Socially desirable responding on the Machiavellianism scale: Response bias or construct?

The Mach IV scale measures Machiavellianism, the propensity to be manipulatory in interpersonal relations. The Mach IV has been criticized for social desirability response bias, or the tendency to present oneself in an overly favorable light. Socially desirable responding, as measured by the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, however, was postulated to reflect a facet of the Machiavellianism construct. A coalition-bargaining game was played with college students (N = 126), using 21 groups each of sex-segregated triads in a 2 (sex) by 3 (high, medium, and low levels of Machiavellianism) between-subjects design. Game scores served as the dependent variable and were interpreted as a measure of manipulative success. Neither sex nor levels of Machiavellianism were significantly related to game performance. Machiavellianism was negatively related to overall social desirability and its two subtypes, impression management and self-deceptive enhancement.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1999

Author dc:creator

• Hoefer, Maryn Lyn

Contributors dc:contributor

• N. Clayton Silver

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1060

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2059