The Need to Look Good

Purnima Gopalakrishnan
Consultant,
Selection & Assessment,
Aon Hewitt

"The work of science is to substitute facts for appearances, and demonstrations for impressions."
- John Ruskin

As social beings, humans have an innate need to fit in and appear desirable to others around them for a number of evolutionary reasons. While this desire to modify one's behavior appropriately to appear socially acceptable works in our benefit in most cases (for e.g., helps us make friends, gain social favors from others, find partners, etc.), it can pose an obstacle in certain others. Modification of one's behavior to appear more "good" than one is might lead to inappropriate judgments of individuals in certain critical and high-stakes situations.

Employment and development assessments help drive decisions about hiring, promotion, succession, etc. in the workplace. In such situations, it becomes imperative to understand the true nature of an individual. Survey respondents/test takers often respond in a manner that would make them seem more desirable or "good" as a way of managing the impressions they make on others. This impression management behavior, which is also termed as social desirability, aids a test taker to appear more favorable; however, it can pose a serious threat to the integrity of an assessment and the decisions that an assessment process is likely to drive.

There are two forms of deception that a test taker can engage in: self-deception vs. other deception. Selfdeception is akin to a self-defense mechanism wherein test takers present a desirable image on aspects that are likely to be a threat to their own ego and self-image. On the other hand, other deception refers to a misrepresentation of information to appear good to others or to create an impression of oneself that is not entirely true.