STUDENT DEROGATION OF THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE-TEST - BIASES IN PERCEPTIONS AND PRESENTATIONS OF COLLEGE BOARD SCORES

A consistent finding in laboratory research is that individuals are qu ite adept at dismissing and disavowing unfavorable feedback. Three stu dies extend this research to a nonlaboratory setting by examining how students who receive relatively low scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) respond to this ''failure'' feedback. Studies 1 and 2 revea led biases in both perceptions and presentations of test scores. Stude nts with lower SAT scores regarded their score as invalid and also bel ieved that a higher score would be more accurate. This was true even t hough actual SAT scores significantly predicted current college grade- point average (GPA), whereas the scores subjects estimated would be ac curate did not. In addition, when reporting their SAT scores, students systematically inflated them, reporting scores higher than those they actually received. Study 3 suggests that the misreporting of SAT scor es is attributable partly, but not entirely, to impression management.