Intellectual Ability Correlates of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

Estimating and Visualizing Nonlinear Relations Among Latent Variables: A Semiparametric Approach

The graphical presentation of any scientific finding enhances its description, interpretation, and evaluation. Research involving latent variables is no exception, especially when potential nonlinear effects are suspect. This article has multiple aims. First, it provides a nontechnical overview of a semiparametric approach to modeling nonlinear relationships among latent variables using mixtures of linear structural equations. Second, it provides several examples showing how the method works and how it is implemented and interpreted in practical applications. In particular, this article examines the potentially nonlinear relationships between positive and negative affect and cognitive processing. Third, a recommended display format for illustrating latent bivariate relationships is demonstrated. Finally, the article describes an R package and an online utility that generate these displays automatically.

Social Desirability Related to Social Class among Adults

The hypothesis tested was that adults of higher social status complete the Crowne and Marlowe Social Desirability Scale more honestly and less defensively than adults belonging to lower social classes. 341 parents of 215 different families were tested during home interviews. The hypothesis was verified among women, but not among men. These results suggest that social status is associated with defensive response style, perhaps reflecting at the same time academic education and cognitive-intellectual functioning.

Intellectual ability and educational achievement as predictors of patients' defensiveness

The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, a measure of defensiveness, is related to various psychotherapeutic process and outcome variables. The present study tested the hypothesis that lower intellectual ability and educational achievement are associated with defensiveness. In a sample of 50 patients in psychotherapy, defensiveness was not significantly correlated with WAIS—R IQs estimated from Shipley-Hartford scores and only weakly related (−.26) to education. It appears that patients' defensiveness is relatively unassociated with these objective indices of ability and achievement.