Potential for hostility and faking-good in high-hostile men.
We investigated if Type A Structured Interview (SI)-assessed hostility (PoHo) is subject to voluntary underreporting, or faking-good, by hostile subjects. Sixteen men who previously scored above the clinical cutoff of 3 on SI hostility were randomly assigned to an experimental (N = 8) or control (N = 8) group. Both groups underwent a second videotaped SI, prior to which experimental subjects were asked to present themselves in a favorable light. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that experimental subjects were able successfully to decrease their global PoHo scores when instructed to do so (38% scored below the clinical cutoff score). The SI-derived hostility score is vulnerable to faking-good, and attention should be paid to both the motivational set of subjects and the instructions given prior to the SI.
Davidson
K
K
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa 35487-0348, USA.
Hall
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012928:Social Desirability; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014743:Videotape Recording