Development of three Wiggins-type scales to detect socially desirable response bias on the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-2

Clinton L Prall, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

Wiggins (1959) developed a social desirability scale which is one of the most valid measures of positive distortion response bias (PD) on the MMPI. The present study used Wiggins' methods to develop three PD measures for the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-2 (SNAP-2; Clark, 2009). In Study One, 562 participants rated the items of the SNAP-2 on three dimensions: Social Desirability (SD), True of Self (TOS), or True of Other People in General (TPG). These ratings were used to construct two Wiggins-type Social Desirability Scales (WSD-A and WSD-B) from SNAP-2 items. In Study Two, 172 new participants took the full version of the SNAP-2. Eighty-five participants took the SNAP-2 according to the standard instructions, and the other 87 participants took it according to Positive Distortion instructions. It was found that the WSD scales constructed during the first part of the study (WSD-A and WSD-B) significantly distinguished between the two groups. During the course of Study 2, a third and final Wiggins-type social desirability scale was constructed (WSD-C). In Study Three, 169 new participants took the full version of the SNAP-2. Eighty-six participants took the SNAP-2 according to the standard instructions, and the other 83 participants took it according to Positive Distortion instructions. The three scales created in Studies 1 and 2 (WSD-A, WSD-B, WSD-C), all significantly discriminated between the two groups (Standard versus Positive Distortion Group). The WSD-C scale outperformed the other two scales (WSD-C) and the Rare Virtues scale, a measure of socially desirable responding that is currently included in the SNAP-2. It is suggested that the WSD-C scale be included as part of the SNAP-2 and used as a measure of positive distortion bias for that test.

Subject Area

Social psychology|Clinical psychology

Recommended Citation

Prall, Clinton L, "Development of three Wiggins-type scales to detect socially desirable response bias on the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-2" (2012). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1533248.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1533248

Share

COinS