The effects of social desirability, need for social approval, self-satisfaction, and sex differences on the tendency to cheat when confronted with failure were investigated. Subjects were placed in a temptation situation in which they failed to meet social norms unless they cheated during a temptation period in which it appeared that cheating would be undetected. The two groups that were found to demonstrate the most extensive cheating were women scoring high on the self-satisfaction measure and subjects scoring high simultaneously on both the need for approval and self-satisfaction measures. Generally, men were not found to cheat significantly. It was found also that men demonstrated a greater expectancy of success and a higher level of aspiration than women, and that high scorers on the social desirability scale demonstrated a greater expectancy of success than low scorers.

The hypothesis that the need for social approval may be viewed most adequately as a multidimensional construct consisting of at least partially independent dimensions was evaluated. An inventory was created and tested that measured independently each of four factors identified as operative in previous research in this area. Based on a conception of the importance of attribution and denial as central elements in self-descriptive statements differing in social desirability value, four scales were created measuring the frequency of endorsement of statements comprising each of the following: the attribution of positive traits, the attribution of negative traits, the denial of positive traits, and the denial of negative traits. The inventory was designed also to control for the possible operation of both agreement and acceptance acquiescence. The data obtained provided strong support for the conceptualization delineated and for the inventory constructed.

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Pretest and posttest scores on the Edwards and the Marlpwe-Crowne Social Desirability scales and the 12 scales of the Personal Orientation Inventory were administered 4 days before and 4 days after participation in a 15hour marathon group experience. Scores in this experimental condition were compared with pretest and posttest scores in a control condition in which subjects received the same tests without the intervening group experience. Participants in the marathon group demonstrated a significant decrease in defensiveness and constriction and showed change in the direction of more socially positive functioning on 13 of the 14 scales employed. A nonsignificant tendency was found for control subjects to show improvement on many of these scales also.