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Research psychologists often work with self-report data, made up of participants’ verbal accounts of their behavior
This is the case whenever questionnaires, interviews, or personality inventories are used to measure variables
Self-report methods can be quite useful
They take advantage of the fact that people have a unique opportunity to observe themselves full-time
However, self-reports can be plagued by several kinds of distortion
One of the most problematic of these distortions is the social desirability bias, which is a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself
Subjects who are influenced by this bias work overtime trying to create a favorable impression, especially when subjects are asked about sensitive issues
For example, many survey respondents will report that they voted in an election or gave to a charity when in fact it is possible to determine that they did not