Ever accentuating the positive, people tend to exaggerate accomplishments, downplay faults, or outright lie on surveys, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"The tendency of people to portray themselves in a more favorable light than their thoughts or actions, called 'socially desirable responding,' is a problem that affects the validity of statistics and surveys worldwide," said Ashok K. Lalwani, assistant professor of marketing, University of Texas, and author the study, in a statement.
When asked about their own behavior in relation to materialism, compulsive buying, drug and alcohol addiction, cigarette smoking, shoplifting, gambling, prostitution, and intolerant attitudes, "people tend to answer in a less than candid manner," the study found.
But the researchers also defined two separate forms of "socially desirable responding" based on a person's cultural orientations. For example, people from cultures that have a "collectivist orientation" (China, Korea, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan) are more likely to engage in "impression management," which is "a deliberate, strategic presentation of a socially approved image of the self."
Impression management is "a conscious, active and deliberate attempt to fake good behavior in front of a real or imagined audience," writes Prof. Lalwani. That need to give the "right" answer can be reduced by keeping survey participants "cognitively busy" by playing background music during surveys, he found.
In contrast, consumers with an "individualist cultural orientation" (the U.S., Canada, France, U. K., Australia, Germany) are more likely to engage in self-enhancement, which is "a spontaneous tendency to present an internalized, unrealistically positive view of the self."
The professor claims that this behavior "is so unconscious that there is little that can be done to curtail it."
Discussion Questions: Do you think people's tendencies to fabricate to impress have a significant impact on survey results exploring consumer behavior? How do you get more truthful answers or adjust survey results for possible fabrications?