Meta-analyses of fakability estimates: Implications for personality measurement

The authors examined whether individuals can fake their responses to a pers onality inventory if instructed to do so. Between-subjects and within-subje ct designs were meta-analyzed separately. Across 51 studies, fakability did not vary by personality dimension; all the Big Five factors were equally f akable. Faking produced the largest distortions in social desirability scal es. Instructions to fake good produced lower effect sizes compared with ins tructions to fake bad. Comparing meta-analytic results from within-subjects and between-subjects designs, we conclude, based on statistical and method ological considerations, that within-subjects designs produce more accurate estimates. Between-subjects designs may distort estimates due to Subject x Treatment interactions and low statistical power.