Reconsidering Response Sets, Test-Taking Attitudes, Dissimulation, Self-Deception, and Social Desirability

Abstract

This paper provides a summary of an examination of three lines of personality research involving response sets, empirical keying, and social desirability. The roots of these respective constructs are traced from their origins in Wundt's laboratory through the classic works of Meehl and Hathaway and Edwards up to Cattell's current reconstructions which take the form of trait-view theory and perturbation theory. After a careful analysis of the research and theoretical formulations from these three areas, it is concluded that Cattell's (1986) perturbation theory not only provides the most comprehensive system for understanding how respondents systematically distort their responses on personality questionnaires but also provides a solid framework for multivariate studies designed to test and refine his formulations.