The Two Components of Social Desirability and their Relations to Resting Frontal Brain Asymmetry

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between resting frontal hemispheric asymmetry (FHA) in the low α band (8-10.25 Hz) and the two components of socially desirable responding, i.e., self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) and impression management (IM), in an opposite-sex encounter. In addition, Big Five facets, self-reports of emotion, and spontaneous eye blink rate (BR), a noninvasive indicator of functional dopamine activity, were assessed. SDE as well as IM were related to relatively greater right-than-left activity in the low α band (i.e., relative left frontal activation; LFA) and to self-reported positive affect (PA), but only SDE was related to BR. We hypothesized that two independent types of motivational approach tendencies underlie individual differences in FHA and PA: affiliative motivation represented by IM and agentic incentive motivation represented by SDE. Whereas the relationship between SDE and PA was mediated by BR, the relationship between SDE and FHA was not.

The failed repressor: EEG asymmetry as a moderator of the relation between defensiveness and depressive symptoms

“…Because the EPQL is more closely related to affiliative motivation than it is to agentic incentive motivation (Paulhus, 1991;Pauls et al, 2005), the present results might be best interpreted as affiliative motivation moderating the relation between EEG asymmetry and depression symptoms. As such, joint tendencies toward increased affiliative motivation and relative right frontal activity appeared to be associated with increased reporting of depression symptoms.…”

“…The EPQL typically loads on a factor related to affiliative motivation, whereas the MCSD loads on both affiliative motivation and agentic incentive motivation factors (see Pauls et al, 2005;Paulhus, 1991). Indeed, both affiliative motivation and agentic incentive motivation have been related to increased relative left frontal activity (Pauls et al, 2005). The MCSD tends to have a heterogeneous factor structure, rendering many relations between the MCSD and other measures ambiguous (Paulhus, 1991).…”

“…Frontal EEG patterns where left-sided activity is greater than right-sided activity, hereafter referred to as "relative left frontal activity," have also been associated with decreased depression symptoms (Allen et al, 1993;Bell et al, 1998;Gotlib et al, 1998;Henriques and Davidson, 1991;Roemer et al, 1992). Increased defensiveness has been robustly related to increased relative left frontal activity in a number of studies (see Blackhart and Kline, 2005;Kline et al, 2001;Pauls et al, 2005;Tomarken and Davidson, 1994).…”

Rethinking Social Desirability Scales

“…This link between IM and left-frontal activation has since been documented in a number of studies (Blackhart & Kline, 2005;Kline & Allen, 2008;Pauls, Wacker, & Crost, 2005). Even under conditions of social threat, IM was associated with greater left-frontal reactivity, reflecting an approach motivation (rather than defensive avoidance; Crost, Pauls, & Wacker, 2008).…”

Sensitivity of the rate of spontaneous eye blinking to type of stimuli in young infants

“…Research using human and nonhuman primates on the central mechanisms of SB clearly demonstrates dopaminegic (DA) regulation of rate of SB (Elsworth et al, 1991;Jutkiewicz & Bergman, 2004;Karson, 1983;Kleven & Koek, 1996;Lawrence & Redmond, 1991). Converging evidence for DA regulation in SB rate comes from investigations of psychopathology (Blandini, Nappi, Tassorelli, & Martignoni, 2000;Bodfish, Powell, Golden, & Lewis, 1995;Deuschel & Goddemeier, 1998;Mohr, Sandor, Landis, Fathi, & Brugger, 2005), the biological bases of personality (Wacker, Chavanon, & Stemmler, 2006;Pauls, Wacker, & Crost, 2005;Sax & Stratkowski, 1998) and cognitive research (Colzato, van Wouwe, & Hommel, 2007;Müller et al, 2007;Pivik & Dykman, 2003). However, some researchers have failed to demonstrate a relationship between SB and DA function (e.g., van der Post, de Waal, de Kam, Cohen, & van Gerven, 2004).…”