Enhancement and Denial in Socially Desirable Responding

One research tradition has distinguished self-deception, the tendency to give favorably biased but honestly held self-descriptions from impression management, the tendency to give favorable selfdescriptions to others. A 2nd tradition has distinguished enhancement, the claiming of positive attributes, from denial, the repudiation of negative attributes. The 2 distinctions were evaluated jointly in 3 studies. Factor analyses showed that impression management items (both enhancement and denial) loaded together. Self-deception items split up: Enhancement items formed a 2nd factor, whereas denial items fell closer to the impression management factor. Of the 4 types, self-deceptive enhancement best predicted adjustment. These results clarify the constructs of enhancement and denial: The critical distinction is not simply one of keying direction but whether the item content refers to a positive or negative attribute.