Face Validity and Fakability of Objective and Projective Measures of Dependency

Abstract

Three studies involving a total of 225 subjects examined the relationship between the face validity and "fakability" (i.e., susceptibility to faking on the part of subjects) of widely used objective and projective dependency tests. in Study 1, subjects (n = 75) were able to accurately identify the trait being assessed by an objective dependency test but were unable to identify the trait being assessed by a projective dependency test. Study 2 demonstrated that subjects (n = 75) could deliberately fake their answers to the objective dependency test but could not fake their answers to the projective test. Study 3 demonstrated that subjects (n = 75) responses to the objective dependency test were influenced by an instructional manipulation wherein dependency was described in a positive, negative, or neutral manner immediately prior to test administration, whereas subjects responses to the projective dependency test were unaffected by this manipulation. These results suggest that there is an inverse relationship between the face validity and fakability of widely used objective and projective dependency tests. Conceptual and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.