The Response Bias to Positively or Negatively Worded Items on Social Desirability of Personality Tests

The purpose of the present study was to examine the response bias to positively or negatively worded trait adjectives on social desirability. Pairs of semantically similar trait adjectives with contrasting social desirability were constructed. Questionnaires were completed by 319 (181 male and 136 female) undergraduate and graduate students. The main results were as follows. (1) With positive trait words, the high score groups in the Rosenberg's self esteem scale tended to judge themselves more positively than the low score groups, and the nondepressed students by the Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale tended to judge themselves more positively than the mildly depressed students. (2) With negative trait words, the low score groups in the Rosenberg's self esteem scale tended to judge themselves more negatively than the high score groups and the mildly depressed students tended to judge themselves more negatively than the nondepressed students. In conclusion, the response bias to positively or negatively worded trait adjectives on social desirability was ascertained