Readers' social desirability and text that violates social values: Evidence of an interaction.

Abstract

Seventy-two 9th graders read paragraphs and predicted the probable course of action for the main character. In some paragraphs, the character's preferred course of action violated social values; in others, it did not. The students were given V. C. CrandaU, V. J. Crandall, and W. A. Katkovsky's (1965) Social Desirability Questionnaire; school records provided reading comprehension scores. Prediction scores increased with reading level, and they were lower on paragraphs that violated social values than on paragraphs that did not. Students with higher social desirability concerns had relatively more difficulty with paragraphs that violated social values than with paragraphs that did not; this effect was independent of reading level. Thus, affective characteristics of text can strongly influence comprehension, and such characteristics do not influence all students to the same degree.