The Effects of Moral Self-Reflective Priming on Faking in Personality Testing

Abstract

Personality testing has received considerable criticism due to validity coefficients being weakened by intentional response distortion. The current study investigates whether priming an individual with a moral self-reflective prime will reduce faking behavior on personality tests. Participants were students who took part in the study through a face-to-face administration group or a remote electronic administration group. Using an independent samples design, participants were randomly selected into an experimental prime group, a control prime group, or a no-prime group. Participants in the experimental groups were expected to display higher counterproductive behaviors, lower work ethic, and lower social desirability than participants in the control group or no-prime group. Participants in the control group and no-prime group were not expected to differ. No significant difference was found for counterproductive behaviors or social desirability for either administration groups, but work ethic was significantly lower for the experimental group for both administration groups. Potential explanations and implications are discussed.