FACE VALIDITY AND FAKABILITY OF OBJECTIVE AND PROJECTIVE MEASURES OF DEPENDENCY

Three studies involving a total of 225 subjects examined the relations hip between the face validity and ''fakability'' (i.e., susceptibility to faking on the part of subjects) of widely used objective and proje ctive dependency tests. In Study 1, subjects (n = 75) were able to acc urately identify the trait being assessed by an objective dependency t est but were unable to identify the trait being assessed by a projecti ve dependency test. Study 2 demonstrated that subjects (n = 75) could deliberately fake their answers to the objective dependency test but c ould not fake their answers to the projective test. Study 3 demonstrat ed that subjects' (n = 75) responses to the objective dependency test were influenced by an instructional manipulation wherein dependency wa s described in a positive, negative, or neutral manner immediately pri or to test administration, whereas subjects' responses to the projecti ve dependency test were unaffected by this manipulation. These results suggest that there is an inverse relationship between the face validi ty and fakability of widely used objective and projective dependency t ests. Conceptual and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.