Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR)
Psychology: PersonalityReliability: Self-Deception alpha 0.75; Impression Management alpha 0.863 sample items
About this scale
A 40-item measure of social desirability with two subscales: self-deceptive enhancement (honestly held but inflated self-views) and impression management (deliberate self-presentation).
Sample item(s)
“My first impressions of people usually turn out to be right (self-deception)”
“I never cover up my mistakes (impression management, ideal-too-good)”
“I have never dropped litter on the street (impression management, ideal)”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: Self-Deception alpha 0.75; Impression Management alpha 0.86. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Most cited multidimensional SD measure.
Source & citation
Paulhus, D. L. (1991): Measurement and control of response bias. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 17–59). Academic Press.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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