PERSONALITY, SITUATION, AND POSITIVE-NEGATIVE ASYMMETRY IN SOCIALLY DESIRABLE RESPONDING

Based on previous research on socially desirable responding and positi ve-negative asymmetry, we hypothesized that (i) impression management is higher in public than in private settings, (ii) personal ideals lin ked to exemplification, ingratiation, and intimidation are related to an impression management tendency, (iii) negatively keyed social desir ability items receive more extreme responses than positively keyed ite ms, and (iv) self-esteem is correlated higher with negatively than wit h positively keyed self-deception items. Based on Jones and Pittman's (1982) model, exemplification, ingratiation, and intimidation are defi ned as impression management strategies that aim at presenting oneself as worthy, likable, or dangerous, respectively. Principally, the resu lts obtained in a public setting (N = 177) and a private setting (N = 165) support these hypotheses. The overall pattern of findings suggest s that both context and personal ideals exert an influence on impressi on management scores, and that the keying direction of an item may be an important psychological determinant of a test response.