I__. - International Military Testing Association

Table 3
Detection of Response Distortion Among Instructional Groups
Dsino the validitv Scale
Percent Percent Percent
Response validity False Alarms Percent of Coached-W Coached-NW
Scale Cut score (in the Honest All Fakers Respondents Respondents
(at or above) sample) Detected Detected Detectet
(n=233) (n=213\ In=2481 (n-100)
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
100.0
97.4
91.8
75.5
62.7
49.4
40.3
28.3
19.7
13.7
9.9
6.C
3.0
’ “7
1.3
0.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
99.1
97.2
100.0
93.1
89.5
93.0 77.4
89.7 66.9
85.0 53.6
79.4
46.3
74.2 34.6
66.7 23.7
59.2 16.0
51.6 11.6
43.2 9.6
37.1 6.8
29.6
4.8
27.7 4.0
23.5 2.8
21.6 2.8
16.4 2.8
13.1 2.0
10.3 0.8
8.9 0.4
1.9 0.0
1.4 0.0
100.0
100.0
99.0
97.0
93.0
86.0
81.0
72.0 . .
65.0
55.0
46.0
39.0
3 2 . 0 .
24.0
22.0
19.0
15.0
8.0
7.0
5.0
5.0
2.0
2.0
Note. Coached-W = Coached w a warning about fake detection items in the test.
Coached-NW = Coached without a warning about fake detection items in the test.
Except as noted, samples were aggregated from two experiments.
'Sample was obtained from the current experiment only.
DISCUSSION
The results in this paper serve to corroborate earlier findings by Hanson et al. (1989), while
adding new information on the effects of coaching. First, we found that the inclusion of warning
statements about lie detection items seems to suppress response distortion to almost honest condition
levels. The use of warning statements may be helpful to deter intentional distortion in future
administrations of the ASP. Secondly, the Validity scale was found to be reasonably effective in
detecting response distortion. High Validity scale scores were shown to correctly identify a substantial
percentage of fakers, without misclassifying honest respondents.
In addition to these findings, our results suggest that coaching instructions designed to simulate
“real-life” coaching by recruiters may be no more effective in eliciting response distortion than general
instructions to “fake good”. Outside guidance on distorting ASP responses may serve to motivate
applicants to fake. However, it is questionable as to whether such guidance would make a significant
difference in the ASP scores of applicants who would otherwise be motivated to dissemble.
Finally, future research will examine how positive response distortion affects the validity of the ASP
for predicting attrition. We pfan to investigate the feasibility of using the Validity scale to adjust ASP
scores for faking. Such an adjustment might enhance the validity of the ASP in predicting attrition, as
well as other important Army criteria.
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