Speeding Personality Measures to Reduce Faking

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of imposing a time constraint on respondents completing the Big Five personality Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) based on a self-regulatory model of response distortion. A completely crossed 2 × 2 experimental design was used in which instructions (neutral standard instruction or a job applicant instruction) and speed (with or without a time limit) were manipulated. While speeding personality tests reduced socially desirable responding, consistent with resource allocation theory (Ackerman, 1986), this effect was only seen in low cognitive ability individuals. Speeding was not perceived negatively by participants. This study is the first to find any evidence of a possible influence of speed on impression management and suggests that manipulating time limits for completing personality measures in selection is not advised at the present time as it is likely to have the unintended effect of removing applicants with high cognitive ability from the applicant pool.