Page 24 - Exam-2nd-2023-Jun

No . 29

Research psychologists often work with selfreport

data, made up of participants’ verbal accounts of their

behavior. This is the case ① whenever questionnaires,

interviews, or personality inventories are used to

measure variables. Selfreport methods can be quite

useful. They take advantage of the fact that people have

a unique opportunity to observe ② themselves

fulltime. However, selfreports can be plagued by

several kinds of distortion. One of the most

problematic of these distortions is the social desirability

bias, which is a tendency to give ③ socially approved

answers to questions about oneself. Subjects who are

influenced by this bias work overtime trying to create a

favorable impression, especially when subjects ④ ask

about sensitive issues. For example, many survey

respondents will report that they voted in an election or

⑤ gave to a charity when in fact it is possible to

determine that they did not.