Self-deception, other-deception, and self-reported psychopathology.

Administered inventories designed to assess self-reported psychopathology, other-deception (lying), and self-deception to a group of 250 undergraduates. The inventories included the Beck Depression Inventory, the Neuroticism and Lie scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the Manifest Symptom Questionnaire, the Other-Deception Questionnaire, and the Self-Deception Questionnaire. Substantial negative correlations were found between self-deception and psychopathology scores, and the relationships between the self-deception and psychopathology scores were stronger than those between the other-deception and psychopathology measures. Findings support the view that self-deception significantly contributes to the invalidity of self-report inventories and more so than does other-deception. The possibility is raised that self-deception is a moderating variable contributing to the lack of agreement between clinical and actuarial forms of assessment.