Approximating the Ideal: Examining and Detecting Faking Behaviour on Forced Choice Personality Measures

There has long been doubt in the integrity of personality measurement in assessment and selection scenarios due to faking behaviour, motivating the development of the forced choice (FC) format. FC measures have been shown to constrain, but not fully eliminate applicant faking. This thesis presents three papers exploring aspects of FC measure design, item-level faking effects, and the detection of faking behaviour. All research presented is centred on a proposed process in which individuals attempt to approximate the ‘ideal’ response at the item-level on each FC block, which is argued to better reflect the way in which applicant faking occurs.