IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT AND SELF-DECEPTION IN TRAFFIC BEHAVIOR INVENTORIES

Traffic behaviour questionnaires as self-reports of behaviour are easi ly biased by Socially Desirable Responding (SDR), especially in invest igating 'normal' behaviour rather than maximum performance. Despite th is fact no instruments are available for measuring traffic related SDR . The present study introduces a new inventory, the Driver Social Desi rability Scale (DSDS), for measuring driver impression management (DIM ) and Driver Self-Deception (DSD). The DSDS was administered to 203 Fi nns and 201 Australians holding a driver's license. The two factors ex plained 35.5% of variance in the Australian sample and 40% in the Finn ish sample and showed sufficient internal consistency. Correlations be tween the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) and DSDS s howed that general SDR had a moderate effect on traffic-specific SDR. Measures of traffic behaviour correlated more strongly with DSDS than BIDR, whereas the general personality variables had stronger correlati ons with BIDR than DSDS. These results indicate that DSDS is a more su itable instrument for measuring traffic-related SDR than BIDR. Correla tion analyses also indicated that DIM is negatively related to the sel f-reported number of accidents and punishments, overtaking frequency, speeding, and driving aggression, and positively related to traffic ru le compliance. DSD correlated positively with variables measuring sens e of control in traffic and in general. There was some connection betw een DSDS, especially DIM, and driving experience although this was fou nd only in the Finnish data among novice drivers (life-time mileage un der 5000 km). In conclusion, correlative analyses based on personality questionnaires and self-reports of traffic behaviour suggested that D IM and DSD scales of DSDS show construct validity and reliability for Australian and Finnish data. Further research is needed to investigate the relation between DSDS and driving behaviour measured in real traf fic. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.