• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Social Desirability Scale

Rasofy

royal member
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
5,881
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
12.
Low Scorers (0-8)

If you scored in this range, you (a) answered most of the questions in a socially undesirable direction, but (b) answered them in a way more honest and true to real life than most people. There are a couple of interesting reasons why you may have answered in this way. One may be that you are very comfortable with who you are; you do not feel discomfort when other people view you as behaving in a socially undesirable way. A second explanation may be that you want to be seen by others as a social rebel, someone who is different. Perhaps, too, it's your way of holding a part of your personality out to others and daring them to reject it. If the first mentioned reason is also true, that you are comfortable with how and who you are, then a low level of social desirability may not cause you any trouble. If, however, answering in a rebellious manner does reflect some difficulties you have in getting along with others, then some of the suggestions listed for high scorers may also be useful for you.


Average Scorers (9-19)

If you scored in this range, you are scoring as two out of three people do when taking the test. Scores here represent a combination of socially desirable and socially undesirable responses. Hopefully, this combination represents a balance for you in your day-to-day behavior. It may be helpful for you to look back over the questions and think about how your responses actually relate to your true behavior in those situations.


High Scorers (20-33)

Your score in this range suggests that being seen as socially acceptable is very important to you. (Of course, you have to consider where you scored within this range to decide how much these statements are true for you.) Perhaps your score indicates what Drs. Crowne and Marlowe see as a need for approval from others. If so, a high level of this need for approval can adversely affect your social interactions; you may be seeking approval while presenting a distorted picture of what you’re really like. If a high need for approval describes you, you may feel frequent social insecurity, or anxiety about doing what others expect. If it’s causing you discomfort, some professional counseling may help you. Counseling can provide you with an arena for evaluating your feelings about self-worth, adequacy, and acceptability. If you are a very high scorer, you’re aware of how much energy it takes to constantly fulfill the “ideal” of social expectations. You will probably feel a lot better in the long run if you can redirect some of that energy into continued self-examination and understanding.
 

Seymour

Vaguely Precise
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
1,579
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
4.

I think the interpretation at the end seemed a little odd in some ways. I was just answering honestly, and I don't see how answering an online questionnaire by agreeing with statements that are true for everyone is socially inappropriate. The questions had modifiers like "never", "at all", etc, which made the "nice" answer at odds with the reality of human nature. We all want to tell someone off every now and again, for example.

Added to that, answering a on online questionnaire is a very different subjective experience than telling someone else the same thing (although I hope I wouldn't have answered so differently in person).
 

INTP

Active member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
7,803
MBTI Type
intp
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx

ygolo

My termites win
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,988
22.

I don't like how they set it up. Just because I'm not resentful, vengeful, or an asshole doesn't mean I'm doing it out of social desirability.

Yeah, I think all these psychometrics have to be taken with a grain of salt.

For me, I certainly don't want to be seen a rebel, nor am I very comfortable with who I am.

It is just that they frequently used the words "always" and "never" in their statements of socially desirable activities, and phrases like "there have been times", or "few occasions" in their statements of socially undesirable things. It was just easy for me to think of examples where I acted in socially undesirable ways.

I suppose one other possibility is that I am really in asshole, and not really the nice guy I think of myself as.

Did people really manage to be as good a person as those statements make them out to be? Like really "always ___" or "never ___"?
 

Seymour

Vaguely Precise
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
1,579
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
[...]

It is just that they frequently used the words "always" and "never" in their statements of socially desirable activities, and phrases like "there have been times", or "few occasions" in their statements of socially undesirable things. It was just easy for me to think of examples where I acted in socially undesirable ways.

[...]

Did people really manage to be as good a person as those statements make them out to be? Like really "always ___" or "never ___"?

Exactly. Especially the statements don't event involve actual external acts, just feelings or thoughts. For example, I'm really not a vengeful person, nor do I carry out revenge on folks. However, that doesn't mean that in the moment I might not momentarily wish I were that kind of person and have a momentary urge to "get even."
 

Vasilisa

Symbolic Herald
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
3,946
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Your score is 14.​

Average Scorers (9-19)

If you scored in this range, you are scoring as two out of three people do when taking the test. Scores here represent a combination of socially desirable and socially undesirable responses. Hopefully, this combination represents a balance for you in your day-to-day behavior. It may be helpful for you to look back over the questions and think about how your responses actually relate to your true behavior in those situations.
 

Such Irony

Honor Thy Inferior
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Messages
5,059
MBTI Type
INtp
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I got 11

Average Scorers (9-19)
If you scored in this range, you are scoring as two out of three people do when taking the test. Scores here represent a combination of socially desirable and socially undesirable responses. Hopefully, this combination represents a balance for you in your day-to-day behavior. It may be helpful for you to look back over the questions and think about how your responses actually relate to your true behavior in those situations.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
21

High Scorers (20-33)

Your score in this range suggests that being seen as socially acceptable is very important to you. (Of course, you have to consider where you scored within this range to decide how much these statements are true for you.) Perhaps your score indicates what Drs. Crowne and Marlowe see as a need for approval from others. If so, a high level of this need for approval can adversely affect your social interactions; you may be seeking approval while presenting a distorted picture of what you’re really like. If a high need for approval describes you, you may feel frequent social insecurity, or anxiety about doing what others expect. If it’s causing you discomfort, some professional counseling may help you. Counseling can provide you with an arena for evaluating your feelings about self-worth, adequacy, and acceptability. If you are a very high scorer, you’re aware of how much energy it takes to constantly fulfill the “ideal” of social expectations. You will probably feel a lot better in the long run if you can redirect some of that energy into continued self-examination and understanding.
 
Top