Social desirability is our tendency to answer questions in such a way as to be perceived favourably by others. I’ll take two examples:
➡️ Imagine a candidate for a sales position who, during an interview, exaggerates his communication skills to appear more competent.
➡️ Or an employee who, in an appraisal questionnaire, answers in a way that reflects what he thinks his employer wants to hear.
These phenomena can distort the results of their assessments, because they do not always reflect reality.
Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts that our brain uses to simplify the processing of information. For example
➡️ The halo effect, where a positive impression of one aspect of a person influences our overall perception, can lead us to overestimate their skills in other areas.
➡️ Or the confirmation effect, which leads us to give more weight to information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs, neglecting information that contradicts them.
➡️ Or another example of bias: the primacy effect, where the first information received disproportionately influences our judgement, can also bias an evaluation.
Together, social desirability and cognitive biases can create distortions in behavioural and skills assessments! To counter this, at Versus Talent Profile we use rigorous tools and methods that minimise these influences.
👉For example, assessments such as PersProfile or JobProfile are designed to identify and exaggerate biased responses, based on scientifically validated models such as those by William Moulton Marston, Carl Jung and Emotional Intelligence according to authors Peter Salovey and Daniel Goleman. The result: a distorting mask that the assessor or recruiter will soon detect during the particularly important phase of reporting the results.
👉 Similarly, our assessments, such as SalesTest to measure sales skills, are designed specifically to measure sales dynamics without being influenced by these biases. How? Well, thanks to questions that propose a situation in which the answers offered are all more or less ‘coherent’, although some are more ‘coherent’ than others. This encourages an instinctive response from the respondent, preventing them from ‘fishing’ for the right answer. Above all, it penalises guessing.
Our users believe in a fair and accurate assessment that truly reflects the potential and skills of individuals. By understanding and taking into account social desirability and cognitive biases, it has become possible to offer them more reliable and actionable insights.
Curious about how our tools can help you overcome these challenges in your assessments? Simply contact us for a link to a personalised demonstration.
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