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Worry and social desirability: Opposite relationships for socio-political and social-evaluation worries

Stöber, Joachim, Wolfradt, U. (2001) Worry and social desirability: Opposite relationships for socio-political and social-evaluation worries. Personality and Individual Differences, 31 (4). pp. 605-613. (doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00165-3) (KAR id:4488)

Abstract

The present article investigates the relationship between social desirability and worry. In particular, it addresses the question of whether socio-political worries (i.e. worries about societal or environmental problems) show a different relationship with social desirability than worries related to one's social-evaluative self-concept (i.e. worries about one's own relationships, future, work, or finances). A sample of 155 students responded to self-report questionnaires on worry and social desirability, first under standard instructions and then under social desirability-provoking instructions (imaginary job-application instructions). As expected, results showed opposite relationships for socio-political and social-evaluation worries. First, socio-political worries showed positive correlations with scores from the social desirability questionnaire, whereas social-evaluation worries showed negative correlations. Second, endorsements of socio-political worries increased under social desirability-provoking instructions, whereas those of social-evaluation worries decreased. However, all correlations between self-reported worry and social-desirability scores were rather small. Moreover, in absolute terms, socio-political worries did not show any greater social-desirability bias than social-evaluation worries. Implications for self-report measures of socio-political worries (e.g. environmental worry, worry about technological risks) and directions for future research are discussed.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00165-3
Uncontrolled keywords: Worry; Social desirability; Impression management; Socio-political concerns; Environmental concerns; Risk analysis
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Joachim Stoeber
Date Deposited: 29 Aug 2008 17:30 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 09:36 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/4488 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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