Social Desirability and Self-Ideal Self Ratings on the Semantic Differential1:

TLDR: This paper found that subjects high on social desirability saw them as having a tendency to put the self in a favorable light, and that subjects scoring high on the SDS should also tend to rate themselves more favorably and see fewer discrepancies between themselves and their ideal selves.

Abstract: SOCIAL desirability has gained considerable attention as a response set, defined by Cronbach (1946) as a tendency to give different responses to test items than would be given if the content was presented in another form. Two aspects of social desirability have been defined, that of item content and that of response style (Christie and Lindauer, 1963; C r o m e and Marlowe, 1960; Wiggins, 1962). The former refers to sources of variance in the instrument whereas the latter refers to stylistic consistencies or sources of variance in the subjects. Crome and Marlowe (19GO) define social desirability as the need to obtain approval by responding in a culturally appropriate and acceptable manner. Correlations with the I< and L scales of the MblPI suggest cz quality of defensiveness or attempt to put the self in a favorable light. The question may be raised as to whether this tendency or need will carry over to self-reports on other instruments and the conditions under which the tendency will become most manifest. If the Social Desirability Scale (SDS) measures a tendency to put the self in a favorable light, then subjects scoring high on the SDS should also tend to rate themselves more favorably and see fewer discrepancies between themselves and their ideal selves. Using other measures of SD, Husek (1961) found that subjects high on social desirability saw them1The data analysis mas done a t Princeton University's Computer Center which is supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant NSF-GP579. ZNom a t Xent State University.