TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of targeted self-coaching on applicant distortion of personality measures
AU - Sliter, Katherine A.
AU - Christiansen, Neil D.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The present study evaluated the impact of reading self-coaching book excerpts on success at faking a personality test. Participants (N = 207) completed an initial honest personality assessment and a subsequent assessment with faking instructions under one of the following self-coaching conditions: no coaching, chapters from a commercial book on how to fake preemployment personality scales, and personality coaching plus a chapter on avoiding lie-detection scales. Results showed that those receiving coaching materials had greater success in raising their personality scores, primarily on the traits that had been targeted in the chapters. In addition, those who read the chapter on avoiding lie-detection scales scored significantly lower on a popular impression management scale while simultaneously increasing their personality scores. Implications for the use of personality tests in personnel selection are discussed.
AB - The present study evaluated the impact of reading self-coaching book excerpts on success at faking a personality test. Participants (N = 207) completed an initial honest personality assessment and a subsequent assessment with faking instructions under one of the following self-coaching conditions: no coaching, chapters from a commercial book on how to fake preemployment personality scales, and personality coaching plus a chapter on avoiding lie-detection scales. Results showed that those receiving coaching materials had greater success in raising their personality scores, primarily on the traits that had been targeted in the chapters. In addition, those who read the chapter on avoiding lie-detection scales scored significantly lower on a popular impression management scale while simultaneously increasing their personality scores. Implications for the use of personality tests in personnel selection are discussed.
KW - Impression management
KW - Personality assessment
KW - Response distortion
KW - Self-coaching
KW - Social desirability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871772774&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1027/1866-5888/a000069
DO - 10.1027/1866-5888/a000069
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871772774
SN - 1866-5888
VL - 11
SP - 169
EP - 175
JO - Journal of Personnel Psychology
JF - Journal of Personnel Psychology
IS - 4
ER -