Sex Differences in Judgments of Social Desirability

Abstract

This study evaluates sex differences in the perceived desirability of personality behaviors and beliefs. Men and women (N = 149, Mage = 18.7) judged the social desirability scale values (SDSVs) of 150 personality statements as applied either to a male target or a female target. For comparison, some estimated SDSVs with no target sex specified. A separate sample of 537 respondents endorsed the 150 items via self-report. Raters showed a high consensus in their SDSV judgments within conditions (α = .86 to .90) and no sex-of-rater effects across conditions. Substantial sex-of-target effects (p < .001), however, revealed many behaviors that were viewed as desirable for one sex but not for the other. The behaviors seen as more (less) desirable when applied to men rather than to women were endorsed more (less) by men than by women in the respondent sample. Similar results were found when no target sex was specified for the SDSV ratings, presumably because judges evaluated the behaviors as applied to a target of their own sex. The present results have important implications for the measurement and reporting of SDSVs, the evaluation of substance versus style in self-reports, and the construction of desirability-reduced personality inventories.

Controlling social desirability bias

“…Experts could judge the social desirability of specific answers to questions and develop an index of each subject’s socially desirable responses (Konstabel, Aavik, & Allik, 2006). Because of potential gender differences in socially desirable responding, items should be assessed from the perspective of both genders (Paunonen, 2016). Measuring the time used to answer each question may help identify biased responses because when people give socially desirable responses, they tend to spend less time and effort (Gamberini et al, 2014; Kaminska & Foulsham, 2013, 2016).…”

Seven Decades of Gender Differences in German Voting Behavior

“…Previous research from non-political fields found greater social desirability bias among women than among men (Chung & Monroe, 2003;Dalton & Ortegren, 2011;Hebert et al, 1997;Paunonen, 2016). Suppose this is also the case for political surveys.…”

“…In Germany, for example, people more often vote for the radical right-wing AfD than they admit in surveys (Gschwend et al, 2018). If the degree or direction of social desirability bias differs between women and men (Hebert et al, 1997;Johann et al, 2016;Paunonen, 2016), this may bias estimates of gender gaps. To summarize, my study thus calculates gender gaps that are free from such bias and, by comparing real ballots to surveys, further tests whether survey data are generally suitable for studying political gender gaps.…”

Implications of OPRM1 and CYP2B6 variants on treatment outcomes in methadone-maintained patients in Ontario: Exploring sex differences

“…However, measures such as methadone dose and duration on MMT were self-reported, allowing for a potential of social desirability bias, where participants might provide false information in lieu of more accurate responses that might be viewed as less desirable. Social desirability bias could also have elicited differing responses within males and females as behaviours might seem more desirable in one sex but not the other [ 39 ]. In addition, the findings might be affected by volunteer bias, wherein the sample recruited could not have been representative of the entire OUD population receiving treatment.…”