8, SD = 2.8; 58% female; 90% Caucasian), and traumatic brain injury samples (mean Age = SD = 15.5; mean Education = 13.3, SD = 2.3; 50% female; 91% Caucasian). Four structural equation models (latent variable models) were constructed. The first model was fit across the entire sample while the remaining three were fit for the aforementioned subsamples. TOMM trials modeled the performance validity latent variable while SVTs from the PAI modeled the symptom validity latent variable (Positive Impression Management and Defensiveness Index modeled underreporting; Negative Impression Management, Malingering Index, and Cognitive Bias Scale modeled overreporting).Results:In the full sample model overreporting significantly predicted performance validity (p &lt; 0.001, r = -0.31), indicating higher symptom overreporting related to poorer performance validity while symptom underreporting did not significantly predict performance validity (p = 0.09, r = 0.08). In the neurodevelopmental model overreporting did not significantly predict performance validity (p = 0.44, r = 0.10). Further, symptom underreporting did not significantly predict performance validity (p = 0.40, r = 0.10). Similarly, for the TBI model, overreporting did not significantly predict performance validity (p = 0.82, r = -0.02) and symptom underreporting did not significantly predict performance validity (p = 0.50, r = -0.08). For the psychiatric sample symptom underreporting did not significantly predict performance validity (p = 0.06, r = 0.11); however, symptom overreporting significantly predicted performance validity (p &lt; 0.001, r = - 0.39).Conclusions:The current study expands on prior research comparing the relationship between SVTs and PVTs in neuropsychological evaluation utilizing SVTs from the PAI. Results of the present study suggest the relationship between the SVTs and PVTs varies by referral type and further supports using both PVTs and SVTs in neuropsychological assessment.

Identifying positive impression management using the MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF: A meta-analysis

Objective:Individuals may be motivated to conceal or minimize psychological symptoms and engage in positive impression management (PIM) in order to achieve desired outcomes across high stakes contexts (e.g. fitness for duty evaluations, pre-sentencing assessments, medical procedure evaluations, civil commitment). Despite the importance of this topic, the most recent meta-analysis of the MMPI-2, a widely used instrument for detecting PIM, was conducted more than two decades ago. Method:Using a Robust Variance Estimation method, this meta-analysis synthesized the results of 27 studies that examined the MMPI-2 (k = 22) and MMPI-2-RF (k = 5) validity scales’ ability to discriminate individuals who engage in PIM from genuine responders, with a particular focus on the L, K, and S scales. Results:The MMPI-2 L scale produced the largest effect size (g = 1.30), whereas the MMPI-2-RF L-r scale effect size was moderate (g = 1.16). Moderate effect sizes were also found for the K (g = 1.01) and K-r (g = 1.21) scales, and for the MMPI-2 S scale (g = 1.23). Conclusions: Effect sizes did not significantly vary between the two versions of the MMPI. Findings suggest that both versions of the MMPI have demonstrated utility in identifying PIM, but clinicians should interpret T scores conservatively to account for the modest elevations associated with defensiveness. Findings are discussed in the context of the recently released MMPI-3.

Influence Mechanism of Employee Playfulness Personality on Employee Creative Deviance.

Based on the antecedent variable (playfulness personality) and the outcome variable (creative deviance) on the individual level, we introduce mediating variables (positive impression management motivation and harmonious innovation passion), integrate moderating variables (employee growth need strength and professional mission sense) to construct the conceptual model and theoretical framework of the influence mechanism of playfulness personality on creative deviance of employees. Based on the questionnaire survey data of employees in high-tech enterprises, this study adopts the nonparametric percentile Bootstrap method based on deviation correction to empirically discuss the influence mechanism of employee playfulness personality on employee creative deviance. The empirical analysis results show that employee playfulness personality has a significant positive influence on employee creative deviance. Positive impression management motivation and harmonious innovation passion partially mediate the relationships between employee playfulness personality and creative deviance. Employee growth need strength negatively moderates the relationships between positive impression management motivation and employee creative deviance. The stronger the employee growth need strength, the weaker the mediating effect of employees' playfulness personality on employee creative deviance through positive impression management motivation, and there is a moderated mediating effect.

Perspectives of juror-eligible adults: validation of the Juror Questionnaire of Values and Viewpoints (JQVV) for capital cases

ABSTRACT Criminal defendants have a 6th Amendment right to an impartial jury, but customary methods of jury selection often fail to uncover deeply held juror attitudes. Addressing the death penalty as a polarizing issue, the Juror Questionnaire of Values and Viewpoints (JQVV) was validated and cross-validated with two separate MTurk studies of capital jury-eligible adults. With complete anonymity assured by MTurk, Study 1 assessed death-penalty attitudes for 354 juror-eligible participants and their likelihood of mispresenting their views during voir dire. Validity of the JQVV was assessed with the Pretrial Juror Attitude Questionnaire (PJAQ) and predicted differences for Support-Death and Support-Life group. Study 2, with an entirely new sample of 313 juror-eligible adults, cross-validated the JQVV and tested the effects of positive impression management (PIM). Importantly, Support-Death mostly expressed their candid views even with the PIM condition. Although Support-Life frequently denied their death-penalty views, the JQVV Prosecution-Cynicism (Pro-Cyn) scale proved moderately effective at identifying their denials. Professional implications for capital jury selection are discussed.

Employee Perceptions of Organisational Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Capital Amongst Public Servants in Uganda

We developed and tested a model examining the association between organisational emotional intelligence and psychological capital in the workplace. Employing the organisational positivity argument, we proposed that organisational emotional intelligence be associated with higher order psychological capital. We tested our hypothesis using cross sectional data from employees from public organisations in Uganda. The study established that employee perceptions emotional intelligence organization organisations could be associated with employee psychological capital. organisational managers should develop organisational emotional intelligence which is manifested through job happiness, compensation satisfaction, supervisory leadership, organisational cohesiveness, responsiveness, work life stress management, diversity and anger management, and positive impression management creating a positive emotionally intelligent organisatiion to develop psychological capital for positive outcomes.

Beyond personality: Underreporting in high-stakes assessment contexts

This study uses several MMPI-2 validity scales, the context of the sample data collection, and personality dimensions to assess global underreporting and two underreporting subtypes: defensiveness and social desirability. This study uses a differential prevalence group design to compare organizational (N = 344), community (N = 339), and clinical (N = 347) samples. Composite indexes of global underreporting, defensiveness and social desirability were tested. As hypothesized, the high stakes organizational sample showed stronger global and specific underreporting than the other two samples. The proposed composite indexes performed better than the individual scales on detecting global underreporting, defensiveness and social desirability. Additionally, considering the organizational and community samples, a path-analysis found that the context of assessment (i.e., high stakes and no high stakes) had a stronger effect than respondent personality on underreporting. In sum, the proposed composite indexes demanding a joint elevation of validity scales, seem to be powerful criteria that only identify individuals with underreporting levels that represent Positive Impression Management. This is very relevant mostly in high stakes assessment contexts.

Impression Management and Group Member Performance: Examining the Role of Collective Altruism

There is debate in the literature regarding when impression management motivates affiliative behavior (i.e., helping others) and how well individuals perform organizational tasks when the driving motivation is to “look good.” Based on social exchange and sensemaking theories and research, and considering the increasing use of groups and teams in today’s workplaces, we propose that characteristics of the groups to which members belong enable them to make sense of, and interpret, their collective environment and subsequently determine how they should behave to look their best. Specifically, we identify collective altruism as an important group characteristic affecting how individuals’ positive (i.e., self-promotion, exemplification, ingratiation) and negative (i.e., supplication, intimidation) impression management tactics influence their willingness to help fellow group members. Findings from a sample of entrepreneurial networking groups illustrate that the relationship between positive impression management tactics and affiliative behavior was more strongly positive when collective altruism was higher, rather than lower; and, the relationship between negative impression management tactics and affiliative behavior was positive when collective altruism was higher, and not significant when it was lower. We discuss implications for both theory and practice.

Role of Power and LMX on the use of Upward Impression Management Tactics

The human being is full of emotions and expressions. An individual expresses his/her emotion through certain behavior and expect that others would be able to understand his/her emotion. People generally able to capture the exact emotion of the person based on expressed behavior. Impression management is also a behavior that reflects or articulates the image of an individual. In present scenario, individuals are more inclined towards building their image at the workplace. Therefore, they use various impression management for projecting different image. However, there are several factors, which affect the selection of a particulate impression tactic. This research paper is based on an experimental study, which is designed to assess the impact of the leader’s perceived power and leader member-exchange (LMX) on the selection of impression management tactics by subordinates for getting positive performance rating from their leaders. To the best of our knowledge, the impact of the perceived power of the leader and LMX on IM tactics is being assessed for the first time. Leader’s power and LMX, are manipulated through video clips. This experimental study was conducted on graduate and postgraduate students. Results show that the use of IM by subordinates significantly depends on the relationship between leader and subordinate as well as the perceived leaders’ power by the subordinates. As results state that subordinates use positive impression management tactics (ingratiation and self-promotion) more for the leaders with high LMX & high perceived power. Subordinates may also use negative impression management tactics (supplication and intimidation) for the leaders with low LMX & low perceived power for receiving positive performance rating. Keywords: Perceived leader’s power; leader member exchange; impression management tactics

Challenges for the SASSI-4 and InDUC-2R: Positive Impression Management in Offenders with Substance Use Histories

Challenges for the SASSI-4 and InDUC-2R: Positive Impression Management in Offenders with Substance Use Histories

Personality in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Associations With Face Memory Deficit and Theory of Mind.

To examine the personality profiles of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a standard personality assessment and to investigate the association between personality, ASD-related face memory deficit (FMD), and theory of mind (ToM). In a broader context, to examine whether there are distinct clinical phenotypes in the ASD population that have implications for personality development and treatment. Fifty-five adults with ASD and 22 neurotypical (NT) adults underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests, including measures of personality, face memory, and ToM. We compared ASD and NT groups in terms of their Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) profiles. Additional analyses focused on the association between specific PAI scales and FMD. Performance on the Eyes Test was compared across groups and was examined in relation to FMD. Adults with ASD demonstrated significant elevations on several PAI scales compared with NT adults. The presence of FMD was associated with differing PAI profiles among the ASD adults. The ASD adults with FMD scored significantly higher on scales that are sensitive to positive impression management and treatment rejection and significantly lower on scales that are sensitive to borderline personality, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and stress. There was a significant association between performance on the Eyes Test and FMD in the ASD group. Adults with ASD have a unique personality profile. Further, ASD adults with FMD have reduced insight into their difficulties with emotional processing and may not be as sensitive as ASD adults without FMD to the emotions of others.

The MCMI-IV: A New Normal Quartet for Parental Fitness Litigants

The Millon series (i.e., MCMI-II/MCMI-III) has a longstanding history of use in clinical and forensic settings. For forensic psychologists, the Millon series can serve as a unique tool in evaluations related to parental fitness due to its incorporation of DSM diagnostic categories and the use of base rate (BR) scores. There is limited research on parental fitness populations broadly, though previous research has found a common positive impression management style referred to as the normal quartet with forensic populations on the MCMI-III. It is unknown if there is a continued presence of the normal quartet in the MCMI-IV, published in 2015. With the current study, we examined parental fitness litigant response patterns on the MCMI-IV and assessed the presence of a normal quartet. The sample consisted of 330 parental fitness litigants in the northeast region of the United States. Results of the current study suggest a new normal quartet: elevations on the Desirability (Y), Histrionic (4A), Turbulent (4B), and Compulsive (7) scales. The clinical implications for the use of the MCMI-IV by forensic psychologists with parental fitness litigants are discussed including limitations and areas for future research.

How Demographic Faultlines and Impression Management Behaviors Influence Group Affective Tone

Drawing on the social categorization perspective, we theorized that team demographic faultlines increase negative group affective tone (NGAT) through reduced group identification, while team member positive impression management behaviors enhance positive group affective tone (PGAT) via enhanced group identification. Data were collected from 523 members of 101 newly formed student teams. Consistent with our hypotheses, team demographic faultlines were positively predicted NGAT via reduced group identification, while team self-promotion and ingratiation behaviors were positively associated with PGAT through group identification. Importantly, team self-promotion and ingratiation behaviors also mitigated the social categorization processes triggered by team demographic faultlines.

Empirical Research on the Relationship Between Employees’ Political Skill and Impression Management

The purpose of this study was to assess the dimensionality of political skills in terms of the management of perceptions. Information as well as bootstrapping strategies were evaluated to account for the modest sample size (n = 250) using a qualitative method to account for any leader level impacts. Ability of the network, evident honesty and behavioral impact are the best expected positive impression management (IM). In order to predict higher ratings, evident honesty interacted with optimistic perception management techniques, while social astuteness did not help coercion and supplication. The results endorse the use of more positive influence strategies in the workplace by socially cunning individuals. This may have an impact on the wider workplace climate, making it more fun than one of people using strategies of negative control. Therefore, it may be in the interest of organizations to train people to develop their social astuteness. However, performance evaluations carried out by managers that affirm previous findings are affected by more than objective performance (e.g., political skill). In order to remove these kinds of biases, companies must also ensure the correct training of workers. This research empirically validates elements of the model of me theoretical political capability (Ferris et al. Journal of Management 33:290-320, 2007) by analyzing the effects of political ability dimensions on interpersonal processes and success in the workplace. Keywords: Political skills, impression Management, Performance DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-4-07 Publication date: February 28 th 2021

Detecting faking-good response style in personality questionnaires with four choice alternatives

Deliberate attempts to portray oneself in an unrealistic manner are commonly encountered in the administration of personality questionnaires. The main aim of the present study was to explore whether mouse tracking temporal indicators and machine learning models could improve the detection of subjects implementing a faking-good response style when answering personality inventories with four choice alternatives, with and without time pressure. A total of 120 volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups and asked to respond to the Virtuous Responding (VR) validity scale of the PPI-R and the Positive Impression Management (PIM) validity scale of the PAI via a computer mouse. A mixed design was implemented, and predictive models were calculated. The results showed that, on the PIM scale, faking-good participants were significantly slower in responding than honest respondents. Relative to VR items, PIM items are shorter in length and feature no negations. Accordingly, the PIM scale was found to be more sensitive in distinguishing between honest and faking-good respondents, demonstrating high classification accuracy (80–83%).

Personality Assessment Inventory’s Utility in Pre-Treatment Assessment for Violent Offenders

Domestic Violence programs are often mandated to treat perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV), yet ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs are needed. One possibility is to provide a more comprehensive assessment and screening so that group facilitators can be better prepared to serve their clientele from the very beginning of treatment. To that end, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) was administered to 154 IPV perpetrators as part of pre-treatment assessment for group treatment programs. After the treatment groups were finished, Interviews were conducted with group facilitators to determine if the facilitators of groups for men who engage in IPV perceived the PAI as an effective pre-treatment assessment tool. The majority of the program facilitators believed the PAI to be a useful tool and discussed various ways they were able to use the results in a positive manner. Those who did not find it useful were likely not to take the time to use the PAI at all, indicating there was not enough time because of the arduous nature of the job. The PAI protocols collected from program participants are also presented and compared to those currently published in the literature for this population. PAI profiles for this group differed from the comparison groups in two ways. Within the clinical scales, this group scored higher than the community norms and the published norms for men engaging in IPV on negative relations, antisocial behaviors and alcohol problems. On the validity scales, they had a significantly higher number of invalid profiles, mainly due to higher levels of positive impression management.

Aggressive Personality and Aggressive Incidents: A Pilot Investigation of the Personality Assessment Inventory within Forensic Psychiatry

ABSTRACT Few studies to date have examined the utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in predicting aggressive behaviour among those deemed ‘not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.’ In this pilot study, 25 forensic psychiatric patients with a history of violence and diagnosed with psychosis and 20 healthy controls completed the PAI aggression (AGG) scale – composed of subscales attitude (A), verbal (V), and physical (P) – and positive impression management scale. Data regarding aggressive incidents during the 3 months post-testing were obtained through clinician ratings on the Aggressive Incidents Scale. Patients were differentiated from controls by the AGG-V and AGG-P subscales. AGG-A and AGG-V subscales were positively associated with severe aggressive incidents in hospital. These findings highlight the relevance of PAI scales for clinicians to evaluate greatest potential for aggressive behaviour on forensic psychiatric units and the need to further investigate its applicability for understanding violence risk.

Impression Management After Image-Threatening Events

E-cigarette use is a public interest issue and has received increasing attention over the years. JUUL, the biggest brand of e-cigarettes, has been singled out in what the FDA calls a youth e-cigarette epidemic. This study uses impression management theory to examine how JUUL engaged in positive impression management online in response to these image-threatening events. Employing a thematic analysis, this study examines changes in JUUL’s website between April 1, 2018, and October 9, 2019, and Twitter posts between April 28, 2018, and October 18, 2019. Results suggest that JUUL made both textual and visual changes in its messaging over time to engage in positive impression management, while using the impression management tactics of self-promotion, exemplification, and supplication. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring the social climate in a UK therapeutic community prison: The influence of anti-social personality traits and suicidal ideation

Social climate refers to how an individual experiences and perceives their environment. Within a therapeutic community (TC) prison, social climate is pertinent in supporting residents’ therapy and the therapeutic environment. This study sought to explore the relationship between social climate, assessed using the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES), and anti-social personality traits, suicidal ideation and suicide potential as measured using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Data from a total of 167 adult male residents within a UK TC prison was included in the analysis. Correlational analysis revealed that anti-social personality traits were not significantly correlated with social climate. Suicidal ideation was also not significantly correlated to social climate. This may be due to the unique setting in which this research was conducted: a TC wherein a therapeutic culture is imperative, which may influence these factors’ effect on social climate. Anti-social personality traits were found to have a significant negative correlation with positive impression management. The results are limited in generalisability; however, this is the first exploration of the impact of anti-social personality traits and suicidal ideation on social climate within a TC. The implications and further limitations are discussed, with directions for future research outlined.