Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS)

Abstract

The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS), developed by Crowne and Marlowe in 1960, is a widely used personality inventory designed specifically to measure an individual’s tendency toward social desirability responding. Crucially, the scale was constructed to be independent of measures of psychopathology, differentiating it from earlier scales like the Edwards Social Desirability Scale.

The M-C SDS is composed of 33 items utilizing a true/false response format. Items were carefully selected based on whether they reflected culturally approved behaviors or attitudes but were non-pathological in nature. Specifically, 18 items are keyed true and 15 are keyed false for the socially desirable response. The final scale was derived following an intensive item analysis conducted on an initial sample of 76 students.

Keywords

Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, M-C SDS, Social Desirability, Need for Approval, Test Development, Test Reliability, Personality Inventory, Response Bias.

Authors

Crowne, Douglas P., Marlowe, David

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Purpose

The central purpose of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale is to quantify an individual’s Need for Approval. This is achieved by assessing the respondent’s tendency to answer questions in a manner that aligns with societal norms and expectations, thereby presenting a favorable self-image rather than a completely accurate one.

By measuring this response style, the M-C SDS helps researchers identify participants who may be distorting their self-reports due to a desire for social acceptance. High scores indicate a strong tendency toward socially desirable responding, which can confound results in studies relying on self-report measures.

Construct

The core psychological construct measured by the M-C SDS is Social Desirability, which the authors conceptualized as the Need for Approval. This construct reflects a stable personality trait related to self-presentation and is operationalized by the endorsement or denial of culturally loaded, yet non-diagnostic, statements.

The scale was specifically designed to isolate this factor, ensuring that scores reflected the motivation to conform to social standards rather than underlying psychological disorders or psychopathology, a limitation observed in previous social desirability measures.

Validity

Initial validation studies demonstrated the distinct nature of the M-C SDS. When correlated with the Edwards Social Desirability Scale (Edwards SDS), the M-C SDS showed a correlation coefficient of 0.35, which was statistically significant at the 0.01 level. This moderate correlation confirmed that while both scales measure aspects of social desirability, they are not entirely interchangeable.

Furthermore, critical support for the M-C SDS’s independence from clinical measures was found in its consistently lower correlations with standard scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) compared to the correlations observed between the MMPI and the Edwards SDS. This empirical finding substantiated the authors’ goal of creating a measure of social desirability independent of clinical status.

Reliability

The M-C SDS exhibits robust measures of reliability, suggesting high internal consistency and temporal stability. The internal consistency of the final 33-item scale was calculated using the Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (KR-20), yielding a coefficient of 0.88.

The test-retest reliability was also established. After a one-month interval between administrations, the scale demonstrated a high correlation coefficient of 0.89. These high reliability coefficients confirm the M-C SDS as a stable and consistent instrument for measuring individual differences in the tendency toward socially desirable responding.

Factor Analysis

Although the original 1960 research focused on item analysis and reliability statistics (like KR-20) rather than formal factor analytic techniques, the M-C SDS is fundamentally regarded as a unidimensional scale. It is designed to capture a single underlying factor: the generalized need for approval.

Subsequent psychometric studies have generally supported the scale’s primary unidimensional structure, although short forms and specific population analyses have sometimes suggested the presence of minor secondary factors related to different aspects of impression management versus self-deception.

Instrument

Test Type: Rating Scale / Personality Inventory

Format: 33 items with a dichotomous True/False response format.

Language Available: Original English (widely translated)

Population Group: Human (Male, Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18+ years), Young Adulthood (18-29), Thirties (30-39), Middle Age (40-64)

Population Details: Location: United States; Initial Sample: Undergraduates

Test Methodology: Test Reliability, Internal Consistency (KR-20), Test-Retest Reliability, Item Analysis.

Keywords

Need for Approval, Social Desirability, M-C SDS, Response Bias, Test Construction, Validity, Reliability, Internal Consistency.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale was initially published in 1960. Given its extensive history and academic utility, the scale is frequently used in non-commercial research without proprietary fees, though users should always verify the latest copyright status for their specific application.

The scale is categorized under the classification 7200 Personality in standard indexing systems.

Reference’s

The primary reference detailing the development and validation of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale is:

• Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24(4), 349–354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0047358

The scale entry is also indexed via the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/t05257-000

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Items of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS)

Listed below are a number of statements concerning personal a tudes and traits. Read each item and decide whether the statement is true or false as it pertains to you personally.

1. Before vo ng I thoroughly inves gate the qualifica ons of all the candidates. (T)
2. I never hesitate to go out of my way to help someone in trouble. (T)
3. It is somemes hard for me to go on with my work if I am not encouraged. (F)
4. I have never intensely disliked anyone. (T)
5. On occasion I have had doubts about my ability to succeed in life. (F)
6. I somemes feel resen ul when I don’t get my way. (F)
7. I am always careful about my manner of dress. (T)
8. My table manners at home are as good as when I eat out in a restaurant. (T)
9. If I could get into a movie without paying and be sure I was not seen I would probably do it. (F)
10. On a few occasions, I have given up doing something because I thought too li le of my ability. (F)
11. I like to gossip at mes. (F)
12. There have been mes when I felt like rebelling against people in authority even though I knew they were right. (F)
13. No ma er who I’m talking to, I’m always a good listener. (T)
14. I can remember "playing sick" to get out of something. (F)
15. There have been occasions when I took advantage of someone. (F)
16. I’m always willing to admit it when I make a mistake. (T)
17. I always try to prac ce what I preach. (T)
18. I don’t find it par cularly difficult to get along with loud mouthed, obnoxious people. (T)
19. I somemes try to get even rather than forgive and forget. (F)
20. When I don’t know something I don’t at all mind admi ng it. (T)
21. I am always courteous, even to people who are disagreeable. (T)
22. At mes I have really insisted on having things my own way. (F)
23. There have been occasions when I felt like smashing things. (F)
24. I would never think of le ng someone else be punished for my wrongdoings. (T)
25. I never resent being asked to return a favor. (T)
26. I have never been irked when people expressed ideas very different from my own. (T)
27. I never make a long trip without checking the safety of my car. (T)
28. There have been mes when I was quite jealous of the good fortune of others. (F)
29. I have almost never felt the urge to tell someone off. (T)
30. I am somemes irritated by people who ask favors of me. (F)
31. I have never felt that I was punished without cause. (T)
32. I somemes think when people have a misfortune they only got what they deserved. (F)
33. I have never deliberately said something that hurt someone’s feelings. (T)

Note. The socially desirable response for each item is shown in parentheses; T = true; F = false.