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The Interactive Effect of Impression Motivation and Cognitive Schema on Self‐Presentation in a Personality Inventory 1
Author(s) -
JANSEN ANNE,
KöNIG CORNELIUS J.,
KLEINMANN MARTIN,
MELCHERS KLAUS G.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2012.00925.x
Subject(s) - psychology , schema (genetic algorithms) , impression management , personality , impression formation , impression , cognition , social psychology , presentation (obstetrics) , multilevel model , social perception , perception , neuroscience , computer science , advertising , radiology , medicine , business , machine learning
Applicants usually try to put their best foot forward during personnel selection. Although past research has revealed meaningful individual differences in applicants' self‐presentation in personality tests (often called “faking”), it only concentrated on main effects and ignored the interaction of interindividual and intraindividual differences. Based on impression management theory, we hypothesized that interindividual differences in applicants' impression motivation interact with intraindividual differences in the perceived relevance of personality facets (applicants' cognitive schema). Results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that both impression motivation and cognitive schema significantly affected self‐presentation. Furthermore, for participants with high levels of impression motivation, cognitive schema showed a stronger impact on self‐presentation than for those with low levels of impression motivation.